Come and Cry at My Funeral - Chapter 42
“If this causes any trouble with the Deneb family…”
“You keep forgetting what I’ve told you time and again.”
Izar snapped irritably.
Why were his nerves suddenly so taut over something so trivial?
Because a woman of no significance dared to worry about his family? Because she feared he couldn’t handle today’s incident properly?
In any case, it was necessary to remind the shepherdess, who kept forgetting his instructions.
“Shepherdess.”
As sternly as he would address a real knight.
“Did I ever ask you to play the role of a wife?”
“N…No.”
“Then stop fussing about unnecessary things and go to sleep.”
His tone came out harsher than intended.
Yet after saying so, a slight pain throbbed in his temple, and a strange scene flashed before his eyes again.
The terrifying face of his livid father.
A woman crying in front of him.
‘……?’
But like the pain, the vision quickly faded.
At least the woman in front of him wasn’t crying.
That she wasn’t sobbing over a bit of scolding was perhaps the only silver lining.
However, seeing her eyes so dead again, as if they had soaked in gutter water, made his insides twist with unease.
Perhaps more so because he now knew how her eyes had the ability to shine like dew on grass at daybreak.
“…Yes. Good night.”
Izar didn’t reply, simply heading for the bed without a word. Turning his back, he forcibly closed his eyes and murmured to himself.
‘I hope these two weeks here pass quickly.’
Only then could he shake off the last bit of guilt he felt towards this woman.
After the fortnight, he would finally push her out of his sight completely.
The blanket was quietly lifted, and he could faintly feel the woman curling up inside.
As he had expected, the woman didn’t take up much space in the bed.
He couldn’t feel her weight either.
However, her presence alone weighed down on his consciousness.
Needlessly so.
***
Albireo rubbed his forehead as he returned to his room.
‘It’s too late to use the healing spring, so that will have to wait until dawn.’
But for now, what really made him break out in a cold sweat was the comment made by Duke Arcturus earlier.
<Is it not because you had been so distracted until the last moment?>
“Tch, caught with my guard down.”
Indeed, he could have easily dodged an incoming pebble.
However, he barely managed to cast a shock-absorbing spell at the last moment.
‘But even someone like me can be caught by surprise too, right?’
It had been a while since he returned home, thinking of enjoying the scenery of the healing spring, when unexpectedly, there stood a woman he had never seen before. Wasn’t that a natural reaction?
Albireo awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he recalled that moment.
The breeze blew, lightly fluttering her hair and revealing a glimpse of her shoulders.
The tips of her fingers and lips, stained with red juice.
And those large, verdant eyes, sparkling in the sunlight.
While gazing into those eyes, Albireo found himself momentarily lost in a strange thought.
Oh, who summoned a spirit in our castle courtyard?
But then he snapped back to reality upon seeing the spirit fiercely throwing a stone right at him.
‘I’ve never heard of a spirit that throws rocks.’
And because of Izar Arcturus, who had suddenly appeared at that moment.
“But what’s this? Isn’t he a bit different from the rumors?”
He, too, had briefly attended the rumored wedding.
The atmosphere hadn’t been just brisk—it was so tense that you’d think the wedding was taking place in the very midst of a battlefield.
Yet, the way the Duke treated that woman seemed somewhat softer than it had been back then.
“It’s different from the rumors… Indeed, different.”
Especially how the ‘illegitimate ducal lady’ he had seen up close was nothing like the rumors suggested.
The illegitimate ducal lady, in fact, was the talk of the capital, a subject of daily gossip and speculation.
People painted various pictures of her.
Raised doing the most menial tasks among the commoners, dumb enough not to be able to read, a drooling idiot.
No, since she dared to stand by the Duke, she must be a greedy and disorderly woman, much like a lowly harlot…
People especially hoped the latter was true.
That was the most exciting for them.
‘So that’s why Ducal Lady Atria is oddly gaining more favor, isn’t it?’
Like a saintess who, even when robbed by a villainess, holds her ground with dignity.
But the ‘illegitimate ducal lay’ Albireo saw with his own eyes was different.
“How intriguing.”
Albireo rubbed his forehead and grinned. This injury, or whatever it was, would heal soon enough with continuous application of the spring’s water.
So, why not take the time to personally find out what kind of woman she was?
