Come and Cry at My Funeral - Chapter 52
It was a very harsh judgment for his normally kind mother. But in truth, the Deneb family had always kept Arcturus at arm’s length.
They would go to the far capital but avoided mingling with the distinguished family over the excuse of a mountain being hard to cross.
<Be it the previous duke or his second wife. They sit so proudly up on their pedestals, as if their bluntness is a virtue, but at the same time, they’re blind to the fact that they’re only good at drying up other people’s blood.>
The marchioness gossiped and then told her son stories of old times.
For example, the previous duke forcibly brought over a woman with whom he had no marriage talks, and managed to get marriage approval from the emperor. From that union, Izar Arcturus was born.
After all that trouble to bring her over, the lady was treated harshly by those around her because she was from a poor family.
<Between us, honestly, it’s no wonder the first wife ran away. The previous duke was pathologically cruel. But still, it was a huge deal that the man she ran to was a rebel…>
The fate of the runaway lover was miserably known to all, and the previous duke personally killed his wife who had been involved with another man.
It was a tragic end for a hero once known as ‘the greatest swordsman in the empire’.
<But does the duke even fully know about these circumstances?>
Albireo quietly concluded that he probably didn’t know after some thought.
As the saying goes, the arm bends inward, and it was unlikely that Arcturus would inform an outsider, a woman, of her own side’s circumstances.
And other families who knew the details at the time were of lower standing than the ducal family.
Meaning they wouldn’t dare share such dirty stories.
Then, Albireo noticed the duchess staring intently at his family’s garden.
It was a raspberry bush she was looking at.
‘She enjoyed these fruits so much at the spring.’
A smile crept onto his face again.
Albireo nodded at the duchess while gesturing for a servant to pick some, asking,
“Do you like raspberries, Madam?”
“…Yes.”
“……?”
Albireo raised his eyebrows at the delayed response.
The duchess’s gaze was not ordinary just now.
‘My instinct is telling me…’
This must be a food with a story involving her husband.
“Aha. So the duke picked them for you?”
“……”
“Oh? Am I wrong?”
The frozen expression of the woman finally softened.
“No, you guessed right, Sir. I was just too surprised to say anything.”
“I see… Hm?”
Albireo tilted his head, noticing raspberries being placed on the lady’s plate.
Something about the timing didn’t add up.
“Did the duke already pick them for you this year?”
“……”
“Our domain usually bears fruit earlier than others because the weather is warmer.”
“Ah, it wasn’t this year, but, um…”
The woman poked at the raspberries with her fork.
From her gaze and touch, Albireo felt it.
The duchess was reminiscing about a very precious memory, but it was a mix of sadness and joy.
“It’s something only I remember. He doesn’t know anymore.”
“……Hmm.”
“I’ll eat these well. Thank you, Sir Deneb.”
The duchess smiled faintly and began to eat the fruit one by one.
Albireo watched her quietly.
He kept a strict rule when flirting with a lady.
‘Do not cross the line.’
Not just physically, but mentally crossing the line was tacky.
And Albireo Deneb, for not doing such tacky things, could live as lightly as a bird skimming the water’s surface.
‘But I’m still allowed to be curious…’
Why does the loving bride’s eyes look so sad?
Why she loves someone who makes her look so?
Albireo finished his tea to avoid asking questions that crossed the line.
…Perhaps he had let the tea steep too long, for it tasted bitter.
* * *
Freesia wasn’t originally a big fan of raspberries.
‘I would eat them if they were there, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to look for them.’
But around the time she became pregnant with her briar baby in her previous life, she wanted them so badly she felt like she could die, especially since the fruits had yet to ripen in the domain of Arcturus.
At first, she thought she could bear it.
But her condition was so bad that her ‘husband’ directly asked what she wanted to eat.
<To be honest, I’m craving raspberries…>
<……>
<I’m sorry. I won’t ask for them once this period is over.>
When she meekly lowered her head, he said nothing. And after leaving the castle for a few days, he came to her late one night.
The tray in his hands was filled with blushing fruits.
<……?>
<Did you think you had to endure because you couldn’t get this trivial thing?>
<Where on earth did you find these…?>
<Where I got them isn’t what matters.>
He replied brusquely but brought the tray closer to a side table in front of Freesia.
<Here. If you need more, just say it.>
<……>
<Why? Can’t you eat them now? Or do you want something else?>
<Duke.>
Freesia whispered, spreading her palm.
Perhaps due to her pregnancy, the joints of her fingers were swollen.
<My hands are swollen, and it hurts too much… Could you feed me?>
<……>
Around that time, her ‘husband’ became less talkative and did not raise the harsh, cold barriers he had before.
So, she gathered her courage to ask more…
But what happened next was beyond Freesia’s expectations.
He sat beside her, letting her rest her head against his chest, and fed her himself.
He wiped the juice from her lips with his hand and did not push her away when she softly nuzzled her head against him.
And though his touches were a bit awkward, he also supported her back.
That night, the two of them silently looked out at the night sky through the window.
…The three years with her ‘husband’ were like that.
Had it been dark from the start to the end, she would have truly hated him, regardless of any past unrequited love.
And even if given a chance by the gods, she might have chosen death instead.
‘Even if Lady Antares came chasing, would I have thought to run away?’
Then, perhaps a different life would have unfolded.
But even in the darkest night, one or two stars are bound to shine, and at times countless stars twinkle like white jewels.
There lay only one reason to hate him, but the reasons to love him just kept growing on their own.
Just like the stars they both looked up at in the night sky.
