I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 19
“Lord Rufus, what are your plans after the victory festival ends?”
The princess asked another question to capture the man’s interest.
He would certainly bring up the subject of marriage, as per the king’s previous promise, and declare that he intended to marry the princess.
It was only natural.
The princess had made extensive preparations for that moment, and she was ready to firmly reject him when he broached the topic.
But to her surprise, she received an unexpected response.
“I will return to the Inferna territory.”
“What? Why?”
The princess exclaimed with wide-open eyes, unable to hide her surprise.
It was not a ladylike reaction, and her governess, who was watching, discreetly signaled her to behave. However, the princess was genuinely taken aback.
‘Wasn’t he going to marry me?’
Royal weddings had to take place in the palace. He couldn’t take her to some rural place for the ceremony.
“Then, what about our marriage…?” the princess stammered.
“I have no intention of it.”
The man’s response was brusque.
The princess was left stunned.
It wasn’t just her. Everyone present, who had been listening to the conversation between the princess and the hero, was in shock.
‘Wh-why wouldn’t you want to marry the princess…?’
They were all perplexed. She was the beautiful princess everyone admired. Everyone had tried desperately to get close to her. This man had the privilege of being able to marry her, as promised by the king three years ago.
Yet, he had just declared that he didn’t want to marry the princess.
The man’s response was not a promise to consider the matter further or a statement that he would examine the situation. It was a complete and outright rejection.
‘He has no idea of his place!’
The princess clenched her fist beneath the table.
She felt insulted.
She had been rejected by a man who had nothing to his name. The princess, the most esteemed and revered figure in the kingdom, had been spurned by the heir to a mere barony.
Of course, the princess wanted to avoid marriage with this man by any means necessary. But she didn’t want to end it like this.
“Why are you leaving the royal palace?”
The princess asked with a hint of humility. On the surface, she was asking about the reason for his departure, but her intent was clear.
Why would he abandon her, a princess, and go to a remote rural area with nothing to his name?
To her surprise, the man’s response revealed unexpected information.
“My grandmother is not in good health.”
His grandmother?
The princess furrowed her brow.
This man’s grandmother, could it be the current head of the Inferna household? The woman who, despite her age, clung to the baron title of her deceased husband.
“Baroness Inferna, that bloody old woman!”
The princess recalled her father, the king, grumbling as he read reports about the Inferna Barony.
“She’s requesting royal financial support for the revitalization of the domain? Ha! What do those beggars from that desolate wasteland think they’re going to do? Do they think the royal treasury is overflowing with money?”
The king fumed as he read the reports submitted by Baroness Inferna. Subsequently, he ordered each of those reports to be burned.
According to the princess’s recollection, the Inferna Barony was governed by a foolish old woman who tirelessly toiled for that useless land.
After much annoyance and trouble, it seemed the old woman’s time had finally come.
“Well, it’s about time for Baroness Inferna to meet her end,” the princess mused.
For a moment, the man’s face stiffened.
“What are you saying?”
“Isn’t it true? When people get old, naturally, they die. Living too long without purpose only becomes a burden to others.”
The princess looked at the man as if to ask why she was being told such an obvious fact.
“…”
Rufus stared at the princess with wide eyes, his clenched fist trembling beneath the table. The bulging veins in his hand seemed ready to burst at any moment.
It was an insult.
The princess was insulting his beloved family.
“Your Highness.”
Struggling to control his impending rage, Rufus finally managed to speak.
“If His Majesty the King were to fall ill, would you speak the same way as you did just now?”
“You’re being quite harsh. Why are you making such a comparison?”
The princess dismissed Rufus’s words with indifference.
“It’s different with my father. He’s my immediate family.”
“My grandmother is precious to me.”
“Is she? I’m not particularly close to my grandmother, so I wouldn’t know.”
The princess replied, savoring a bite of her cake.
