Chapter 51
The one who had surprised everyone was lying comfortably in bed, sleeping soundly. As Rashid watched her through narrowed eyes, he remembered what had happened earlier and sighed heavily.
When he saw her collapse in the banquet hall, he assumed she had drunk poison. As he frantically ran over to her and tried to force her to vomit, Sika spoke from beside him,
“Riga, Rigaina collapsed because of the wine, not the poison… She thought the wine was juice and drank it all in one go.”
Rashid paused and rubbed his forehead. What an embarrassment he’d gotten himself into because of this woman. He was glad she’d passed out. If she’d seen him stumble, she’d have had a twinkle in her eye and been making fun of him ever since.
Still, I should be thankful that she only passed out from drunkenness. If she had really been poisoned or something…
As he thought this, his heart suddenly dropped heavily. Rashid frowned and pressed his hand to his chest.
What is this feeling? This creepy, unpleasant feeling, what is it…
“Mmm…”
A small grunt escaped from Rosetta then.
“Are you awake?”
Instead of coming to her senses, Rosetta tugged at the clothes she was wearing. With her right hand, she tugged at the neckline, and the garment fell away, revealing one white shoulder.
Rashid looked up at the sky and sighed heavily. “This is getting ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, Rosetta continued to squirm in her clothes. Rashid decided it would be better to remove the uncomfortable outer garment before she had the misfortune of removing all of her clothes on her own.
First, he had to undo the cloth belt around her waist. Since the knot was in the back, Rashid turned her body to the side. Rosetta whimpered in discomfort at the position.
For the first time, Rashid was tempted to put his hands on her. Part of him wanted to roll her over and spank her ass until he got over his frustration.
What the hell, to be this drunk in front of a man… This woman has hundreds of lives to live.
After undoing the belt at her waist, he began to pull the loose robe upward. The bountiful hem lifted upward, revealing slender, shapely legs.
Rashid undressed her as quickly as he could. He left only the white tunic she wore underneath, then threw a blanket over her body.
He thought that was it, but this time Rosetta frowned and reached for her hair. He sighed heavily again when he saw her running her hands through her hair.
Rashid began to undo her pinned-up hair, one by one. He removed her jewelry and undid all of her braids. He also removed the veil, which was still hanging long in the back.
Soon her golden hair was spread across the bedding. When she slept, she always wore her hair in a bun or braid, so it was the first time Rashid had ever seen her hair untied on the bed like this. The shimmering hair flowed in waves over the pillow, the blanket, and over his hand.
Rashid held her hair in his hand and stared into her face. Pure white face, rosy cheeks, and golden eyebrows.
A face that could only be found on the northern or eastern continents, not here.
“Who are you…?”
The words she spoke before entering the banquet hall, Myastra, a name not used here.
Long ago, the Ardennes had fallen under Lysa’s rule and accepted Elheim as their god. There could be no two names for a divine deity, so they accepted the name as it was.
But the being they called Myastra was different from Elheim: he was half-human, half-bird, and the creator of the current royalty of Lysa Kingdom. The Ardennes worshiped Elheim as a God, but were wary of Myastra.
So they renamed Myastra in Ardennese and called him Ataraxia. Ataraxia simply means half-man, half-beast in Ardennes. Myastra, on the other hand, is more accurately translated as “Paserea myastra” in Latisse, which means noble and holy bird, so there’s no way an Ardennes would change it. Even if you were a Basque.
“I- I am not the bride who’s getting married today!”
Rashid recalled her panicked declaration when he first met her.
“You guys have the wrong person, I’m not the real bride!”
As his men laughed at those words, her expression changed to one of tears. After that, she said a few times, “I’m not the real bride.”
And what she said when they mutually agreed on the fake marriage.
“Let me get this straight: I never deceived you, and I certainly tried my best.”
“Ha…”
Rashid laughed. There was so much he didn’t know, so much he thought was weird.
So she really isn’t the daughter of the Basque chieftain? No, she probably isn’t even Basque, because she doesn’t really know enough to tell.
But even so, there’s still something that doesn’t make sense. If this woman was really a bride substitute and mistaken for the real one, there should have been a reaction from the Basques by now. They should have mocked him for taking a fake instead of the real one, and finalized the marriage with the Croa chieftain.
But so far, the Basques have been too quiet. The marriage talks between the two tribes were as if they had never happened, and the Croa chieftain was looking for another bride, just as she had warned.
Why?
If this woman is really a fake, there’s no reason for her to stay still like this.
Rashid stared closely at her face. Who is this woman then? Is she the daughter of a Lysan merchant, as she had said at first?
The day they’d called the merchants to the castle, Thelma had said something to the effect that she’d chosen too few jewelry and trinkets.
“To me, Rigaina didn’t seem very interested in them. I’d picked out a few expensive pieces, but she just didn’t seem that impressed.”
Growing up wealthy in a merchant’s family can be like that. The usual stuff you see all the time isn’t special.
So what does she like? What might a woman who isn’t interested in jewelry and trinkets like?
What should I give her that will make her smile with delight…?
Rashid kept thinking about it until the banquet arrived, and he remembered what she had said before.
“I’ve had a habit since I was a little girl of picking up unusual things and calling them pretty.”
She went on to say that she had given her mother things like bugs, pine cones, and scarabs as gifts. Suddenly, Rashid remembered a cloth dyed with silkworms. It was a hard-to-find dyed cloth.
She liked scarabs, so surely she’d like silkworms, right?
Besides, the color was similar to the color of her eyes. Deep green eyes. Like a lush forest and the summer sun shining through it…
In the end, he got his hands on the hair tie, but he didn’t give it to her right away. In fact, it was a meaningless gift. It wasn’t a wedding gift, and it wasn’t something you’d give to your significant other. He wondered if it would mean something to her, and at the same time doubted if it would mean nothing to her.
But as he made his way to the banquet hall, he saw that her mood had dropped, and he thought to himself, ‘I want to see her smile.’
And now, as he looked at her face, he thought again, why did I want to see her smile?
Rashid cautiously reached out a finger. He gently stroked her smooth cheeks, then touched the bridge of her round nose.
She flinched a little, but she was still asleep, making a few sounds. Probably, she wouldn’t wake up. Even when she was sober, she didn’t wake up easily.
Rashid’s eyes darkened slightly as his hand slowly touched her lips. He stroked his thumb across her full lips a few times, then pressed lightly against the center of her lower lip. The closed lips parted slightly.
Rashid was overcome with the urge to slip a finger inside those lips, and as he imagined the red, moist flesh beyond the tightly closed teeth sucking his finger in, he hastily withdrew it.
What the hell am I thinking with a sleeping woman?
The lashes that had been closed trembled. Slowly, the eyelids lifted, revealing deep green eyes.
Instead of asking if she was awake like he had earlier, Rashid stared at her with the expression of someone caught doing something bad.
Blinking a few times, Rosetta stared back at him. Staring into those clear, pristine green eyes made Rashid feel even more like a beast than he had a moment ago.
The moment he cautiously opened his mouth, she smiled, calling his name.
“Rashid.”
Then she stretched out her hands toward him and cupped both of his cheeks.
Rashid was frozen in place. Her eyes, on the other hand, were sparkling like sunlight on a sunny day.
“Blue. Wow, my favorite pretty blue.”
“……”
“Well, black is good too, it’s so soft to the touch.”
And she began to stroke Rashid’s hair like she was handling a puppy. Rashid sighed deeply and shook his head.
She’s still drunk.
Rashid slowly pulled her hands away and tried to push himself up, but this time Rosetta grabbed him by the collar.
“I got another favorite color.”
This time Rosetta grabbed his collar, but since she was drunk, Rashid listened to her anyway.
“What is it?”
“The red color of strawberry juice. You know, that stuff is really sweet.”
“It was not strawberry juice you drank, it was alcohol. And because of that, you’re doing this right now.”
“Alcohol? Ah, I’m in trouble. My sister, brother, and Iselle told me never to drink alcohol again.”
The Basque chieftain has only one daughter. That means she’s not Rosie.
As Rashid thought about it, Rosetta’s eyes suddenly lit up.
“Huh? You have one of those strawberries here?”
“Strawberries? What–”
He couldn’t finish his sentence. Something soft and moist touched his lips.