A Night of Shadows and Whispers
The wedding ceremony was over, and the reception had begun. Soon, the jesters took the stage. I had watched their amusing performances countless times since childhood. For a fleeting moment, I harbored a faint hope that their antics might help me forget the suffocating gloom weighing on my chest. But then...
A plump jester, dressed in a ridiculous costume, brandished a wooden sword and bellowed:
“Heheh! The greatest beauty of the Empire shall be mine! For I am the Grand Duke of Francesco! Come here, you wench!”
“No! Never!” shrieked another jester, playing the bride. “If I must marry a bloated pig like you, I would rather bite off my tongue and die!”
At that sight... the memories of that horrific day came rushing back.
“What is the executioner waiting for? Hurry! Execute these lackeys of the demons at once!”
“No! Stop! Please, stop! You promised to spare them! You said you would let my family live!”
The day I had begged Valorang on my knees, weeping tears of blood.
Slash!
The day I lost my father and my brothers.
There was nothing funny about what happened that day. It wasn't a farce. It was a cold, piercing agony. The deaths of my beloved family...
Thwack!
“Haha! Now that I've slain my father, I am the Grand Duke! My stepmother... no, the Crown Princess is mine!”
“Oh my, what a lecher!”
“Heheh, come to me at once! Stepmother—no, my wife!”
“Sigh, I hate pigs and idiots alike! Is there no knight to rescue me?”
The hall erupted into boisterous laughter.
“Bwahaha!”
“Now this is a comedy!”
How dare they... How dare they mock us like that!
What do any of you know? Do you think that day was a joke? What did any of you do while I watched my family die? How can you sit there, laughing and drinking? You, who swore eternal loyalty to the Emperor! When my father was subjected to unspeakable torture, what did you do?
It is no different now. I am being sold off to Deviang, yet not a single one of you has stepped forward to stop it. And you find this funny?
My hands trembled violently, seized by a mixture of fury and sorrow.
Scum. Absolute scum.
Why did my father ever trust people like you? Why was he so kind to these ungrateful nobles and citizens?
The citizens who claimed to love my father... they were too terrified of Valorang's blade to lift their heads. They merely wept in silence as my father was sent to the gallows, none of them brave enough to stand up and stop it.
And yet they dared... they dared desecrate that tragedy in this manner?
Blood rushed to my head. Just as I was about to snap and scream at them—
“Stop! Cease this at once!”
Deviang stood up, his voice cutting through the laughter like a whip.
“Valorang was a demon worshiper, and I saved this Empire by slaying him! Yet you dare insult me and mock my house?! Guards! What are you doing? Arrest these jesters immediately!”
“W-Wait, Your Grace,” stammered Pedro, the imperial seneschal I had known since childhood, stepping forward to placate Deviang's wrath. “A jester's performance is merely satire... It is customary not to punish them...”
Deviang turned a freezing glare upon Pedro.
“Then will you pay the price for defaming my honor in their stead?”
Pedro choked on his words and averted his eyes. Watching him shrink back, I felt a tiny spark of satisfaction at Deviang's actions for the very first time. Just a tiny bit.
“Your Grace! Please, Your Grace, we are innocent! Viscount Pedro told us we could perform this play! We did nothing wrong!”
“P-Please spare us! We only did as we were ordered!”
The jesters began to beg desperately, their voices echoing in the silent hall.
What...? Pedro ordered them to do this?
While jesters' plays were traditionally meant to critique those in power and provoke reflection, this was an outright insult to the imperial family.
Pedro... did you really...?
I couldn't believe it. The loyal seneschal had actively commissioned this performance rather than letting the jesters perform their own routine.
“So, you are saying this performance was not of your own volition?” Deviang asked.
“Viscount Pedro, what is the meaning of this?”
“I know nothing of this, Your Grace! They are merely dragging me down to save their own skins!” Pedro cried out.
But Deviang was not one to be easily swayed.
“I will hear your explanation in the dungeons. Guards, release the jesters and arrest this foolish seneschal!”
He spoke as if he already knew the jesters were telling the truth.
“Spare me! Your Grace! Spare me!”
As Pedro was dragged away, his arms pinned by the guards, Deviang clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“Tsk. They ruined the mood.”
“T-Then, we shall proceed to the highlight of the reception—the prelude to the wedding night!” the master of ceremonies announced.
Finally... the moment had come. A deeply humiliating, horrific moment.
“Now! Let us see if our protagonist, the Grand Duke, will prove his manhood by removing her undergarments with his teeth, or if he will use his hands!”
“Teeth! Teeth!”
“The Lion family always uses their teeth!”
“Brother! You know you have to use your teeth! Or do you want to get hit down there?!”
As the host finished speaking, the servants cleared the table in front of me with expressionless faces.
And then... Deviang knelt before me.
For a brief second, our eyes met.
In his gaze, I saw sadness... and apology.
Why... why are you looking at me with those eyes?
You are a usurper who wants to steal the Empire. That is why you are subjecting me to this humiliation. Once we have a child... you intend to kill me and rule the Empire as you please, don't you?
As I shuddered with disgust at his hypocrisy, I felt Deviang crawl beneath my skirt.
No... this is horrible.
The warmth of his breath against my legs made my skin crawl. Even if a venomous serpent had slithered up my skirt, it would have been less repulsive than this.
I felt his hands grasp my undergarments.
If only... if only I could die right now... would I be free from this humiliation?
It was deeply shameful. To think that a part of my body I had never shown to anyone but my maids since childhood had to be exposed to a man like him.
Rustle.
With the soft friction of fabric, a cold draft brushed against my lower half.
Deviang stood back up, holding up my undergarments for the crowd to see.
A chorus of whistles and playful jeers erupted.
“Boo! Devi! A true man of the Lion family should have used his teeth!”
Listening to the cheers of the guests, I swallowed my burning humiliation.
My hands clenched into tight, trembling fists. Today... is truly the worst day of my life.
Clap, clap!
Deviang clapped his hands, activating the magical light balls.
“Ah...?”
I knew that marrying him meant I would have to endure the wedding night. As miserable as it was to share a bed with such a disgusting man, I had steeled myself for it.
But... to spend the wedding night in such a brightly lit room?
Even if I had no choice but to submit to him, this was too humiliating. I had heard that the wedding night was supposed to be spent under the soft, dim glow of candlelight. Did this boorish man know nothing of decency?
As those thoughts raced through my mind, Deviang pulled something out from beneath the sofa.
It was a leather bag.
What is that? Is he... some kind of pervert who uses bizarre instruments?
Goosebumps erupted all over my body.
Should I run... even now?
But where? Where could I possibly run to?
Deviang somehow knew about every hidden passage in the Imperial Palace. On the day I had tried to escape, his soldiers had been waiting in ambush as if they could read my mind, dragging me right back here.
“W-What are you doing?” I asked, my voice trembling with fear of what might emerge from that bag.
“I have some documents to review by tomorrow,” Deviang replied calmly. “You must be exhausted from the wedding. Go wash up and get some rest.”
Documents...?
As if to prove his words, he pulled a thick stack of papers from the bag.
I let out a quiet sigh of relief and headed toward the bath.
I sank into the hot water, letting the heat soothe my exhausted body.
What do I do...? Once I go out... we will have to do it, won't we?
To be completely honest, I would rather bite off my tongue and die than let him touch me.
He was a villain.
The son of the wicked Valorang, a man harboring schemes even more insidious than his father's.
Death was preferable to surrendering my purity to such a man, but I could not die.
If I died, there was no telling what would happen to my mother... and to Joy.
The thought that this vile man might inflict the same pain—or worse—upon Joy forced me to endure. Today, I had to submit to the embrace of this repulsive man.
“Ugh...”
Tears of deep, bitter sorrow fell one by one into the water.
But I quickly steeled my heart.
Yes... I will repay this humiliation twofold—no, a hundredfold, a thousandfold.
The shame I suffer now is only temporary.
One day... eventually... I will make you realize just how terrifying my vengeance can be.
As I found a fragile solace in imagining that day, a voice called out.
“Theodora, are you in there?”
It was Deviang.
Why was he calling me? Was he complaining that I was taking too long?
“...What is it?”
“You should come out soon. I need to wash up as well.”
Splash.
Right... I knew this was coming. I just have to endure it and repay this insult later... No matter how long it takes, I will return it a hundred times over.
Comforting myself with those thoughts, I replied, “I'll be right out.”
I finished washing and stepped out of the bathroom.
The moment I stepped out, my eyes met Deviang's. He quickly averted his gaze.
“I'll go wash up now.”
He brushed past me and entered the bathroom.
I sat down, waiting for him to return.
Is it really going to happen tonight?
Just the thought of being married to him made my skin crawl.
Am I doomed to spend every single day from now on satisfying his desires?
Despair threatened to swallow me whole.
Is there really no way to avoid it... even just for tonight?
Spurred by a sudden desperation, I hurriedly stood up and clapped my hands.
Clap, clap!
The magical lights vanished instantly, plunging the room into darkness.
I scrambled into bed and pulled the covers over myself, pretending to be fast asleep.
It was a pathetic, childish trick that would do nothing to stop him if he chose to force himself on me.
But right now, I was willing to cling to any shred of hope. Because the alternative—being held by him—was a fate worse than death.