#9. No Need to Get Married
2023.12.09.
The day Idrin rode the carriage around the capital and nearby areas with her, he couldn’t take his eyes off her all day long. And the people on the streets felt the same way.
Of course, even before that, Ophelia had started many small trends. Her spending and appearance were very famous in Aglante.
People criticized the foreign queen’s extravagant lifestyle, yet they watched intently to see what she wore and adorned herself with.
Salode once said about this:
“It’s rare to find someone so highly revered and yet flawed enough to be criticized.”
In that sense, Ophelia always attracted attention, but still, that year’s red fashion trend was excessive. Regardless of social rank, every household had at least one red garment.
The trend didn’t even last half a year.
Half a year later, when the patrol returned, Ophelia appeared wearing white.
The plain color was decorated with spring flowers imported from the neighboring Egelbamot Empire, creating a bright and elegant atmosphere.
The red that had been popular until then suddenly felt vulgar by comparison.
“If only the trend had changed, it wouldn’t have been so damaging. But Her Highness the Duchess of Gong suddenly started buying all pigments, including red, from elsewhere,” the official said.
The official explained that around that time, a prince from Egelbamot started a business extracting pigments from flowers, and Ophelia shifted her dealings there. As the red trend ended and declined, Reden’s economy completely collapsed.
Hearing this, irritation began to rise. It was not such a serious problem.
The royal family should have stopped speculation before it got that overheated.
But from what the official said, the Reden royal family seemed to have led the investment in pigments.
Idrin raised his hand to stop the official and asked,
“Isn’t it less my wife’s fault and more the fault of those who abandoned their livelihoods to speculate and the royal family that encouraged it?”
Red pigment was a luxury item. Reden, despite the royal family’s problems, had strong royal authority, so if the royal family wanted to control the economy, they could have.
But the Reden royal family didn’t do that.
Of course, Idrin didn’t think Ophelia’s start of buying pigments from elsewhere was a coincidence. In fact, he already knew she played money games like that.
But since the scale wasn’t big and it didn’t directly impact Aglante’s economy, he hadn’t bothered digging into or interfering.
He didn’t expect her to meddle in her home country’s economy to such an extent.
But finding out was his job, and what others said about her actions was another matter, especially when Aglante was in turmoil from accepting Reden refugees.
Idrin motioned. The executioner who understood the signal approached. The official, realizing his fate, screamed,
“Your Highness, it’s all because of Her Highness the Duchess of Gong that the prince died!”
Then he began to babble on without being asked.
It was said to be the last investment led by the royal family.
At that time, all arable land suitable for reclamation in Reden had already been sold to foreigners. The result of failed mining investments.
Farmers were driven out onto the streets, and the royal family suffered from poverty as they couldn’t properly collect taxes. Idrin realized this happened just before Ophelia’s death.
“Her Highness promised to buy all the flowers in Reden, but when the flowers were ready, she flooded the market with the same varieties herself, at prices much cheaper than those prepared by others! Though she disguised herself as someone else and borrowed the guild’s name, the prince eventually found out.”
At that time, due to conflicts with Brinwell, he was focused on the northern region. He knew Ophelia was interested in flower collecting but only regulated Aglante’s market without investigating further.
Prince Mahanas, who led speculation — Idrin had no other word for the phenomenon — even mortgaging national treasures, was completely disgraced because of that.
As the country fell into that state, Reden’s King Dares sought help here and there. One of those was a letter Idrin confirmed after Ophelia’s funeral.
The official said he didn’t know who ended up with the mortgaged national treasures.
After listening to the story, Idrin lightly clicked his tongue and struck the man’s neck. Then he dispatched people to investigate why Ophelia ruined Reden.
As far as he knew, Ophelia was on good terms with her family. Mahanas had come to Aglante several times to meet her.
But despite dispatching many people, Idrin didn’t get solid information. Those familiar with or part of the royal family were already dead from earlier riots.
If he had more time, he might have learned something. But Idrin returned to the past just a month after Ophelia’s death.
Still, one thing was clear.
Ophelia didn’t like her family or her homeland. She hated them enough to ruin them all.
The motive could be figured out over time.
What mattered to him now was to appear as an attractive option to her. Idrin clearly remembered Ophelia jumping off the balcony.
If she didn’t do that again and just married him, Idrin didn’t care what she wanted.
He was the king of Aglante, not Reden, and wanted to marry Ophelia, not the royal family of Mebasa.
Even if Ophelia did something everyone condemned, Idrin could always be on her side.
Moreover, Ophelia now needed a new foundation and someone to support her.
Marriage was the best way to gain such a supporter, and by her status, even if she rejected him, she had to enter a political marriage with someone.
If so, wouldn’t it be better to live with someone she had lived with once before?
This time, Idrin was confident he could meet her wishes well. If she only spoke honestly, he could easily fulfill anything.
But Ophelia didn’t answer him. Instead, she only looked at him with her clear blue eyes. Her obvious gaze made Idrin feel both a little embarrassed and uneasy.
Ophelia sighed softly then.
“I understand why you think I need to marry, but you’re wrong.”
And she looked at the man before her. Maybe because she denied him outright, his ears, already flushed, turned completely red.
Why was this man like this?
Another sigh escaped. Ophelia barely suppressed it. She didn’t have special feelings for Idrin, but she didn’t want to openly humiliate him either.
Idrin wasn’t a bad person. Though she was angry at him just two days ago, Ophelia knew his words carried no malice.
He even came to apologize the very next day.
He was just clueless and knew nothing.
Ophelia decided to treat him kindly. After all, he was someone she wouldn’t see again soon.
It wasn’t hard to be kind, considering she had made good use of the wealth he gave in the previous life.
Ignoring the fact that all those efforts were undone, Ophelia continued.
“How long were you in the past after I died?”
Idrin hesitated, surprised that she mentioned her death so directly. He still remembered the shock on the day she died.
Whether or not he said anything, Ophelia looked completely unaffected.
She raised her eyebrows as if urging an answer. So calm it was disheartening.
Eventually, Idrin answered in a slightly small voice,
“A month.”
He wasn’t going to say he did something ridiculous and stupid and fell into a well on the exact one-month mark.
Fortunately, Ophelia didn’t pry. Instead, she continued very gently.
“Then you must have received all the Mebasa royal family assets I seized. I understand why you think that.”
Idrin blinked at her unbelievably kind tone.
To be honest, he was quite angry at Ophelia’s actions. It was natural since she had abandoned him and taken her own life.
But Ophelia was so kind that those feelings felt like a lie.
His last bit of reason warned him not to be swayed, but he didn’t care.
Sitting quietly like someone with no pride, Ophelia added gently,
“You’re right. I hated Reden and my family, so I deliberately ruined them. The wealth you gave was a great help.”
But knowing that didn’t mean knowing everything.
Ophelia told him something she only realized after some time had passed.
“But to ruin Reden, I didn’t need to marry you.”
