CHAPTER 8
Although Ruby couldn’t join in the conversation, she kept a smile on her face. Whenever she happened to make eye contact with someone, she didn’t forget her manners. She smiled or nodded while looking at the person speaking.
Of all the people there, she made eye contact with Arien the most.
Even while talking to others, Arien occasionally glanced at Ruby, as though she couldn’t help noticing how quietly the other woman was standing there.
“Oh, that’s right, Marchioness. Thank you so much for Rubern Blue.”
Only when Arien finally addressed her, as if offering a little charity to someone left out of the conversation, did the others turn their attention toward Ruby.
“What…?”
But more than Arien’s pitying gaze, it was the meaning behind her words that caught Ruby’s attention.
“It’s a nickname His Majesty gave me because my eyes resemble that flower. Rubern Blue. Of course, he gave it to me when I was little. Even now, he occasionally calls me that in private, as a joke.”
“For instance, when he wants to put me in an awkward position,” Arien added.
“Oh my. So you’ve been close to His Majesty since childhood.”
“Ilai… Oh, I mean, the Marquess of Grit and I all used to play together. We were children, after all.”
Arien had almost called him by his first name out of habit, but quickly corrected herself and used his title.
Then, noticing Ruby’s bewildered expression, she looked flustered.
“Could it be… that I was getting ahead of myself?”
Arien’s cheeks turned visibly pink, and her ears flushed red.
Ruby, whose smile had frozen in place, could neither confirm nor deny it.
She had only just learned about Arien’s nickname herself.
In the end, because of this young lady’s welcome, Ruby had barely been able to spend any time with Ilai, whom she hadn’t seen in months. She hadn’t even been able to go on an outing, much less join in the conversations.
On top of that, she’d been left with an injury on her hand.
In an instant, the wound she had once considered an honor had become something utterly shabby.
When Arien failed to get the answer she wanted from Ruby, she turned her gaze toward Ilai, who was standing beside her.
“Rubern Blue is, of course, a flower that symbolizes the Rubern Empire, so it can’t be limited to just one meaning. But I imagine it also carries the meaning of gratitude for attending every year.”
Ilai explained on Ruby’s behalf.
“I see. Thank you, Marchioness.”
Arien lightly fanned herself with her hand, as though trying to cool her still-flushed cheeks.
Ruby was less surprised by his answer than by the fact that he knew Arien had been attending the Grit family parties every year.
“Marchioness?”
“……I just need to check something…”
For some inexplicable reason, Ruby felt betrayed. She instinctively moved away from Ilai.
She didn’t think she could keep smiling in this place, no matter how hard she tried. Just as she was about to turn around and leave in a hurry—
“Oh my!”
Someone bumped into her, and a splash of bright red wine spilled all over Ruby’s dress.
“Marchioness, are you all right?”
“I think you should go and change your dress, Marchioness.”
The ladies around her urged Ruby on as she stood there blankly, staring at the red wine that had begun running down her dress.
“Go ahead.”
Even Ilai told her to leave.
“I suppose I should.”
In a daze, Ruby hurried out of the room.
She went up to the second floor, entered her room, and closed the door behind her.
As soon as the door shut, the noise coming from the first floor was cut off, and silence descended.
The moment she sat down in a chair, the headache she had forgotten amid the hectic preparations for the party and welcoming the guests came rushing back.
Even with her eyes squeezed shut, dizziness washed over her. Ruby leaned against the backrest, intending to rest for a moment.
She had barely sat down, yet her body seemed to be protesting, clinging to the chair as though insisting that she needed to rest.
“I’ll just sit here for a little while before going back.”
With her temperature rising rapidly, Ruby let out a hot sigh, closed her eyes, and leaned farther back in the chair.
And then, the image of Ilai standing together with Arien appeared in her mind like an afterimage.
Ruby had fallen deeply asleep, but she suddenly jolted awake and hurriedly rose from the chair.
The room was still dark, with no lights turned on. The red wine stains were still on the dress she was wearing.
Judging by the faint sounds drifting up from below, the party was still underway.
Fortunately, it seemed no one had come looking for her.
Ruby slowly forced her still-heavy body to stand.
There were plenty of dresses with designs similar to the one Marie had chosen. After changing into the one that seemed least likely to show the difference, she headed downstairs.
As she descended, Ruby thought it was fortunate that Marie hadn’t noticed her absence.
At least, that was what she thought until she saw the scene before her.
The first person she spotted was Arien, still standing beside Marie. And next to her was Ilai.
The three of them were practically inseparable, like a set.
While Marie was briefly occupied greeting someone else, Arien leaned close to Ilai and whispered something to him.
Ilai listened quietly before responding.
Arien talked without pause, while Ilai nodded and listened.
The two of them looked more at ease together than he ever did when he was with Ruby.
The pair continued their private conversation until Marie returned. Then, as though nothing had happened, they both greeted her at the same time.
Marie was no different.
There wasn’t a trace of displeasure on her face.
In fact, she looked happier than Ruby had ever seen her.
If Ruby had been standing in that spot, she would have been too nervous even to think of speaking to Ilai while holding his arm. At most, she might have stolen a few glances at him.
And to avoid displeasing Marie, she would have done nothing but listen to their conversation with a smile so strained that her lips would have begun to twitch.
There was no way an atmosphere like that could ever have existed if she had been the one standing there.
Realizing that made Ruby suddenly feel all the more miserable about her own situation.
She remembered how Ilai had known that Arien would be coming to Shuben.
Had he been interested in the news of Arien’s attendance, or in her party?
The answer was clearer than she had expected.
Even though she was his wife, Marie’s daughter-in-law, and the hostess of the party, no one had come looking for her when she disappeared.
In truth, that only meant she was worth so little to them.
What was she even doing here?
With just one step remaining before she reached the first floor, Ruby turned around and went back upstairs.
After the party ended, Ruby went to Ilai’s room.
“Where were you?”
He seemed to have just come in, as he was undoing the buttons on his cuffs.
Ruby didn’t answer, and he didn’t appear interested in hearing an explanation, either. He didn’t ask anything further.
After she had returned to her room, no one had come looking for her until the ball ended. Not a single maid had come to check on her, nor had anyone asked why she hadn’t returned.
She had assumed that no one had even noticed her absence in the first place, but apparently, that wasn’t entirely true.
“Did you look for me?”
There was a faint glimmer of hope in her brief question.
“My mother did.”
The hope that had briefly flickered like a dying flame pulled from a pile of ashes quickly faded away.
Of course not. Nothing had changed in the past three years. There was no way it would change in just a few days.
“Is there something you want to talk about?”
Ilai looked tired as he asked.
Well, he had spent the past several days with his family without getting any rest.
And yet, every time he was with Ruby, even a little of his time seemed too precious to spare.
Could she really continue with this marriage?
She was in the middle of wondering that when the words suddenly escaped her lips.
“Let’s… get a divorce.”
Ilai stopped undoing his shirt buttons and looked at Ruby.
For once, his expression showed surprise.
Ruby was just as startled. She had blurted it out impulsively, yet she was surprised by her own words.
At the same time, her mind raced, trying to come up with an answer in case he asked her why.
“In two weeks.”
“……Pardon?”
Ilai soon replied in an even voice and resumed unbuttoning his shirt.
“I have business in the capital, so do it then. I’ll inform His Majesty in advance.”
“……”
“When we get divorced, write down anything you want separately and give it to me. I’ll take care of everything.”
His answer was so clean and straightforward that the expression that had flashed across his face a moment earlier seemed like a mirage.
If anything, Ruby was the one left speechless.
She had actually thought he might ask her why.
How foolish of her.
“All right.”
Ruby smiled sadly and left the room.
“It seems you’ve overexerted yourself a little.”
During her morning walk, which she had taken to clear her troubled mind, Ruby ran into the physician.
The moment he saw her, he remarked that she seemed to have a fever and offered to examine her briefly.
“You should recover if you rest for a few days.”
The examination took place on a bench in the greenhouse.
If she moved to the mansion and happened to run into Marie, she would undoubtedly be subjected to another round of nagging.
“As for the medicine…”
“I’m fine without medicine. Thank you.”
“……Understood. Then please go inside and get some rest right away.”
The physician gave her a friendly smile and a few words of advice before leaving the greenhouse first.
Relieved that it wasn’t anything serious, Ruby soon left the greenhouse as well.
“Did you see? My dress was the prettiest!”
“My dress was the prettiest, though?”
At Emily’s words, Eve frowned with an unimpressed expression. Before long, the two of them began bickering.
It seemed that only Ilai and Ruby were not still basking in the afterglow of the party.
“Brother, what did you think? Hm?”
“You were both beautiful.”
“If you had to choose just one, who would you pick?”
When the choice was handed over to Ilai, he pretended to think it over.
But when he took too long, Emily and Eve both scolded him at the same time.
Ilai chuckled softly and replied that they were both his choice.
“I think this party was more successful than any of the ones we’ve held before.”
The Marchioness Dowager seemed quite pleased with how splendidly the party had gone.
Ruby suddenly wondered why.
Was it because of the changes to the food and decorations? Because Ilai had been there? Or perhaps because Ilai and Lady Mile had been there together?
And if it wasn’t any of those things, was it because Ruby had stepped aside to make it easier for the two of them to get along?
Once she thought that far, Ruby felt she could already imagine the Marchioness Dowager’s reaction when she learned that Ruby and Ilai were getting divorced.
She would undoubtedly welcome the news with open arms.
(To be continued in the next chapter.)
