You Said You Wanted Us to Break Up - Chapter 103

It wasn’t as if he was asking because he truly didn’t understand the situation.

To anyone watching, I currently looked exactly like someone who had snuck into Iswen’s office.

Even as I struggled to find my voice, my mind was racing. What could I possibly say to make this look even slightly less suspicious?

I felt like the world’s biggest fool for thinking earlier that if I couldn’t make an excuse when caught, I should just not get caught.

It was then that Demian, after observing me as I gripped the edge of the desk in silence, spoke up.

“You don’t want brother to find out, right?”

He took a step back and pointed toward the door leading to the side room from the office.

“It’s okay. Come out this way.”

Demian then led me to the garden through a route that avoided the servants’ eyes. I followed him, feeling dazed.

I had been caught meddling with Iswen’s desk by Demian, yet instead of grilling me for a motive, he was essentially helping me destroy the evidence.

If someone had told me this yesterday, I would have treated it as a joke.

Not content with just bringing me to the garden, Demian made a promise I hadn’t even asked for. Standing beneath a flowering tree in the garden, he spoke.

“I won’t tell Brother.”

I used to go through Brother’s desk a lot when I was little, too. Don’t worry. Demian added, scratching the back of his head.

So, he was saying he helped me because he saw his younger self in me?

The reasoning made absolutely no sense, but it was to my advantage anyway. I nodded without much of a response.

“Yes.”

Demian looked down at me for a moment and then said something strange.

“Um… you can speak comfortably to me.”

Speak comfortably? Did he mean he wanted me to use informal language with him? When I remained silent, not quite understanding his intent, Demian added an explanation.

“You used to speak informally to me when we were little.”

“I don’t remember.”

Of course, even if I did remember, I wouldn’t have dropped the formalities.

“Ah, right. I suppose so,” Demian muttered, casting his single visible eye downward and shifting it restlessly. It suddenly occurred to me that it was strange he was still wearing an eyepatch. By now, shouldn’t most of the wound have healed?

It was then that Demian apologized.

“Um… I’m sorry.”

“……”

“About making such a scene at Raslet Castle.”

Now that he mentioned it, that did happen. It had been long enough that I had actually forgotten about it.

“I should have behaved myself for the sake of your reputation, but I didn’t take things like that into consideration back then.”

I didn’t particularly want to respond, but since I had just escaped Iswen’s study with his help, it felt a bit awkward to stay silent.

I let out a small sigh and spoke.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“……”

“I won’t be going back to Raslet anyway.”

It was a final goodbye to that gloomy land where it did nothing but snow for half the year. Honestly, I had never liked the weather in Raslet once during my entire marriage. It was a fact that felt even more poignant now that I had returned to the South.

Demian’s face brightened instantly at my words.

“That’s a good decision. I heard somewhere that having a husband is nothing but a burden anyway.”

“…. “

“Don’t bother meeting men in the future, either. Looking at girls your age these days, they travel and have a lot of fun.”

He prattled on, volunteering information I hadn’t even asked for—stories about tourist attractions, what girls my age were up to, and so on.

Listening to him, one would think Demian was a man deeply skeptical of marriage.

Suddenly, I recalled something Iswen had said at the family cemetery.

‘The young Raslet was, among the remaining marriage prospects at the time, the one who did not belong to the late emperor’s faction.’

Back then, his words made it sound as if the marriage to Sioden had been an alternative to prevent me from being married off to the Crown Prince.

If my father hadn’t tried to push me into the position of Crown Princess long ago… would Iswen have been indifferent to whether I married at all?

In fact, after Father passed away, Iswen seemed to lose all interest in my marriage. No, if anything, he had actually laid the groundwork for me to annul the union.

Though it was under the pretext of an inheritance, if Iswen had wanted to profit by selling me off, it would have been much better for him not to grant me any titles at all…

By the time my thoughts reached that point, I realized I was speculating about his circumstances.

Doing this made it feel as though I was trying to understand Iswen.

I didn’t want to do that. No matter what his reasons were, the numerous insults I had endured from him would never vanish.

Before these unnecessary thoughts could spiral any further, I spoke to Demian.

“I’ll take care of it myself.”

Demian nodded, looking a bit dejected.

“Huh? Oh… okay…”

When there was nothing left to say and we decided to go our separate ways, Demian repeated the same claim one last time.

“In the future, I’ll make sure my temper doesn’t cause any more trouble.”

Perhaps realizing that even though the words came out of his own mouth, they sounded entirely unreliable, Demian hurriedly added:

“I’m serious. I’ve even been reading books lately and practicing how to control my emotions. There’s a famous speech tutor in the capital who…”

Before he could offer any more uninvited updates, I replied.

“I understand.”

The bottom line was that he wanted me to trust his word.

But trust isn’t something I can control at will.

If I could control my emotions as I pleased, I would have accepted Sioden’s apology first and would be getting along with him by now.

Demian stared at me as I lowered my gaze and asked a question.

“Has Brother ever told you anything? Like, stories from when we were little…?”

I was about to say no, but I hesitated.

Come to think of it, this was a sort of opportunity. Even if Iswen had taunted me with useless answers—saying things like nothing would change regardless—he might not have been that way with Demian.

I swallowed hard and asked him.

“What is my mother’s name?”

“Brother told me not to talk about this with you…”

Demian rolled his eye and whispered in a lowered voice.

“Actually, even I don’t know stepmother’s name.”

“What?”

My voice rose slightly without me realizing it at the hard-to-believe statement.

Maybe it was one thing for me, but did it make sense that Demian didn’t know her name?

Seeing the distrust on my face, Demian insisted with a slightly troubled expression.

“It’s true.”

“……”

“Well, you know Father was always interested in strange things. Magic and all that.”

“Yes.”

“So, when Brother and I were young, Father placed curses on our bodies. Brother would know the details better, but… anyway, there were several forbidden actions and words because of it. One of them was Step-mother’s name.”

“…A curse?”

It was the first time in my life I had heard such a thing.

In an age where mages appeared in oral fairy tales more often than in history books, a curse?

But come to think of it, traces of magic remained in the Imperial Palace and in Raslet, and it was said that even Kaulm had mages until just a generation ago.

So, it was plausible that curses—a form of magic—existed.

… I just never imagined they would be this close to me.

“It’s not so serious that you need to worry. It’s all been resolved now anyway.”

Waving his hand dismissively, Demian continued his explanation.

“Anyway, since we couldn’t say it out loud back then, I eventually just forgot it. When I asked Brother about it later, he wouldn’t tell me, saying I should just live my life having forgotten it.”

Perhaps he had told me, and I had simply forgotten.

Just like I had done.

While I was retracing memories I couldn’t share with Demian due to a lack of trust, he asked:

“Shall I ask Brother for the stepmother’s name? He might tell me now, even if he wouldn’t in the past.”

It was an enticing offer.

However, it was far too simple a plan to fool Iswen. Iswen would immediately realize that Demian was asking because I had requested it.

Then, instead of telling me the name, he would surely come to find me and mock me to his heart’s content.

I shook my head at Demian.

“No. Instead…”

After listening to everything I had to say with an uncharacteristically calm attitude, Demian made a promise.

“I won’t say that you wanted to know. I’ll just casually test the waters.”

He grinned as if trying to reassure me.

“He won’t catch on. Don’t worry.”

It was a smile that looked a bit too foolish for me to trust blindly.

That afternoon, Demian went to visit his brother’s office after Iswen returned from the Imperial Palace.

He almost burst through the door out of habit, but, remembering his manners, he knocked lightly. Soon, he heard Iswen’s permission to enter.

“Brother, how are you feeling?”

When Demian offered a light greeting the moment he stepped inside, Iswen immediately furrowed his brow.

“What kind of trouble did you cause?”

“Huh?”

“If it’s something you can’t cover up on your own, don’t waste my time and just tell me.”

Only then did Demian realize his brother thought he had come seeking help for some wrongdoing. He shook his head.

“It’s not like that.”

“……”

“You just recovered, and you went out right away, so I was worried. That’s why I asked.”

Iswen leaned fully back against the headrest of his chair and stared at him blankly for a moment.

“Is that something your speech tutor taught you to say as well?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means your new speech tutor is so competent that it’s a waste for them to work only within the Empire. I suppose there was someone left in this world capable of teaching you how to converse while hiding your true intentions.”

It was a roundabout way of saying he didn’t believe for a second that Demian hadn’t done anything. Ultimately, unable to overcome his temper, Demian scowled.

“Ah, seriously! It’s not like that!”

Only then did Iswen believe him.

“Fine.”

Demian stole a glance at his brother, who was turning his attention away and preparing to work. In truth, he hadn’t come to see Iswen for no reason at all. Today, he had the mission Iella had entrusted to him…

At that moment, Iswen opened his desk drawer and frowned.

“Did you touch my desk?”