"Ah… "
Euphemia held her breath and fidgeted when the owner of those crimson red eyes stretched his hand toward her.
"... "
But as if to prove her fears were unwarranted, Ferzen locked the door behind her and directed his inebriated body to the large bed.
"Stop daydreaming and come here."
In fact, Euphemia would prefer sleeping on the cold floor alone instead of sharing a bed with that man. Still, as if to mock her, he wouldn't allow that, so Euphemia slowly approached the bed and lay with her back turned to him.
"Euphemia El Lauren Louerg"
"What…?"
"Get up."
Of course, it was foolish of her to expect him to just lay on the bed and sleep peacefully…
Hearing Ferzen's commanding tone, Euphemia curled up and held the duvet tightly with her small palms.
"Ah!"
As if mocking her meaningless resistance, Ferzen grabbed her, forcibly lifted Euphemia's torso, and spoke to her in a furious tone.
"Align your pillow properly."
With the help of ❰Digitization❱, Ferzen carefully and perfectly aligned the pillow, then laid her body down as he hugged Euphemia's waist with a relaxed face.
"Don't touch me…!"
Despite Euphemia's fair appearance, she could naturally resist Ferzen's arms, even with Ferzen's arms being several times thicker than her.
However, the traces of last night's affair, where Ferzen violated her, still lingered on her haggard body, so Euphemia twisted and turned her body while gasping for breath as a sign of protest.
"Stay still."
"Ah, Bastard!"
Euphemia trembled, cursed, and shed faint tears, as she tightly held Ferzen's hand that was gripping her bosom without any consideration for her.
"Do you even know how much trouble I went through so that you could have your fill? Now you will have to bear with this."
'I have no clue what you're talking about…'
Euphemia, who couldn't understand the meaning of those words, chose to remain silent as if not to provoke him.
And Ferzen, who at this time was annoyed and didn't want to understand her plight, buried his head on her neck as he breathed her scent and slowly and gently caressed her body as if he was dealing with an expensive set of pottery.
For Ferzen, Euphemia was akin to a natural grassland and obviously people tend to feel at ease when they see the fresh green color of nature.
Ferzen soon fell asleep, as he sobered up a bit, coupled with the strain of overusing his mana and the stress caused by suppressing his Obsessive-compulsive impulses were slowly relieved by Euphemia's presence.
* * * * *
For a moment, Euphemia wanted to escape, but after thinking about what that man in his inebriated state would do to her…. Euphemia quickly discarded those thoughts as she heaved a deep sigh.
"Ugh."
Ferzen moved his hand and gently brushed past her navel, causing her breath to hasten at those movements.
Euphemia trembled, disgusted at this unfamiliar sensation; she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, feeling pathetic about how her body reacted to that man's every action.
The following morning, when Euphemia woke up, she saw Ferzen still dealing with his hangover, tidying his attire to perfection while frowning.
"Ah, you are finally awake?"
"... "
They weren't intimate enough to exchange morning greetings, so Euphemia nodded.
"I informed the servants to serve breakfast here. After we are done eating, clean yourself up, and we immediately depart for Brutein."
"I see…"
After speaking her piece, Euphemia turned her head as she gazed outside the window.
The rainstorm outside made her a little uncomfortable.
As she was gazing out the window, trying to clear her mind, the servants arrived and brought her breakfast, but the sheer quantity of it was astounding….
"What?"
"Isn't this a little too much? "
"You seem to have a huge appetite, so I informed them to bring more."
"..."
As a country bumpkin, Ferzen's words might have sounded sweet, but as a woman, they weren't pleasant to hear, but looking back at her actions the night before… It was so frustrating that she began to eat without any objection.
After that, Euphemia, who simply ate her fill and finished taking a bath, said goodbye to the Baron and got into the carriage, following Ferzen.
"When we arrive at Brutein, I will introduce you to a skilled tailor. Until then, bare with those filthy clothes. That northern aesthetic sense is too focused on practicality and-"
"It's not filthy…!"
"... "
Seeing Euphemia lashing even though he had not finished speaking, Ferzen gazed at her with a vacant look and said,
"It is filthy. I can see stitching marks all over it, and what's this yellowish stain on a white dress?"
"This…!"
"Sigh. I know you didn't have enough money to buy proper clothes. But Euphemia, I would be disappointed if you genuinely think there's nothing wrong with your clothes. They look ragged."
"... "
"Those who don't even realize whether filthy things are vile, those who don't know whether foolish things are moronic, those who don't know whether hideous things are repulsive… those who lack even this basic awareness are called lowlives."
The sound of rain pouring down played a constant tune inside the carriage, mixed with Ferzen's voice, dug into Euphemia's ears repeatedly.
'I thought I had lived my life without ever being ashamed of who I am.'
Why must my life, my honor, shatter devastatingly at his heel without any resistance?
Euphemia clenched her teeth and raised her head.
"I won't deny the fact that I'm lowly, but isn't it a problem of your knowledge and insight that you chose to accept me as your wife, when you could have possibly rejected me if you wanted to…"
"Don't further shame yourself, trying to protect this petty self-pride you are still clinging on to. It only makes you seem repulsive."
As if a puppet with its strings cut, Euphemia finally lowered her head at his words that seemed to put an end to everything.
* * * * *
'My head is killing me.'
Even with Ferzen's ego being wholly assimilated into Seo-jin's own, it is notable that Seo-jin's ego has a predominant influence on his actions.
For example, Seo-jin's ego significantly changed Ferzen's morals and ethics as he is a modern person and had no contact with anything related to aristocratic etiquettes and mannerisms, including 'Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.'
Truthfully, even now, the barrier that divides the two is getting increasingly vague as time goes by.
Actually, I feel compelled to apologize to Euphemia in some way for the previous conversation and improve our relationship. Still, in reality, I don't feel sorry for my actions.
As a noble, why should I apologize when I only lectured my lowly wife about her shortcomings?
Of course, 'he' would think like this.
For this reason, I remained silent, because even if I tried to give some sort of comfort to make Euphemia feel a little better, eventually I would only spurt more hateful things, making the whole drama even worse than it already is.
–drip-drop!
The carriage continues to forge ahead through the cloudburst.
* * * * *
⸄༺ Central – Brutein ༻⸅
The people have a nickname for this place. They call it the capital of ores and minerals.
That is because there are many mines in which various ores were discovered. Since there are as many as six-iron mines here, it's safe to say that Brutein could end or start wars just by controlling the prices of its iron imports.
In metalworking, Brutein is second to none.
A skilled blacksmith in Brutein earns enough money to close the shop for a month or two with just six or seven orders.
"You seem to be staring at me for a while now. Is there something you want to say?"
"No… "
During the time it took to reach Brutein, Euphemia seemed to have become quite familiar with this land.
To be exact, it seems she has decided to resign to her fate.
So, after leaving Baron Roberson's state, we had a peaceful ride with no unfortunate bumps.
"I have some business to attend to now, so I will give you a tour of Brutein in the afternoon. It must have been suffocating staying in this carriage for so long."
"If you are busy… just leave me be. I can look around by myself. It's fine. You don't need to worry about it."
"Euphemia, the only time you can refuse me is when you are ill. Still, I can overlook this remark. In return, you'll just need to stay in the same room while I attend to my business. You are my wife now, so you can enjoy everything Brutein has to…."
"Ah no!"
"Express yourself properly, Euphemia."
It wouldn't have mattered if she hadn't shown her dislike of being in my company. Maybe she's too immature to hide her emotions, or is Ferzen's body naturally perceptive?
"I'll go with you… together.. I.. I want to tour around Brutein with you."
"Good, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
As if praising a dog for a well-done task, I stretched my hand and patted Euphemia's head.
Even though we didn't have any physical contact in the carriage, I felt that her resistance to my touch had been significantly lowered, perhaps due to our night at the Baron's mansion.
And I was pleased with this development, as my efforts are producing results little by little.
–Creak!
The carriage came to a halt at our destination.
-Thud!
Right as the carriage door opened, we were greeted by Chris, the head butler of the Brutein household, with his characteristic smile.
Chris is one of the few people who Ferzen got along with.
"Welcome back, my Lord."
Because he was bald, Ferzen didn't need to care about symmetry when looking at him.
"Is my brother here?"
"Yes. The master is in his office room."
"Then I'll leave Euphemia in your care."
"With pleasure, my Lord."
I entered the mansion, walked straight to the office, knocked twice, and waited patiently.
Before leaving for the North to secure Euphemia, Ferzen had made a special request to his older brother and current head of Brutein family.
Soon, a familiar yet outlandish voice said, "You may enter." As I turned the doorknob and went inside.
"It's been a long time. Younger brother."
"Hmm, it has been."
As the sibling pair appeared to have a normal conversation, Jeremia, Ferzen's older brother and the current head of the Brutein family, had his back turned to Ferzen.
Because Ferzen once almost killed his brother when he was a child because of his obsession with symmetry.
"I know it's fine now, but I still don't have the courage to face you, so please understand."
"You don't have to ask me to understand."
Jeremia is 'Odd-Eyed'.
So, as a child, Ferzen tried to gouge Jeremia's eyes out with a knife several times. For that reason, Ferzen was imprisoned for nearly half a year.
There is no problem now because, during Ferzen's imprisonment, the blue color on Jeremiah's right eye has darkened enough to harmonize with his red eye on the left.
Knowing Ferzen, even if he succeeded in gouging out the pale blue eye back then, which was asymmetrical with its red left eye, Ferzen would have probably even tried to dig the other one, too, with the logic that having only one eye was not symmetrical.
"So the corpse of Isabel Ron Pierre Genova..."
"Relax, we succeeded in winning the bid. There's no way Brutein would ever lose in a battle of wealth."
Isabel Ron Pierre Genova.
An infamous assassin and an upper-tier Apollyon-class Elemental Wizard.
Exactly 24 years ago, before Ferzen was even born, she was captured and executed, and her body was kept in the Imperial Palace's vault.
And the Genova Family was wiped out just because a witch named Isabel was born from that family.
"That's a relief."
The Imperial Family put Isabel's corpse up for an auction. Still, the timing coincided with his travel to the north, so Ferzen asked his brother, Jeremia, to represent him.
As an Apollyon-class Elemental Wizard, her body's value was already through the roof, but Ferzen was even more interested in this body because, at her time, she was an elemental wizard capable of transforming her mana into an electric current.
In general, spells can be broken or deconstructed, but the speed of lighting is something that no human can register and process.
Interference is necessary to dismantle a spell, but if there's no time for the opponent to interfere, then it's best to prepare defenses to counter the spell.
For this exact reason, being able to transform magic into lightning is a heavenly gift for Elemental Wizards.
"But... "
"Are there any problems?"
"I don't think it's a huge deal, but the youngest daughter of Viscount Rosenberg raised twice the value of the winning bid, so she asked for a direct transaction."
"They wanted to compete with Brutein in terms of wealth?."
⸄༺ Rosenberg ༻⸅
A sanctuary of culture and art.
The place where Brutein's artistry was reduced to second-rate.
Granted Rosenberg, is an artistic and cultural nexus, and is not a place that lacks wealth. However, they still can't compete with Brutein in sheer economic strength.
To begin with, to appear well in front of the Imperial family, I deliberately recruited other noble families, and asked them to gather information, then pay the Imperial family a hefty sum to secure that corpse.
"Of course, they said they would split the payment."
"I'm not interested."
"And… If you refuse, they requested me to tell you this."
"?"
"'I challenge you to a fair duel in black magic.'"
I thought what's this bullshit, but soon I recalled a memory from 4 years ago.
At that time, Ferzen used to duel in order to quickly increase his reputation as a warlock.
So, Ferzen said that if there was anyone who could defeat him in a fair duel using black magic, he would grant the winner a request in the name of Brutein, and that's probably what this person is after.
"Imbecile."
If nothing else happens, this Viscount's daughter will enter the Imperial Academy, and she will take classes from me, who will become a professor of black magic.
"Is she here now?"
When a future student, whom I had never seen before, had the guts to challenge me to a duel, it's only proper that I meet with her right away.