SWTI 09

Chapter 9

3. Those Who Share the Same Bed

How many days had passed? For the first time in a while, I was enjoying some leisurely downtime.

I really haven’t had any time to rest lately.

“But you have your own room, so why are you staying here?”

Bella said as she set down her teacup.

I took a bite of the sweet choux pastry in front of her and raised my eyes primly.

“My room isn’t really my room.”

“What a strange thing to say.”

“I want separate rooms. There are so many rooms in this castle, and leaving them unused would be terribly wasteful.”

“……I’ve never had a daughter-in-law like you before.”

“I’m a little unique.”

Bella, who had grown somewhat accustomed to me by now, simply looked resigned.

She asked,

“Is Shubel really that uncomfortable for you?”

I thought for a moment before answering.

“Not particularly.”

As I’d said, Shubel wasn’t an uncomfortable person to live with.

He was clean, well-mannered, and capable of taking care of his own affairs…

And he’s handsome.

That was a very important point.

The fact that I could lie in the same bed with him without feeling disgusted made him an incredibly rare asset. Perhaps even a one-of-a-kind asset.

“Then I suppose you’ll get used to it gradually.”

“……”

I bit my lip tightly at Bella’s words.

I knew.

If there was nothing wrong with the other person—

Then the problem must be with me.

I discreetly lifted my teacup to hide my darkening expression.

Just then—

“Now that you’re husband and wife, try to endure a little discomfort and live together. You need to have children, after all.”

“Pfft—!”

Bella had unleashed the one piece of mother-in-law advice that every daughter-in-law in the world hated!

And it was devastatingly effective.

I choked while drinking my tea.

“You should drink more slowly.”

Although she frowned as if displeased with her clumsy daughter-in-law, she personally wiped the corner of my mouth.

“I know you’ve lived a rather free-spirited life, but now that you’ve taken the Runein name, I think it would be good for you to receive lessons in etiquette.”

“Cough, cough… What?”

“Shouldn’t we make sure people can’t look down on you? You can’t simply leave your weaknesses exposed. I’ll quietly find you a teacher.”

What she was really saying was that she was worried people would gossip about me because of my background.

I’m glad that Bella and I have already become this close, but…

No, wait. Haven’t we become too close?

Wouldn’t an aristocratic mother-in-law who had taken in a commoner daughter-in-law normally be displeased? Wouldn’t she tell me to get a divorce or something? Or tell me not to even dream of having children?!

“Th-the child… Children?”

“Yes.”

Bella looked at me as though I had just asked something completely obvious.

Cold sweat trickled down my back.

“Mother, you know, these days, newlyweds usually enjoy their sweet married life for a while, and then have children once they’re a little more mature…”

“The North is isolated, so we place great importance on tradition.”

My argument didn’t even make a dent.

“Thanks to your help, the castle’s household affairs have improved considerably. It’s all thanks to you, so I’ll tell the chef to prepare an extra-large eel—”

“I’m busy with work, so I’ll be going now!”

In the end, all I could do was flee.

After escaping from Bella, I worked on the trading-company affairs until late into the night, my mind restless.

By the time I came to my senses, the world outside the window had already been swallowed by darkness.

Rumble—

A faint purple glow flickered in the darkness.

I felt the familiar ache in my wrist that warned me rain was coming.

Let’s just go to bed.

Rainy days were among the few occasions when my mood naturally sank.

I walked through the quiet corridor where no one else was passing by.

Then something that had apparently been waiting for my mind to weaken whispered to me.

“It’s because of you.”

A hallucination.

“It’s all your fault. Even your parents’ deaths…”

Whoosh—

Rain began to fall.

My reflection in the window had a perfectly blank expression.

Streams of rain traced lines across that expressionless face.

The Elisia in the light was dazzlingly confident, someone who believed she could accomplish anything.

…Then what about the me in the darkness?

I was doing my best to act as though everything was fine, but I knew that something about me wasn’t normal.

Click.

The door opened.

Come to think of it, my bedroom wasn’t mine alone anymore.

With that belated realization, purple lightning flashed beyond the wide-open window.

A translucent white curtain fluttered like the wings of a fairy.

Through it, I could vaguely make out a man sleeping peacefully on the bed.

It was Shubel Runein.

Last summer, on a day when torrential rain poured down—

I lost my parents in a carriage accident.

It was the year I had just turned twenty.

Elisia Seton was the only daughter of the Seton family.

A precious daughter they had obtained after years of painstaking effort.

So naturally, the Seton couple cherished Elisia as though she were made of gold and jade.

Aside from being a commoner, she had truly grown up with everything.

“Social status? Who cares? If I need one, I’ll just buy it later.”

In truth, even being a commoner had never been a problem for her.

That was simply the kind of world they lived in.

A world where magical trains connected the entire continent, and enormous capitalists who transcended social status had emerged.

Most nobles in the world were less wealthy than the Setons, and Elisia was always the object of people’s envy, jealousy, and admiration.

She had been a powerful woman holding gold in her hands from the moment she was born.

“Ah, Dad, hurry!”

“You little rascal, you’re going to pull my arm off.”

“Risha, are you really that excited to see the snowy mountains? We were late because I wanted to choose the place with the best view of the aurora. If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve built the villa sooner.”

“The North doesn’t have many trains running there. When would we ever have a reason to go?”

Elisia spoke with a slightly sulky expression.

“And Dad, Mom is always busy. It’s been so long since we’ve traveled together.”

She truly had everything.

Loving parents, money that never seemed to run out no matter how much she spent, sweet words from people trying to win her favor, and the attention of the entire world.

Elisia was happy and carefree.

“Is it going to rain? The sky looks dark.”

“They say it always snows instead of raining in the North. Perhaps we’ll get snow?”

“Wow! Snow! I hope it comes soon.”

And then, that day—

Rumble—!

Elisia lost everything in the world.

It was a family trip she had begged and begged her parents to take for years.

It should have been nothing but a happy journey.

“D-Dad…?”

But the torrential rain and purple flashes illuminating the sky left Elisia unable to think clearly.

It was a carriage accident.

The North had only one train station, so reaching their villa required a long carriage ride.

If Elisia hadn’t pressured her reluctant parents into taking this family trip, would everyone have been safe?

“Mom… wake up. Please… okay?”

If transportation in the North had been more developed, would things have turned out differently?

There was no way to know.

Nothing could be known.

When the rain began to fall, her parents had a serious discussion and decided to stop at a nearby residence until the rain passed.

Her father’s voice as he shouted at the coachman remained vivid in her memory.

“Stop the carriage!”

“……”

“Hey! Can’t you hear me?!”

The sound of thunder rumbled across the sky.

The carriage raced through the rain like a runaway train that had lost its controls.

And then…

“Elisia!”

With a deafening crash, a heavy impact struck her body.

Her mother wrapped her arms around her.

When Elisia finally regained consciousness, her entire body was soaked in rain.

Along with red blood.

“…No.”

She muttered blankly.

Whoosh—

The rain poured down violently, as though trying to erase the tragedy of an entire family.

The brutal cold of the North was not something a person could endure while drenched in rain.

As her consciousness gradually faded, she desperately wished—

Just…

I wish I had died too.

That was when—

“How strange.”

A quiet voice reached her.

Someone approached with soundless footsteps.

Along the path he walked, the raindrops falling from the sky suddenly stopped in midair.

The cold blooming from his fingertips froze the moisture.

The magical domain created by the man even erased the relentless sound of the rain that had seemed so despairing.

Before long, white snowflakes fluttered around the two of them in the now-silent surroundings.

“How do you have color?”

Elisia lost consciousness.

It was her first meeting with Shubel Runein.

And one month later—

Elisia, who had disappeared in the carriage accident that had caused a sensation throughout the world, returned.

As the legitimate heir.

He sleeps in such an uncomfortable position.

Shubel had his eyes closed while sitting slightly reclined.

I watched him and fell into thought.

I had never been particularly comfortable sharing a bedroom with another person, but today was even worse.

I didn’t have the confidence to pretend everything was fine while listening to the rain outside.

Just as I was about to turn my back on him—

“Are you running away?”

A low, languid voice reached me.

I flinched and turned toward the bed.