I Was a Substitute

Chapter 9. Your Name Is

 

“I like the lack Your Highness has. Those who know hunger are more greedy, more relentless, more capable of anything.”

 

“I know how far my hunger is.”

 

“Well, the bigger the better, isn’t it?”

 

“…”

 

“Blush Mona Chareuteu.” (*T/N: I know it’s a weird name but that’s how his name is….*)

 

Note that the full name should have been unpleasant, but the man did not point that out.

 

He just stared at me as if he was about to devour me, and after a moment of silence, he opened his tightly closed mouth.

 

“Your name is….?”

 

The man’s face got a little closer. It was so close that I could feel his breath.

 

If I moved a little, our lips would touch.

 

I reached out and cupped the man’s cheeks.

 

The man still reminded me of a fierce beast, but he didn’t push my hands away.

 

“Simphonia.”

 

I said, staring straight into his eyes.

 

***

 

“My name is Melcy Brown, and I will be serving you for a while. Please feel free to call me Melcy.”

 

A young woman with short hair smiled.

 

She was the kind of woman who could light up the world just by being around her.

 

“Melcy?”

 

“Yes, you can call me that.”

 

She nodded, then moved closer to me.

 

She had a dress in her hand.

 

“I’ve brought you a dress, but I’m not sure if it will fit you.”

 

“Anything will be better than what I’m wearing now.”

 

I lifted the hem of my skirt to show her.

 

My dress was already stained with dried blood, and I wasn’t dressed to tolerate it at all.

 

“How reckless of you, pretty lady.”

 

Melcy grinned.

 

Her gaze landed on my neck, which was wrapped in bandages.

 

I pretended not to notice and took the dress from her hand.

 

“Would you like me to help you change?”

 

“No, I can do it myself.”

 

Some dresses could not be worn by one person, but fortunately, Melcy brought me a muslin dress with no embellishments.

 

I quickly unbuttoned the dress I was wearing.

 

“You’re very good.”

 

Melcy said as soon as I was half unbuttoned.

 

I didn’t know what she meant, so I stopped undressing and looked at her.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

I was told that the nobles of the capital wear a single dress with several servants at their side.”

 

“…”

 

Was it simply my imagination that I could feel the judgmental tone in those words?

 

I glanced at Melcy, but she was just smiling, as beautiful as ever.

 

“I was afraid I might upset the young lady by taking poor care of her.”

 

I thought I was mistaken, but that’s not possible.

 

I let out a short sigh at Melcy’s  now blatantly hostile expression.

 

Melcy was maintaining her smirk with a fair amount of enthusiasm, but I knew a woman who could smile competently enough to not compare with her.

 

“Then would you like to try it?”

 

“What?”

 

“If you’re not good at it, you can learn it until you are.”

 

Melcy’s smile wavered for a moment as I pointed to a button I had not yet undone.

 

“Didn’t you say you could wear it by yourself?”

 

“Of course I can wear it by myself, but I wanted to help Melcy.”

 

“Help me?”

 

“Because I can’t let Melcy’s shortage tarnish the honor of His Highness.”

 

I pointed at the button again and smiled.

 

“I don’t know why we’re talking about the Archduke’s honor here.”

 

“How can a master who can’t take care of a single person under him appear to have any dignity?”

 

“What…?”

 

Melcy’s eyes flickered.

 

I strode towards her.

 

“Did His Highness order you to mock me? Or is it your own judgment?”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“No. Do you even dare to ask? If you don’t answer, I can ask His Highness.”

 

I buttoned up roughly without hesitation and quickly turned around.

 

“Young lady!”

 

Melcy hastily grabbed my arm. I didn’t hide my displeasure and pushed her hand away coldly.

 

“You’ve been rude to His Highness’s guests, but you seem afraid to tell him, don’t you?”

 

I clicked my tongue, and Melcy’s face turned red.

 

Melcy smiled as she looked at me, but her smile was much different and more awkward than it was at first.

 

“There must be some misunderstanding, young lady.”

 

“I don’t know if you don’t like the fact that I’m from another place, or if there’s some other reason, but it shouldn’t be obvious, at least not while I’m a guest of His Highness.”

 

“…”

 

“You should have thought first that it was your master who ordered you to take care of me before you expressed your dissatisfaction with me.”

 

 

“I was just…………”

 

I nodded my head at Melcy, who seemed to be in a state of panic.

 

Frankly, I expected her reaction to some extent.

 

Then again, I also knew that this was not the end, only the beginning.

 

Mona Chareuteu was overly closed-minded and wary of strangers, especially resentful of capitalists.

 

So the discrimination and persecution they suffered in the past led to further prejudice.

 

“I don’t need your care, so leave now.”

 

“Young lady.”

 

“I’ll talk to His Highness.”

 

I gave up on changing my dress and quickly went outside.

 

Outside the door stood Pezzan, the gatekeeper.

 

“Are you ready?”

 

“Yes. Let’s keep going.”

 

It wasn’t long before I caught Pezzan’s gaze on my dress, which was clearly stained with blood.

 

I thought he would ask, but Pezzan just nodded honestly rather than make it obvious.

 

I liked that about him.

 

I felt from the first time I saw him that he was an avid knight.

 

“Your Highness is waiting for you inside.”

 

“I see you are not coming in with me.”

 

“…”

 

“Why?”

 

“No, nothing.”

 

I looked at his face methodically, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking from his expressionless face.

 

I quickly declared my resignation and stepped through the open door.

 

Inside was the Archduke of Mona Chareuteu, Blush, sulking with his legs crossed.

 

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting so long.”

 

“For all the waiting, I don’t see anything has changed, or is it my illusion?”

 

“The person His Highness sent to me taunted me openly, so I didn’t change.”

 

“You’re going to tell me now…?”

 

“Yes.”

 

I nodded plausibly.

 

I had no intention of putting up with the injustice and letting it happen quietly.

 

“What are you going to do with a large public mass if you can’t handle one person?”

 

“I’m just holding it in because it’s not yet a Grand Duchess.”

 

“Holding it in?”

 

 

“I’m just a guest of His Highness now. I’m just sticking to that line.”

 

I have not yet the authority as the Grand Duchess.

 

Wielding power that was not given to me at the moment only made me look “the same”.

 

“Then what will be different if you become a Grand Duchess?”

 

 

“If it does, of course I should handle it my way.”

 

“What would your way be?”

 

“I’ll show you that myself after I become the Grand Duchess.”

 

I smiled, and Blush’s brows creased.

 

Instead of showing his dissatisfaction , he simply held out the document he had prepared in front of me.

 

“It’s a Marriage Pledge.”

 

The “Pledge of Marriage” was stamped with the seal of Archduke Mona Chareuteu and Blush’s name.

 

If I wrote my name on the remaining blank space, signed it, and sent the pledge to the Temple, and we would officially become husband and wife.

 

I checked the marriage vows carefully to make sure they were in order, then placed the documents on the table again.

 

“What’s this second one?”

 

“A kind of safety device.”

 

“Safety device?”

 

“It’s just a few conditions to keep this marriage going.”

 

“In short, It’s a marriage agreement.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

Blush nodded gently.

 

“My conditions are exactly as written there.”

 

“There are five. That’s less than I thought.”

 

“Will you be able to do it?”

 

I read the document repeatedly and carefully to make sure I wouldn’t miss anything, but there wasn’t anything that would take me particularly long.

 

I shifted my gaze to Blush, who could be seen through the papers.

 

“I’m willing to fulfill your requests if you are willing to fulfill mine.”

 

“What is your request?

 

“My request is simple.”

 

I wrote what I wanted in the blank space on the paper and gave it to Blush.

 

It was more fun than I thought it would be to watch his expression change as he checked the contents.

 

“Protect all my rights and obligations as your wife.”

 

It was a simple and straightforward request.

 

A place that was completely mine, that’s all.

 

I didn’t want to remain as someone else’s substitute anymore.

 

“Well, that’s good. After all, we both should get what we want.”

 

After completing all the agreements, we shared them one by one.

 

And that was it.

 

Incredibly, our marriage ended easily.

 

If only we were allowed to marry in the temple, Blush and I would officially be husband and wife.

 

“Let’s go back to Mona Chareuteu for a casual wedding.”

 

“Yes, that would be nice.”

 

“You’re simpler than I thought.”

 

“There’s nothing to be gained by having a grand wedding, is there?”

 

“Benefits?”

 

“The wedding itself is not a bad use, but Mona Chareuteu is a little different. A big wedding wouldn’t help.”

 

The main forces within the empire only look down on Mona Chareuteu, who despises such other forces.

 

Mona Chareuteu has a new hostess. Even so, unless the bride was in good condition, the surrounding powers did not care much about her, and on the contrary, Mona Chareuteu was not supposed to be pleased with a grand duchess from the capital.

 

Under such circumstances, there was no reason to expose my existence while forcing myself to have a grand wedding.

 

“They say that most women have a romantic notion of marriage.”

 

“If I wanted to fulfill my romance, I would have built an ordinary family.”

 

This was not the kind of marriage that comes with a written agreement.

 

I smiled, not caring that the man was staring at me.

 

There was nothing sweet or romantic about the agreement I had made with Blush.

 

It only contained bleak clauses such as, if I failed to make Blush emperor, I would have to give up my life.

 

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This was not a marriage, it was a political marriage.

 

Instead of genuinely sharing our hearts, it was a business of fumbling and profit-seeking, trying to keep more by any means necessary.