Chapter 3 - Settling In

“Who are you?” Theoris ignored Jayna’s words and asked.

His voice was cold but Jayna wasn’t intimidated. “Isn’t it polite to introduce yourself first before asking others to?” she retorted.

Theoris was a man who valued manners and etiquette. He promptly responded, “I am Theoris Lee Arkana. And you are?”

“I am your wife starting today.”

“What do you…?” his voice trailed off, astonished. 

It was understandable, though. Their marriage was purely for political purposes and neither of them desired it. The emperor needed a great deal of money from the count in order to keep the aristocrats in check. 

Count Hans, who was stupid and emotional, was the right person to take advantage of. He had inherited a large fortune which his family had accumulated through generations. 

That aside, was it worth sacrificing his precious daughter like some pawn on a chessboard? The emperor had exiled Theoris, his illegitimate son with the deceased empress. It was a marriage between two unwanted bastards. This was seen as a very fitting arrangement by everyone, except for the two most concerned with it.

Jayna handed over a folded piece of paper that decreed their marriage. Theoris nodded after reading it.

“Do you get it now?” she asked.

“Yes, I’ll show you to your rooms first.”

* * *

Theoris led Jayna to her room and went back without saying a word. The room was as dirty and shabby as the hallway they had just passed to reach it. Jayna sat on the hard mattress and stomped her foot in irritation. This room was no different from her previous one at the count’s residence, except it was more spacious.

“Will I have to do the cleaning by myself here, too?” she muttered, dissatisfied. The cleaning should be left to the maids. 

Feeling stuffy, Jayna removed her dress. It fell in an unsightly heap beside her. However, there was no one to see it, so she didn’t bother herself with it anymore.

She opened the stiff window with some force and began cleaning the room. 

She opened the stiff window with some force and began cleaning the room. She brushed the dust off every nook and cranny and then proceeded to mop the floor. She chucked the dirty sheets out of the window, thinking that there might be clean ones stored away somewhere. If there weren’t, Theoris would buy them for her. He wouldn’t let his wife sleep on a bare bed, would he? 

After a bout of cleaning, Jayna opened an old closet in a corner of the room to change into suitable clothes. 

“Aaahhhhhhh! Darn it!” she suddenly shrieked and quickly retreated to the opposite wall.

“What’s the matter?” Theoris asked calmly as he walked in. Seeing Jayna in a trace, he turned his head to where she was staring.

“Excuse me.” He proceeded to close the wardrobe. Jayna ran up to him and desperately held onto his hand. Taken by surprise, he flinched. “Jayna Blake?”

“What are you doing? Can’t you see that?” Jayna pointed at the mysterious creature inside. It was a giant spider with soft fur and beady eyes, bigger than its head.

“Jayna Blake, please calm down. You’re in your underwear right now,” He reminded her.

“We’re married anyway, so it doesn’t matter if I’m wearing a crop top or underwear!” she snapped back.

“Crop top? What is that?’’

“Please do something about that instead of being curious about useless things!’’

The spider suddenly stirred, finally sensing their presence. Jayna freaked out and hid behind Theoris’s back. The latter only spared her a glance before raising his hand. Black mana rippled from it. The mana morphed into a string, coiled around the spider and threw it out of the window.

“Is it okay now?’’ he asked. Jayna nodded and sat on the floor, unable to get rid of the unsightly view of the spider from her head.

What if it had pounced on me earlier? Jayna wrapped her arms around herself, the mere sight of it giving her goosebumps.

“Jayna Blake?” Jayna detected a hint of worry in Theoris’s voice and smiled nodding.  

“I’m all right.” 

All of a sudden, she remembered that this incident was an event in the game that affected her relationship with Theoris.

I’m doomed, she thought. She shouldn’t have reacted like this. Instead, she should have approached the spider and coaxed it gently. She was supposed to take it out of the closet softly. Theoris, who happened to witness this, would start to form an attachment to her.

Jayna’s face burned red as she recalled her actions. How unsightly she must have looked as she was screaming from fear!

What else could I have done? I hate insects and amphibians. How the hell am I supposed to touch a spider and talk to it? Jayna’s head was bursting with all kinds of thoughts, trying to wrap around the situation. Skipping one of the scenes shouldn’t cause any problems, should it? My goal is a bad ending anyway.

Something warm seemed to cover her as she was lost in thought. Theoris had taken off his robe and put it around her shoulders. “Put this on first. I’ll get you something to wear in a bit.”

“Oh, thank you.”

The fact that this man who was safely guarding himself against exposure had taken off his outer robe for her, must mean that she earned herself some favorability with him. Jayna reeled in delight as she watched him retreat to fetch her clothes.

* * *

“Please wear this.” Theoris held out a folded dress for her. 

Jayna went straight into the room and changed into it warily, afraid that another insect would crawl out. Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened. She stood in front of the mirror to tidy up.

It seemed that Theoris hadn’t put much thought into picking her outfit. The dark green velvet dress did not go well with Jayna’s soft pastel pink hair. Still, it was better than the ragged dress she was wearing when she came to the duchy.

“Do the clothes fit you?”

‘’They’re a little big, but it’s okay.’’

’“I’ll have the servants tidy up this place tomorrow and order something decent for you to wear.’’

“You have servants?” Jayna asked in surprise. 

It did seem ridiculous that there were no workers to maintain the castle. That’s when she remembered a reference to maids attending to the heroine in a later part of the game.

 “Yes.”

“But why aren’t they here now?”

Theoris turned around without answering. He was about to leave the room when he suddenly thought about something.

“What did you do with your bed sheets?”

Oh, right.

“I threw them away.”

“What?”

“They were too dirty for me to lie on them.”

Jayna smiled imagining Theoris’s dumbstruck expression under the mask. Meanwhile, he went to the window to look for the sheets that were blown away by the wind.

“There are no other sheets in the castle.”

“Oh?”

“I mean, the sheet you threw away were the only ones left in the castle.”

“Oh my god.”

“Ha….”

She had no idea. How could an archduke not have any sheets left?

“Well then…” Theoris, tapping his fingers on his folded arms, sighed and continued, “You might feel uncomfortable, but please sleep in my room tonight.”

“Alright,” Jayna readily replied and followed him into his room.

Theoris’s room was as empty as Jayna’s. There was only a large bed, a desk, and books packed in a small bookcase. The room looked dreary, perhaps due to the tightly shut window covered with thick curtains.

As soon as she entered the room, the system panel popped up before her.

[Walk to the curtains.]

[Look at the bookshelf.]

[Lie down on the bed.]

None of the options displayed were a problem to her. Selecting the option with the bookshelf would give the most favorability and consequently lead to a happy ending. However, Jayna had something else in mind.

She chose the curtains. How long did he go with the window closed? The room was so damp and dusty that no one would assume it belonged to an archduke. Jayna slid open the curtains.

“Ugh.” Theoris took a step back from the pouring sunlight and groaned, shielding his face with his arms.

“Are you some kind of vampire? Please ventilate. Living in such a dark place would be enough to give anyone depression!”

“Depression?”

Right, there is no such concept in this world yet.

“That’s besides the point.”

 Jayna left both sides of the big window open. Cool air entered the stuffy room.

Outside the window, Jayna could see the sun setting. The greenery covering the horizon and the reddish sky complemented each other very well.

Theoris caught himself staring at Jayna, as if he was bewitched. He turned around abruptly.

“Where are you going?” she noticed his reaction and asked.

‘’I’ll leave so you can rest.’’

“There’s no need for that. We haven’t had a proper conversation yet, so stay with me.”

“Alright… Well, I’ll stay with you until you go to sleep.”

Theoris seated himself on the bed. Jayna walked up to him and sat beside him. Theoris flinched, as if surprised at the close proximity, but he did not show any signs of dislike.

Jayna turned around and checked the size of the bed. She said with a smile, “I remember you saying that there’s only this sheet left. Why don’t we just sleep together?”

Theoris suddenly leapt to his feet and put some distance between them.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice full of embarrassment.

Jayna watched him playfully and said with a wicked smile, “Is there a problem with a married couple sharing a bed?”

“I… refuse.”

What a sweet fellow.

Jayna wanted to tease him a bit more, but decided against it. There was a more important task at hand.

“Well then, when are we going to eat?”