Duke of the Beast and the Vicarious Bride - Chapter 37

Volumes 1 - 3 of DOTBATVB are available uncensored on ko-fi!

※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Warm milk seasoned with spices, potato soup, coarse bread, salted meat, pickled turnips, cheese—efforts had clearly been made to provide variety.

Yet Fiona still could not fully trust Marie, who had shown her kindness in subtle ways since yesterday.

It was not that she disliked a maid who treated her warmly, but having come to distrust everyone in the world except her sister Rose, Fiona suspected Marie too must have some ulterior motive.

For the moment, however, she needed her. Since Marie was the only person here who even pretended to be favourable toward her, Fiona had no choice but to accept her help.

Even now, this was true. Without her, she might have gone hungry this morning as well. The other maids were nowhere to be seen.

“Will you not eat?”

She might have followed her colleagues and pretended not to see, but Marie had come up alone to look after her and now stood idly by. Fiona found herself asking.

Startled, as if she had not expected such a question, Marie waved her hands.

“I have already eaten. Please, eat in peace.”

That must be it, then. Fiona nodded and began to eat. Hungry as she was, every dish tasted exceedingly pleasant.

When the meal—far more satisfying than expected—was finished, Fiona sipped the remaining milk and spoke to Marie, who still stood keeping her place.

“I do not know if you are the right person to ask, but I have no one else to turn to. Do you happen to know what I am meant to do now?”

Even as she spoke, she was doubtful. Marie could not possibly know Fiona’s daily routine. More precisely, there likely was no set routine. Still, she asked with the desperation of a drowning woman grasping at straws.

It was not that she had no desire to rest, but being confined to her room was out of the question. For Fiona, who had always lived diligently, having nothing to do felt not joyous but disquieting.

Failing to fulfil a given role and purpose meant being useless, and being useless meant the anxiety of being discarded. At the Count’s estate, she had at least spent her days in lessons preparing for marriage, but here she had not the faintest idea how she was meant to occupy herself.

Thus she had thrown out the question, more a complaint than anything, but unexpectedly, Marie had an answer.

“Ah, speaking of which, the young master left a message. He said to tell you after your meal.”

“Jayden?”

Given the manner in which he had stormed from the room yesterday, she had assumed he would not care what she did. This was unexpected.

“Yes. First, he said you may freely roam anywhere within the castle except the cellar. However, when leaving the castle grounds, you must be accompanied by a servant. He particularly instructed you not to go near the barracks or the training yard. And…”

“And?”

Marie hesitated for a moment, then continued with an awkward expression.

“He said… not to cause trouble.”

“Ha.”

As insufferable as ever, but in a way, his consistency was reassuring. His strangely erratic behaviour yesterday must have been merely a whim.

She had half expected him, in his fury, to confine her to her room for some time, but instead he was leaving her free.

He was so capricious by nature that she did not wonder why he had released her. The instruction to avoid the barracks stirred some curiosity, but she had no great complaint. What concerned her was Caligo.

The order to avoid the cellar… that must mean not to meet him, surely.

After having urged her so insistently to consummate the marriage last night, why would he forbid her from seeing him during the day?

Did Caligo remain imprisoned in that dark, damp stone chamber even during daylight? And if they had given him no torch, did that mean there was some reason he must not be exposed to light? Questions circled with no clear answers.

‘When the opportunity arises, I must find out somehow.’

Having reached this tentative conclusion, Fiona watched Marie clear the table and yawned widely.

When she had thought herself possibly confined, she had wanted to rush out immediately, but knowing she could go out whenever she wished set her mind at ease. And with that ease, accumulated fatigue came flooding back.

Feeling somewhat guilty for indulging in laziness for the first time in her life, Fiona nevertheless crawled back into bed.