“Count Green’s family has come to visit?”
While Lisi was changing her clothes, Crishina informed her that Jen had arrived. Lisi’s heart dropped.
Her husband’s family.
In her previous life, her relationship with Baron Huchis’s family had been dreadful. She did not have a single good memory of her parents in law. Compared to them, even the Whitlow Ducal House had felt comfortable.
They seemed to believe that Lisi, who was not worthy of it, had seduced their brilliant and remarkable son into marrying her.
Alford’s older sister Julianne was the wife of Count Walter, and she was a woman whose behavior inside and outside the house was completely different. Outside she was the refined and gentle Countess Walter. Inside she was irritable and cruel.
Every time Julianne visited Alford’s estate, she inspected the house from top to bottom. While Julianne examined every corner, Lisi had to follow behind her quietly like a maid.
Even though cleaning the estate was not Lisi’s responsibility, if Julianne found even a single speck of dust on a window frame, she blamed Lisi.
“You call yourself the lady of the house, yet you cannot even manage something like this properly? You spent your whole life being treated like a flower at the Whitlow Ducal House, so you never learned anything like this, did you? You lack the most basic discipline.”
Then she would order a maid to bring a switch.
“If you did something wrong, you must be punished.”
The sharp sting of the thin switch striking her calves flashed through Lisi’s memory as vividly as if it had happened yesterday.
Red lines would appear on her delicate white skin, and sometimes the skin would split and bleed.
Blood running down her calves.
Julianne had not been startled by the sight. Instead she had smiled faintly, as though that was exactly what she had wanted.
Even when he saw the swollen welts on Lisi’s legs, Alford had taken Julianne’s side.
“My sister values proper etiquette. You were not taught much, were you? They call you the Flower of the Whitlow Ducal House, but… if I had known you were treated like that there, I never would have married you. Be grateful that I did not throw you away.”
Her parents in law had been no better.
Lisi closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing.
“That is all in the past. It will not happen this time.”
She had not even thought about the fact that Kay had a family as well.
Just as Count Kayvrant Green, the guardian of the sacred relics, was famous, his family was also well known.
The former count Wyvern Green and his wife Hereina.
The second son of the Green family, Eldhert, vice commander of the Holy Knight Order of the Holy Kingdom.
And the youngest child, Jeresien.
As far as Lisi knew, Jeresien did not attend social gatherings often, yet she was someone everyone wanted to befriend.
“Jeresien…”
In her previous life, Lisi had seen Jeresien once or twice at parties. But only from a distance. They had never spoken.
“She seemed cold…”
Even though it was her “previous life,” for Lisi it had happened barely a month ago.
Right before her death, Julianne had beaten her again because she could not bear a child. The trauma surrounding “her husband’s family” still lingered.
She did not show it outwardly, but her heart was pounding so hard that even her temples throbbed.
“Lady Iris, are you alright? Your complexion does not look good…”
Lisi stared blankly at Crishina’s face like someone waking from a dream before finally regaining her senses.
“That is right. I am neither Iris Whitlow nor Iris Huchis. I am Iris Green.”
Iris Whitlow and Iris Huchis had endured unfair beatings in silence.
But Iris Green was different.
“You must still be exhausted from the journey. Should I call a physician?”
Crishina’s eyes were filled with concern.
Over Crishina’s shoulder, Lisi noticed Gillette curling her lips as if saying, A physician? She is just pretending to be weak.
Erwell was glaring at Gillette with a look that seemed to say, Should I just kill her?
Lisi decided she must have misunderstood.
After all, the daughter of the famous Lutek family could not possibly be thinking something so violent.
“I am fine. The weather is just a little warm.”
“You should not overexert yourself, Lady Iris. You will be dining with Lady Jeresien this evening… and Lady Jeresien is a little…”
Crishina trailed off before adding,
“Even the Count’s guards become nervous in front of Lady Jeresien.”
Erwell nodded vigorously in agreement.
If she could have avoided it, Lisi would have preferred to avoid the meeting as well. But she could not avoid Kay’s family forever.
“And besides…”
While drifting through death, Lisi had seen Kay’s family die.
His parents, his younger brother, and his younger sister had not lived peaceful lives until old age.
“I do not know exactly when it happens…”
If the scenes she had seen in death truly belonged to the future, then she had to change whatever she could.
“For now.”
Lisi cast aside her fear and regained her composure.
“I will judge them myself first.”
+++
Kay also knew that marriage was not something that could be handled entirely on one’s own.
Even though marriages based on love were becoming fashionable, he understood perfectly well that marriage was still an important matter between families.
However.
“I completely forgot.”
Kay answered firmly when Jamie asked whether he had at least informed the old count and countess of his marriage.
Jamie stared at him in disbelief before speaking.
“If the captain is this absent minded, that makes things even harder for me.”
“Sorry, sorry. But really… I completely forgot.”
“How is that even possible?”
“That is a good question…”
Kay himself did not know.
Since the day Lisi had appeared wearing a hood, his thoughts had been filled almost entirely with her.
What was Lisi’s true identity?
Why did she feel so strangely mysterious?
Why did she sometimes seem so fragile even while showing such arrogance and strength?
When would she finally open her heart to him?
What would she look like when she became flushed with passion?
What would she be like in bed?
What would their first night be like?
His mind had been so full of these chaotic thoughts that informing his family of the marriage had never even occurred to him.
“Jen aside… do you think the old count and the countess will remain calm when they hear about this?”
“Hm. That is troublesome.”
“Troublesome is an understatement.”
Jamie smiled while speaking through clenched teeth.
“I suppose I should talk to Jen first.”
Kay knew very well how fierce his younger sister’s temperament was, so he intended to appease her first.
“That will not work. Sit down, captain.”
Jamie pointed at a chair with his index finger.
“Sometimes I get confused about whether you are the captain or I am. Do you know what Jen said?”
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘I do not want to see the face of an older brother who carries his head purely as decoration, so call me when it is time for dinner.’”
“….”
“…That is what she said.”
“She is already grown. Why does she still talk like that…”
“Well, can you blame her?”
Kay closed his mouth.
He could easily imagine how much Jen must have tormented the shadow guards while he was gone. He had no excuse.
“Until dinner time, write a letter to the old count,” Jamie continued. “If you tell them about the marriage now, you might still qualify as a dutiful son.”
+++
“I am sorry you ended up having dinner with my sister without any notice, Lisi. Ah, that dress suits you.”
Kay said this when he came to escort Lisi before dinner.
Lisi was wearing a deep wine colored dress that was not flashy but elegant.
“There is no need to apologize. You did not know either.”
Lisi lightly placed her hand on Kay’s arm as they walked down the corridor.
“There is something I should tell you in advance.”
“Go ahead.”
“I have two siblings. The one who came today is my younger sister. She is the youngest in our family.”
“I see.”
“So she can be a bit immature… and her personality is a little… how should I put it…”
“She is a complete menace.”
The voice came from behind them.
Nathan had appeared without them noticing and was walking behind the two of them.
Every time Lisi saw Nathan, she almost mistook him for a woman. He had a similar build to hers, a pale and pretty face, and slightly long pale blond hair.
Nathan brushed his hair back with one hand and added,
“I will join dinner too, captain. I have no idea what that menace might say to sister in law.”
Even though Nathan had just called his own sister “a menace,” Kay did not correct him.
Lisi remembered that Kay’s relationship with his shadow guards was not the typical relationship between a noble and his knights.
As far as Lisi knew, Kay’s shadows were practically family to him.
“That would be a good idea.”
Kay nodded.
The anxiety Lisi had barely suppressed began to rise again.
Just what kind of personality did Jeresien have that everyone was so worried about what rude things she might say?
“Sister in law.”
Nathan quickly stepped beside Lisi.
“Whatever Jeresien says, just let it go in one ear and out the other. Nothing she says is worth taking seriously.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. She really… has no ability to soften what she says.”
Lisi smiled faintly.
Nathan tilted his head.
“Why are you smiling?”
“You seem the same, Nathan.”
Nathan grinned, showing his neat teeth.
“You are no less formidable yourself, sister in law.”
When Nathan smiled, he looked even more like a woman.
“Anyway, sister in law. Just ignore the unpleasant things and only listen to the pleasant ones. Jen has that sort of personality too, so she will not complain if you do that. And if she does, I will kick her.”
“Kick her… but she is a lady.”
“A lady? Jeresien?”
Nathan’s eyes widened as he looked at Kay as if to say, Listen to what our sister in law is saying.
Kay replied calmly.
“Lisi. Jeresien is less of a lady and more of a warrior.”
+++
Jen had arrived first at the dining hall where dinner was to be held.
She sat at one end of the long table and turned her head when the door opened.
Lisi entered the dining hall slowly with her hand resting on Kay’s arm.
Nathan walked beside her on the left.
Jen did not seem particularly bothered that Nathan had come along as well.
Kay headed toward the seat of honor, and Lisi stopped opposite Jen.
Jen stared silently at Lisi before turning to Kay.
“Shall we switch seats?”
“What?”
“You think you are so important that you take the seat of honor? Today your wife is the main guest, is she not?”
The unexpected remark made Lisi’s eyes widen.
Kay looked just as surprised.
“Ah, that is true.”
Kay answered readily and switched seats with Lisi.
Lisi had never once sat in the seat of honor before, so she walked there with an awkward feeling.
As she stood beside the chair, Jen rose from her seat.
“This is—”
Kay began to introduce them, but Jen raised her index finger and stopped him.
“I want to hear your wife’s voice, not yours.”
Lisi was confused.
What exactly did Jen want?
Was this some new form of harassment?
Jen raised one eyebrow at Lisi as if telling her to introduce herself.
Lisi decided she had nothing to lose by doing what Jen wanted.
“Nice to meet you. I am Iris Green. I recently registered my marriage with Kayvrant Green, Lady Jeresien’s older brother. Before that I was Iris Whitlow.”
“I am Jeresien Green. Just call me Jen.”
Jen said this expressionlessly.
Then she added,
“May I call you sister in law?”
This time Jen’s expression changed.
The older sister in law looked like a dog waiting eagerly for someone to throw a ball.