Hoping for My Death - Chapter 5 - I Like It

To where?

Randall and Sylvia blinked side by side in puzzlement.

The knights exchanged glances among themselves and pushed them out of the infirmary with determined faces.

“We will be guarding this place, so please quickly go back and rest.”

“Exactly. Today is your wedding day.”

“Don’t you know Head Maid Thelma’s personality? She’s a person who would lament that half an hour was wasted on your sacred wedding day because of such a knight, you see.”

“Please go quickly!”

Even Jeffrey chimed in.

Randall and Sylvia came out of the infirmary as if they were kicked out.

Outside the door, they blinked side by side, looked at each other once, and then looked forward again.

Outside the infirmary, there was a line of employees waiting.

As if to relieve their grievance at not being able to welcome their masters – the husband and wife – according to procedure due to Jeffrey’s injury, they stood in a line sideways.

The butler and the head maid who stood at the front of the servants bowed down politely.

“It is my pleasure meeting you, Madam. My name is Wilcott, the butler.”

“It is my pleasure meeting you. I am the head maid, Thelma, Madam.”

Wilcott and Thelma made a greeting that was perfectly in line with the etiquette and then straightened their backs.

“We are glad to meet you, Madam!”.

“We welcome you, Madam!”

Subsequently, the servants lined up in a row greeted Sylvia with loud voices without any error.

‘We did it!’

‘I did it!’

Their faces were full of pride, like a puppy asking for a ball thrown by its master and asking for praise.

Standing in front of them, Randall covered his face with both hands for a moment in embarrassment.

‘Everything is fine, but what are you all doing in front of the infirmary?’

Did they have to do this in front of the infirmary?

Couldn’t they have waited until he went alone with Sylvia……?

Somehow, there seemed to be only people in the duchy of Belfort who had exchanged a little bit of patience for naivety.

Fortunately, Sylvia smiled without being taken aback because she had seen and lived through all kinds of things.

“I am Sylvia Fleurette Belfort. Please take good care of me.”

Wilcott and Thelma looked impressed by Sylvia, who was neither arrogant nor lowered herself, but showed the attitude of an exemplary master.

However, they quickly erased any signs of emotion and stood in front of Randall and Sylvia, respectively.

“Time was delayed more than originally planned. Let us hasten.”

“Let us proceed.”

Randall and Sylvia didn’t even have time to say goodbye before they were led by their hands and dragged into separate rooms.

As Jeffrey had predicted, Thelma, the head maid, opened the door after lamenting, ‘This precious wedding day is ruined because of such a knight.’

“This is where the madam will be staying from now on. The previous Duchess also used this room.”

Sylvia looked around the room as she listened to Thelma’s explanation.

As if it was the taste of the previous Duchess, the whole room was bright and warm.

Sylvia’s gaze, thinking that it would look very tragic if she died in a room like this, was fixed on one place.

The quick-witted Thelma said quietly.

“This is a portrait of the previous ducal couple and the current duke. Now I will have a new portrait of the master and the madam painted.”

The delicate brushwork of the portrait showed a gentle-looking ducal couple and a shyly smiling young Randall.

Thelma thought that Sylvia had been distracted by Randall’s appearance and smiled fondly and said, ‘Our master was a little cute.’

In fact, Randall as a child, unlike now when he was a large beast, was so cute that she wanted to bite him.

However, Sylvia’s gaze was fixed on the faces of the previous ducal couple the whole time.

There was a look of surprise on her face.

‘These are the ducal couple?’

Although she could not tell others, Sylvia had a close relationship with the previous ducal couple.

More precisely, her in her previous life.

-You there, are you okay?

In her life just before she was born as ‘Sylvia Fleurette‘, she was a wandering fugitive.

– A, a monster!

Tired of repeated reincarnations, she constantly attempted suicide in every life even though she knew that it would not work.

The problem was that she was accidentally discovered by others.

When people saw that Sylvia, who should have died, came back to life, called her a monster and tried to catch and kill her.

At first, she wanted to get caught and be killed. But she came back to life again.

According to her original fate, it meant that it was not yet Sylvia’s time to die.

If the death was undestined, she would come back to life even after death, but the pain of dying would not disappear.

Sylvia could not bear the pain of being killed repeatedly by these people, so she escaped and was chased all the way to the north.

At that time, in a remote forest, she helped a couple who were surrounded by demons that suddenly appeared.

– P, please wait! If you tell us your name!

– Don’t tell other people that you saw me.

– Wait a minute……!

Although they were outnumbered, they were a man and woman with extraordinary swordsmanship skills.

Their outfit was shabby, but she clearly remembered their faces.

Sylvia asked Thelma just in case.

“Did the previous ducal couple enjoy going outside?”

“Oh my, how did you know? They said that it was not good for people to live in a place where blood splattered every day, and they would often go out to the suburbs. How nervous I was when they would frequently leave the escort behind.”

Thelma clicked her tongue.

With this, Sylvia was convinced that the couple she had helped in her previous life were Randall’s parents, which made her feel strange.

Her, who was trying to die.

And now, Randall Belfort became her husband.

If it was God’s prank, it was nasty, and if it was a coincidence, there was no such thing.

Sylvia shook her head, thinking that all sorts of strange things can happen after living for a long time, and headed for the bathroom.

For the first time in her life, when she dipped her overworked body into the warm water, her shoulders and waist that had been tense unknowingly relaxed.

Thelma and some other maids were busy complimenting her as they were loosening her tense muscles with their hands dipped in perfumed oil.

“You are so beautiful, Madam…….”

“Sincerely. In fact, when I first saw you, I thought you were more beautiful than a succubus.”

The maids, who were relatively young, looked at Sylvia in a daze with their cheeks dyed red.

After all, their praise was not empty words.

As people from the North, they were people who had quite frequent contacts with succubus and other demons who were said to enchant humans.

However, Sylvia’s appearance was nothing compared to that of a succubus.

Long white silver hair. Clear and transparent gold eyes. Pure white skin and features as if painted

To be honest, Sylvia was such a beauty that it was natural to be mesmerized when one first met her.

In addition, the North was a place where survival was important, so both men and women had good appearance.

In such a place, Sylvia’s body looked particularly slender.

Slender frame and dreamy appearance.

This, combined with Sylvia’s easy going personality, created a strange atmosphere.

Sylvia smiled jokingly and said to the maids:

“Shall I give it to you?”

“Oh my, Madam. You must be joking!”

“If I lived with a face like that even for a day, I wouldn’t have any other wishes.”

The maids giggled as if they had heard a funny joke and then focused on their work again.

Sylvia rolled her eyes.

‘I was serious.’

She, too, was aware of the fact that she was remarkably beautiful. She just wasn’t interested.

It was a joke she threw thinking that she would die anyway, and that it would be beneficial for someone who would live longer than her to use it.

‘Ah. No.’

Come to think of it, it seemed to be a good thing for Randall, who would spend time as a couple with her for a short time.

Sylvia decided to work a little harder to improve this appearance while she was alive for Randall’s sake.

‘But being a pervert in bed… I don’t think so.’

Sylvia had a serious face at the possibility that suddenly emerged.

Among the people she has seen in her many lives, there were people who were perfect on the outside but had perverted tendencies in bed.

Judging from Randall’s words and actions as seen by Sylvia herself, and the reputation of the servants, it was likely that this was not the case, but……

‘Well, I’ll knock him down if I have to…… After that, he won’t be able to go to bed. If I get along well with my perverted husband, it will look even weirder, won’t it?’

Oh, that might save me a lot of trouble?

Sylvia inwardly thought it would be okay for Randall to be a pervert.

If he had known, he would have wailed.

Presently, Thelma and the maids wiped the water off from Sylvia’s body and dressed her in a black silk gown.

After hearing Thelma’s concern, ‘Please understand if my master behaves like a wooden stone, he has never met a woman except for the madam,’ she came to her senses and found herself in front of the marital bedroom.

“Then we’ll go now……”

Thelma and the maids left her in front of the marital bedroom and disappeared.

Sylvia blinked her eyelids, which were heavy due to drowsiness.

The massage of the skilled servants made her whole body melt.

She wanted to collapse and fall asleep like this, her heart strongly wished to, but her goal was right in front of her nose.

‘I’ll finish it within an hour and go to sleep.’

For the first time in her life, a very weak ‘desire’ emerged from Sylvia’s eyes.

It was a sight that if Count Fleurette and his wife had known, they would have collapsed with tears in their eyes.

Without much hesitation, Sylvia opened the door and went inside.

The room was dark with only faint light from the candles.

There was a large bed in the center and a small sofa on one side.

“Randall?”

Sylvia tilted her head at the shadow looming in one corner of the sofa.

A large shadow flinched at her call.

“…… Sylvia.”

Randall was wearing the same black silk gown that Sylvia was wearing.

His solid body was glimpsed through the gaping gown in the soft candlelight.

‘Nice body.’

She thought he had a very nice body even when he was dressed in formal attire, but wearing only one thin gown like that made the outline more apparent.

Sylvia stared unknowingly at Randall’s body seen through the gown.

It was an instinctive act.

Sensing that gaze, Randall hurriedly fastened his gown with a flushed face.

And he opened his mouth seriously.

“Wife.”

“Yes.”

“That…… I need to talk to you for a moment. Would that be okay?”

“That’s okay. Why don’t we sit down and talk?”

Sylvia casually sat on the bed and gestured for the seat next to her.

Randall, who seemed to hesitate for a moment, soon sat at a distance next to Sylvia.

He took a small, deep breath.

‘You’ve been through that today, and I think it’s right to let you rest.’

Originally, it was supposed to be their first night tonight, but he was worried about Sylvia, who was attacked by demons as soon as they entered the Duchy of Belfort during the day.

Moreover, no matter how much the marriage was made at the emperor’s behest, Randall wanted to have their first night when he and she truly wanted each other, just like his late parents.

He had given up hope to protect his territory as lord, but that was a belief that Randall had not yet abandoned.

Besides, he hasn’t even cleared all his doubts yet…… It was impossible to work[1].

He chose the words in his mouth several times before opening his lips with difficulty.

“Sylvia.”

“Yes, please speak.”

“I…… No, wait. What are you doing now?”

Randall stopped talking and grabbed his collar in fright as he felt his gown slip down his shoulders.

Sylvia, who skillfully untied Randall’s gown, tilted her head with an innocent face.

“Please speak. I’ll take it off.”

“No, that, what are you trying to take off?”

“……? Clothes?”

“So why the clothes!”

“Because it’s a marital duty?”

Randall touched his forehead and groaned in pain at her nonchalant reply.

In the meantime, he said, hesitatingly stepping back toward the bedhead, avoiding Sylvia’s hands digging into his gown.

“Sylvia, wait a minute. I don’t want you to be weighed down by the word duty…… and do this kind of thing.”

“I like it.”

Randall, who was refuting her, stopped breathing in an instant.

However, taking advantage of that short moment, he was startled by Sylvia who climbed on top of him and grabbed her hand.

“Sylvia!”

“It’s late. If I waste more stamina than this, I might collapse and fall asleep. Oh my, the music played just in time.”

“No, what is this…… Wilcott!”

To make matters worse, Randall screamed at the sound of an orchestra drifting softly from outside the room.

Somehow, they said that it was ‘late’ and rushed to change their clothes, but was it for this?

Thelma and Wilcott’s faces, which by now would have been rubbing under their noses with proud faces from a distance, vividly appeared before his eyes.

TL Notes:

[1] Their marriage is what he meant.