Toxic Marriage - Chapter 10.1

Chapter 10.1

There was a moment of silence.

After confirming that there was no sound in the hallway outside the bedroom, Freya opened her mouth.

“Well, that’s…”

Freya was convinced that the only people watching her were the maids who served her meals and bathed her, and Erik.

“Remember what I said when I first met Margrave Niflheim?”

Risyr nodded.

It was natural. How could he forget Freya’s agitated voice that day?

“He’s completely insane!”

It was the first time he had heard Freya’s indignant voice since she had been conned by a wandering merchant when buying a book a few years ago.

After finally coming to her senses, she told him everything she had seen and heard that day.

Of course, Risyr was astonished. His precious young lady, whom he had long admired, was being dragged here to forcibly marry him and offer up her child as a sacrifice.

It was heinous and cruel.

“We have to run away,” he immediately said. “Cardinal Heirn will help us if we manage to get out of here and reach the homeland.”

It wasn’t a very positive option either, but Risyr believed that if it was Tyrann, he would surely protect Freya.

But she was adamant.

“It’s impossible.”

“Sorry? Why…”

“At least right now. Risyr, I’m sure you’ve noticed it too, but it’s hard to even send mail outside of this place. Even if we manage to escape, we don’t know the geography of Niflheim, so the Margrave will find us even before we leave the territory.”

“I’ll help Miss Freya escape somehow.”

“No, I don’t want to sacrifice anyone.”

After firmly dismissing his opinion, Freya let Risyr, who seemed lost in thought, out of the room and was left alone.

Even if he was an escort knight, it was strange to stay in the room of a woman who would become the margrave’s wife for a long time.

Risyr, who had been kicked out like that, kept watch over Freya’s bedroom all day without falling asleep. Seeing that the lights hadn’t gone out all night, it seemed that she couldn’t fall asleep either.

And the next morning, Freya appeared with slightly bloodshot eyes, probably because she stayed up all night.

What had she been thinking all night? Risyr’s questions deepened.

Freya had begun to cry and act depressed every day after going to the apple orchard.

After that, the servant named Erik came to see her several times, and a doctor started coming and going.

Risyr began to want to know Freya’s intentions.

Freya let out a deep breath and her eyes were so clear that it was hard to believe she had been wailing and crying for days.

“I pretended to be sad because I wanted to find out something. I wanted to see how much my needs would be met here. If it didn’t work, I was planning to escape like you had said, even if it was impossible.”

“… So you didn’t give up on running away.”

Risyr was worried that Freya might comply out of guilt about her great-great-grandmother or out of concern for what would happen after she ran away.

“Of course not. I’m not crazy. To sacrifice my child and live as the wife of someone who might kill me at any moment? Well, I’m sorry to hear about his situation, but I don’t have the slightest desire to die in vain here.”

Risyr was rather slightly impressed by Freya’s usual strong vigor.

“So, did you find out anything?”

“Oh, I guess I’m important. I even pretended to faint, and he usually listens to my requests.” Freya narrowed her eyes and stroked her chin. “That’s somewhat hopeful. We also bought some time.”

“How long until you plan to run away?”

“Hm… That’s not it.”

Freya, who had been speaking without hesitation until now, fell silent once.

“I’m talking about the time until the union with the Margrave.”

Risyr’s face turned slightly red as he listened attentively to the word ‘union’.

“Ah, ah… That’s right. Avoiding that is the most important task right now.”

Risyr had to try hard to act calm while retorting, while Freya, on the other hand, had an embarrassed look on her face but was still serious.

“If I become pregnant, my chances of escaping from this place will be significantly reduced. So it’s most important to postpone the union as much as we can.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Thinking so, Risyr was convinced that Freya was truly amazing. She must have been upset by the identity of the margrave and the shock of what her great-great-grandmother did, but she immediately found something she could do.

“The second thing I found out was how long it took from the moment I pretended to be sick and requested a doctor to when Erik brought the medicine I needed.”

Ah.

Risyr immediately understood Freya’s words this time.