Toxic Marriage - Chapter 18.1

Chapter 18.1

But Freya soon frowned.

“F*ck!”

As if she had been sincere about the short game, a harsh curse that didn’t match her appearance came out of her mouth.

Her raw gaze, unable to hold back the feeling of defeat, turned to Fenrir.

“Are you going to seal my divine power now?”

“I’ll send Erik tomorrow.”

Freya got up from her chair.

“Well, honestly, can’t you just seal my divine power without using this game as an excuse? Just as you’ve been acting however you wanted towards me.”

It seemed like she was angry that she had lost.

Freya’s anger was also a source of pleasure for Fenrir, and unaware of this fact, she showed her emotions without hesitation.

“That’s why you lost to me.”

A fire appeared in Freya’s eyes as she heard his words, but he continued to speak in a soft tone.

“Being unable to read beyond a few moves… You still haven’t realized that you’ve lost more than just your divine power in this game.”

Freya, angry at the fact that she was being belittled, quieted down.

Fenrir walked past her and headed towards the door.

“On the next full moon night, prepare for us to have our union.”

***

Freya spent some time panting before falling asleep that night.

Although she pretended to be humble, she was confident in her skills because she often played chess with Tyrann. She thought she had a chance even if her opponent was a man who had lived for over 100 years and could be the grandfather of her grandfather.

But he could read through all her moves, and she couldn’t help but feel like she was being mocked. It wasn’t a close game at all. She realized that fact clearly when she lost.

Because of that, her anger didn’t subside easily. How long had it been since she had been so mercilessly beaten? Was it when she was full of confidence and came at Tyrann in the first month she played chess?

Still, Freya took comfort in the fact that she had nothing to lose even though she had lost the bet.

It would be better if her divine power were sealed, because then, she wouldn’t have to use it here.

Of course, just because it was sealed, it didn’t mean that it wouldn’t react to the margrave’s power of evilness. It would be better if it disappeared without leaving a single trace behind so that she didn’t get played by his strange tricks.

“You seem to want to win.”

But the moment she recalled his strange tricks, she recalled his languid voice as he said that and the heated atmosphere at that time, causing Freya’s cheeks to heat up.

The gaze she felt was really blatant.

‘Why was he staring at me like that?’

Lying blankly on the bed, Freya stared at the ceiling as if to cool down her heated face. His unpleasant words, left behind by a sense of defeat, lingered in her ears.

“Being unable to read beyond a few moves… You still haven’t realized that you’ve lost more than just your divine power in this game.”

She wondered what she had missed.

No matter how hard she racked her brain, all that remained in Freya’s mind was Fenrir’s gaze, which she wanted to shake off, and the chess game she previously thought was fierce.

He told her not to reveal her weaknesses, but he wouldn’t know her weaknesses just from playing chess. Unless he could really read her mind.

Freya closed her eyes in frustration.

Fifteen days. Since the date she had anticipated had been set, she had to hurry with her plans starting tomorrow.

***

The next day, there was a lot of commotion in Freya’s room.

“I don’t want to,” Freya said, crossing her arms tightly.

“I don’t want to, either. I mean, Lady.”

“You have to do it even if you don’t want to. That’s your job.”

“My job is to serve my master, not Lady Freya.”

For the first time in a while, Freya had a tense confrontation with Erik.

“Then, you should have let me bring more people from my side. You only allowed one person. I can’t ask Risyr, an escort knight, to cook a delicious meal or make a pretty dress.”

Erik lost the upper hand for a moment at Freya’s point of view.

“… Don’t you know the situation here? This is a ceasefire zone. It’s impossible to have too many outsiders staying here for useless reasons.”

“Lies. It’s not because it’s a ceasefire zone, it’s because you’re trying to hide the Margrave’s secret.”

Freya, who was sharply sarcastic, seemed to have no intention of backing down.

“Anyway, the tailor you called has no sense at all, so I can’t entrust him with my clothes. Please call another one. Didn’t you say there’s a big city nearby?”

“To get to Puolica, you need to leave Niflheim. It’s already difficult to bring someone from outside the castle, so how can we bring someone from outside the territory?”

“You made me skip my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a wedding and wear a wedding dress, so I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request to bring in a skilled tailor.”

Erik was speechless for a moment when Freya mentioned the wedding.