My Husband Picked Up a Woman - Chapter 7

“Yes. I see.”

Briseis felt a strange sensation as she spoke. In the original story, Delilah was a genius. From what Briseis had observed, Calisten was much the same: a natural-born talent.

In the original novel, Calisten had repeatedly lost the top rank to Delilah. Now, Briseis was not particularly thrilled to find herself placed below two such people. She had grown up taking lessons with Calisten, so she could accept his brilliance, but Delilah’s sudden arrival was another matter entirely.

It was horrifying to remember how the original Briseis had been compared to Delilah in every single class. As the villainess, Briseis was merely a plot device used to highlight Delilah’s wisdom. Her own perceived ignorance, spite, and malice served as a direct contrast to Delilah’s virtuous character.

“I prefer a submissive woman over a brilliant one,” Damian remarked.

“What if she is both brilliant and submissive?” Delilah asked, her eyes curving downward.

Damian stroked her hair as if she were adorable. “That would be fine as well.”

Briseis made eye contact with Damian. He let out a short, mocking laugh.

“Then again, a woman only really needs to be beautiful.”

“Then I shall have to work harder,” Delilah said, “To be both beautiful and brilliant.”

“You have such a lovely way with words, Deli.”

Delilah looked at Damian with an ecstatic expression. Briseis purposely focused on preparing for her third-period lesson, trying to ignore their conversation.

After an agonizingly long day, the time finally came to leave the Academy.

“I shall see you at the victory parade this evening.”

Damian was supposed to accompany Briseis to the parade, but he announced he would be going ahead without her.

“I need to buy Deli some clothes first.”

“…”

“It seems wearing someone else’s clothes is a bit large for her. Deli has such an elegant frame, after all.”

Having casually insulted Briseis, Damian led Delilah out of the classroom. Briseis sighed and lowered her gaze. Seeing Delilah look back with a mocking smirk and a wave before disappearing made her heart turn cold.

“I, well, I still think Brie is much better,” Saturn said.

The tactless Saturn spoke the moment Damian and Delilah were out of sight.

“Right, Evice?”

“Yeah. My taste is more toward this side, too.”

Saturn and Evice were identical twins, so their voices were nearly indistinguishable. Despite their different personalities, they looked so much alike that no one could deny their kinship.

“Thank you for saying so.”

Given the constant criticism she had faced recently, Briseis felt strange, wondering if she really was as unworthy as they said.

“It is not just talk. Brie, you really are much prettier.”

“There is no point in empty flattery. I mean it, Brie.”

Ronald, a gossipy student who had been watching the exchange, chimed in. Despite being from a Count’s family, he was quite coarse and reckless with his words, regardless of his high academic standing.

“We only stayed quiet because Damian was keeping her close, but what’s so great about a commoner? She looks like a scrawny, plain country bumpkin.”

Briseis had been too distracted by her own situation to notice, but the others were not exactly fond of Delilah.

Wilhelm Academy was famous for having the most difficult entrance exam in the Empire. It provided the finest education on the continent, leading even friendly neighboring nations to send their children there. Even students from hostile regions would sometimes forge their identities just to gain admission.

No one was happy to see Delilah enter such a prestigious school without even sitting for an exam, simply because of a wartime merit. Furthermore, the classes were strictly divided by rank. Class 1 consisted of the top twenty students: highly competitive and proud individuals. Naturally, a quiet resentment toward Delilah was growing.

That resentment was currently suppressed by their fear of Grand Duke Damian.

“I was excited for a new female student, but why is she a courtesan?”

“Hey, even a courtesan needs some culture. She lived as a total commoner; how can you compare the two?”

As the students snickered and prepared to leave, a voice cut through the air.

“So, this is the kind of agitation you’ve been stirring up?”

Damian had been listening by the door and stepped back in. Delilah stood behind him.

“Brie.”

“Damian.”

Briseis hadn’t said a single word, yet Damian glared at her as if she were the sole culprit.

“This is exactly why my heart goes to Deli. Because of that disgusting mask of yours.”

“That is going too far.”

“It is true. Brie, you are beautiful, that much is a fact. But what does it matter when your heart is a sewer?”

“Damian.”

Briseis clenched her fists, feeling a mixture of shock and profound humiliation at his insults.

“I am going to the victory parade with Deli today. You can find another partner, or simply don’t come at all.”

In reality, it was expected for a married couple to attend official events together. Yet Damian was declaring that he would take his mistress to an Imperial event instead of his wife.

“Let’s go, Deli.”

“Sniff, Demi.”

“Don’t cry.”

Delilah took Damian’s hand, sobbing softly. As she was led out, she stole a fleeting, triumphant smile at Briseis.

In the ruined atmosphere of the classroom, the remaining students sighed and offered Briseis apologetic pats on the shoulder before trickling out one by one.

❖ ❖ ❖

Briseis had no desire to attend the parade anyway. Today was July 7th. It was the anniversary of the death of her younger brother, Gael Philia.

The House of Philia originally had four sons and one daughter. Briseis’s three older brothers were all ill-tempered and much older than her. The Marchioness of Philia had grown weary of giving birth to nothing but sons and had desperately longed for a daughter. Her frail personality made her loathe the boorish behavior of her sons.

Briseis and Gael were the result of that longing. As fraternal twins, Briseis was technically the older sister, and Gael was the younger brother.

“Sister, they say I have to be deployed if I want to enter the Academy.”

“It doesn’t have to be Wilhelm Academy. You are much better suited to be an administrator than a swordsman.”

“But I want to be good with a sword, too. Anyone can be an administrator.”

“Gael.”

“And with my current skills, Wilhelm Academy is out of reach. If I’m going to study halfway, I’d rather do what I want to do.”

Gael had a talent for academics, but not for knighthood. He had taken up the sword under the pretext of entering Wilhelm Academy. Since there were already three sturdy adult men in the House of Philia, his rebellious behavior was tolerated. The family had even agreed to let him build military merit to supplement his entrance scores. No one in the Philia family had ever failed to graduate from Wilhelm Academy. They simply thought Gael was taking a detour because he lacked a bit of talent.

“Lilies, please.”

“Ah, yes. It has been a while, Your Grace.”

“Yes.”

Briseis forced a smile to keep from drowning in her thoughts. She had come to buy flowers while still wearing her white Academy uniform.

“Charge it to the House of Philia.”

“Yes, certainly. Have a pleasant day.”

“You too.”

She headed toward the place where Gael’s grave lay. He had died on July 7th of the previous year. Had he returned from that war, he would have entered the Academy safely. But with just one deployment’s worth of points left, he had lost his life.

Briseis felt a constant ache in her chest, fueled by the guilt that she could have done more to prevent his death. In the original story, her brother Gael was one of the secondary male leads. But in this reality, he had died without ever meeting Delilah.

Believing it was her fault for changing the original story, Briseis observed Gael’s anniversary alone. The House of Philia considered Gael’s death on the battlefield a disgrace and had never once visited him on this day. Even his funeral had been treated as a source of shame.

Briseis brushed away her thoughts and walked quickly toward her brother’s headstone. Beside the stone engraved with Gael’s name, a bouquet of lilies had already been placed.

“Sniff.”

Someone was already crying. Briseis didn’t know who he was, but it seemed he had come to see the same person. She silently placed her own lilies on Gael’s grave.

They stood in silence for a while. Suddenly, she felt as if she had seen a description of this weeping man somewhere before.

Bright silver hair and grey eyes. He wore the attire of a knight who had recently returned from a battlefield. His armor was quite worn and dented, with dried blood clinging to various spots.

In that moment, she realized who he was.

“Are you, perhaps, Gael’s older sister?”

He was Cassius Rosephel: one of the secondary male leads from the original story, a devoted man who would revive his family for Delilah and eventually die in her place.