The Strongest Magician Can Only Love His Dead Wife — After I Reincarnated, My Cute Younger Husband Turned Yandere - Chapter 11

Arsenio’s reluctance to welcome outsiders was something I knew from my past life knowledge, and it was also famous in the Southern Territory.

Therefore, Rubia left all her personal maids in the Southern Territory and came alone for her marriage. The sole maid who had accompanied her on the journey was sent back along with the carriage she arrived in, leaving Rubia completely alone here.

“That’s all the luggage.”

“Thank you. You’ve worked hard.”

After thanking the servants who had carried her luggage, Rubia sank into the sofa in her room as if to soothe her stiff body from the long journey.

The detached residence seemed to be designed to be self-sufficient.

The first floor contained a kitchen, as well as a bathroom and library. There were also rooms that appeared to be for servants.

Since she had no memory of such a building in her past life, it must have been built after Rubia’s death. The wallpaper was beautiful, and an extravagant lighting fixture hung from the ceiling, but the furniture and furnishings in the room were all modest, creating a strangely mismatched impression.

A woman claiming to be Rubia’s personal maid arrived shortly after she was shown to the detached residence. She was a stern-looking woman in her fifties with brown hair pulled tightly back and distinctive upturned eyes.

(I’ve never seen her before…)

Rubia remembered all the faces and names of the maids Arsenio had gathered for her in her past life.

But sixteen years had passed since then, so it wouldn’t be strange if new servants had been hired.

“Nice to meet you, Lady Rubia. My name is Deborah, and from today I will be serving you. I look forward to working with you.”

Though her tone was polite, Deborah’s voice carried no warmth whatsoever, enough to make even easygoing Rubia feel suffocated.

“Um, where are the other maids?”

“It’s just me,” came the matter-of-fact reply, surprising Rubia. In the Southern Territory, five or six maids were always on standby, and in her past life Arsenio had provided an adequate number of maids as well.

She had never heard of a duke’s wife having only one maid.

“You mean there’s only one maid in this mansion?”

At this, Deborah furrowed her brow before lifting one corner of her mouth in a faint smile. Her expression seemed to say, “What a foolish question.”

“No, there are eight maids in the main residence. However, they serve Viscountess Piatti and Lady Jimena.”

“Were you one of them?”

“Indeed. I came here because Lady Jimena, who felt sorry that the master hadn’t prepared even a single maid for you, ordered me to do so.”

Then Deborah added, “If you’re dissatisfied, perhaps you could appeal to Lady Jimena to negotiate for more maids.”

Rubia found Deborah’s condescending words puzzling.

However unwanted this marriage might be, could it really be true that Arsenio hadn’t prepared even one maid for his bride?

In her past life, he had never neglected Rubia.

“…Could it be that Lady Jimena is Lord Arsenio’s lover?”

“I couldn’t possibly say,” Deborah evaded, but that very evasion seemed like confirmation.

(So that’s it…!)

If that were the case, both Deborah’s disrespectful attitude and the lack of other maids made sense.

Rubia couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t exactly the proper reaction for a legal wife, but she didn’t care.

She was happy that Arsenio, who had never let anyone but Rubia get close to him, had found a lover.

“If that’s the situation, I understand. I look forward to working with you, Deborah.”

“Hah…”

Deborah gave a noncommittal response with a dubious expression, clearly not expecting this reaction from a wife who had just learned her husband had a lover.

“Right away then, my throat is dry from the long journey. Could I have something to drink?”

“…Understood.”

Deborah continued to stare at Rubia as if looking at something incomprehensible, but eventually bowed quietly and left the room.

From Deborah’s perspective, she had probably expected Rubia to get angry or upset.

But for Rubia, what mattered most was that Arsenio was living happily.

So, if she felt a little lonely knowing Arsenio had found a lover. It must just be her imagination.

—Deborah returned shortly after.

Placed on the table was a teacup containing tea so dark it was almost black.

“Please.”

Deborah offered the ominous-looking tea to Rubia with a straight face.

“What an unusual color. What kind of tea is this?”

“It’s black tea from Karnad that’s recently become popular in the royal capital. It might be an unfamiliar item for you, coming from the Southern Territory, Lady Rubia.”

Rubia was inwardly exasperated by Deborah’s condescending tone.

She didn’t know what kind of backwater Deborah thought the Southern Territory was, but it had frequent exchanges with the royal capital and other regions, with many merchants coming and going.

They certainly did business with merchants from Karnad, but she had never seen or heard of anything called black tea.

“Well then, I’ll have some.”

After taking one sip, she couldn’t help but grimace at the bitterness and astringency.

She could immediately tell this wasn’t some special black tea, but rather regular tea leaves that had been left to steep for too long.

Even Rubia, who was accustomed to miser tea, found it jarring. Someone used to normal tea might have spit it out reflexively.

But Rubia drank the entire “black tea” without complaint.

Then she smiled sweetly at the stunned Deborah.

“Thank you for the tea. …But the black tea was a bit too astringent for a ‘country girl’ like me. I’d appreciate it if you could prepare regular tea next time.”