The Strongest Magician Can Only Love His Dead Wife — After I Reincarnated, My Cute Younger Husband Turned Yandere - Chapter 12

Deborah’s “welcome” didn’t end there.

“Dinner is served from six o’clock. Lady Jimena insisted on welcoming you, so please come to the main house dining room today.”

Upon receiving this message, I went to the main house at the appointed time, but the dining room was empty with no signs of meal preparations.

When I stopped a maid passing through the hallway and asked, she told me dinner was always served from seven.

“Um… Did Deborah tell you that?”

The innocent-looking maid with distinctive bright orange hair carefully glanced around before whispering to Rubia. Her expression seemed somewhat anxious and frightened.

“Why do you think that?”

“Well—”

At Rubia’s question, the maid hesitantly began to speak. But before she could say anything, a sharp voice came from the staircase.

“What are you doing there!”

It was Viscountess Piatti.

She raised her eyebrows and stomped over to Rubia and the maid. Then, suddenly raising the fan she was holding, she mercilessly struck the maid’s cheek.

—Smack!

A sharp slapping sound echoed through the hall as the maid staggered slightly and let out a cry. It was too sudden for Rubia to intervene.

“Chatting during work hours? How privileged! Since when have you become so important?”

“I-I’m sorry, Viscountess…!”

The maid apologized in a trembling voice while holding her red, swollen cheek. Unable to bear the painful sight, Rubia stepped forward to shield the maid from the Viscountess.

“Stop that!”

“I’m merely educating an insolent servant. I’d appreciate if the newcomer wouldn’t interfere.”

“I don’t think Lord Arsenio would approve of educating servants by hitting them. Besides, she was only telling me the correct meal time.”

Though Arsenio disliked people and tried to avoid interacting with servants as much as possible, he had never raised a hand against them. Even if the Viscountess was Arsenio’s aunt, she shouldn’t be conducting education contrary to the household master’s wishes.

“Meal time?”

“I had misunderstood by an hour. So, she was just correcting me.”

“My word!”

The Viscountess made a clearly displeased face and glared sharply at Rubia.

“Are the Southern Territories so desperate for food? Coming to dinner an hour early. How vulgar.”

“I apologize for my mistake causing you displeasure. However, the Southern Territories possess very rich and fertile land, so there’s no need for concern.”

Even easygoing Rubia wasn’t insensitive enough to miss such obvious sarcasm. Still, she had no intention of deliberately antagonizing the mother of Arsenio’s beloved. Rubia’s wish was to live quietly as a nominal wife without interfering with Arsenio’s happiness.

So she offered noncommittal, deflecting words and merely smiled. Yet from the Viscountess’s demeanor, it seemed this was still displeasing to her.

Meanwhile, perhaps having heard the commotion, Jimena arrived from upstairs. She was followed by four maids, all unfamiliar faces to Rubia.

“Mother, I heard a loud voice just now— Oh, Rubia? What happened?”

“It seems she couldn’t wait for dinner time.”

“Oh my! How thoughtless of me. You must be hungry from your long journey, Rubia.”

Rubia deliberately didn’t correct the misunderstanding, knowing that even if she questioned Deborah about her “mistake,” she would simply deny everything. Deborah clearly wasn’t pleased to serve the new mistress.

“Could someone go to the kitchen and hurry the cooks along? Please tell them not to keep Lady Rubia waiting.”

Jimena covered her mouth and giggled sweetly as she turned to one of her maids.

“Understood, my lady.”

One of the maids bowed and headed toward the kitchen.

Watching this, the Viscountess looked at her daughter with concern.

“Jimena, there’s such a thing as being too kind. You’re practically the lady of this house, so you shouldn’t be so lenient with outsiders.”

“Don’t call her an outsider, Mother. Even if Al didn’t want this marriage, Rubia is the lady of this house now.”

Jimena approached Rubia, took her hand, and smiled innocently. It was a pure, lovely smile like a white flower.

“I thought I’d be friends with Al’s wife too. It would be so sad to come all this way only to find your husband loves someone else, wouldn’t it?”

“Lady Jimena—”

“Besides, Rubia is someone precious who will serve as Al’s proper wife in my place, since I can’t use magic. So as long as Rubia knows her place, I’ll treat her properly as family.”

Despite the innocent words, Rubia felt a chill.

Jimena probably wasn’t acting. She seemed to genuinely believe this was a wonderful idea that would make Rubia happy, completely disregarding normal reasoning and common sense.

Is this what it feels like to deal with magical beasts that can speak human language? Rubia found herself making this somewhat rude comparison.

During the subsequent meal, Rubia limited herself to safe responses and didn’t initiate any topics herself. Fortunately, Jimena kept talking throughout dinner, so most situations only required “yes” or “no” answers.

From this, Rubia learned that Viscountess Piatti had lived in Count Fiero’s mansion with Jimena ever since her husband died young. However, when Count Fiero was imprisoned for murder, they lost their home. Thus, they had come to rely on their only relative, Arsenio, and taken refuge in the Silva ducal household.

Hearing this, Rubia understood the reason behind Viscountess Piatti’s hostile attitude toward her. She probably disliked; one might even say hated Rubia’s deceased aunt. Her father had received a life sentence for merely killing some local girl, and they had suffered the stigma of being relatives of a criminal. So she likely disliked Rubia, his niece, for the same reason.

It was complete misplaced resentment, but still understandable as human emotion. However, Rubia didn’t know how to handle someone like Jimena, whose thinking deviated so far from ordinary logic. In some ways, it might have been better if she had shown clear malice like the Viscountess.

For the next week, Rubia spent her days avoiding trouble. Staying in her separate quarters reading or embroidering, she probably appeared quite the lady of leisure. Though Jimena occasionally invited her for tea, Rubia never initiated contact with the mother and daughter herself. Her conversations with Jimena were managed with safe topics and vague responses.

Every time they had tea, Jimena would speak of Arsenio with shining eyes.

“Al is so kind. He builds orphanages and clinics for the unfortunate, and even runs schools and vocational training centers. Everyone in town adores him and calls him the Great Sorcerer.”

“Look at this necklace. Al bought it for me. It’s the same color as my eyes. Al spoils me terribly, he grants my every wish.”

“Once when Al and I were walking through town, people mistook us for a married couple. Al hurriedly denied it. He must have been embarrassed.”

Being the shadow wife is more exhausting than one might expect, Rubia thought.

Jimena, though Arsenio’s true love, couldn’t become his proper wife because she couldn’t use magic. She seemed intensely interested in Rubia. Maintaining a cheerful facade while responding to words containing thorns—thorns the speaker herself probably didn’t realize—was surprisingly nerve-wracking.

After all, in this situation, Rubia was the one who didn’t belong.

According to Jimena, Arsenio had been frequently dispatched to exterminate magical beasts lately, often leaving the mansion empty. Sorcerers were perpetually shorthanded. Particularly powerful sorcerers capable of facing strong magical beasts were constantly busy with various requests from the state.

(I wish Lord Arsenio would return soon.)

If he showed no interest in Rubia, Jimena’s attention toward her would likely fade eventually.

Perhaps her earnest wish reached the heavens, as Arsenio returned another week later.