How To Get My Husband On My Side

Chapter 17

The place he led me to was a study.

He slammed the door shut as soon as I followed him in. The loud bang had me flinching and tears started to well up, but I tried to hold it in.

"Sit down."

I dragged my feet to the chair opposite him.

Izek let out a long breath, his arms folded and his back straight, trying hard to suppress his growing ire. His clothes were covered in dirt and were sweat-drenched all the way to the back of his neck, and his silver-white hair was all over the place. I had never seen him look this disheveled.

"All right." His eyes were stone cold. "Tell me what happened."

Tell him what happened? Was he asking me my side of the story? Why? Would he even listen to me? Would he believe me?

I realized that I had been lost in thought for too long, because Izek's scowl was deepening by the second. I gulped nervously and quickly began to explain, "W-We were riding... And Lady Furiana requested a race, just... just us two, so I went down the road she told me to go on. Something came out of the bushes suddenly and grabbed me and pulled me into the woods. I hit my head on a rock and lost consciousness so I couldn't do anything."

I forgot to breathe for a moment as I tried to gauge his reaction and wondered if I should tell him about the Popo monster, but the look on his face was so bizarre that I turned into ice.

His eyes were dull and his face was grave. "Freya said you went into the woods on your own even though she told you not to."

"W-What? What do you mean..."

"So, Freya lied? Is that what you're saying?"

My chest was heaving, my heart was pounding, and my lips were quivering. I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

Why would Freya say that? Why? Why would she do that? Because she didn't want to take responsibility? Was she afraid to admit that it was her who suggested going down that road?

I had not felt any hostility coming from Freya at all. It didn't feel like she even cared about me much, so why? Why would she lie? She had most definitely sent me down that road on purpose. She'd said that she knew all about the forest, so she would have known that there would be monsters there. She knew. And because of her, Izek was now loathing me.

I stood no chance against her here. It was only natural for Izek to trust her words more than mine. Once I was branded a liar and something similar were to happen in the future, he would never believe in me again. I would always carry that mark. It was something I knew from experience.

Why was she ruining me like this?

Izek, having been silently staring at me, looking like he had a thousand questions running through his head but uttering none of them, spit out, "Return."

"W-What?"

"Return to Romagna. I'll let you go without any conditions."

I could do nothing but gaze at him stupidly.

Izek had agreed to marry me only to prevent Ellenia from marrying Enzo.

Everyone knew that our marriage would end one day. What my family needed from this marriage was military help, and what Britannia got was Romagna's gold. Once my father had what he wanted, he would do anything to annul it and take me back home. I knew this. Everyone knew this.

However, being married to Izek meant having to live in Britannia, which meant that I was essentially a hostage in this country. I was Britannia's leverage against the Pope's schemes and tyranny. Everyone knew that not even being in-laws with that man was enough to protect you from his machinations, so me being here was the one advantage the Northerners had over Romagna.