Accepting the duke’s proposal had enabled her to get away from her uncle and aunt right away, and it had also given her 50 thousand Gold. She lost nothing from that deal. The duke had been rather strange to want such ridiculous marriage.
He wasn’t going to get anything at all from that marriage. Rubica had heard men who have a lot wants to get beautiful wife, even it costs a lot, but she couldn’t think she was worth that much.
Auburn hair that was thick but not unique and deep auburn eyes. Her skin was smooth, but it wasn’t transparent like marble. It was just healthy milky white. She had pride in being good on judging beauty, so she could judge her own quite objectively.
‘It cannot be more normal.’
There were countless womedn like Rubica. When she demanded 100 thousand Gold, she had silently hoped the duke to be disgusted by her. She only needed 50 thousand Gold to save Angela, but she asked for 100 thousand Gold to look arrogant. Men try to buy women with money, but they hate it when those women want money.
‘But he strangely brightened up when I said that.’
The duke hadn’t even blinked an eye when she repudiated her uncle and aunt. He rather encouraged her.
Most people she knew would have thought she had taken it too far, even though Mr. and Mrs. Berner had wronged her.
Especially when that woman is about to become one’s wife. In such case, the man wants her fiancé to cry and don’t know what to do. And then they say ‘I don’t need you who harass my wife. We will not see you again!’ and expect her to pretend to be heartbroken but follow his will.
They want their wives to have weak heart, so that they wouldn’t be able to abandon them even if them get huge debt, or become to weak to earn money, no matter how much they had tormented their wives in younger days.
When Rubica worked at the abbey, she met many kind people, but she also met a number of devils. People who didn’t regret the wrongs they had committed in youth and cursed their families who abandoned them when they got weak.
Rubica followed the teachings of Hue. She took care of them with love, but she never believed those families would go to hell as they cursed.
‘Is it because he is Duke Claymore who will never fall to such situation?’
Rubica bit her lips hard. The place that got destroyed the first as soon as the war broke out had been Claymore’s domain. At Claymore Mansion, a lot of scholars and scientists who had studied at the academy were gathered. They worked for the duke to develop various weapons. The other kingdoms never forgot it. As soon as the war broke out, Claymore Family’s extreme wealth turned to ashes in no time. And the duke was made prisoner to one of the enemy kingdoms. However, there was no way Duke Claymore of now knew it. He had been born surrounded by gold and probably believed he would die that way.
Rubica snorted on the bed. Mistake of calculation. Edgar probably never expected he would have to rely on others’ help. As most important families did, Claymore Family must have had relatives. Relatives who used their bloodline and tried to convince the duke to invest in their business or give them job. Many important families suffered because of such relatives. Some weak-minded nobles were often fooled by such talking and schemes and lost huge money.
How cold Lamina Family had been when Rubica’s mother was ill? The count said he couldn’t give a single penny for healing his aunt who was even younger than himself.
Virtue of the rich and that of the poor were different. To someone poor, his wife’s cold attitude would worry him, but Edgar was rich. To him, Rubica’s firm attitude must have been what he had wanted.
‘He gave me 100 thousand Gold immediately to my provocation. I know he had meant to give it to uncle, but still….’
Edgar didn’t appear to be a man who would spend to boast about his wealth. Rather, he didn’t give even a penny to unworthy people. That is why he had willingly given 100 thousand Gold to Rubica.
He didn’t even love her, but he paid her only because she was going to be his wife….
‘How rich he is?’
And he hadn’t acted spontaneously. He had paid 100 thousand Gold from the money he could use privately. If she had asked for more than the amount of money he could privately use, he wouldn’t have said yes.
‘Well, all the better. I should have the money transferred to Jackal Bank.;
Jackal Bank ran by southern goblins was one of the few banks that wasn’t going to be destroyed by the war.
Anyway, the marriage had given Rubica the luxury of not suffering a lot like she had had in her previous life, even after the war.
‘With that money, I wouldn’t have to worry about money for at least 40 years, even if I put chunks of meat in soup at the abbey.’
This time, she wouldn’t have to go through the pain of letting children die of malnutrition. She smiled to think about it.
‘But will the duke really divorce me willingly…’
The question she’d been trying to avoid popped up.
Rubica was nervous. She felt nervous because she didn’t know why Edgar wanted to marry her, and she felt even more nervous because he was saying yes to her demands. Plus, although he had tried his best to hide, she had been able to see he had been worried that she would refuse his proposal to the end. That ‘divorce’ could have been only a method to make her walk the aisle winningly.
She had been fooled a lot during the war. It was inevitable. People all had to fool each other or their wives, husbands, and children could be dead body by the next day. Human beings can easily dispose conscience when the lives of their loved ones depend on it. It had taught Rubica that it is hard to keep conscience and kind heart when it comes down to the matter of surviving, even for the most kind-hearted men.
Duke Claymore didn’t look to be kind. And he was a businessman who owned huge land and companies that made weapons. She couldn’t expect such man to have conscience. ‘…I must make him want to divorce me.’
She couldn’t think he would divorce her when the promised time comes and wait.
Then she would become like her mother who was fooled by her uncle. Because her mother had believed the document Martin Berner had shown her, saying ‘It is contract between members of one family, there can’t be any scheme.’, her life and Rubica’s had been ruined after that.
That isn’t a thing more foolish than betting one’s life on someone else’s conscience. Rubica decided to make the duke beg her to get divorced in a year, much less than the promised 4 year.
‘What can I do?’
The most famous and the most frequently used method was having an affair. However, Rubica was already in love with a man. That love was firm enough not to be shaken by the fact she couldn’t meet him and didn’t know where he was.
However, the duke hadn’t even blinked on eye and proceeded with their marriage when she told him about it. Having an affair didn’t seem to be a method to make him want a divorce. Of course, Rubica didn’t want to have love with someone who wasn’t Arman, not even a little.
The second method was to abuse servants or nonpaying lodgers who depended on Claymores’ mercy. However, she wasn’t capable of hitting or starving others. And there were so many nobles who wouldn’t even blink an eye about abusing servants.
‘Isn’t there any other way?’
Rubica thought hard. The carriage’s wallpaper was quite expensive. Its hue was soft, but the pattern was complicated very much and wasn’t repeated, so an artisan must have drawn it. Anyone without discerning eye would have thought Claymore Family hadn’t lost frugality that was the virtue of Seritos Kingdom, in spite of its great wealth, but Rubica thought differently.
She was impressed by the luxury of spending huge money on places that couldn’t be noticed easily.
‘Wait, to think about it….. Yes, the most common and critical reason that makes most couple break up! Yes, it’s money! Why have I forgotten all about it?’
Rubica wanted to get up and kiss the beautiful wallpaper that had enlightened her.
Yes, extravagance. The answer was extravagance.