IKMHITM 26

࣪ ִֶָ☾. Chapter 26 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

Siren asked without realizing it.

“Is there nothing I can do to help?”

Anyone who knew Siren’s cold and aloof personality would have been utterly shocked. Yet, upon hearing his unusual offer, Eve merely shook her head.

“It’s fine. Could you please stay inside the mansion and not come out, Reverend? It might get a little noisy.”

“……Very well. If that is what you wish.”

With that, the matter with Siren was settled for the time being. Eve had not the slightest intention of letting her mother and maternal uncle inside the mansion.

It’s too dangerous.

What if her mother and uncle happened to run into the ghost stories? She feared that would cause an even greater uproar.

Before heading out, Eve checked her reflection in the mirror. She wore a stern-looking dark green dress and had her hair pinned up into a neat, flawless updo. Thanks to that, the large jeweled choker around her neck stood out prominently.

It made her look older than her years, but that was actually a plus.

I need to show them that I wasn’t just a daughter they could treat however they pleased at home.

With her lips pressed firmly together, Eve stepped out through the front door.

“Lady Eve.”

Kamien called out to her from behind.

“I will accompany you.”

“It’s fine. I can handle this on my own. You stay inside too, Kamien.”

Perhaps it was just useless pride. Even so.

Eve did not want to show them the kind of treatment she used to receive at home.

“Master. If you would just wait a moment…….”

“I said it’s fine.”

Before Kamien could stop her, Eve briskly stepped outside.

Through the gaps in the iron-barred front gates, white military tents were visible. Her uncle must have set up a temporary camp.

I suppose I should head over there?

……She thought as she walked, but for some reason, the hem of her skirt felt heavy.

Eve instinctively glanced down. There was nothing there.

Yet why did her ankles feel so chilly? As if something cold had just brushed past them.

“Ah!”

The soldiers who had been resting stood up at the sight of Eve. One of them scurried off to deliver the news.

In the direction her eyes followed, she spotted a particularly large and ornate tent.

That must be the place.

Sure enough, Hatar emerged from inside.

“It’s been a while, Uncle.”

“Yes, I heard the news that you got married. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

An awkward exchange of greetings passed between them.

Hatar wore a rigid expression. It was impossible to tell whether he was angry with Eve or simply feeling awkward.

“The Bahu territory must be quite a distance from here.”

Eve broke the ice first.

“Whatever brings you all this way? And without any prior notice.”

“Your mother asked me to accompany her.”

“And what did Mother say?”

“Brittany said…….”

Hatar didn’t even need to finish his explanation.

“Eve, you little wretch!”

The fabric covering the entrance of the tent was pushed aside to reveal Brittany.

“There you are. Your family came all this way, and you left us lying on the rough dirt! What kind of unmannered, poorly raised child are you…….”

“If you had told me you were coming, I would have made preparations, wouldn’t I?”

Eve sharply cut off her mother’s gratingly high-pitched voice.

“Neither my brother nor my mother ever give any warning whenever you show up.”

“Oh, goodness! We aren’t strangers, you know.”

“My uncle over there says that once a woman marries, she’s considered a stranger.”

“You shouldn’t be saying things like that! I went through all the trouble of giving birth to you, and this is how you treat your own mother!”

“You’re the one who taught me that. But why did you drag my uncle along? Someone who has been an outsider to our family for a long time, at that.”

Faced with the sudden transformation of her youngest daughter, who usually barely spoke a word at home, Brittany was foaming at the mouth.

“Just look at that vicious tongue of hers talking back! This is your doing, isn’t it? Your brothers and sisters came here out of concern for you, and instead of treating them well!!”

“I don’t know about concern, but they demanded money right off the bat, didn’t they?”

“What?”

“They knew all about the mansion my husband gave me. They looked like they were rabidly searching for anything they could tear away from me.”

Hatar, who had been listening quietly, furrowed his brow. He had only been watching because Brittany was making such a fuss, but after hearing the conversation, the situation was becoming fairly clear.

Perhaps sensing Hatar’s gaze growing progressively colder, Brittany changed her tune.

“Sob! How hard things must have been for Hyde that he started talking about money the moment he saw you!”

Brittany pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at the corners of her eyes.

“Do you have any idea how much effort we put into marrying you off to such a fine place? Where else would you find a marital home that hands you a mansion the moment you get married? Just in case the House of Arno changed its mind, Hyde drove the carriage for days without even sleeping!”

“He must have been terrified they’d change their mind. After all, you received a hefty bride-price, didn’t you?”

“What?”

This time, even Hatar couldn’t hold back and cut in.

“A bride-price? Brittany, didn’t you say you spent a fortune paying for Eve’s dowry?”

“That’s not it, Brother! The House of Arno is a great noble family, isn’t it? Naturally, they would show a small token of sincerity when taking our daughter as a bride. But we bore a much heavier burden!”

In front of Eve, Brittany couldn’t bring herself to use the word “money” directly. However, Eve caught her meaning loud and clear.

“What are you talking about, Mother? The House of Arno doesn’t accept bride-prices or dowries. Didn’t I come here without a single coin? Not even a wedding gift—a single small luggage bag was all I brought with me.”

“That ungrateful wretch of a girl! You liar!”

Thinking she had nothing left to lose, Brittany fired back with a lie of her own.

“What do you mean you didn’t bring anything, Eve? We emptied out our already bare household to send you off so you wouldn’t be mistreated!”

“……The stories from both sides are entirely different.”

Hatar frowned. Expecting this kind of situation, Eve pulled out a document.

“What is that?”

“It’s the prenuptial agreement I signed with the House of Arno. As you can see, it’s the original.”

A contract is something exchanged between both parties. Therefore, two copies were drawn up, with each family keeping one.

Eve had asked Kamien to track down that exact document.

“You! How did you get your hands on that……!!”

Brittany’s eyes widened in horror.

“It wasn’t that difficult. I am a person of Arno, after all.”

Ordinarily, due to the “Taboo,” the contents of the contract could not be spoken aloud or shown to outsiders.

The sole exception was when permission was granted by Arno.

And right now, the master of Arno was Eve.

“B-Brother!”

Brittany stamped her feet in panic as Hatar began to read through the prenuptial agreement. Seeing the color drain from her face, Eve asked on a sudden impulse.

“Did you know, Mother? When Hyde dragged me out here, he locked the carriage door from the outside at night and refused to open it because he was terrified I might run away.”

“Hyde did? Is that true?”

“Even if I needed to use the restroom or was dying of thirst, I had to wait until morning. Like a trapped animal in a cage.”

“That’s only because you’ve had a habit of running away from home since you were a child! He must have worried your bad habits would flare up right before such a major life event. Frankly, if you had just behaved yourself in the first place…….”

“If it was such a wonderful match like you claim, Mother, why would I ever run away?”

Brittany was momentarily left speechless.

“How am I supposed to know? You were always a strange child to begin with!”

“And is Hyde-oppa not strange?”

This wasn’t meant as sarcasm. Eve asked out of genuine curiosity.

“Beating up his fourteen-year-old younger sister over the slightest thing, starving her or subjecting her to vicious verbal abuse with the most absurd excuses—don’t you find an older brother like that strange?”

“Hyde only did those things because he was stressed.”

Brittany fell back on the excuse she always used.

“He inherited the family headship far too young. Wasn’t the whole family relying entirely on him? Imagine how heavy his shoulders were and how suffocating it must have been! My poor boy…….”

“It doesn’t look like your boy is the one who was poor.”

Unexpectedly, it was Hatar who spoke those words.

“This contract is not forged. I can hardly believe my eyes!”

[No responsibility shall be held even if the bride is crippled or dies.]

Any proper family would have flipped out the moment they saw that clause and torn the contract to shreds.

“Brittany, have you lost your mind? Did you even bother reading the contract?”

“Oh, come on, Brother. Hyde checked everything! He asked the House of Arno directly, and they said it was just a formality……!”

“What kind of formality requires something like that?”

“Just how treacherous do you think the road to the Belper Estate is? They said there are bands of robbers out there! It was just a precaution in case the bride fell ill or got hurt…….”

“And what if it wasn’t just a case of that?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“What would you do if the House of Arno actually abused the bride?”

“As if! They took her in with a dowry, why would they ever abuse her?”

Now that Hatar had seen the contract, the fact that she had received a dowry was out in the open anyway. Watching Brittany stubbornly make excuses, Hatar felt a suffocating tightness in his chest and pounded on it.

“You fool, that dowry was your daughter’s life price! It’s blood money given so you’d keep your mouth shut no matter what they did to her! Are you genuinely asking because you don’t know?!”

“Why would you ever think it went that far…….”

“Eve’s words were true. Brittany, you lied to me!”

“It wasn’t a lie, Brother! As for the dowry part…… yes. I just wanted to prevent any misunderstandings that I was selling my daughter. I apologize for that part. But isn’t it fine since she married into such a good place?”

Even as she scrambled to make excuses, Brittany was flustered. She hadn’t expected Eve to push back this hard.

Back at home, Eve’s presence had been practically nonexistent. No matter what petty excuse Hyde found to pick on her, she would keep her mouth shut and quietly take it.

Brittany had completely misunderstood, assuming Eve just stayed quiet because that way things ended faster—believing Eve was simply the type of person who would never fight back no matter how much she was trampled on.

Not at all. I was simply waiting for the right moment.

From Eve’s perspective, this was the perfect time.

“That’s right, just look at the jewelry she has around her neck! She’s living in the lap of luxury, so what is she even complaining about?!”

Right on cue, Brittany pointed straight at Eve’s jeweled choker.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･