So I Married An Abandoned Crown Prince

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Chapter 40

I could hear Ibelina’s light step as she passed by me, followed shortly by her weak scream…

‘….Wasn’t Ibelina the one who closed the door?’

She should’ve expected the room to be this dark, so what was she so scared of?

I blinked slowly to adapt to the darkness, and glanced at Ibelina, who was already glued to Joseph like a cicada on a tree.

“Are you alright, Wife?”

He shook off Ibelina’s arm as if she was a nuisance.

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“Ah, yes…..”

I nodded indifferently, guessing that Ibelina had fallen behind after Joseph shrugged her off.

“There’s a candlestick here.”

I began to fumble around the table to find the candlestick and chanted a spell.

Soon, a yellow spark flashed before my eyes with a crackling noise.

“I think Lord Carlo is on the bed.”

I whispered, pointing to the bulging sheet after looking around using the candle.

Carlo screamed and ran to hide under the blanket as soon as the door was opened.

“Carlo.”

Joseph took the candle from my hand and walked to the bed. Only then did the big lump under the sheet flinch.

“Get up.”

“…Brother?”

“Yeah.”

Carlo squirmed like a caterpillar and popped out of the blanket upon hearing Joseph’s answer.

“What brings you here, Brother?”

Carlo’s lukewarm response toward Joseph made me tilt my head.

I thought their relationship was pretty good….or was it?

“You talk as if I shouldn’t be here.”

“…That’s not what I mean.”

“If that’s not what you mean, get up. I have someone to introduce to you.”

At Joseph’s urging, Carlo got out of bed completely.

In the meantime, Ibelina turned on all the lights in the room, so I could see Carlo’s sickly face more closely.

‘You don’t look 18 years old at all.’

Carlo was six years younger than Joseph, so he was 18 years old this year.

“Who do you want to introduce?”

Perhaps because he was stuck in the corner of his room for so long, his pale skin and skinny body were more like a boy rather than a man.

“Do you mean her?”

Carlo’s face, which looked younger than I remembered, clearly looked sick.

“I know you. If it’s a beauty with black hair ….”

Carlo pressed his lips, looking alternately between me and Joseph.

“I’m Rita Cardinale.”

His eyes looked darker than Joseph.

“I already know that you married that woman. But why do you have to bring her to me?”

I glanced downward at Carlo, who wore an angry frown on his face while pointing at me.

“I greet the Little Sun of Las Vecchia.”

“Are you kidding me? Your sun is George, isn’t it?”

His face was greatly distorted as he spat out a mocking remark toward me, which rendered me speechless.

I could understand why he was hostile toward me.

‘George must have tormented you a lot.’

The emperor was a cold-blooded ruler who had not the slightest love toward his family, but he was also the owner of the Imperial Palace that strictly adhered to the principle of bloodline.

After Joseph was deposed for possessing the qualities of a demon hunter, George thought the right of succession would be given to him as the eldest son.

Although the emperor had three sons, he only poured all his attention to Carlo, the empress’ child.

‘Because of that, George tormented Carlo out of jealousy.’

Unlike Joseph, who had shown exceptional talent for swordsmanship since childhood, Carlo was a scholar with a magic talent.

He was so weak that he followed Joseph to the battlefield just to avoid George.

“I hate to see the likes of Cardinale!”

Which is why I could be so calm to face Carlo’s disgusted expression.

Because I was guilty of his suffering.

“Carlo. Mind your words.”

But Joseph sternly warned Carlo with a frown on his neat brows.

Carlo turned his back while pouting as if he didn’t want to hear anything.

“So what? Are you going to take that woman’s side in front of me, Brother? If so, just leave.”

Looking at Carlo sulking like a child, I felt like something didn’t add up in their conversation.

‘Didn’t Carlo push Joseph to marry me?’

Count Cardinale, my father, had a reason to hold Joseph a hostage. Just sending me to Katan to monitor Joseph was enough to pressure Carlo.

‘I’m sure Carlo has a good reason as well…’

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any particular reason for Joseph to marry me.

I thought Carlo was going to use me to spy on George or get a grip on Cardinale’s situation.

But based on their conversation, it sounded like Carlo had opposed my marriage to Joseph.

Joseph and I ended up getting kicked out of the room because Carlo absolutely hated to see my face.

“Wife, are you perhaps offended?”

Even then, I couldn’t stop thinking about why Joseph married me.

“Your Highness,”

I turned to my husband who looked at me with worried eyes.

“I apologize. Please forgive my brother’s rudeness.”

“….Why me?”

I wanted to ask him why he married me.

“Pardon?”

Joseph tilted his head as if wondering why I was so hesitant to open my mouth.

“Go ahead and ask, Wife.”

The brilliant sunlight of autumn fell over his clean-cut silver hair for a moment.

“Why me-”

“Unnie!”

Ibelina popped out of the room as soon as I opened my mouth and shoved her pretty face between us.

“Carlo is especially sensitive today,”

She batted her thick eyelashes and came so close, almost like she hugged me.

“Tomorrow, Lina will try to persuade Carlo so that Unnie can talk to him.”

“…Yes, thank you.”

I nodded grimly as I looked at Ibelina’s glistening eyes, seemingly expecting me to praise her.

“How many days are you planning to stay in the monastery? I’ll show you your room.”

She hopped in her place, saying that she was excited to have a friend, and dragged me down the hallway.

‘I was still talking to Joseph, though….’

Ibelina dragged me upstairs before I could even say no and pointed to the room at the end of the left wing building.

“That’s the biggest and most beautiful room in the annex. I asked them to clean it so Unnie can use it.”

Ibelina opened the door for me and quickly turned away with a smile as if her business was over.

“Wait, saintess.”

But I caught her arm even before she could leave the room.

“Please call me Ibelina.”

“Okay, Ibelina.”

Her smile beamed like an innocent child. Looking at her, I struggled to get the word out of my mouth.

‘Should I tell her that I have a mermaid?’

I saved a young mermaid, which meant I shouldn’t release him at random places.

He might be captured by humans again, or unable to return to his family.

‘I reckon the mermaid lives in the Emerald Sea which is near the monastery.’

I heard that the saintess of the great temple was quite an unusual position.

A person who wasn’t as powerful as the emperor or the pope, but greatly respected by the pope and priests.

If she was the ‘saintess’ who has an endless love and kindness even towards subhuman species such as mermaids or monsters, she might know where the sea was.

“By any chance, do you know where the mermaids live?”

“…Why are you asking me that?”

She scratched her chin as if she was uncomfortable by my question.

“Lina likes you, Unnie, but Lina also likes mermaids. And it’s not true that a mermaid’s tears can keep you young forever.”

She definitely misunderstood, thinking that I had my eyes on the mermaid’s tears.

I shook my head immediately when Ibelina raised her guard on me, just like Marquis Derrienzo back then.

“I’m not trying to harm the mermaid. It’s because I have a mermaid that I want to send back to the sea.”

“Unnie, do you have a mermaid with you? Really?”

After a quick nod, I rummaged through the pocket of my dress.

“Yes. It’s a mermaid from Notte.”

A guppy fish was swimming in a palm-sized container, and it shook its fins once it recognized me.

“Oh my god. Is that a real mermaid?”

Even though it looked like a common pet fish, Ibelina recognized the mermaid right away and seemed impressed by it.

“I understand. Since Unnie is asking Lina a favor, Lina will take this mermaid to the sea very carefully.”

With a nod, Ibelina quickly reached out to me.

“Are you taking this mermaid?”

“Yes! Lina will take good care of it.”

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