Seeing the expression on Jen’s face as she asked to call her “sister-in-law,” it didn’t seem like bullying; she appeared genuinely sincere.
She had placed Rishi in the seat of honor because she truly considered her the guest of honor, and she had requested to hear her sister-in-law’s voice because she truly wanted to connect with her.
‘Am I overthinking this?’
Rishi struggled to keep her expression neutral as she replied,
“Yes, I’d like that. You can call me sister-in-law.”
As if the puppy-like warmth from a moment ago had never existed, Jen’s expression instantly chilled. With an air that suggested, *‘How dare a woman like you marry my brother!’* Jen demanded,
“Sister-in-law, why did you marry someone like my brother?”
“Jen.”
“Quiet, brother. I’m talking to my sister-in-law.”
“At least let her eat dinner first…”
“Who said I wouldn’t? Bring the food. Oh, sister-in-law, you can eat while we talk. So, why on earth did you marry someone like my brother?”
“That is…”
*Because I know how hard your brother worked in my past life, and how miserably he died.*
*Because I cannot forget the kindness your brother showed me when he crossed paths with me just once in my past life.*
*Because I feel like my life might be different this time if I am by your brother’s side.*
*And also, to ensure that your brother’s end is not so cruel and miserable again.*
I could not speak such truths.
Rishi glanced at Kay. He was observing her with an intrigued expression, clearly curious about her answer.
“Because I like him.”
Rishi stared straight at Kay and continued,
“Those eyes like a cloudy sky. The eyebrows that look like they were painted. That well-defined jawline. The deep, resonant voice. The way his laughter sounds like a soft breeze…”
Rishi listed the things she had found lovely about Kay while watching him all this time.
As she spoke, for some reason, the smile faded from Kay’s lips, and his gaze began to waver.
*Is it just my imagination?*
It even looked like Kay’s earlobes had turned red.
Watching Kay surreptitiously raise a hand to cover his mouth, Rishi finished,
“I like those things very much. I want to see them for the rest of my life.”
When Rishi turned to Jen, she noticed that Jen’s eyes were locked on Kay, not her. Jen had a look on her face as if she were about to be sick, and the same went for Nathan.
Rishi couldn’t understand their reactions.
*Did I say something wrong?*
“Jen?”
“Ah… yes. Uh… ye-es… I see… Well, sister-in-law. Right. Uh, well. Everyone has different tastes. Yes, that can happen. Of course, it certainly can.”
Jen, having regained her composure, looked at Kay and teased him with a laugh.
“Must be nice, brother. Cloudy sky eyes, painted-looking eyebrows, a well-defined jaw, and…”
“Jen.”
Nathan cut her off.
“I… I feel a bit nauseous…”
“Ah, sorry. I’ll stop. It’s rude to do this at the dinner table. I admit it.”
While they reacted in a way she couldn’t comprehend, Rishi just blinked, looking back and forth between them. She made eye contact with Kay and mouthed,
‘Did I say something wrong?’
Kay smiled broadly and stealthily raised his thumb under the table. Jen, catching the movement, shouted,
“What’s with that thumb? Oh, that’s it, isn’t it? You forced sister-in-law to answer like that, didn’t you? You made her memorize it!”
“Ah! That’s it!”
Nathan exclaimed, as if he finally understood.
“Wow, he must be crazy. Making his wife memorize his own self-praise… wow, that’s disgusting.”
It wasn’t like that.
Rishi tried to defend Kay, but he signaled her to stop.
*‘Just leave it, it’s fine.’*
Jen rambled on about how unappealing a man who “recites his own praises to his wife” is, and Nathan agreed with more seriousness than ever. Since Kay went back to eating his soup as if the conversation didn’t concern him, Rishi picked up her spoon as well.
I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat dinner properly today, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared.
Jen’s attitude toward Rishi was completely different from the “in-laws” she had known in her past life. It almost seemed as if she liked her.
I learned for the first time that spending time with a “husband’s family” doesn’t have to be uncomfortable; it could even be easy.
There can be families like this. Even if someone like Jeresien was different on the inside than on the outside, just like Julienne, it was a change for the better. She realized that the cold expression Jen wore when she stopped talking was just a neutral face, not one born of anger.
“But brother.”
Jen, who had been eating in silence for a while, broke the tension.
“Even if you had a small wedding, how could you not invite your family? Who did you invite? Don’t tell me it was just the two of you?”
“…We didn’t have a wedding.”
“Huh? You didn’t have what?”
“A wedding.”
“Huh?”
Jen looked at Kay, bewildered. The knife he had been using to cut his steak stopped in mid-air. Kay kept his eyes fixed on the knife, seemingly worried it might fly off and embed itself in his throat, and replied calmly.
“We only did the marriage registration.”
Jen turned to Rishi. Seeing her look as if asking if that were true, Rishi gave a light nod.
*Clatter—!*
Jen dropped her cutlery and jumped to her feet. Kay narrowed his brows.
“Jen, please show some courtesy…”
“The one who isn’t showing courtesy is you, brother! How can you skip the wedding and only do the registration?”
“That’s not something to get so worked up about, Jen.”
“This *is* something to get worked up about, you fat dog.”
“You, since when did you have that nickname…”
Kay’s face flushed red. To think he had a nickname like “fat dog.” Rishi almost burst into laughter but barely held it in.
“A wedding is a very important issue for a woman. It’s not something you should skip.”
Kay and Nathan looked back at Rishi as if asking if that were true.
“Stop looking at sister-in-law! Since you’re like that, brother, she probably couldn’t bring herself to ask for a wedding.”
“No, Jen. I don’t mind not having a wedding.”
“Sister-in-law. You shouldn’t say that.”
Jen was firm.
“There are so many women in this world with peculiar tastes and very low standards. Oh, I don’t mean you, sister-in-law. Anyway, because there are so many of those women, my brother is quite popular.”
Only then did Rishi realize what Jen was implying.
“They will be jealous of you, sister-in-law, and they will gossip about how you are being looked down upon by my brother because you didn’t even have a wedding.”
“Ah… I see.”
“‘Ah, I see’? That’s not it, brother. You’ve been a Count for several years now; you should have been able to think that much with that brain of yours. What are you going to do if sister-in-law realizes you’re just using your head as a decoration?”
Guardian of the Holy Relic, Cavebrandt Green, an aristocrat of such high standing that even high-ranking nobles couldn’t speak to him carelessly.
Rishi had already learned how he was treated at home.
Fat dog.
A decorative brain.
After Jen spent a while ranting about the useless ornament sitting on Kay’s shoulders, she turned sharply to Rishi.
“Sister-in-law, leave it to me.”
“What?”
Jen smiled brightly. It was a smile Rishi had never seen in her past life. She thought it was truly dazzling, and then Jen replied,
“The wedding preparations for Iris, the flower of flowers, and the fat dog.”
+++
Only after dinner was over could Kay have a private talk with Jen.
Called into Kay’s room, Jen insolently propped her legs up on the table, leaned back into the sofa, and glared at Kay.
“Jen. You were rude when you first met Rishi.”
“To sister-in-law?”
“To me.”
“…So what?”
“What do you think your sister-in-law thinks of me now?”
“Well, she might run away once she realizes your brain is just a decorative piece.”
“…Jen. Stop calling me a fat dog in front of Rishi.”
“Why, does it matter? She wouldn’t even dream that you’re a beastman just because I call you that.”
Rishi already knew Kay was a beastman. However, Kay had not confided that fact to Jen. He feared that if she knew, she might become wary of Rishi.
“It’s not about that.”
“Ah, are you worried about getting caught for being a fatty when you were little?”
At her words, which struck like an arrowhead, Kay let out a soft sigh.
There was a time when he had been exactly that. Kay had been able to shapeshift from birth. He had lived without knowing it was strange, but once he grew older, he learned that beastmen were ostracized and that if the truth were discovered, he would be killed.
Realizing that he was an existence this world could not tolerate, Kay fell into despair.
From then on, he stayed holed up in the house in his wolf form, thinking, “Someone like me isn’t even human,” and doing nothing but eating and sleeping.
Naturally, he gained weight, and his siblings—no, Jen—teased him for it.
They called him a fat dog.
Jen had no malice; it was teasing filled with deep affection, but young Kay hadn’t seen it that way. He had even thought, ‘That’s right, a fat dog like me should just die. What’s the point of living?’
“It’s okay, brother. Honestly, you were much cuter when you were a fat dog than you are now. Round and squishy, rolling around…”
“It wasn’t to that extent.”
Kay growled, but Jen didn’t care in the slightest.
“Preparing for the wedding will take at least a month. This mansion is crawling with nothing but men, so we don’t have anything here. I have to send people here and there to buy what’s needed. I’ll need to hire laborers, too.”
“Can you even do that when you don’t even go to tea parties?”
“I have a good eye, despite how it looks. And I’ll get help from a friend who really loves those kinds of things.”
“Fine, do as you please.”
Kay was in the middle of reflecting on himself. Because he had no interest in high society, he hadn’t considered what kind of gossip Rishi might be hearing from noblewomen due to the fact that they hadn’t held a wedding.
“How much money are you going to spend?”
“As much as you want.”
“I’m going to spend a ton, you know?”
“Use it all if you have to.”
“Wow, our brother has really grown up. Willing to go penniless for your woman.”
“No, I didn’t mean go penniless…!”
Kay, realizing that Jen always kept her word, tried to stop her, but Jen had already left the room.
+++
A few days after Jen declared she would make Kay penniless, visitors arrived from the Holy Kingdom.
They had come to investigate the rumors circulating about Countess Green’s past and her alleged affair.