The Duchess’s Contract Marriage

Chapter 2

Rubiana found herself at a monastery that sat at the very end of one of the county’s manors. Just as she’d expected, the abbot of Luthel Monastery was happier to see the pouch of silver than he was to see her. As such, she didn’t refuse when the abbot gave up his personal room for her.

She spent the first month lying around on the soft bed in her sunny room. The next two months found Rubiana living slowly, enjoying her daily bottle of wine paired with good cheese and soft white bread. There was a stark difference between the days she spent just lying around on her bed and those she spent living slowly. At least in the latter situation, she would get up once a day for a walk. After a few months, she felt adjusted to monastery life.

For the next two years, Rubiana led a peaceful, quiet life in the monastery. She would sleep in just a little and spend her time looking at the letters her sister had sent while the other nuns were busy copying scripture verses. She dozed off when the others were praying and crawled into bed when they were working. Despite her lazy days, the calluses on Rubiana’s hands never disappeared because when everyone else was deep asleep, she would sneak out to a secluded spot behind the monastery with her bow and arrows.

Kalena sent letters detailing the fiefdom and kingdom’s situation, which was becoming more serious by the day. In a vain attempt to stop aging, the king had decided to bathe in the blood of children and take ten maidens to bed every night. He raised the taxes so much that not only his subjects but even the nobles went bankrupt and had to flee. Still, he wasn’t satisfied and continued to prepare new taxes to enforce.

Can our country go on like this?

All Rubiana could do was shake her head at the absurdity as she carefully read each letter. Whenever she replied, she never addressed what was in the letters her sister sent her. She was only concerned about Kalena’s health and well-being throughout the seasons.

Years passed and seasons changed, yet life in the monastery remained the same until one fateful day four years into her stay. Rubiana was twenty-four years old when the courier, who brought her sister’s letters once a month, didn’t appear for the first time. Instead, a knight in gleaming silver armor arrived with a longsword that looked much older than her suit. The girl had shiny blonde hair and green eyes.

It was prayer time at the monastery, and Rubiana had confidently entered the wine cellar and fallen asleep, propped up against an empty oak barrel. She was hurriedly led out by a nun who had found her without even a moment to brush out the tangles in her hair.

Kalena was sitting on a stone chair upon the dais that the abbot usually used, bathed in the five-colored light coming through the stained glass. Rubiana looked up at the dais with a dazed expression. Even after four years, her sister was still beautiful.

“Everything is in place. I’m going drag those bastards down and kill them. Or maybe I’ll kill them first and then drag them down.”

Kalena smiled brightly and extended her hand.

“Help me, Ruby.”

She still knew just how to boss her sister around.

* * *

Rubiana had given the title and family name to her smart younger sister. She’d thought it would be the best way to protect Kalena as well as the title and family name from the chaos of tyranny. However, her sister was too smart for her own good. She wasn’t satisfied with just protecting the family name and their fiefdom and also decided to try and destroy the tyrant—and preparations were already complete.

Rubiana was left with only one option: to help her sister. She took off her ill-fitting habit and dusted off the leather armor she had hidden away in the storeroom before pulling her worn bow and quiver across her shoulder.

When she went to find her sister again, Kalena was still bathing in the colorful light. The stained glass on the ceiling showed a scene from the bible when god appointed a human king on earth. Angels were holding out a crown and a trumpet to a person kneeling on the ground. Kalena stood in the light that shone through the five-colored glass as Rubiana kneeled before her sister.

“Ruby?”

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Then what am I to call you?”

“You can call me Lady Rubiana or Lady Krystal. But you’ll need to appoint me as your knight first, of course.”

“What?”

Kalena was dumbfounded. Rubiana looked at her face and saw the young girl she once knew. Come to think of it, the only thing her sister had said was, “Help me, Ruby.” Those were the only words that could move Rubiana, but they weren’t insignificant words for a new king to leave behind as they rose up to fight against a tyrant.

I can’t go back on my word. What else can I do? I’ll have to step up and sort everything out.

Rubiana glanced at the painter next to Kalena, who was playing with his pen. She glared at him when their eyes met.

It would benefit you to paint this next scene as beautifully as possible.

After striking fear into the painter, Rubiana’s gaze returned to Kalena.

“Once Rubiana, now Krystal—I swear to you as a former member of House Luxen. I shall follow you, Kalena, Countess Luxen, until the very day I die. I shall strike down all of your enemies with my sword and arrow, and I shall protect your castle with my shield. I shall eat the salt and bread you provide. I shall love, respect, and be loyal to you with all my heart until the end of my life. Please accept my service.”

The flustered Kalena soon regained her composure. She looked down upon Rubiana with a stern face and pulled the sword from her belt as Rubiana finished her oath. It was the sword left behind by their father, which had been passed down in the Luxen family for generations. Kalena tapped each of Rubiana’s shoulders with the sword.

“I trust your oath, and give you my bread and salt. Do not betray my faith. The price of loyalty shall be sweet, but the fruit of betrayal is filled with poison. Both your earthly self and your self that you have given to god belong to me. I will appoint you a new surname so that both your names shall belong to me. Rubiana Krystal von Ashelion, take up your sword and follow me.”

The solemn monarch’s oath fell over Rubiana’s head. Rubiana von Luxen therefore became Rubiana Krystal von Ashelion.

Rubiana stared at the sword. Their faces crossed in the reflection of the blade: Kalena on the dais and Rubiana kneeling before her.

The sisters were two years apart and got along well—so much so that Rubiana was willing to give up her title and family name, so much so that Kalena didn’t try to poison her sister out of fear of treason. Now, their relationship would be reestablished with a single kiss.

Suddenly, old memories rushed forth in Rubiana’s mind—all the moments when she had fiercely fought with her sister, the time when she finally gave up trying to beat her smart sister, the moment when she covered her sister’s eyes as their parents’ bodies were brought home, all of it up to the moment she passed everything to her sister and left the count’s manor. Afterward, there was a four-year gap of nothing. Today’s meeting filled that gap.

Rubiana thought that her sister had only become more beautiful after four years, and she was certain that she was even smarter now as well. Instead of holding her breath and trying to survive, Rubiana decided to take up her sword and fight alongside her sister. In order to do this, she had to change her lazy, mindless ways.

My sister is risking her life for this rebellion. I have to become a reliable shield for her.

“I shall willingly serve you.”

Rubiana pressed her lips to the end of Kalena’s sword. She prayed to god with all her heart for the first time since entering the monastery.

Oh, god. I’m not a faithful human. In fact, I didn’t even really believe you existed. If god existed, why would he release a tyrant into this world? Why would he just let our parents die and do nothing?

God couldn’t possibly exist in a world like this. A god that allows a king like that without any punishment, a god who let our parents die for no reason—if there is a god like that, I bet he doesn’t even love us.

If god doesn’t exist, there is no reason to have faith. Even if he does exist, if he doesn’t love the humans in this world, of course there’s no reason to believe in him.

So, Rubiana didn’t believe in god. The only reason she had entered the monastery was so that she could pass down the title to her sister. Her faith didn’t grow while staying there.

But… If, just if, there is a god that exists who cares about humans even the tiniest bit, if god loves his children like the bible says, please open the path for my sister to succeed. Please protect her.

Only then would Rubiana believe in the existence of god and that he tried to help humans.

Rubiana grasped Kalena’s blade with her left hand. The sword dug into her palm as blood flowed from her split flesh. She felt a wave of pain but didn’t let go. Instead, she only gripped it tighter.

“Ruby?”

Kalena tried to remove the sword from Rubiana’s hand but stopped as she realized that it would only make the cut deeper.

The blood dripped and soaked the stone floor below. Soon, a small puddle formed. Rubiana swore an oath on her blood.

“I swear an oath to you. Oh god, my queen whom you have given me—if you allow her to succeed in every task ahead, I will offer my first child to you. I shall give my body and my mind to serve you for twenty years. As long as the castle you give and the bloodline of Ashelion live, this oath shall be passed down through the generations.”

It was a blood oath. Kalena asked Rubiana whether she thought it was necessary to go this far. Although she couldn’t change the oath that was already sworn, it was clear that she disapproved. Rubiana laughed when she saw the awkward, childish reaction from her sister.

Whether or not god exists, this oath will cost nothing if you easily accomplish everything you are trying to do.

She didn’t try to explain this aloud, just in case her sister felt sorry about the price that must be paid for her success.

* * *

Before the puddle of blood on the floor had even dried, Rubiana left the monastery to follow Kalena. Her left hand was bandaged, and the new sword that Kalena had gifted her hung from her belt.

Kalena had already amassed an enormous group of followers. Her army consisted of the southern nobility and the subjects who had been persecuted by the tyrant. They were also joined by some nuns who had followed Rubiana from Luthel Monastery.

Kalena’s army slowly moved northward. Instead of attacking the capital right away, they moved to the east. In the eastern region, Count Dominus hung white flags from his castle and opened the doors to them. Count Dominus presented his only son, Ludante, the best swordsman in the kingdom, as proof of his surrender. Rubiana appointed Ludante as her knight and gave him her right-hand seat.

When the word spread that Count Dominus had surrendered, the rest of the eastern nobles rushed to bow before Kalena. She won over the east side of the kingdom without any bloodshed.

Under Kalena’s orders, Rubiana went to the western region. A small battle took place there. When the battle started, Rubiana hid at the top of a tower in an old tree. She waited silently for several days, and when the highest-ranking official finally appeared, she sent an arrow straight through his neck.

Once the official was killed, the rest of the soldiers peacefully surrendered. The only person Rubiana couldn’t kill was the leader of the western region, Margrave Feltherg. He had survived on his own ever since his parents and young siblings were killed by the tyrant king.

He lost one eye from Rubiana’s arrow but didn’t die. He found her eventually and stuck his sword through her shoulder. They both sat down to negotiate, bandaged from the wounds they had given to each other. They played a fierce tug of war between forced and voluntary surrender but couldn’t come to a conclusion.

When Kalena heard that Rubiana was hurt, she jumped on her horse and rode west on her own. It was only when she arrived that they could reach a consensus. The young Margrave Feltherg immediately surrendered when he saw Kalena riding toward them, alone on her horse. Rubiana thought he had fallen in love with her.

That’s too bad.

Although he had lost an eye, she had briefly thought that he would make a good husband with his handsome face and nice body.

I have to get married at some point if I’m to uphold the blood oath I swore to god. And if I were to get married, wouldn’t it be better to marry someone handsome?

Margrave Feltherg was the most handsome man Rubiana had ever seen. The eldest son of House Dominus was similarly handsome, but he was young and had a forward personality that Rubiana didn’t like. She’d thought that Margrave Feltherg was perfect for her, but he just had to go and fall in love with her sister.

Rubiana clicked her tongue and immediately abandoned the idea.