Episode 96
Instead of answering right away, Sasha rolled her eyes.
‘Ah, right. I didn’t think he’d find out this quickly.’
Could it have been Mrs. Hudson? Sasha had little difficulty guessing who had made a fuss of it. Perhaps it had been Mr. Wokes.
After all, when she brought up the fake diamond, he had flushed red and was clearly trying to swallow his anger.
No, perhaps it had been Mrs. Wokes. In truth, she was the one Sasha needed to be most wary of. Compared to her, Mr. Wokes and Mrs. Hudson were easy to deal with. If anything, Sasha liked people like Mrs. Hudson.
“What do you mean, ‘unlike me’? How did I behave unlike myself? What exactly do you think I’m supposed to be like?”
“……At your core, you are kind to everyone, Miss Grayson. Though rather than kindness from the heart, it is a mechanical sort of kindness, as though you are protecting yourself. And you are more patient and composed than I am. You are also clever enough to know exactly what will happen if you lash out on the spot, so you are not the type to take risks unnecessarily.”
Sasha stared at Isaac’s back as he sat there stubbornly with his back to her.
Not knowing whether she should be pleased that he understood her more thoroughly than she had expected, she sat down near him with an expression that said as much.
“……Why did you do it, when they’re people you’ll only have to see for a year anyway?”
“Precisely because, as you said, they’re people I’ll only have to see for a year anyway.”
Sasha answered as though it were nothing.
Isaac could not hold back in the end and turned to look at her, but the moment their eyes met, his face flushed again and he jerked his head away.
“……What on earth does that…….”
What on earth was that supposed to mean? It was not as if she were making a pun. The question that had been about to burst out in irritation vanished at once.
Along with a gentle warmth, the fragrant scent of flowers suddenly wafted up close by. Isaac found it even more impossible to look to his right.
“When you see through me so well, are you truly saying you don’t know?”
“……Yes. I do not.”
More importantly, Isaac was in no state to think about anything at all right now.
Regardless, Sasha swept up her falling hair and looked at him with a slightly sullen face.
It was not the face of someone lying. Just as he had said that he hated lies terribly, Isaac had never lied to her even once.
Rachel, who had subtly belittled him; Mrs. Hudson; and even the Wokes couple, to whom such behavior seemed as natural as breathing—Sasha had not liked a single one of them.
Sasha had found it ugly how they acted awkward around him yet spoke so easily about Isaac, and she had also been annoyed by the way they had seemed to be quietly taking her measure in the meantime.
If she had to name the reason that came to mind immediately, that was it.
And just as he had said, she was a fairly cautious type, so it was not as if she had acted so recklessly simply because her feelings had been hurt.
Even before the wedding, Sasha had asked both Isaac and Caroline about the guests and gathered a certain amount of information.
For all that the Wokes family acted as though they were rather close to the count’s household, they had no business ties to them whatsoever. That was probably why Mr. Wokes had grown even more anxious and impatient enough to bring up business with Sasha out of nowhere.
They were a family that had become closer to the count after he married his cousin, Elizabeth, but after Elizabeth died, and then her son Edmund died as well, they had grown even more distant from the count’s household.
All of those things she had recalled were merely the justification and the surface reason for why she had been allowed to behave that way. They were not the “true reason.”
Sasha hesitated for a moment. She wondered whether she should honestly say that she had done it purely out of concern for him.
This man was so dense that he had not noticed at all; was there any need to say it? Thinking that, she kept her mouth closed and gazed at him with a pensive expression.
Just as Sasha was about to explain, based on the information she had carefully gathered after her brief deliberation, in an attempt to smooth things over for now—
“……You are a kind person.”
Isaac, who had gone quiet in the meantime, suddenly said this in a mumble.
“I’m kind?”
Sasha asked, looking at his profile from so close that her head nearly touched his shoulder.
“Didn’t you call it hypocrisy earlier? Mechanical kindness, you said.”
“Hypocrisy……! How on earth does that become such a thing?”
Still glaring only at the floor, Isaac snapped back.
Instead of looking at her in a burst of emotion as he had earlier, he buried his face in his palms.
“……You are the kindest person I have ever met, Miss Grayson.”
“……You ought to meet more people from now on.”
Unperturbed by her sharp retort, Isaac continued.
“Of course, lately you have been playing many pranks I cannot understand, and you have become strangely spiteful, and at times you seem oddly sly…….”
While Isaac spoke so plainly without realizing it, Sasha raised her eyebrows as though she had been slightly stung.
Regardless, Isaac stubbornly and honestly said what he thought.
“In any case, you are essentially a good person.”
“……I’m not so sure. If I were to…….”
“There was no need for you to go that far for my sake. Now you’ll have to hear unpleasant things from people who did nothing wrong.”
The lie that had been about to slip out of her mouth by habit, like an excuse, vanished again.
Sasha stared at him with an expressionless face.
‘Right. There’s no way he could be that foolish. He knows why I did it.’
She had nothing to say. So Sasha simply looked at him.
“Ordinarily, they would never have been people you had to cross paths with, but because of me…….”
“Dear.”
Isaac’s thoughts, which had been digging self-deprecatingly into the floor, came to a halt. He froze for a moment, then glanced at her somewhat sharply, as though asking if she was making a joke even in this situation.
Sasha found it so adorably funny that he still could not look at her properly that she burst into laughter.
“What? Even if it’s ‘fake,’ you’re still my dear.”
“It seems I’m the only one being serious. Never mind.”
“Yes. I did it purely out of concern for you. Because I couldn’t stand the sight of those people talking about you as if it were only natural when you weren’t there, those people who pretended otherwise while making it obvious they disliked our marriage. I did it because such feelings rose up purely from within me.”
Sasha spoke on and on honestly.
Her unreserved words came rushing at him all at once, and for Isaac, they were a little difficult to handle.
He had not expected her to be this honest.
“Did they barge in on you at this hour and say something?”
Sasha said, leaning even closer toward Isaac.
The scent of soap and some unknown floral fragrance grew dizzyingly strong.
Defensively, Isaac raised his hand and covered his face, enough to hide not only his chin but also his mouth and nose.
“No. They did not.”
“Good. I’m glad they aren’t that shameless.”
“Now they will continue to misunderstand you.”
“I don’t mind. Compared to rumors that I’m a little mentally unwell or an unimaginably ugly woman, being called an immature city woman is nothing.”
“Even so, I wish you would…….”
As if cutting off the words he was about to continue, Sasha thrust her face toward him.
Isaac had no time to avoid her and ended up looking straight into her eyes.
“What does that matter, when I’m saying I don’t care? I told you, it’s enough if only you understand me.”
“…….”
Did this woman have any idea what she was saying right now?
Having no way of knowing what Isaac was thinking, Sasha was beginning to feel irritated. As though spitting the words out in a fit of anger, she spoke, then flopped backward onto the bed.
The soft bed lightly embraced her body.
“Let’s stop talking about this now. ……I’m starting to want to sleep.”
“……Ah, I apologize for tiring you. Then I will…….”
“No. Isaac. Tonight, you have to sleep in this room, in this bed.”
Sasha said to his back while lying down.
Even though she could only see his back, Sasha could easily imagine what he must look like.
His face must be as red as a tomato.
“After what happened today, if we use separate rooms… If anyone were to find out, the rumors would spread immediately. I don’t know how tight-lipped the servants here are, but…….”
“Understood. I will do as you say, Miss Grayson.”
As though that was enough, Isaac quickly cut her off and rose from his seat.
“You say you understand, so where are you going?”
Calling him to a stop, Sasha suddenly had the feeling that this situation was somewhat similar to a scene she had often seen in novels.
The heroine and the hero in the novel had also been husband and wife.
‘The difference is that they were a couple going through a rut, while we’re just a fake couple.’
While Sasha thought that to herself, Isaac flinched and then answered as though reciting the words.
“……I will go wash. Please sleep first.”
If she was not mistaken, it sounded like he was begging her to please be asleep by the time he returned.
Lying on her side with her chin propped in her hand, Sasha watched Isaac leave the room as if fleeing.