How to Get My Husband on My Side

“I’ve finally found a worthy groom for you, darling,” announced Father, as he wiped off his lips with a napkin.

Laying on the knees of my oldest brother Cesare, I felt the urge to run back to my bedroom and throw up all the food I’d just eaten.

My second brother Enzo, who had been busily chowing down on an awfully smelly quenelle, slammed his fork down and cried out in protest.

“Not again! Father, how many times has it been already?”

“Enzo.”

“It hasn’t even been three months since her last engagement was called off! Regardless of what our family would gain from this marriage, shouldn’t you at least try to consider her feelings?”

“What a surprise to see you side with your little sister. Then would you rather battle the barbarians yourself instead of accepting Britannia’s support?”

“What are you talking about? Those savage barbarians up north wouldn’t stand a chance against the likes of me, the greatest, most noble soldier to ha—”

“Shut your trap, boy.”

The great noble soldier took the rest of the quenelle on his plate and shoved it into his mouth, aggressively chewing in protest.

The marriage proposal wasn’t any surprise to me though. I knew that it would come sooner or later.

“Who is it, Father?”, I asked cheerfully.

My father, who had been staring disapprovingly at Enzo, looked back my way and smiled.

“He’s Britannia’s hero. The king’s beloved nephew and famous knight of the South. He’s very handsome, I’m sure you’ll like him.”

“What! Father, do you know how bad his reputation is?!”

“Boy, was I talking to you?”

Enzo became quiet again.

had any idea that this handsome knight would one day massacre their entire family. Oh poor, wretched creatures of this

“Ruby?”

for me again. This time his long fingers groped the back

at his eerie azure eyes, I shifted my gaze to Enzo who was frowning discontentedly, and then

Father. I’m grateful that I can at least be of some service to you with this

smile and pressed them up against the top of

always, our sweet

I really

I had more pressing matters to attend to than throwing up. After all,

***

Era, and as a character in a novel that I’d read long ago, and, to make matters worse, forced to survive in an environment that was just as vile as my previous life, would I still

character in this

“Ugh!”

feel my stomach tense up and my eyes begin to water. I’d gotten good enough at throwing up silently that I didn’t need to worry about being

as people call it nowadays, an eating disorder. Before I became Rudbeckia de Borgia—I mean before I died—I was an adopted daughter of an upper-class family in Spain. I guess you could say I was a child

knew nothing about the so-called ‘Korean Peninsula’ where I was born. Like my adoptive siblings, I attended a prestigious private school in Madrid and lived a life full of ballet classes, tennis club, horseback riding, and

my class laughed at me while pulling back his eyes. At first I didn’t understand what it meant, so I just laughed along with the rest

as for my life at home, despite the sophisticated, welcoming facade of my adoptive family, there was always an unspoken rule that I was to be treated differently, that I was an

publicly exposed for his promiscuous private life and drug addiction. The only one in my adoptive family who would sometimes treat me nicely

of a smart, cheerful, and obedient daughter, since if I ever brought the smallest bit of shame to

I looked in the mirror, instead of

that I’d become Rudbeckia de Borgia, a character in the fantasy novel Sodom and the Holy Grail I used to read as

Era and revolved around the tale of a vile, corrupt pope who abused his power to subjugate others. It was a story about the countries

northern Romagna region of Italy, and ‘Holy Grail’ was a metaphor for the holy site of the Vatican

die no less than

in an attempt to gain even more political influence, were hellbent on marrying off Rudbeckia, and after three unsuccessful engagements

to why someone as noble and austere as Izek would lose his mind and decide to murder his wife’s entire family after only being married for six months, it was Rudbeckia who made him go

it was hatred—hatred of Rudbeckia, who’d poisoned his

mad about Rudbeckia killing his little sister, it seems like Izek just got fed up with