C3
Bianca had married into the Arno family at the young age of 7. Despite being a young man in his 20s, Zachary was nothing but big and scary for a kid.
He was a gruff person with hands as big as Bianca's face, and his humble dark woolen clothes gave off the smell of death. He was handsome and masculine, but that also made him look like a gravedigger in young Bianca's eyes.
Zachary wasn't used to interacting with children, and Bianca wasn't used to interacting with grown men other than her father. Bianca avoided Zachary, and Zachary in turn couldn't get close to her easily.
Although Zachary tried his best to treat Bianca well in his own way, the problem was that instead of using warm words or smiles, he used money and gifts to try to win her favor.
That had been the starting point for Bianca to fall further into loneliness.
With her back still against the headrest, Bianca surveyed her room. The floor was covered with a rug made of high-quality wool that felt extremely soft under her feet. Its rich hues and intricate patterns were indicative of its high value, and yet she Bianca was certain that she had not been pleased with it in her past life, complaining that it was inferior to a rug made of silk.
The Arnos were doing well thanks to Zachary's impressive exploits, obtaining all manner of valuables and rewards from the king, but they were still unmatched by Bianca's family, the Blancheforts, who remained prosperous for generations.
Zachary was an outspoken, unsophisticated warrior, and he wasn't one to wear extravagant clothing. This was also reflected in how his castle was decorated. Still, he had made an effort to match the lavishness with which Bianca would have grown up under the Blancheforts.
Boring carpets, drab decorations and wooden furniture decorated the room of the lord of the castle. In contrast, Bianca's room had vibrant tapestries, gold-trimmed furniture, and gorgeously dyed fabrics. But Bianca was still unsatisfied. No matter how hard Zachary tried, it wasn't easy meeting Bianca's standards.
Bianca had in the past disparaged Zachary's efforts, calling them pathetic. Even when she had brought priceless purple-dyed cloth from a foreign country, she Bianca only complained that there was no gold thread to embroider it.
There was a time when Bianca's usual amount of homework was drastically reduced. As the war continued, it was necessary to constantly buy warhorses, while arrowheads and swords were always in short supply. Bianca wanted to redecorate her room before the weather got colder, so she got upset when she realized she didn't have the funds to do it.
Decorating her room was not just a simple act of indulgence for Bianca. Since she had practically been deposited in an unknown location with no one but her nanny, Bianca was on uneasy terms with everyone at Arno's castle, including her husband. She therefore had no person or thing to cling to. Decorating her own space was an action taken to relieve some of the loneliness she felt. She could feel a sense of familiarity whenever she spent time in the room that she decorated similarly to the one she had in Blanchefort castle while she was wearing expensive clothes.
However, an absurd amount of money was required to adorn the desolate Château de Arno and make it resemble the opulence of Château Blanchefort. Reducing her allowance was such a problem for Bianca that she forced her to look for her husband herself, despite the fact that she normally always avoided him.
"Why the hell do you have to participate in the war?" What is the point of winning if it only makes us poorer and poorer each time?
“This will be the only time your allowance will be reduced.
“There is not a single joy of living in this castle, and you simply took away the only source of happiness I had.
—……
Bianca had looked at Zachary with tears in her eyes, and the latter just looked at her wordlessly for a moment before quickly turning around and leaving the room. He made Bianca tremble with contempt, believing that she had just been insulted.
But Bianca couldn't remember if it was because of her inability to decorate her room the way she wanted, or if it was because of the humiliation she felt when Zachary decided to cut her allowance without consulting her first.
Zachary had achieved a landslide victory in that war and the reward he received was an amount that would make anyone envious. He had used it to not only make up for the amount he had initially taken from Bianca's allowance, but went further and gave her so much more, as if he was trying to make up for cutting it off in the first place.
But that wasn't what Bianca really needed.
Due to the constant wars that broke out, Zachary had to leave the castle frequently. Bianca had no idea why he seemed so obsessed with the battlefield, though her husband wasn't the only one of hers. All men were like that. Bianca always ended up having to look at the figure on her husband's back when he went off to war.
For a couple to even develop feelings like mutual dislike, they would at least have to see each other often, but even that was non-existent for Zachary and Bianca. Since she couldn't cultivate any attachment towards her husband, Bianca only felt lonely when she was left in that huge castle. That loneliness only grew when her nanny, Jean, the only person to accompany her from Château de Blanchefort, fell to an infectious disease. Bianca finally fell into her own little world, closed herself off and an even deeper rift formed in her relationship with Zachary.
Normally, one was considered an adult once they turned 16, but Zachary and Bianca did not consummate their marriage until the latter turned 18.
When Bianca was 18 and Zachary was 31, the situation outside the castle walls grew increasingly dire. When conditions brought about by the war reached a breaking point, Zachary's vassals pleaded with him, urging an heir. Although they had brought up the subject many times since a long time ago, Zachary had always brushed it aside, but he knew he had reached his limit and therefore crawled into Bianca's room. It had been an autumn day, just before the harvest began.
The memory of Zachary's piercing gaze looking at her as he stood by her door was still vivid in Bianca's mind. He, who usually never set foot near her bedchamber, had suddenly come looking for her and was staring at her without saying a word. Nervously, Bianca's hands trembled, causing the embroidery hoop she was holding to shake visibly as well. Despite having exposed her concern, Bianca had feigned nonchalance, lifting her chin as she admonished him.
"It's rude to visit suddenly without warning." You could have let me know before you were coming.
"Are you saying it's rude of me to go to my wife's room?"
“…It's different from you. I'm sure you have a reason to come looking for me all of a sudden. It is urgent?
The corner of Zachary's mouth twitched dismissively, easily acknowledging Bianca's hesitation. Bianca's lips remained pressed together in silent response. Even if it was an urgent or important matter, she didn't want to face it.
“Unfortunately it is. We have been able to put it off this long, but all vassals yearn for an heir. We're sleeping together in a week, so get ready.
-Sorry?
“I am saying that now is the time for you to do your duty as my wife.
Watching Bianca simply blink, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard, Zachary repeated himself. But Bianca still looked lost, absentmindedly groping her embroidery in place of hers.
Zachary stared at her thin, pale neck for a long time, frowning as if dissatisfied with her slow response, adding one last comment.
-One week. Do not forget.
Bianca was incredulous. His first night of hers? It was so sudden, as if she had come out of nowhere.
He was not ignorant of the relationships that men and women had behind closed doors. At the very least, she had a "necessary" level of knowledge about it. The day after Bianca began her period for the first time, her nanny declared that she was already an adult and explained intimate relationships between a man and a woman.
That happened when I was 13 years old, and five years had already passed since then. Her nanny had gone out of her way to make sure Bianca grew up a good lady of the house. She also tried to help erase any prejudice and negative feelings that Bianca had against Zachary.
Jean really loved Bianca. Had she lived a little longer, her nanny surely wouldn't have sat back and allowed Bianca to have an affair with a man who wasn't her husband. No, rather, if her nanny hadn't passed away, she Bianca she wouldn't have felt so lonely to the point of falling in love with Fernand in the first place.
Without a doubt, her nanny had done her best. The problem was that after Jean's early death, Bianca began to live her life her way. She only did the things that she wanted to do and turned a blind eye to everything that she found annoying.
But what Bianca wanted to avoid most in her short life were matters involving her husband, Zachary. However, no one around her would mention the duties and responsibilities required of her as mistress of the house, not even Zachary. As a result, the idea of sleeping with her husband was non-existent and Bianca ended up spending her time doing what she wanted while her relationship with Zachary continued to worsen.
After Zachary left the room, Bianca fell into a state of panic and bewilderment, her calm, carefree life suddenly bombarded by the prospect of intercourse.
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