How to Survive as the Wife of the Monster Duke - Chapter 4

One day, her grandmother had had enough of it and had slapped the Baron across the face. “You crazy, vile piece of shit,” she had cried, “Will you leave her alone? She is just a child!”

From that day forth, the Baron had only looked at Ilyin resentfully. Having the vision to see the future but being unable to change it, or even trying to change it, was a terrible thing. Ilyin’s grandmother lamented at the terrible ‘curse’ that had gripped her progeny. 

When Ilyin was young, she had not given a thought to her dreams. She had thought they were just harmless dreams but then they started coming true and she couldn’t ignore them further. It always showed her the future and always, a mobile would be present.

She didn’t know if the mobile was the requirement of these kinds of dreams or if her mind had created it to differentiate these dreams from others. When she was young, Ilyin loved watching the mobile that hung over her head as she slept. It had been a gift from her mother before she went mad. Her mother had always loved her until Sid’s death.

“Why do you dream such terrible things?” she had asked with resentment in her voice. “The cursed blood…”

Sid’s death had changed everything. Her father’s wrath and her mother’s resentment rang in her head. With Sid’s death, she had lost a family. Ilyin’s grandmother pitied her mother and pitied her. Ilyin began to hate her dreams.

“My lady, he is called Brad,” said a voice, following a knock on the door. It brought her back from her memories to the present.

“Come on in,” she said.

The door swung open and the knight entered. She had sent him to identify the Lord she had seen in her dreams. 

“Thank you,” she said to the knight. He turned around and left the room without any response, slamming the door after him like before. The knight wasn’t really good at his job and deserved no acknowledgement. The city wasn’t even big, and it had taken him one whole week to find the Essid Merchant. But she wanted information.

It was time to move.

 ***

“Your identity, Ma’am?” asked the clerk.

“Ilyin de Arlen,” she said.

There were some Arlenza nobles that Ilyen knew, but very few nobles knew about Ilyin. She had never been officially presented in the social circles. The clerk at the capital of Essid made a long face. He was trying to investigate whether Ilyin was indeed a noble.

“Ilyin de Arlen. Isn’t it enough to be from the Arlen family?” said Ilyin again. Her father had treated her as a nobody. The Arlen family didn’t have many connections and very few people even knew of his daughter. She understood the Clerk’s hesitancy, but she had no time to dawdle.

“Please wait a while,” said the Clerk.

The clerk made his way inside. Was it too much of a stretch to demand to see the head of the place right away? Ilyin wondered. The clerk came out again.

“Miss, you’ll have to be back in half a day,” he said.

It was quite obvious his Lord had refused to see her at the moment. She sighed. Ilyin looked around and saw no one approaching. “I understand that a large delivery is to head north,” she said.

“Of course,” said the Clerk, “Boro is our main destination.”

Boro estate was much closer to the capital than the Biftlen estate. It was closer to the central part of the capital than the northern part of the empire.

“I heard it’s headed further north than that,” she said. “I know that some of the carts are headed for Biftlen.

It was impossible for Ilyin to say more without clarifying about her dreams. In Biftlen, even in summer, crops were unable to grow. So, it was clear that Biftlen had deliveries from different places. It won’t let its people starve just like that. Ilyin was sure that only very few people knew about these deliveries.   

It wasn’t winter yet, but it was getting chilly. Maybe Biftlen would already be covered in blizzards.

 “…Please wait a moment,” said the clerk, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

The clerk went back inside. Ilyin was sure that this time she would be granted an audience. The clerk appeared a moment later. “This way, please,” he said and ushered her inside.

The clerk looked much subdued now. He led her through the curved hallway. A sign reading ‘Head of Merchants’ was hung above. It was flashy and self-assured. The clerk led her by it and into a small room at the side.

“My Lord,” said the clerk, “She is here.”

“Thank you,” said a man who looked simple enough. By the sign at the door, she had expected to see a huge, flashy, perhaps narcissistic gentleman. But the ‘Leader’ of merchants, dressed in a white shirt and active pants, looked very humble. She recognized him from her dream. The clerk bowed and left the room.

The Lord greeted Ilyin with a smile. “Did you say your name was Ilyin de Arlen?”

“Yes,” she said.

“It’s a sensitive matter so I have invited you indoors,” said the man, “We aren’t dealing with Biftlen.”

“That can’t be true,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

“First of all, our cart does not go to Biflten,” continued the man, “I’m not vicious enough to send my men to that barren, godforsaken land.” He smiled again. “It’s true that a lot of food is being delivered north. They are being delivered to the Boro estates and the surrounding lands. You already know the north is quite vast.”