Chapter: 16
In the suffocating silence, Ibnia cautiously raised her hand.
“Th-This… can it be undone?”
“Kids these days really don’t understand what an oath is.”
Seven clicked his tongue as if he were hearing something utterly ridiculous.
Looking annoyed, Seven pulled out his long pipe, bit down on the mouthpiece, and lit the end. After taking a long drag and exhaling slowly, he continued.
“An oath is exactly that—a vow. Once it’s completed, it becomes a promise that can never be broken. ‘Until death do us part.’ That’s what marriage by oath is: something you must uphold no matter what. If you didn’t want that, you should’ve just gone to the church and signed one of those feel-good marriage certificates.”
“But… we didn’t even really get married. This was just a scam.”
“From the start, what Ram exchanged with your family was an oath stating that the two of you would marry. That fish-brained idiot just completed it using a loophole. The paired rings, the groom and bride, the banquet-style ceremony, the guests, and even the toast. My goodness—wasn’t it the perfect small wedding?”
Seven shrugged exaggeratedly, as if impressed.
Only then did Ibnia suddenly come to her senses and glance at Ram’s left hand.
Could that wedding ring he had been wearing all along be the matching piece to the one Guillermo had given her?
With a dazed expression, Ibnia clenched her own ring finger.
The ring that had seemed to fit perfectly earlier now felt unbearably tight, squeezing her finger so hard it seemed impossible to remove.
At that moment, only one thought filled Ibnia’s mind.
I shouldn’t have trusted someone who uses people as ignition devices.
Just because he acted a little kind on the surface didn’t mean he was good inside.
She hadn’t been completely unaware that he was dangerous.
Ibnia couldn’t believe how careless she had been.
Hadn’t Hanna, Seven, and even Ram warned her openly? That Guillermo wasn’t someone you could reason with—and that he even had a past filled with serious wrongdoing?
“There’s really no way to undo it? No matter what we do?”
Ibnia asked again, her face pale. It wasn’t so much that she expected another solution as that she simply didn’t want to accept reality.
Everyone answered her with silence.
At that moment, Ram, who had returned to his original spot after leaving Levi behind, waved his hand and splashed cold water onto Seven’s pipe, extinguishing it.
“No. It can be broken.”
Seven glared at him, furious at losing his freshly lit tobacco.
“Getting divorced right after getting married. Wow. Trash…”
“Divorce is forbidden! Squawk! Absolutely forbidden! Squawk!”
“Our poor Lady Ibnia, what should we do? A bride getting dumped by her groom on the wedding day—how pitiful…”
“Since it’s come to this, why not just live well together?”
“Shut up, Guillermo!”
Ram had ignored Levi and Hanna’s meddling, but at Guillermo’s comment, he finally snapped.
Though he looked just as desperate for a smoke as he had when Ibnia first arrived at the castle, instead of lighting one, he clenched his lips tightly and bit down hard.
With a deeply troubled expression, he spoke.
“‘Until death do us part.’ That means you separate when you die.”
“Are you saying you’ll die for her?”
Guillermo asked, eyes gleaming.
He had planned this entire affair hoping Ram would release him. For Guillermo, freedom gained through his master’s death didn’t seem like a bad option at all.
There was no way Ram hadn’t noticed the thoughts Ibnia had just read.
Grinding his teeth, his anger intensifying, Ram snapped back.
“If I enter a temporary death state, my soul will be freed from the oath. Then we can break it.”
“Are you insane?! That’s easy to say, but you could actually die! Just live with her for a bit! Anyway, if Nina is going to reincarnate, you’ll have to wait hundreds of years again, right?!”
Seven jumped up, frothing at the mouth as he protested his friend’s suicidal declaration.
It didn’t seem like a method guaranteed to succeed, no matter how confident Ram sounded.
Considering the real risk of actual death, Seven’s suggestion—to simply let time pass—seemed far more rational.
Once Ibnia, an ordinary human, eventually died, Ram would naturally be released from the marriage bond.
If there was one flaw in that perfect plan, it was the fact that Ram could meet his true wife not centuries later, but at any moment—even right now.
Ram didn’t have the luxury of waiting for Ibnia’s death.
If this was a matter of choosing…
“I… I can die.”
Ibnia spoke up carefully, and everyone froze.
Only then did she realize she had skipped too much logic and blurted out her conclusion.
To her, it was a rational judgment—but to those who didn’t know her sister was alive, her words must have sounded absurd.
Feeling their sharp stares, Ibnia hurriedly added,
“Um… not right now. But, maybe—just maybe—Nina might reincarnate sooner than expected. And if that happens…”
“So what, you’ll die in her place and expect us to clap in gratitude?”
Ram cut her off coldly.
There was no need for applause. If they were happy, that alone would be enough.
She wasn’t important, and not much time had passed since she’d already resigned herself to death.
She had already once offered up her life for family who were practically strangers.
For Ram, she felt she could sacrifice herself gladly.
With a steadier voice, Ibnia replied,
“This happened because I accepted a ring I shouldn’t have.”
“No one here thinks this is your fault.”
“Then by that logic, Ram, you’re not at fault either.”
“No. I’m more than guilty. According to you, I’m a hopeless bastard who shoved a minor into mortal danger and felt relieved afterward.”
Ibnia tried to protest, but he stopped her with a cold gaze.
Perhaps because she had only ever seen warmth in him before, Ibnia was startled by how icy his red eyes could look.
Ram didn’t vent his anger violently.
Instead of scolding Ibnia, he brushed past her with a frigid demeanor.
Stopping in front of Guillermo, he immediately reached out and said,
“Guillermo, you need to sincerely reflect on what you’ve done.”
“Wait—!”
Guillermo tried to stop his master, but suddenly convulsed and clamped a hand over his mouth.
As if something were blocking his voice, preventing him from speaking.
Coughing violently, his face twisted in agony. After several dry heaves, he began to vomit something up.
“…A fish?”
Ibnia doubted her own eyes.
What Guillermo expelled was clearly a living fish.
A strange creature with turquoise-blue scales crawled out of his mouth as if flowing backward.
Even more bizarre was that the more the creature emerged, the smaller Guillermo’s body became.
It looked as if he were being swallowed in reverse by the thing escaping from him.
At last, the fish, losing all support, flopped onto the floor with a wet slap.
Ram cast it a brief glance as it writhed atop Guillermo’s clothes—then vanished without leaving a trace.
