The House of Baron Sinclair, vassals of the ducal House of Radensdorf, was a prestigious family with a long history, having served as the duke’s knight captains for generations, but the current head had stepped down from the post due to failing health.
He was widely regarded as a stain on his ancestors’ good name, and the biggest problem was that he was a homosexual. His rapidly deteriorating health was probably not unrelated.
But of all things, he was caught by the Night Inquisitors, who specialized in hunting homosexuals, and Baron Sinclair ended up saddled with an enormous debt. If he didn’t want to be burned at the stake, he had to pay hush money.
"You’re joking, right?"
"It’s all true."
Before Klaus of Hoenir departed, I had asked him for information on the Sinclair family, and when I first read what he handed over, I doubted my own eyes. But every word of it was true.
"Baron Sinclair was a noble of unremarkable reputation before his marriage, but after he wed, he began to fall apart rapidly. It may well have been the influence of Lady Margareta."
Knowing nothing about my sister-in-law’s family, I was seriously agonizing over whether to form my judgment based on Klaus’s information when Margareta introduced me to Baron Sinclair.
Baron Sinclair spent all day confined to his sickbed. He was gaunt and so gravely ill that it wouldn’t have been strange if he had died at any moment. His personal physician was at his side, and the man bowed respectfully to Margareta and withdrew.
"Hmph, did you bring your young lover here to show him off to me?"
My first impression of the baron was that he was extremely sharp-tongued. Having suddenly been cast as Margareta’s young lover, I was deeply offended. Even so, I never expected to hear something like that said to my face.
Judging by the fact that the baron hadn’t even been informed of my visit in advance, this couple seemed incapable of normal conversation, let alone a normal life together. I could feel the contempt in Margareta’s gaze.
As my sister-in-law’s husband, he was my brother-in-law, yet given how hostile he was acting toward me, Klaus’s information seemed to be accurate.
When I checked his disposition, I understood why he was reacting this way. Envy (evil) is a deeply negative disposition characterized by hating others and harboring hostile feelings toward them.
It was one of the dispositions I was most wary of, second only to Conspiracy, because there’s no telling what someone consumed by envy might do. The grudge of a noble brimming with malice is like a ticking time bomb.
"Even with me stuck in this sickbed, don’t think for a second that you can run everything in this family, you wench."
His envy was clearly aimed at Margareta. Did he hate her for taking charge and leading the family while he lay bedridden? On top of that, she had even earned military merit.
"Watch your mouth. This man is my brother-in-law."
"What? Brother-in-law? ...Then he’s the one?"
His hostile gaze shifted to one of interest. The way his stare clung to me was deeply unpleasant, but he was still my brother-in-law, so I kept my manners.
"It’s an honor to meet you, brother."
"My apologies for the offense. As you can see, I’m in no state to welcome you properly. Forgive me."
"It’s quite all right. I’ll be imposing on your hospitality for a while."
"By all means. But beware of that vixen."
Margareta led me out as if her husband weren’t worth another word. The silence between us was suffocating. I hadn’t asked, but Margareta spoke as if in lament.
"Sinclair and I were brought together through the late king’s matchmaking."
I’d heard it was a political marriage arranged by the late king.
My father-in-law, the grand duke, a loyalist to the bone, would naturally have accepted the late king’s matchmaking. Political marriages are so common in noble society that marital discord isn’t even worth gossiping about.
But this couple was an extreme case.
Not merely indifferent to each other, but outright hostile.
"At first, my husband was a decent enough noble, but he grew more and more narrow-minded, and then he wore his body out in the brothels until he ended up like that. What a foolish man."
Pity and contempt mingled in her voice.
She said he had changed after the marriage, but there must have been something between the two of them. I don’t know if he had the Envy disposition from the start, but envy’s defining trait is hating those better than oneself all the more.
Margareta had secretly cooperated with our army and rendered decisive service in the fall of Radensdorf. Of course, that credit would go to her husband, Baron Sinclair, but would he really take pride in it?
More likely, he’d take it as a humiliation.
You could tell just from the retainers’ attitude. They followed Margareta with blind devotion, not Baron Sinclair. Though he was the master of the Sinclair family, he was treated as a figurehead.
How many noble ladies would punch Antonio in the face just for putting a scratch on their neck? She was a born force of nature, and she must have seized control of the Sinclair family through sheer charisma.
She chose her own ambition over love.
The reason Lady Margareta enjoyed a surprisingly good reputation despite having taken over the family was that Baron Sinclair was rumored to be a sodomite and stood as the worst sort of noble—much like how Count Baschurten was branded a lecher.
"I thought I had everything, but for the first time in my life, I found myself envying Hilda."
Her words left a strange, lingering echo.
The retainers responded instantly to Margareta’s every gesture, and she managed all the family’s affairs, great and small. For a woman to seize control of an entire house takes far more than ordinary ability.
And yet I could sense a softness in the way she looked at me. Maybe it was because Margareta resembled Hilda, but it left me feeling very strange. She seemed to genuinely envy Hilda.
Unlike her younger sister’s marriage, famous for its devotion, her own married life was a disaster, so perhaps she felt she was owed something. She had chosen power over love, and no one gets to have everything.
"Brother-in-law, if my husband says anything strange, just ignore him."
"Even so, ignoring him seems a bit much, doesn’t it?"
"No. He suffers from a mental illness. He likes men, you see."
Hm, she reveals the family’s shame without batting an eye.
Is it because I’m her brother-in-law?
I hold no hostility or disgust toward homosexuals; I’m simply indifferent to them. The problem, however, is that this is the Middle Ages.
It’s an age where the Night Inquisitors, who crack down on homosexuals and burn them at the stake, roam the land with full legal backing. And they only burn the homosexuals who have no money. Money-worshipping inquisitors indeed.
The baron had been forced to pay a colossal sum in hush money, and when Margareta learned of it, she confined him to the estate. His rapidly failing health served as her justification.
"That’s why we have no children."
"Hmm, if he’s a homosexual, couldn’t you legally divorce him?"
"I have the barony in my hands. Why would I divorce him?"
"But without an heir..."
Wouldn’t she eventually be cast out? Inheritance passes only to children; it never passes to the wife. Surely Margareta knows that.
"I’ve arranged to adopt a son from a close relative."
So that option existed too.
She had brought even the relatives to heel and taken complete control of the barony.
The retainers all followed her orders, and the family head was in that sorry state, so it wouldn’t be strange to call the Sinclair family Margareta’s personal property. No wonder she felt no need for a divorce.
Even the worst marriage is bearable, apparently, if it comes with a position that lets you run the entire house. What’s more, with the fall of Radensdorf and her new alliance with the royal family, her standing had grown far greater than before.
No wonder Baron Sinclair acted the way he did.
"Could it be that your capture was..."
"His tip-off. His final act of defiance, I suppose."
Margareta seemed to be sneering at her husband’s foolishness. Truly fitting for ambition (neutral). She’s the type who will use any means necessary for the sake of her ambition, which is exactly how she swallowed the family whole.
If anything, she had used his betrayal to cut her husband off completely from the outside world and bend everything to her will. The only way Sinclair could ever escape her would be assassination—and could he even manage that?
Thank heavens Hilda didn’t take after her.
She has that same commanding streak, but she’s a woman devoted to me.
I’m lucky we’re bound as family. If someone like this were my enemy, it would be a real headache. Staying at this mansion had become uncomfortable, but I couldn’t turn down Margareta’s hospitality.
Honestly, the baron worried me more than she did.
A union of Envy and Ambition.
The worst possible match.