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.

would one day massacre their

“Ruby?”

to hesitate for a moment, Cesare, who had been stroking my head, called for me again. This time his long fingers groped the back of my head. I shuddered in revulsion. It felt like a cold snake slithering up my

I shifted my gaze to Enzo who was frowning discontentedly, and then to Lady Julia and my father beside her, both seated upright, poised and

can at least be of some service to you with

into a rare gentle smile and pressed them up against the top of

as always, our sweet

I really wanted

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

***

life had at last come to an end and I could finally rest. But if I’d known that I would be reincarnated as a lady in the Renaissance 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 have thought the

in this novel, couldn’t I have at least been born into a decent

“Ugh!”

eyes begin to water. I’d gotten good enough at throwing up silently that I

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

siblings, I attended a prestigious private school in Madrid and lived

grade, when a boy in 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 of the kids in my class. I

sophisticated, welcoming facade of my adoptive family, there was always an unspoken rule that I was to be treated differently, that I was

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

obedient daughter, since if I ever brought the smallest bit of shame to my family or offended them in

I thought I was just hallucinating before l passed away. But when I looked in the mirror, instead of seeing my

me a few days to realize that I’d become Rudbeckia de Borgia, a character in the fantasy novel

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 of the North and the clergy bravely rising up and banding together to overthrow the wicked pope, his family, and the entirety of the

Grail’ was a metaphor for the holy site of the

to die no less than at the hands of my future

oldest brother, in an attempt to gain even more political influence, were hellbent on marrying off Rudbeckia, and after

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

wasn’t love that made him lose his mind, it was hatred—hatred of Rudbeckia,

I think about it though, more than being mad about Rudbeckia killing his little sister, it seems like Izek