Chapter 21
A Person Who Would Be Beautiful If Only They Kept Their Mouth Shut
Ah, there could be no more wretched imagination than the pain itself, but Klaud was too breathless with the impending agony to entertain such rational thoughts.
His body and mind, pushed to their limits each time, had finally crushed his pride after only two nights of sweet sleep.
“Are you acknowledging me as the mistress of this house, and as Your Highness’s wife?”
“From the start, you begged me not to kick you out. You have nowhere else to go, do you?”
Klaud couldn’t hide the crookedness that peeked out in the midst of it all.
If he was going to keep her around, he needed to clarify their relationship.
Even if Pellieresse wanted this woman, the reason she didn’t desperately want to go home was obvious. She wasn’t being treated properly in that house.
Besides, having provided the Consummation Proof, there would be no suitor to take a bride who wasn’t a virgin.
In short, she was a woman of marriageable age whose value as a bride had completely plummeted.
Yuan couldn’t answer the question that hit the nail on the head and closed her mouth.
Klaud suppressed the pain that was beginning to surge and curled up the corner of his lips.
He was a villain through and through.
“A useful skill. Plus, I won’t have to see the tiresome procession of new brides or hear rude screams anymore.”
Yuan gripped her knees tightly with damp hands, feeling as if she had passed through a long tunnel and was facing the white light shining far away.
This crooked man seemed to have found the answer she desired most.
“I’ll treat you as a useful vassal. So, live knowing your place, or not.”
It was an outrageous coldness to show a wife after the consummation, as if a huge wall had risen before her, drawing a line.
But Yuan felt so much joy that her vision turned white just from the fact that he hadn’t kicked her out of this house.
‘I don’t have to go back to Pelliese County Residence.’
She could live here peacefully, maintaining a proper distance as she wished.
Someday, when they were closer, she could talk about Louise.
“Answer.”
There was no further to shrink her head, which was already turtled in.
Even if she tried to act dignified, her conscience pricked her, and after being listless and intimidated for ten years, she couldn’t pretend to be haughty in front of a hostile royal.
To even bring up Louise, she needed to be a friend he wanted to give everything to, not just a useful vassal.
But to the Deposed Emperor, who was baring his fangs like a trapped wolf, this was as good as getting everything.
Afraid that Klaud might change his mind, Yuan quickly replied.
“Yes. I will. Thank you.”
Klaud’s eyebrow shot up at the docile and positive answer. But the words weren’t over.
“But that intimate warmth.”
“!”
“Do we really have to share that?”
Yuan had to stiffen her body to avoid turtling her neck again.
It was a minimal measure.
Somehow, she could only absorb the pain by touching him, and it was a rule she made out of the anxiety that if he had a great medicine, he might just give it up and kick her out.
According to what she had observed and heard for only a few days, the Deposed Emperor was limited in who he allowed into his domain, let alone touched.
He shuddered and hated even someone seeing him for a short time.
It didn’t seem likely that the Deposed Emperor, who hated even being seen by others, would touch the butler Gustav, or Lancelot Lev, who greeted him obsequiously as ‘Madam’ when they occasionally met, or Eddie Lev, who was full of wariness, or Marquis Kompani, who flashed his eyes like a snake, for the sake of ‘warmth shared with people.’
Besides, he would know. What ‘intimate warmth’ meant.
Wouldn’t Yuan, whom he believed he had spent several nights with, be better than spending nights with a new woman every time? She was his wife, at least in name.
“Answer.”
Look at that picky and rude nature.
Looking at the prim nose and stubborn mouth, as if he would kick away even a child who came to cling to him, it was a wonder that Yuan hadn’t been slapped for kissing his cheek for treatment purposes.
“If you don’t like it, I can call the butler or someone else to do it instead…”
The man’s eyebrows, who knew how to convey the word disgusting with his eyes, narrowed sharply in the middle.
As expected.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll… do it.”
Yuan stood up and moved a little closer to Klaud, who really looked unwell.
Since he had called her to use her, Klaud knew that it was an act of treatment.
Whether it was because he didn’t like it or because of the tension about the unknown medical skill, Klaud, who had been sitting loosely, straightened his back and looked at her.
His seated height was so tall that he wasn’t really looking up at her, but his eyes, which were weakly flickering towards her, looked like abandoned puppies.
It was even more so when she looked under his eyes, which were stained with fatigue and sensitivity.
Yuan stared at her past self in those eyes.
“I hope Your Highness has a peaceful night.”
And I want you to share that precious heart with me, and talk about Louise.
I want the truth about Louise’s death.
I want you to bury my sister, who was once your wife, so that she can rest in peace, even in this territory.
I hope that even if I ask for such things, you won’t kick me out and this house will be a comfortable home where I can stay…
Yuan brewed a herbal tea that had no effect, filled with disjointed wishes.
She gently rubbed his wet lips with her finger, which were waiting for her next action after drinking it without complaint, as if sealing a contract with businessmen.
With a very slight touch, Klaud took a deep breath as he absorbed the pain.
Watching his face change as if paint in the name of peace and tranquility was spreading in water, Yuan carefully took his clean hand as if shaking hands, like businessmen signing a contract.
Compared to its long and elegant shape, Klaud’s palm was quite calloused and hard, showing what he had been doing all this time.
Klaud flinched as she licked and rubbed the calluses with her thumb.
Just enough to sleep comfortably for one night.
And just that much pain passed over to Yuan.
She had no intention of absorbing more than that.
If this man had tormented Louise, or even killed her, he would be someone who deserved to suffer.
Klaud’s eyes, which had been burning with the intention of watching exactly what she was doing to his pure body this time, began to blink slowly.
The purple eyes, which had been desolate like beads that had lost their light under the long eyelashes, slowly disappeared under the eyelids.
There was no way he could win.
Because if Yuan, who takes away the pain, wants it, the other person is bound to fall asleep.
Yuan stared at Klaud’s sleeping face for a long time.
A jewel-like face that didn’t know a speck of Yuan’s pain sparkled without knowing the situation.
‘He’s a really pretty person if only he keeps his mouth shut.’
The impression was fleeting.
Yuan bit her lip and swallowed the bitter taste of blood spreading in her mouth.
She pressed down on the bursting scream with her hand.
Clenching her trembling teeth.
She recited the spell as usual.
‘This is nothing. Nothing.’
***
The morning Yuan opened her eyes with a tired body.
The huge ‘Mistress’s Bedroom’ that had now become Yuan’s was filled with the items she had ordered yesterday.
Not only the latest medical books, but also a bookshelf filled with academy papers that her uncle would never show her unless necessary began to fill one side of the wall.
Butler Gustav raised his eyebrows as he watched the merchants carrying in books and papers in a row.
“Did you order these?”
“Yes.”
Yuan hesitated, watching Gustav’s bewildered expression, and wondered if she had brought in too much after being told that she could decorate the room as she pleased. But the butler shook his head briefly.
“Are the curtains or canopy decorations, carpets or bedding okay?”
“What’s here is good enough!”
In fact, by the standards of ordinary royals and nobles, the things in Yuan’s room were not top-notch.
This was because the rest of the budget had been tightened for over 10 years due to the budget allocated for only one owner.
But for Yuan, who had shared what the maids used or hadn’t even had that for over 10 years, it was already more than enough.
“Even if the other things are okay, you should definitely get some clothes made. You don’t have much with you…”
“Did His Highness say that?”
Yuan asked, a little embarrassed.
Klaud had only just accepted her existence into the mansion, so she understood that he was full of things he didn’t like.
In Yuan’s memory, Klaud mostly looked at her with contempt, hostility, and rejection.
“Yes.”
The butler, remembering that Klaud had frowned at her, who was wandering around the garden in this harsh cold, relying on the thin fur cloak and earmuffs she had been wearing since she came, and said, ‘Get her some clothes. Do I have to worry about things like this?’ thought that he shouldn’t tell her even that and replied briefly.
“The winters here are particularly cold, so he told me to pay some attention.”
He softened the explanation a little after seeing her look dejected.
He wondered if he had crossed the line, but the butler smiled faintly as he saw her face brighten noticeably at the short explanation.
***
“Isn’t this too flashy?”
“Flashy? It’s just one ribbon decoration?”
“That’s right. We want to see some fancy clothes too.”
“Please make it this color. Please?”
Thanks to the dressmaker who was immediately called in the afternoon, the young maids were noisy.
Starting with Henna, Monica and Canaria exclaimed every time the dressmaker took out a piece of fabric or lace.
