Translator: Nox

Chapter 49

49. Give Them What They Want

Count Geret Pellieze shook off the spine-chilling scene he had imagined in his head and lowered his voice.

"If she ever makes a move herself, deliver this letter. If she frequents any places regularly, track her down and find out where she goes and what she does."

"I only have one body, but you're giving me so much work to do."

-Thump!

A heavy sound echoed through the wooden floor.

The secret mercenary, Guyotelle, grinned from ear to ear as soon as he saw the gold bar the size of his forearm.

Not a single part of his exposed teeth was white.

Count Geret Pellieze averted his eyes from the filthy sight and dismissed him.

"If you achieve anything, I'll give you two more of those. Remember, the most important thing is not to be seen by others."

"Yes, yes."

"And deliver that green letter to the butler as soon as you leave. It's an urgent letter to Marquis Lev, so take one of my servants with you and move quickly."

"Yes, sir. Of course."

Guyotelle, a small but sturdy man, bent down to pick up the gold bar and a few letters, grinning and revealing his teeth, which were full of foreign substances.

Marquis Lev's emotion was deeper and wider than the sea when he visited the Black Manor for the first time since that bizarre wedding celebration that Emperor Igor Euphris had enjoyed alone.

He had been startled as soon as he arrived in front of the huge iron gate at the entrance to the Mansion.

Beyond the iron gate, which creaked open, the garden, which had been covering the desolation with its eyes, was quite green.

The change started with the garden, and then...

"I thought Lancelot was playing a prank to please me."

"Because he is."

"...I was deliberately dragging my feet, trying not to come because I only nag when I see Your Highness. But when I came, it was really..."

The monocle he was wearing to look at the documents fogged up.

Marquis Lev shed hot tears into his glasses, then swallowed the tears that flowed out of his nose as if he were slurping noodles.

"Did I ever tell you? Your Highness has the eyes and lips of the late Empress Eleonore, exactly like a mold."

"I think I've heard that since I was about four years old."

As the sound of him sniffling and snorting tears and snot continued, Klaud threw a handkerchief at him.

Seeing the purple eyes indifferently scanning the documents, Marquis Lev now openly sat close to Klaud and examined him.

"Are you not feeling well? Your skin is as fair as a newborn baby, but you look fine."

-Thump.

Klaud put down the quill he had been moving languidly with a thud and ripped open the knot of the nightgown he was wearing.

The black, hard half of his neck and chest, writhing like a snake, filled Marquis Lev's eyes.

He was flustered by Klaud's sudden action, but when Klaud casually closed his gown again and took the quill in his hand, he wiped his face as if he were washing it with a handkerchief.

He was being too foolish. It wasn't time to pop the champagne yet.

Still. Still...

"It's a blessing that at least your face is this good. Even if you look closely, you can still see faint spots, but if a man is this good, it's not a flaw."

"It's hard to compare to those who carry around things that can't be distinguished between a horse's head and a human head."

Marquis Lev barely suppressed a laugh as he thought of the men of the Trelawney family.

Even so, seeing his handsome and dashing nephew's face, his heart seemed to throb.

Klaud, who had inherited the beauty of Eleonore, Mosan Lev's only sister, and the cool, masculine atmosphere of the late Emperor Alexei, continued to stimulate his aging tear glands.

"Stop admiring your nephew's face. If you know that you haven't been working all this time because you couldn't, not because you didn't, then stop nagging."

"I told you that happiness is nothing special."

Marquis Lev mumbled with emotion-filled eyes.

"The day will come when you fully realize that even everyday things that everyone else does, like holding a loved one and seeing a child, can be happiness."

And he received the approved documents from Klaud, blessing him as he spoke.

Klaud pressed his temples without answering and curled up the corners of his lips diagonally.

"I don't know what love is, but I'm satisfied that I now have the patience to listen to my uncle's foolishness."

"I'm going to go and thank your ninth bride. And apologize for the rudeness I committed on the first day I met her."

"Rudeness?"

As displeasure flashed in his relaxed eyes, Marquis Lev immediately confessed.

"You looked so fragile that I thought you would run away as soon as you saw Your Highness. So panicked that you wouldn't even know where your old shoes went. But it's admirable that someone who looks so weak waited for Your Highness until the end and stayed by your side until you recovered like this. It's a blasphemous thought, but."

Mosan Lev, whose gray hair had increased more than it had 10 years ago, smiled at Klaud, who looked displeased.

"Please take good care of our Your Highness in the future. I'll even beg."

"I'm not a child."

Klaud snorted indifferently.

"Oh, and this."

Marquis Lev handed Klaud a file he was holding under his arm, as if embarrassed.

"The Pellieresse family sent a document requesting a marriage dowry. It is a natural request, as it is customary to exchange gifts."

"Even though we didn't receive anything."

Eddie, who had been silently watching his father's tears from afar, interjected.

Eddie Lev's sharp eyes were overflowing with wariness towards the current Count Geret Pellieze.

It was a marriage close to selling a bride to get in line with the 1st Prince Bolonico, so they may have felt unfairly treated, but the Lev family, the groom's side, was not in a good mood.

It was a separate issue from Yuan Pellieresse being a good wife.

Family and family.

Especially since it was a marriage between the imperial family and a family, they knew that it was a procedure that could not be simply overlooked, but they were very upset by the choice of words, which was close to that of a merchant who could not hide the fact that he was taking Yuan Pellieresse, the family's property, and asking for money.

The Pellieresse Count's letter regarding the groom's dowry was handed to Klaud.

Klaud, who had been reading it with languid eyes, soon scribbled his confirmation signature without delay, accepting all the demands.

"If you want to shut them up from saying things like they want to take her back, give them what they want."

"There's room for negotiation. You don't have to sign right away."

"I don't care, give them everything. I don't care. No matter how much the dowry is."

"It's a list written with room for negotiation, so we can also demand some negotiation and their dowry. Of course, this is separate from how well Your Highness is doing. It's also about suppressing the Pellieresse from telling Your Highness, who has already become Euphris, what to do."

"Why bother."

"..."

"They sent a bride anyway. And we didn't give anything, so this is right. Let's not get red in the face over a few pounds of gold and just give them what they want."

Eddie shut his mouth tightly with a stiff face. And after moving his lips several times, he took the documents he had been entrusted with a big sigh and left the office.

Klaud opened the window wide, as if he was frustrated after finishing his words.

Klaud, who had been shifting his gaze to the garden and beyond, soon turned his head slightly towards Marquis Lev, who was admiring the picturesque scenery.

The blonde hair, backlit, sparkled transparently, stroking Marquis Lev's eyes.

"Shall we take a walk for a change, Uncle?"

They walked out into the garden side by side.

As Klaud's steps naturally headed towards the west Annex, Marquis Lev quietly followed him.

The small west Annex had now shed its black ashes and was shining, revealing its original red flesh.

The mistress of this Mansion, who was busy with the finishing touches, came into Marquis Lev's eyes.

The face of the white girl, who had been blinking her big black eyes in fear, was slightly flushed by the sunlight, and her lips, chattering to the maid next to her, were the color of a fully bloomed spring flower.

It was like a person who had been like a beautifully molded dark cloud had turned into a rainbow.

Her obsidian-like black eyes curved beautifully, and her raised lips were coy and lovely.

The Deposed Empress, wearing a tattered but endearing apron and holding a brush in her hand, looked like an unknown painter repainting the black and white world in red.

Marquis Lev stared at Klaud's broad back, standing tall and watching the scene.

He wondered if Klaud was looking at the red bricks that reminded him of old memories, or the woman's bright smile that was dirty but made him smile.

"Igor Euphris's interest is only in how to make the country more impoverished. Whose head to cut off and display. Or which woman's skirt to lift."

"..."

"This side doesn't care, and won't even let anyone bring it up. You just have to be happy. Like everyone else."

Like everyone else.

Klaud rolled the sentences that were not uttered out of his mouth.

The moment that sentence, which had been full of antipathy, came out of that woman's mouth, it felt different.

Everything was changing in the blink of an eye.

The tiresome pain was gradually disappearing. The person who had seen his weakest and ugliest side did not run away, but rather told him that she liked being embraced by him.

It was a very unrealistic reality.

"Spring has finally come, Klaud."

His uncle said in a kind voice, standing next to him and looking at the same place.

The still cool breeze that passed him carried the scent of warm spring.

Klaud traced with his eyes the garden, which had become as green as a spring day in his childhood, and the seedlings that Yuan had planted around the west Annex.

He saw the woman's face, faintly smiling and enjoying the sunlight among the spring flowers that were budding to bloom brightly.

Klaud subtly stretched the corners of his lips as if tracing that smile with his lips.

It was an awkward and somewhat gloomy color, but it was a beautiful smile as if it had been drawn.