Chapter 78

How to Tame My Beastly Husband — Chapter 78. Unknown Emotion (3)

A guest? Not possible.

Raphael frowned at the bad joke. The old man must have gone senile. He was talking nonsense. Harold was almost the only person Raphael socialized with. Raphael disliked people because he distrusted them, and he would never have invited anyone into his private space, or his home. But Harold paid no attention to his incredulous expression.

“I have heard through my informants that certain important people from the Chapelle Empire will be visiting Deltium for personal reasons. A vacation.”

“What of it?” Raphael asked, coldly indifferent. He had no reason to care if someone was visiting from the Chapelle Empire. Matters of state were the King’s problem. Raphael was training to become a Master of Swords, just as King Selgratis wanted. Raphael turned away, uninterested.

”Tsk. You don’t seem very interested in your wife.”

Raphael stopped when he heard the tongue click behind him. He didn’t understand what any of this had to do with Annette, and he turned back slowly, eying Harold suspiciously.

Harold smiled, please. Raphael got grumpy every time his wife was mentioned. Even if wasn’t love, he obviously had deep feelings for her. Even as an adult, Raphael still reminded Herald of a hedgehog, rolled up in a ball of spines and oblivious to anything else.

“Pay more attention to your wife’s family,” Harold admonished. “You’ll be a step ahead. Think about it. Who is in the Chapelle Empire?”

Raphael’s eyebrows lifted as he finally understood. Annette was not an only child. Her brother’s genius had exceeded the bounds of the small kingdom of Deltium, so he had gone to study abroad in the great empire, where he had ultimately gotten a job.

Imagining that arrogant man’s face, Raphael gritted his teeth. If Arjen resembled his father, Raphael didn’t want to see him, even if he was Annette’s only brother.

He didn’t bother to show up at the wedding, why is he coming now?

He was annoyed inside. The prodigy had been too busy to attend his only sister’s wedding. It didn’t make sense for him to show up so long afterward.

But Harold’s information was never wrong, so the time would come soon enough to meet him. Raphael felt uncomfortable just thinking of it. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he had at least seen Arjen’s face at the wedding.

Despite his impressive career, Arjen was little known in Deltium itself. He had spent his youth studying in the Academy of the Chapelle Empire, and then been offered a job as soon as he graduated. Everyone praised him as a great man and knew nothing else about him, and that included Raphael.

A rare genius. The son of the arrogant Allamand. Annette’s brother. Raphael objected to all these things. He didn’t understand why there were so many problems in the world. It would be wonderful if he could have just lived with Annette and forgot about everything else.

Raphael startled at this thought, only vaguely aware that it was floating in there.

He had better get home now.

***

Sitting on a tree branch, Railin swung his legs in a leisurely way. He liked bright colors like the sunset that was currently spread before him. It was a deep secret that his extravagantly red hair was not natural.

But perhaps because he was getting older, today he found he preferred deepers to the vivid shades that hurt his eyes.

Like the color of the hair of the woman on the balcony below him.

Railin looked down at Annette, sleeping peacefully in the rocking chair. The colors of sunset were glowing on her pale blonde hair. Maybe that was why he suddenly had the urge to touch her.