Chapter 100

How to Tame My Beastly Husband — Chapter 100. Arondight Sword (1)

Raphael still remembered how her face had looked when she kissed him at their wedding. At the time, he had only thought it was funny, but why did the memory make his heart pound now?

“We are a couple,” Annette replied, blushing at his teasing. “I have the right to speak my mind, and you’re too selfish.”

Her brush continued to move gracefully through her hair as she spoke, and Raphael found the contrast between her haughty words and innocent face charming. Unbuttoning his dress shirt, he approached her and lifted her onto her dressing table.

“Raphael?” She said, looking up at his face with surprise. His dark blue eyes were intent on her face, so serious, like some solemn, beautiful beast. His rough hand caressed her, brushing her cheek, then drifting down the back of her neck to smooth over her back, his breath quickening.

“You know it, don’t you?” He asked earnestly. “That you’re beautiful.”

“…I am?”

“You didn’t know? I thought you’ve been treating me this way all this time because you thought so.”

Thinking he was teasing her again, Annette laughed, but his face was serious as he stroked her cheeks. His eyes lingered on her as if he were gazing upon some marvel, and her cheeks heated.

“Your hair, your eyes, your lips,” he went on, low. “You shine. You are dazzling.”

“Because of the sunlight…” She began, aware of how disheveled she was, and he was the one who had lifted her onto her dressing table and into the light of the afternoon sun. Automatically, she averted her eyes and tried to push him back a little by his shoulders, but Raphael had never been obedient.

“They shine even more when I lick then,” he said, with a smile as bright as if he were a teenager. “You are beautiful.”

That was twice that he had called her beautiful, and Annette turned red as a tomato. Before she was married, she had heard this countless times at various social gatherings, so why was her heart suddenly stumbling as if it were malfunctioning?

Annette bit her lip, trying to steady herself. Something wasn’t right.

* * *

Dinner was pleasant. When Arjen emerged from his room after a short nap, he looked much better than before. He had been exhausted after his heavy work and the long journey to Deltium.

And despite his slender appearance, he emptied multiple plates filled with food. Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he glanced up at Raphael with those purple eyes. When he smiled slightly, the black spider on his cheek writhed as if it were alive.

“I have heard a great deal about you,” he said. “I was pleased to learn that my brother-in-law may become a Master of Swords.”

“I am flattered,” Raphael replied briefly. Arjen was a genius whose fame stretched from Deltium to the Chapelle Empire. Raphael was not about to accept glib compliments at face value.

But he nodded politely, and inside, Annette smiled. Despite his mistrust, Raphael was still trying to welcome her brother.

“Oh, I nearly forgot,” Arjen said suddenly, clapping his hands. “Your wedding gift. It would be brazen to come empty-handed and accept your hospitality, when I couldn’t even come to your wedding.”

Arjen Bavaria had almost forgotten something? Annette thought skeptically. The genius of the century would never forget anything. Her pink eyes narrowed as she watched her brother, and though Raphael did not know him well enough to be suspicious, he was not easily bought with gifts.

Raphael had never been especially materialistic, and he had become a wealthy man from the spoils of war. He was more interested in achievements than objects, and he assumed that any gift Arjen gave would be jewelry, silk, or some luxury particular to the Empire.

But Arjen was too canny to try to win him with such common things.

“Have you ever heard of an Arondight sword?” He asked, with a small smile playing about his lips. A little bait for Raphael. “I’ve heard they are quite famous.”