Chapter 143

How to Tame My Beastly Husband — Chapter 143. The Other Side of Raphael (2)

It made her sad to remember the look on his face when he said he didn’t want to talk about his past. The way he tried to hide his blushing when he was embarrassed…

If she had never learned this, she would have walked away from him with a bitter smile.

What a fool.

Meanwhile, after confessing to his crimes, Ben pretended to cry with repentance. He was only crying because of the pain of Railin’s blow, not because he really felt guilty.

All she had to do was look after the child, and she would have kept receiving money for him! That stupid woman!

In his mind, Ben was still raging at his dead sister, as if he were not the reason she had become an addict in the first place.

When he went to get money from her, everything was already over. Bella and Raphael were gone. There was only a letter on the table saying that she was unfit to be a mother, and she had been executed for threatening the life of the son of the King. Raphael had been taken to the palace.

There would be no more money.

This can’t be!!

Ben relied on that money. It was the only way he could gamble. And if the royal family wasn’t going to keep paying that, then at least the King should compensate him for his sister’s death.

So he could keep gambling.

Ben’s own addiction was equally blinding. If he couldn’t play the tables, he had nothing left to lose. So he grabbed some documents and went to the palace to raise hell, and was sent straight to cell 503 of the royal dungeons.

That brought him back to his senses. He had been sure he was going to die. But the King himself had heard about his situation and came to meet him secretly. The lips of the King had once offered kisses to Bella, and they whispered poison to her brother.

“There is something you can do. If you obey and follow my instructions with care, you will have your own casino.”

His own casino. Ben’s eyes widened. Owning a casino was every gambler’s dream. He immediately nodded his head. The King smiled with satisfaction.

“But I’m sorry, I can’t trust a gambler,” Selgratis said, injecting something into his body. “This poison must be neutralized every fortnight, or you will die. I will send someone to make sure you are doing your job properly. If I am not pleased with the report…”

From then on, Ben had to obey the King’s commands if he wanted to live. He had become a coachman for the Bavaria family under a false identity. From time to time, if he wanted to gamble, he could take his coachman’s salary to the casino.

He wanted to live at the casino as he had done before, but he had to be careful, with the King holding his leash.

For ten years, Ben lived as if he were dead, until he finally finished his work. But the King had not kept his word. The poison in his body had been cured, but he was not given a casino.

Hide yourself until things calm down. You will be paid later.

Ben was terribly frustrated, but he could not fight the King. Really, he should have just been grateful to be alive. He was a wanted criminal and could hardly go anywhere.

Secretly, he had begun going to illegal gambling dens, using the money he received each month. That was how he was caught by Annette. But Ben thought there still might be a way out. Annette was looking very pale.

Of course, this was with horror at the story of Raphael’s past, but Ben didn’t think anything of that. He assumed such a beautiful young woman, with such a refined upbringing, must be terrified that she had kidnapped him. Even when he was her coachman, she had always been soft-spoken and docile.

It’s pathetic, but if I beg for forgiveness with tears, I can save myself.

Ben really didn’t know her very well.

Though he had been her coachman for ten years, it wasn’t as if a servant could have a conversation with Allemand Bavaria’s daughter. Annette had not even been allowed to go out very often. To a commoner, all noblewomen looked the same: hothouse flowers who would wilt in the face of the world. They grew up with everything at their disposal, and were so convinced of their own superiority, they never expected to be betrayed.

Ben would find he had underestimated Annette’s conviction.

“I’m sorry,” he wept. “I apologize with all my heart, I will kiss the soles of your shoes, if that’s what you want. I beg you, just spare my life!”

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