Chapter 144

How to Tame My Beastly Husband — Chapter 144. Hunch

After offering this plea, Ben ducked his head as Railin kicked him to shut him up. It had been a fine performance, but he couldn’t deceive Railin’s sharp instincts.

“Did you get everything you wanted?” Railin asked Annette, glaring at Ben.

“I think so. He’s spent a lot of time in hiding, so he couldn’t know for certain what happened next. It seems a waste of time to continue any further.”

“Then what would you like to do with him now?”

“Hmmm.” Annette considered, and Railin watched her expectantly, wondering what choice she would make.

“Please! I beg you, please spare me,” Ben pleaded again, judging his moment. He was making a great effort to win Annette’s sympathy. He was afraid of Railin, who hadn’t hesitated to force him through the confession, but Railin was under Annette’s command. If she decided to take pity on Ben and release him, Railin could not do anything about it.

Ben had already forgotten all the decisions that had brought him to this point. When he had become involved in gambling. When he had chosen to get his sister addicted to drugs. When he had later gone to the King, hoping for compensation for her death. None of them were good decisions, and all of them had led here.

“…His Majesty distrusts the Bavaria family. They say we have lost some of the nobility of our blood, but who knows when we might rise again…”

Annette spoke slowly, thoughtfully. The King had done all of this to restrain her family. Arjen had nearly lost the position he had earned in the Empire. She had been falsely accused to remove her from contention for Crown Princess. And though her father had said nothing, perhaps he too had suffered something similar.

I should visit my father soon.

She needed to talk to him, though Allamand was not an easy man to speak with. He believed that a man in his position should speak seldom, to make it more difficult for others to draw him out. It won him respect, and not a little fear.

But this had also applied to his daughter, and Annette’s hands used to freeze with fear at the bare thought of trying to talk to her father alone. But she couldn’t let that stop her anymore.

Lost in thought, Annette bit her lower lip anxiously, and was startled at the sudden touch of a cool white finger that brushed her lip away from her teeth. Railin smiled.

“My client is very intelligent, but sometimes she forgets the presence of others when she is deep in thought. I don’t like it. It makes me feel lonely.”

“I beg your pardon. Honestly, I am a little bewildered. I can’t seem to take it all in.”

“Can I guess what you’re thinking?”

“Ah?” Annette’s eyes went curiously to his face, from which the sadness had vanished all at once.

“Tell me if this is not what causes your doubts,” he said cheerfully. “His Majesty has killed everyone else involved in this affair, yet he leaves the chief figure alive, and even provides him with maintenance. Though that seems to have been a waste, since our Ben couldn’t stay away from the tables.”

Railin paused to look at the pathetic man, turning the meat hammer in his hand as if he were contemplating whether to hit him again. But it wasn’t the moment for that.

“Thus, it seems likely that His Majesty has some use planned for him. That is why he allowed him to live. Perhaps to continue the previous work, or perhaps for some new task. We cannot know which. But if I can offer my personal opinion…it will mean nothing good for my beloved client.”

His red lips drew back in a smile. And yes, those words matched Annette’s thoughts perfectly. Her fingers lifted to her temples.

“We will restrain him here,” she decided, after careful consideration. “It may be that I can use him as a witness later.”

Honestly, it would be easier to kill him now. But Annette had a vague sense that she should not, a premonition that one day he might be useful. And she trusted her instincts.