Chapter 14

Chapter 14

When he tried to cry again, I told him to stop immediately.

“Sorry… Heup…”

“Calm down.”

“…Yes…….”

“Now explain it properly. What did you and Sir McCain talk about and what was the reason?”

“…When I went to the parlor, Wife didn’t come… I did exactly what you told me to say…”

“Are you going to cancel his employment as the Knight Commander?”

Bleon nodded his head slightly.

“Then he said he wanted to talk to Wife… He insisted that he couldn’t accept this…”

“So the Sir then threatened you when he noticed that you were intentionally cut by the sword?”

Bleon raised his head and looked at me with startled eyes.

“…Did you hear that?”

“Huh.”

“Sorry…”

Bleon answered in a tearful voice.

“Why? Why are you doing this to the point of hurting your body?”

Judging from the flow of the conversation earlier, I assumed it was because of me, but I continued to question him for now.

“I thought you wouldn’t want to hire him if I got hurt…”

“If you don’t like Sir McCain, you can just say you don’t like him. Why did you do such a foolish thing…!”

Your mouth is working well, but why don’t you say anything…

His actions were so stupid that it left me speechless.

The head of the Duchy is Bleon, and if he said he didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have forced him.

“And…”

“And?”

It was clear that he had something more to it. I focused on Bleon’s words.

“And… That man was looking at Wife strangely, so I was offended and I hated it. That’s why I thought he wouldn’t be able to set foot in this place if I did that… I wanted to keep him away from Wife forever.”

“Looking at me?”

What did this mean? Unexpected words came out of Bleon’s lips.

Bleon’s words sounded like McCain Holster had me in his heart.

“Ah, no way.”

I burst into laughter at Bleon’s absurd thought.

“Look at this… My wife is too defenseless. So I had no choice but to…”

Bleon let out a long sigh with a displeased expression on his face.

Huh? No way…

I tilted my head at his reaction.

“But that kind of man and Wife don’t even care about me and laugh and talk…”

Hmm…

It seems that Bleon had some concerns about this issue…

Astell was not very popular. No, not to an abysmal extent, but that much unpopular at least. It was because she didn’t even get married, let alone date, until she turned twenty-three.

She had only Bleon, and he had even been brainwashed by Astell since he was a child, and when he grew up, he thought that there was no one else but her for him. If Bleon had grown up normally, he would not have looked at Astell.

‘Last time I saw him, he seemed a bit shaken by Philia…’

I clearly saw Bleon’s pupils shaking. Of course, I don’t know if it’s because he hadn’t seen a woman of the same age as him in a long time.

“I think you misunderstood?”

At my words, Bleon let out another deep sigh.

“Ha… Really, Wife… Because my wife is so pretty, other men keep staring at you. But you keep thinking it was nothing, so I had no choice but to do that…”

“What?”

You think I’m pretty?

Within Bleon’s extensive explanation, the thing that stuck with me the most was that I was pretty. But when I first saw Astell’s look in the mirror, I was honestly not very dissatisfied, but even I didn’t think she was pretty.

“Am I pretty?”

I couldn’t believe it, so I asked Bleon again.

“Yes. My wife is the prettiest in the world.”

It wasn’t a lie or mere empty words. Because when he said that, he was really making a face that had seen the most beautiful thing in the world.

‘In this kid’s eyes, Astell looks pretty.’

As a child when the two first met, Bleon said that Astell was pretty. This became something significant to her. Astell had only been told all her life that she was ugly, but the moment she heard that she heard this for the first time, her heart was swayed.

It was understandable that she grew to like Bleon because of this. Bleon’s expression had been sincere when he said it. Also, when someone who would never be dazzled by an appearance said something like that, the corner of my mouth was slightly raised unknowingly, and it made me feel better.

“So I want Wife to talk to me and laugh only with me for the rest of your life.”

To be honest, at first, whenever Bleon said something like this, I shook my head, thinking about how thoroughly Astell had tamed him. I knew what he was saying was not from his sincerity, but as a defense mechanism to avoid being abused by her.

But as I continued to stay and watch him, everything he said seemed to be true.

I felt that the expression Bleon reserved for Astell did not come from a place of abuse, but from sincerity. And hearing the same words over and over with an infinitely serious expression, it couldn’t be helped that my heart fluttered.

“Then you should have told me. You were just hiding it for no reason? Then what? Sir McCain caught you.”

“I thought I could fix it…”

I thought it was cute to think that he seemed to want to solve it anyway. I had a gentle smile on my lips, enough to forget that I was angry now.

“Don’t lie to me again in the future. Don’t hide it. Understand?”

But I didn’t forget to warn him once again because it was his fault for lying to me this time.

“Yes. Sorry. I will never do that again… Thank you, Wife…!”

As I answered, Bleon took me in his arms. This time I leaned into him readily and hugged him tightly. Of course, his body was so big that my two fingertips barely touched as I wrapped my arms around him. And then I gently stroked his back, this Bleon who was very good at answering.

“Then, Wife should not look at other men. Okay?”

I nodded my head slightly in his arms.

‘By the way, we should find another Knight Commander again, right?’

Although Bleon hated it so much, it was no wonder that he hired McCain Holster as the Knights Commander. It didn’t have to be him, so there was no need to upset Bleon further.

“Bleon. When Sir McCain comes tomorrow, let’s cancel his contract.”

“Yes. Good. Thank you… Wife…”

“No. Actually, I didn’t like him either.”

“Really?”

Bleon pulled away to see if my words were true, and he looked at my face imploringly.

“Hmm. He’s too sassy. You should know what is inside. I prefer a transparent person like Bleon than someone who is hiding something like that.”

“Wife…!”

Bleon was moved by my words and hugged me again with joyous eyes. Then he kissed my forehead lightly and whispered a hot breath in my ear.

“Ha… Can I kiss you?”

“What?”

Kissing all of a sudden?

Where did this kid really come from, he wasn’t transparent in terms of skinship, but rather, he was unpredictable.

“Not yet…!”

“…Huh?”

“The treatment is not over yet. Skinship will be allowed after the treatment is over.”

I always put it off until after treatment whenever Bleon made these kinds of requests.

‘After treatment is over, it’ll be over anyway.’

Knowing that two people fall in love through treatment, I deferred all of Bleon’s requests until the end of treatment because this was the easiest and most convenient way to persuade him.

So I answered that way again this time.

“Can’t we just do it once…? I’ll just kiss you…”

So, were you planning to do something… other than kissing?

“No. The treatment is not taking effect yet.”

I flatly refused.

“Wife… Please… I think I’m going to die because it’s been so long…”

But as of today, Bleon begged me again like he didn’t want to back down.

“If you kiss me today and the treatment doesn’t work, would you be okay with taking a longer time for the treatment that you don’t want to receive?”

I took advantage of Bleon’s unwillingness to seek treatment from Philia to persuade him. Then again, at some point, Bleon would willingly want to be treated. At that time, I would feel a little sad, but I was willing to let him go with his well-being in mind.

“…Okay.”

‘It seems that he really doesn’t want to receive it yet.’

Anyway, luckily, as soon as I talked about treatment, Bleon gave up right then.

“Yes, yes. Let’s think about it after receiving the treatment. Understand?”

I replied hurriedly, saying let’s think about it without giving him a definite answer.

“…Yes.”

“So good, my husband.”

And I always ended the conversation by praising him with words that I always say to him.

The next day McCain Holster arrived. He had come to work in the Duke family as a Knight Commander from today onwards. When the butler said that he had arrived, I quickly headed to his private room near the training grounds.

Knock, knock.

“Yes.”

His voice came from within.

“It’s Astell Einer.”

Before I could say I was me, the door opened from within and McCain appeared.

“Madam?”

“Please address me properly as Duchess Einer.”

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