Chapter 48

Chapter 48

I rolled my eyes and caught a glimpse of a smirk forming on his face.

“Honestly, I didn’t hear that…”

[Olivia!]

“Madam!”

Speak of the devil…

At the end of the trail, I saw a bird flying towards me at full speed, calling my name loudly. Ashuna was with him, too.

“Did the wedding go well?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve followed all the procedures, right? You did the vows?”

Ash, who was silent, suddenly turned to look at me.

I was wondering what was wrong with him all of a sudden, and an unexpected question flew into my head.

[Did you share the kiss for the vows?]

Wait, what…?

For a moment, I was flustered beyond speech.

But he added nonchalantly, [You know, kissing. One person puts their lips on another person’s and they rub against each other…]

“Stop!” I spluttered as the explanations he gave me grew more and more explicit.

Lennox and Ashuna, who couldn’t hear us, looked at me as if something was wrong, but there was no time to care.

[Did you?]

I didn’t want to answer because he was asking so persistently. The naive expression on his face made it even stranger for me, and I couldn’t tell why he was asking me that.

[If you want to make the kiss deeper, you should turn your head and open your lips.]

“I did it! We kissed!” I ended up shouting.

It wasn’t enough that just my face was burning up, I felt like my whole body was flushed.

“Oh my!” Ashuna’s eyes opened wide and her face brightened at once.

In the meantime, Ash, who sat on her shoulder, nodded his head with satisfaction.

I was the one who got married, but why did it seem like they were even happier than I was?

“Olivia.”

The low voice made my thoughts pause.

I felt my face burning with embarrassment, and when I lifted my head, I saw a mysterious smile on his face. Sure enough, the sense of foreboding didn’t go away.

“I didn’t know that you liked to flaunt your romantic exploits.”

“Wait, it’s not that…”

“Really? You just bragged that I kissed you.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what?”

“Just…”

I realized right then whatever I said, I wouldn’t be able to win this conversation. Lennox was too good with his words.

“It’s nothing, so don’t make it seem like there’s something more.” I spun on my heel and walked to the open carriage.

Nishir, who was waiting for us, opened the door for me. “Where shall I take you?”

Lennox looked at me. “Do you have a place in mind?”

The schedule at Elysium was going to be done according to my wishes.

“Today, instead of overdoing it, I just want to take a walk in the downtown area…”

Ashuna yelled, “What do you mean, ma’am?” She sidled closer and whispered, “Go back to your villa right now and get ready!”

“For what?”

She hit her chest with her fist in frustration, and whispered urgently again, “The first night, of course!”

“What?”

At that moment, the embarrassment that had barely subsided rose again.

“Ashuna, what’s wrong with you, too?”

Ash and Ashuna were alternately putting me in trouble, as if they had planned it together.

But the impact was greater on her side. Unlike Ash’s comments in my mind, Lennox could hear as many of Ashuna’s whispers as he wanted.

“I almost forgot the most important thing.”

And he didn’t mean to help me at all. Rather, he looked at me pleasantly and slowly bent down.

I followed his movement with my eyes, frozen.

With his lips close to my ear, he breathed out gently.

“…!”

He smiled. “You said you’d do your duty as a wife.”

His upturned eyes and ruby-like irises were so beautiful that it was eerie.

“Including those at nighttime.”

My face flamed up. “Are you going to keep doing this to embarrass me?”

“What?”

“Everyone else is listening,” I said furiously. “You may be fine, but I’m not.”

“They can’t hear us.”

“What?”

“We’re the only ones in this conversation.”

After he mentioned it, I noticed the whitish membrane surrounding both of us.

“I’ll tell you when I do this the next time so that you don’t feel anxious for nothing. I’m willing to follow orders.” Lennox bent down, waving one hand in an exaggerated gesture.

I sighed deeply, knowing he was being mischievous again. It was probably more prudent to give in now since I wouldn’t be able to stop him anyway.

He stood upright again and grinned beautifully. “And you can look forward to tonight,” he said, the words at odds with his gentlemanly appearance. “I’ll do my best.”

“Lennox!”

“So that I can satisfy my wife.”

At this point, I needed to turn and hide my face before getting on the carriage.

I could hear a low laugh behind my back.

“I don’t know how a person can insist on doing whatever they want until the very end.”

“You’re a bit stubborn yourself. Now, turn this way and lie down.”

I followed Ashuna’s orders obediently. The subtle scent of flowers filled the bathroom as she poured oil on my back.

“It’s not just stubbornness—ah! Take it easy…”

“Your shoulder blades are as hard as rocks! How have you gone on for this long with these shoulders? Don’t they hurt?” Ashuna pressed down and tried to get the muscles to relax. “But… compared to before, the master has changed a lot… For the better.”

“That’s not a very optimistic statement.”

Wasn’t he a hopeless case if what he was now was “better”?

“No! This is all because he met you. In that short period of time, you’ve been able to change him to the point where we can all feel it.”

“Did I do that?”

“It never would have happened without you. Even the changes in the household wouldn’t have come to pass.”

“That’s because there was a shortage of people in the duchy since a lot of people left.”

“Didn’t he tell you anything?”

“I’m not… sure?”

Ashuna rubbed her temples. “If it’s just to fill the number of people, it’s easy to just hire some random people, right?”

She had a point. Only a small number of people who were essential to the duke were ordered to reside in the estate. Each person must have had an important position.

“In fact, the employees who left this time did not leave out of their own accord but were fired. They were spies.”

“What?” I flinched and sat up.

Ashuna made me lie down again. “His Highness the Crown Prince planted them. They’re usually from his personal security team.”

“He was the one who sent the spies?”

Although the two were not close, they seemed to have a mutually beneficial relationship.

“Well, they were all here anyway, so the master had simply observed them until thus far. You don’t catch and kill every fly just because they’re annoying, don’t you?”

My jaw dropped at her comparison of the crown prince and his security as a swarm of flies.

“But now it’s absolutely unacceptable.”

“Hm?”

“Of course, it’s because you married the master. You’ll be staying in this mansion now!”

Doubt filled me. I was the one who asked to marry him, so why would he go to those lengths?

“Isn’t that conclusion too contrived?”

Immediately recognizing my distrust, Ashuna reassured me, “You know his personality. The ducal estate was full of spies but he didn’t care about it. Even if he’s the type to hate annoyances the most in the world!” She muttered to herself, “You should have seen him when he finally decided that he would thin out their numbers,” and then raised her voice, “In addition, he instructed everyone in the mansion to prioritize your safety.”

That was because of the clause in our contract that she didn’t know about.

“Just from what I can see, I know that you are important and precious to him.” Ashuna’s hands were clasped together, her eyes glistening.

There had been a big misunderstanding.

“It’s true that the master is arrogant and dogmatic, but…” She held my hand in both of hers. “Trust me. You are definitely special to him.”

She would certainly be disappointed when she found out the truth later on, but I couldn’t bring myself to reveal that I was a temporary contractual duchess.