CH 7

After some time, Ivan came to believe that he had tamed Katya.

To ease his suspicions, she played the part of the obedient wife to perfection.

If he insisted in the middle of the night that it was daytime, she wouldn’t argue back, and if he called the sun the moon, she would agree.

Katya saw her chance to escape, and one day, with a pitiful look on her face, she asked Ivan.

“I want to see Bianca. Would it be possible to grant me permission?”

“Come to think of it, it has been a long time since I saw her.”

“If you don’t want it, I’ll just give up……”

“I will send an invitation to the Duke. It will be for a dinner only. She won’t be staying overnight.”

Ivan, cheered up by her improved demeanour, graciously agreed. Katya hugged him, overwhelmed with emotion.

She gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to tear his hair out.

That afternoon, Bianca came to the villa.

“Sister!”

Her eyes widened as soon as she saw Katya, and she hugged her. Stroking her sister’s luscious blonde locks, Katya whispered in her ear.

‘I want to be alone with you.’

Bianca, who understood her sister’s words instantly, nodded ever so slightly.

She looked at her sister, now thin and hollow-eyed, and knew something was wrong.

“Congratulations on your marriage. Can I call you brother-in-law?”

Ivan’s nostrils flared at the sound of the word ‘brother-in-law.’

“Of course.”

“I brought a gift for my sister, would you like to see it?”

“What’s the present?”

Pulling a beautifully wrapped package out of her bag, Bianca said

“I ordered you a nightgown and some underwear to wear on your first night.”

She’d been worried about her sister because she wasn’t much of a liar, but she was a better actress than she had expected.

Now that her sister might be in danger, Bianca was blindsided.

Ivan snapped out of his imagination and waved his hand in the air.

“You shouldn’t look at that stuff in advance! I’ll be back for dinner. I’ll let you have a nice sisterly time.”

As soon as they were alone in the bedroom, Katya told Bianca everything.

It was Ivan’s two faces that made even the kind-hearted and gentle Bianca burst out in anger.

She sobbed with anger and resentment at what had happened to her sister, but she pulled herself together and held back her tears.

“Let’s get out of here, sis! I can’t let you stay in this place for another minute.”

“If we go out, do you think he’ll let us go?”

“Then I’ll stay here and pretend to be you, so you can sneak out.”

Bianca said, grabbing both of Katya’s hands.

“And how are you going to get out?”

“The knights of the duchy will be waiting outside the villa anyway. They can’t harm me at all. Even if they find out later and follow me, I’ll be alone in the carriage. What can they do to me?”

Katya was reluctant to leave her sister alone, but at Bianca’s urging, she finally nodded.

With Bianca’s help, she was able to climb down a rope made of quilts and curtains and made it out of the villa safely.

The villa was on the outskirts of Padovangrad.

Walking to the duchy was obviously out of the question, and a carriage or horse would have to be hired.

Without looking back, Katya ran to the carriage and horse rental office.

Luckily for her, she had seen it on her way to the villa.

It was quite a distance to the office, but she would be there in time for dinner.

Even if Ivan realised she was gone by then and gave chase, she would be far behind.

Katya made it to the shop just as it was getting dark.

As she took the money from the purse Bianca had given her, she saw someone heading towards the stables, accompanied by a man who appeared to be the owner.

His unusually large frame made him instantly recognisable from the back. He was the man who had bought her shamshir.

“What is he doing here?”

Katya wanted to rent a horse anyway, so she followed them to the stables.

When they arrived at the stable, the owner showed Nikolai several horses.

Since they had made it clear from the start that they wanted to buy, not rent, the owner spoke at length and with enthusiasm.

He explained that he wanted to buy a horse from a business where the horses were rapidly deteriorating due to long-distance travelling.

It was clear that he had no knowledge of horses.

The owner’s heart swelled with pride at the appearance of the top pushover.

“This is a horse. A breed that is supplied to the Grand Duke’s family–”

At the mention of the Grand Duke, Nikolai barely suppressed a laugh.

As the organiser of the jousting tournament, there was no way he didn’t know about horses, and he was currently on a patrol of the various sales offices.

He had received a tip that the southern nobleman who oversaw the business was evading taxes.

“Then let’s go with this horse.”

“Sure, that’s an excellent choice!”

“Excellent my ass!”

Katya, who could hardly stand to watch any longer, ran up to them.

Nikolai’s face lit up when he recognised her.

He quickly wiped the smile off his face as he realised that the clown was about to ascend.

Nevertheless, just looking at her, the corner of his mouth started to twitch.

He couldn’t figure out why she made him feel so good.

“Hey, are you the kind of guy who spends a lot of money on crap like this?”

Katya scolded him with a look of disbelief on her face.

Embarrassed, Nikolai threw up his hands in explanation.

“What? Oh, not that…….”

“I sold it to you at the lowest possible price, and then you spend your money in a place like this?”

The owner, who was delighted with the appearance of pushover that rolled in after a long time, blushed at the prescence of the intruder.

“What the hell do you think you’re talking about–”

“It’s a sick horse. I mean, his coat is shaggy and skinny, his eyes are cloudy and puffy, and you’re selling him without treating him?”

When Katya pointed it out, the owner, who had been hit on the nail on the head, exploded in frustration.

“No, young lady, what are you interrupting for?”

“What?”

“Do you know this young man?”

The words caused her to bend over the hulking, distracted man and put her arms around his neck.

This brought them into a natural shoulder-to-shoulder position.

The smell of her flesh at the nape of his neck took his breath away for a moment.

‘Smile, smile,’ Katya ventriloquised to a bewildered Nikolai.

He couldn’t help but smile awkwardly after her.

The monarch himself received help once again from this small and delicate woman.

Nikolai felt like laughing at this new situation, but he held it back.

In the north, everyone feared him, but this woman was different.

Even if she didn’t know who he was, he certainly didn’t look like the type to need help.

And they had only made one trade.

It would have been easy to pass him by, but here she was, fighting tooth and nail with the gruff owner.

He knew she had a big heart when she gave him a discount on the shamshir, but he didn’t expect this.

She was an interesting woman indeed.

“We’re a bit close.”

“A bit?”

“My, did I say a bit? My mistake. We’re very close.”

“So, what do you want?”

The owner, at a loss for words, asked bluntly.

“I’m here to borrow a horse, too, I’ll tell you that much.”

Katya gestured to the horse she had already seen. The owner took the horse from her and handed her the reins.

Looking at Nikolai, who blinked in confusion, Katya whispered.

“You can ride with me, but you should save some money. We live well when we live sparingly.”

Bragging about money in front of the Grand Duke, one of the richest families in the world.

Nikolai was not offended, but he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Wait here while I pay the bill.”

Katya followed the owner to the office cabin to get the bill.

As she did, Nikolai, who had been as calm as a puppy waiting for his master, suddenly took out his watch.

He had an ominous premonition and rushed past the stables to the cabin.

Sure enough, he saw Katya in front of the cabin, arguing with some men.

The owner, who knew Ivan, recognised her in the light and called for Ivan’s men, who were nearby.

Ivan kept a constant lookout for her in case she ran away, and her portrait was posted in the shop like a public wanted sign.

“Will you let go of me?”

Katya gritted her teeth and resisted as Ivan’s men roughly placed her in the carriage, causing her to stumble.

Her ankle was sprained, and she lay still.

Nikolai’s eyes widened, and he raised his sword, slashing at each of them in turn.

He grabbed the last one by the throat with one hand and lifted him up.

“Assassins? Who paid you?”

Katya came to her senses and wrapped her arms around Nikolai’s waist from behind.

‘What’s with his strength? He’s like a stone, he won’t budge.’

Nikolai’s eyes widened at the touch around his waist, and he calmed down.

“He’s not an assassin, he was sent by my suitor. Now let him go.”

With that, Nikolai threw the man from his grasp to the floor.

The slashed men wriggled and writhed in pain, then fled one by one.

Nikolai released her hand from around his waist and turned around.

Katya breathed a sigh of relief that they had all survived.

“Damn, I thought we were dead.”

“Even if they died, they were worthless people.”

“Do you have a grudge against those rats?”

“They didn’t hurt you.”

Nikolai said, in the moonlight, his eyes a stark blue.