Chapter 9

Chapter 9

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“Hello, Count Teiwind.”

Rayfiel, coming across Aelock at Viscount Derbyshire’s tea party, greeted him with a bright smile. Truthfully, Aelock didn’t want to act like he knew him, but Klopp was standing one step behind the happy omega, looking at him, so he forced himself to reply with a polite smile.

“Hello, Rayfiel. The weather is very nice today.”

“I wish it was always like this.”

Even though it was a simple reply, Rayfiel intentionally clapped in an exaggerated manner and giggled. Aelock was deeply displeased by the fake laugh hitting his ears, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he smiled brightly at the alpha, who was standing behind the omega with a stiff expression and greeted him with a nod. All that came back was a slight nod. Grumpiness arose.

You do not have to be this cold.

Aelock looked down at the omega standing in front of his eyes again, raising the corners of his mouth that had already been raised considerably. White bands were wrapped around Rayfiel’s fingers as he put his hands together in front of his mouth to look cute.

“You seem to have hurt your fingers.”

“Oh, I was practicing cooking a while ago.”

“Cooking?”

“I learned how to trim fish. But I cut myself due to my own clumsiness.”

Aelock frowned slightly at those words. As future hostesses of aristocratic families, there were those who learned to bake sweets, and bread, or take lessons on tea ceremonies. However, it was too much to use a kitchen knife to trim a fish. When he looked closer, Rayfiel’s hands had minor scars everywhere in addition to the bands, and the back of his hand, which should have been soft and smooth, looked a little rough.

“Is Viscount Westport facing such financial difficulties? To the point where he is making the eldest son cook?”

Rayfiel, who was showing his hands without knowing it was embarrassing, blushed belatedly and lowered his hands to hide them behind his waist. After all, no matter how distant the relations were, he was a cousin of the Teiwind Family. In addition, because of their similar appearance, there had been frequent talks about the connection between the two families recently. In such a situation, if rumors about Rayfiel cutting his fingers while trimming a fish spread among noble families, Aelock will be treated as a horrible miser who does not take care of his relatives even though he has amassed an enormous fortune, or as a fool who doesn’t even know the difficulties of his relatives.

He thought he had an aristocratic eye for things because he was dressed in modest clothes of good quality but understated embellishments, but even that seemed to be his own misunderstanding. No matter how much he didn’t like Rayfiel, helping a relative was one of the obligations of nobles. Aelock spoke in a tone that was careful not to reveal his annoyance as much as possible.

Klopp, wearing a coat, hat, and even gloves, looked at him with a slightly serious expression as usual. Seeing Aelock staring at him in surprise with nothing on his upper body, the sneering alpha immediately cast his gaze at the rags in his skinny hands. The corner of the man’s mouth, which had been drawing a confident arc, stiffened into a straight line and trembled slightly.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, these damn clothes are so nasty.”

Aelock was embarrassed because he couldn’t even get dressed properly due to the sudden intrusion, and ended up using harsh words, blaming them for nothing. Even after saying that, he felt like a vulgar person, so Aelock lowered his eyes a little. There was no need to drop the level of his innate nature to that of the bottom. It seems that it was inevitable to be affected by the environment, in spite of his efforts not to. He was a little worried about the clever sarcastic remarks that would be thrown at him.

After a moment of silence, Klopp took off his black silk hat, set it on the table, and strode towards him. Then, he snatched the clothes from Aelock’s hands. A somewhat startled Aelock looked up at him, who took off his black leather glove, raised his hand, and slapped his thin cheek.

Slap.

Aelock’s head sharply turned to the side. Stars splattered in front of his eyes, and before Aelock came to his senses, a hand as strong as steel grabbed his thin chin, turned it around, and slapped him on the cheek again. The body that had been released from the first shock could not stand it this time and collapsed. Aelock fell to the floor and spat out what was pooling in his mouth. A little blood flowed. Before he could understand what had happened or why he had to be hit, Klopp took off his other glove and this time his coat as well, put them on a nearby chair, looked down at Aelock with a cold expression, and unbuttoned his cuffs.

“Why?”

“Why, you ask? You still dare not know your purpose.”

He had absolutely no idea what he did wrong. When he felt the heat on his already swollen cheeks, Klopp grabbed Aelock by the hair and hit him several more times. Aelock’s mouth burst open and he tasted something stingy and salty, and he coughed reflexively as the saliva and blood that flowed mixed with each other were about to pass down his panting throat. At that moment, something hot flowed from his nostrils. Aelock’s brain was shaken from being hit in the head, and his vision was blurry so it was hard to come to his senses. He thought it would be better to get hit on the thigh or back.

“...... Klo......?

“Do you remember now? You should have. It was left behind by someone who died in dreadful horror because of you. I gave these to you so you could always remember the sins you committed, so how dare you soil and tear them up? How dare you say that with this hideous body?”

The enraged alpha’s voice was terrifying enough to give him goosebumps, and at the same time, the pain was so intense that his heart froze.

Aelock thought it was small because he simply brought him some random old clothes. The slightly old-fashioned and plain clothes had a soft texture of good quality, so it was vaguely assumed by him that they were old clothes of some noble that was thrown away. But they weren’t.

These were Rayfiel’s clothes.

Even if he didn’t know, he still tore them up in front of Klopp. It was a mistake not to be made. But regardless, he did it. Aelock should have recognized the clothes, which sent Klopp into a fit of rage and exercise uncharacteristic violence once again. But, as always, Aelock’s realization came late.

He did what he deserved in the face of his sins. Aelock silently accepted Klopp’s violence.

T/N: yes, this has been dropped here but also picked up by a lovely translator on another site. please search this novel on NU for further details. thank you for reading thus far.