Chapter 76

A knight in black metal armour, soaked in sweat and covered with dust stood in front of me.

I managed to purse my lips together and stuck out my tongue slightly. It was the moment to lean my body forward.

My husband, who arrogantly wanted my reward, suddenly frowned and held my shoulder.

I got scared.

“What’s this?”

“R-Reward...”

“You said it was a kiss with sincerity.”

“Because it is one!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, did you usually kiss me like this?”

What kind of nonsense was that?

Even though the situation was not that bad, my cheeks heated up.

“Then, you.......”

Even before I could speak, his steel hand held my head and pulled it close.

In the cozy and fragrant atmosphere of the greenhouse, I felt dizzy by the pair of lips pressing down on mine.

“Why, why the hell are you hiding here?”

After a long time, he lifted his lips and now stretched out his arms, grumbling in a low voice.

I was just puzzled.

Don’t tell me you haven’t heard anything yet.

“How did you know I was here?”

“It’s not like this is the secret of Omerta Castle. Even if you want to play hide-and-seek, what if you fell asleep here?”

Are you testing me?

Giving me a chance to confess first?

Damn it, you’re a tough b*stard.

“H-Have you eaten?”

He shook his head and pulled up his arms holding me.

Silver hair, which looked like they had been covered with stardust, was messy.

“Just in case you didn’t eat, I wanted to have a meal with you.”

“Oh...”

“Your weight remains the same. There’s no sign of weight gain, are you even eating properly?”

“But you’re to blame for that.”

“What?”

His ruby-colored eyes grew wide.

I almost bit my tongue off.

Ai, why is my mouth running around so freely today?

“Say what you just said again.”

“I-I didn’t say anything.”

“No, you said something.”

My face was probably dark red with the amount of blushing by now.

I’m crazy, but what if it’s true?

If you were a person who spends nights like me recently, you wouldn’t gain weight even if you ate an entire bowl of cookie dough every day.

(T/N: referring to their *cough* night activities.)

If there was one thing that everyone was mistaken about, my husband was never the shy type to be swayed by his first love.

He was a tough opponent even for me.

He was a crazy, savage, animal-like masculine being, a man who entirely swallowed me up.

And yet....

“It’s a problem, then. Should I just hold your hand and sleep from today onward?

“That’s not what I meant.....”

“What was it then, if you didn’t mean that? What do you mean? I’m not familiar with elegant Southern words, so you have to explain it straightforwardly for me to understand it.”

If he really said that, then he would do what he says, hold hands and talk with me, even if that meant not doing anything else at night.

I just buried my face in the back of his neck.

Did he really not hear anything?

That’s why he looks so happy, right?

“Ruby?”

His mischievous voice became a little serious.

I didn’t move a muscle.

“Ruby, what’s wrong?”

“...nothing.”

“I don’t think it’s nothing.”

“.......”

“What’s going on, did you have another accident behind my back?”

Am I a kid? I wish I had caused a real accident.

I hit someone, and that someone is Ellenia’s nanny.

“No, it’s just... I’m glad to see you.”

“It’s a Southern tradition to hide your face in delight?”

“...I just created the tradition.”

“I see. So how was your day, princess, who loves hide-and-seek?”

I felt his big palm carefully stroking my back.

Gentle, soothing, and reassuring.

Suddenly, a crazed laugh almost burst out.

Yes, it was scary if this was his first time, seeing him fiddle around instead of pushing back the villainess, so he definitely seemed to be mesmerized.

“Just.......”

“Just?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“What...?”

“I really didn’t do anything, I didn’t do anything like that.”

His body that was in contact with me seemed to stiffen.

The hand that was stroking my back also stopped.

There was a strange tension in my trembling breath moment.

It was not like he didn’t hear anything.

Then, why....

“Ruby.”

“I know you won’t believe me anyway. But I am not lying.”

“...Ruby, raise your head.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you. I’ll return the key to the warehouse.”

As my breathing became ragged,the dam of tears opened naturally.

My heart ran like a wild horse as my fingertips throbbed earlier from hitting the maid.

There was no turning back now.

Even if he threw me on the floor like this, in the end...

Yes, he would need me. Whether it was for work or private stuff. For my brain or body.

I had to be really careful from now on.

It was my first time dealing with this kind of person.

Cesare and my family were completely different in nature.

Everything would have been easier if what he wanted from me was simple...

My feet slowly touched the ground as my wrapped arms became loose.

I quickly tried to cover my face with my palm, but Izek snarled, grasping my hand.

“Look at me.”

“No, I can’t....”

“Are you saying you don’t want to see me anymore?”

What was the point of this? It felt ridiculous, but I didn’t show a change in expression and sniffled calmly.

“It’s not that, I just don’t have the face to see you.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve caused unnecessary drama about something that I could have just let slide quietly.”

“.......”

“I’m sure everyone thinks I’ve become proud. But in the end, I know who’s the most important. Even if I’m gone.....”

“What?”

His cold voice was so frightening that I almost recoiled.

Even though he was holding my hands tightly.

“What the hell...... Who dared to tell you such nonsense?”

I’m right, aren’t I?

I shook Izek’s hand off strongly. Or tried to.

“Tell me, who was the one to whisper this in your ear?”

“.......”

“Do I have to go check for myself?”

Izek’s low-toned growl reminded him of the frost wolf who lost his mate.

Maybe that was why I was more upset.

You hot-tempered b*stard!

I hate you the most!

I hate you the most, you twisted protagonist!

“You’ll hate me if I tell you!”

At the same time, the grip on my hand loosened.

What have I done?

My body fell back even before I could even realise.

Luckily, the bushes on the ground were fluffy.

“Ruby...”

Izek, who was frozen and far away, moved quickly.

There was a lot of concern in his eyes, which were stuck on me.

“Are you alright?”

Don’t ask that. It’s embarrassing to even be honest about being hurt.

I was trying to push this boulder’s chest and fell down by myself.

It was like hitting a rock with an egg.

Why do I always end up getting embarrassed in front of him?

My heart pounded as I felt dizzy with shame.

A soft silk handkerchief touched my wet cheeks.

Come on, what are you doing, the sunflowers I embroidered will get wet.

“Ha, damn it, at the end of the day.......”

My husband clenched his teeth and swept his hair back with one hand.

Dark shade fell on his serpent-like eyes.

“You’ve been worried about that all this time?”

Am I not supposed to worry?

Ridicule rose up in my mind, but I didn’t answer.

Because I wasn’t in a good condition to do so.

Anger and shame kept on coming out, so I held a handkerchief in my mouth and groaned.

Izek, who was watching what I was doing with a blank stare, took away my handkerchief, not being able to watch it anymore.

“Ruby.”

“Hic. I could have stayed still, but I kept causing trouble, and I thought you’d try to send me back like last time.....”

I didn’t really expect him to have a conscience to look back on the past.

No way that this guy had a sympathetic conscience.

But, why couldn’t I control my hiccups in front of him?

I couldn’t hear anything for a moment while I was trying to get rid of the hiccups.

At last, I couldn’t resist my curiosity and lifted my head pretending to wipe the tears around my eyes, and was taken aback.

“This......”

Sitting in front of me and staring at me, Izek literally had a look I had never seen before.

In a way, he seemed like he was shocked or in pain, but it was a strange look.

His pupils were shaking so much, as if he could not hear anything.

Was that too straightforward?

But he said I needed to be straightforward for him to understand.

Rather than being scared because it was such an unfamiliar reaction, I even stood up in the strange mood, adding without realizing it.

“And then you said you hate me and you get annoyed.....”

“.......”

“So, I tried not to do what you didn’t like, and again, and again.......”

Tears of frustration dripped down based on acting.

What do you do when you keep trying to survive but people around you keep making trouble like in the little mermaid!

Ugh, I’m going to drag everyone down from now on!

If things go wrong and die, I’ll never die alone!

His eyes became distorted as I thought of the meaningless embarrassment I suffered.

I momentarily admired his bad temper from the bottom of my heart.

“At that time... I didn’t mean it.”