Chapter 14

Chapter 14

When Celestine visited Count Green’s mansion, Keivrand and Iris weren’t home due to the gold mine situation.

In the drawing room, Celestine eyed Eugene, Nathan, Wallace, and Jamie one by one and then spoke.

“Lion. Leopard. Eagle. Deer.”

At Celestine’s call, the men, who Keivrand called his shadows, flinched their shoulders.

Keivrand’s shadows were the same as Keivrand, and the Green family were aware.

When Celestine was angry, she would call them by their beast form.

Jamie, being quick-witted, opened his mouth.

“Cel. I’m in the same boat as you.”

“…What?”

“It was only after the boss had gone to the government office to get the marriage certificate and had gotten married that I found out.”

Celestine’s eyes that were on Jamie turned to Eugene.

Eugene, who knew how scary Celestine was when she was angry, did something he never would have done on normal occasions and moved his lips to protest.

“I didn’t know anything about it.”

“Yes, I had no idea!”

Nathan stepped in quickly.

“I was just riding a horse when the boss called me all of a sudden.”

[I’m getting married and I need you to do something for me.]

Nathan copied Keivrand’s expression and tone, but Celestine didn’t smile.

“I don’t know why the boss suddenly wanted to get married…but what could we do? How can we stop that stubborn man?”

During Nathan’s protest, Wallace was nodding his head vigorously to the point where it seemed as if it would fall off at any second.

Standing in front of them, Celestine listened to their stories with her arms folded.

Celestine looks so much like Keivrand that anyone can tell that she was his sister.

“Anyway, we don’t know anything, Cel. Where the boss met his wife or how he knew her…We don’t know anything. We don’t even know why he had decided to marry her all of a sudden. Ah, but I can see why he had married her. Sister-in-law is astonishingly beautiful.”

As Wallace bragged about his new sister-in-law, one of Celestine’s eyebrows rose.

Jamie, noticing Celestine’s mood, poked Wallace in the ribs, but Wallace continued.

“You’ll be surprised once you see her. Oh, you’ve heard of it, haven’t you? The flower of Duke Whittle. She’s like a real flower.”

“Like a real flower…”

Celestine muttered.

It sounded like an insult somehow.

“Yes, really. Since he’s a man, didn’t he fall in love with his wife because she’s so beautiful? Cel, what’s wrong with your face? Oh, is it because I said someone else was pretty? You’re pretty too.”

Everyone but Wallace sighed softly.

What were they supposed to do with this senseless kid?

“I don’t care if the woman who married him is the flower of Duke Whittle or a piece of dung.”

When Celestine spoke coldly, Wallace shut his mouth.

“What amazes me is…None of you thought they should tell me about my brother’s marriage?”

* * *

Iris and Keivrand were heading somewhere in a carriage.

Keivrand sat across from Iris, quietly staring out the window.

The slightly disheveled black hair and the nose and lip lines that stretched out under it were perfect like a picture.

His hair was fluttering along the wind.

Finding it annoying, he brushed it back, but then he noticed that Iris was looking at him.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Irie?”

“You don’t have to go with me. You’re busy.”

“I can’t let my wife go alone and have her far from me.”

“Wallace and Nathan offered to come.”

“I’m stronger than them, Irie.”

“I know that. But you’re busy and I feel uncomfortable dragging you along.”

“It’s my first time being married, so I don’t know, but do you think if a husband accompanies his wife, do you think the wife would find it a burden?”

“…I don’t think so?”

“That’s enough, Irie. Whatever the reason is, we’re married. By the way, did I ever tell you how splendid you are?”

Iris was dressed like a man.

Tight-fitting vest, dark brown shirt, and tight black pants that made her slim legs stand out.

Her long hair was tied back, and she wore a fedora.

At first glance, she looked like a man of slender build.

“It’s your first time telling me that.”

“You are, Irie. How did you come up with the idea to order such clothes? Most ladies don’t wear such clothing.”

“When I walk around outside, I don’t want to stand out too much. I don’t like what I do to spread here and there.”

“You’ve failed if that’s the case, Irie.”

Keivrand grabbed the end of Iris’ fingers and raised it.

Then he gently pressed his lips against her knuckles. With the warm, soft touch of being pressed as if being branded, Iris flinched.

Raising his eyes to look at her, he kissed each of her knuckles, and then he suddenly pulled her in.

Iris couldn’t resist his strength and was lightly pulled along until she sat on his thigh and in his arms.

Keivrand kissed the inside of her wrist while he put his hand inside her leather vest and stroked her back.

The heat transmitted over her thin shirt flowed down her spine.

“I can’t take my eyes off you right now.”

“Eum…?”

Iris had forgotten what she wanted to say because of the attention she felt that had stimulated her back and wrist.

When Keivrand heard a groan-like sound flow from Iris’ red, thick lips, he squinted his eyes and laid her on the long chair of the carriage.

His eyes shone somberly.

“Here…in the carriage.”

“Do you think a beast would care about that?”

Keivrand’s body weighed heavily on her stomach and thighs.

Iris closed her eyes tightly.

Keivrand’s lips poked around her ears, and his fingers dug deep into her hair, almost to the point of scratching her scalp.

Everywhere his lips and hands touched, everywhere his weight pressed, electricity went off inside her body.

Iris could feel her heart beating and herself short of breath.

When Keivrand bit her earlobe and sucked the nape of neck, she almost groaned several times, but had managed to swallow it.

After marrying Keivrand, Iris of course had no intention of rejecting such acts.

No matter what Keivrand wanted, no matter how many times he wanted, she was prepared to do it.

Only.

‘What should I do?’

Iris was confused.

‘How do I react?’

She hadn’t experienced this in her previous life.

Even when she was under Alfred, her heart was beating and she was short of breath. She even groaned.

But it happened because it was scary, disgusting and painful.

It was her first time feeling this sweet, tingling, numb, and sticky feeling, so she was afraid and embarrassed of how her reaction should be. On the other hand, she felt sick because she kept recalling the image of Alfred.

She was sorry for Keivrand.

Keivrand wasn’t as rough or disgusting as Alfred was. Even though it’s a political marriage, he showed the same consideration a couple would.

“Relax, Irie.”

She was so nervous that she didn’t even realize Keivrand had slipped back.

Keivrand grabbed her by the wrist and sat her up so she wouldn’t get hurt.

“As I said before, I like hot things.”

“Yeah.”

Iris was barely able to answer as she straightened her clothes with her head lowered. Because her face was burning.

“I need you to understand that I’m trying to make you hot.”

“You can do whatever you want.”

“You can’t talk like that, Irie.”

Iris thought he would like that answer, but Keivrand spoke sternly and raised her chin with his index finger to meet his gaze.

Keivrand narrowed his brows slightly and stared at her with gloomy eyes.

“You have to refuse when you don’t want to do something.”

Somehow, Iris felt affection from that short sentence.

No one has ever said that to her.

Suddenly, she recalled several voices that looked down on her.

[You don’t like it? What are you going to do if you don’t like it?]

[You don’t want to? Did you just say you don’t want to?]

[If I tell you to do it, then do it! We feed you and put you to sleep, that’s the least you can do! You’re such a good-for-nothing.]

The words that hurt and crushed her past life were blotted out by Keivrand’s words.

She was almost moved to tears, so she turned her head to the side.

“I understand.”

* * *

Iris was standing in front of a shabby house that looked like a hut.

She had recalled something in her last life, which had brought her here.

‘Gauser…’

He once had the dignity to be the property manager of the Whittle family, but now was living in a place like this. It was heartbreaking.

“Who lives here?”

The fact that they had traveled a long way to come to this house near the slums, Keivrand asked curiously.

“Gauser. He used to be the property manager of the Whittle family.”

Even in Duke Whittle’s estate, there were those that felt sorry for Iris. Gauser was such a case.

Gauser used to side with Iris when the servants insulted, mocked, and ordered her around, and when Britney hit or cursed her to the extreme.

“One day, he appealed to Duke Whittle to improve my treatment. As a result, he was kicked out. After he was kicked out, his wife divorced him.”

“I see.”

“I’m going to hire Gauser as the manager of Lavent’s gold mine.”

“You can’t do that, Iris. I don’t want a man who used to be Whittle’s person in my mansion.”

Keivrand opposing was expected.

“He won’t be in the mansion. I’m hiring him for the gold mine. In my name.”

When Iris spoke firmly, Keivrand supported Iris’ chin with his index finger.

“Iris, do you know how amazing you are? Sometimes I think you’re obedient, but sometimes you’re really scary.”

Iris squinted her eyes and gently pulled his finger down.

“I wasn’t aware of that.”

“You need someone you can trust to manage the gold mine. And I have a lot of reliable men.”

“But it’s not my men.”

“My men are now your men.”

“Will they kill you for me?”

“I don’t think so.”

“But will they kill me for you?”

Keivrand couldn’t answer this.

Iris smiled softly and tapped his chest.

“A man who gets too involved in his wife’s work is unattractive, Kei.”

“Should I keep quiet and watch?”

“Yes.”

Keivrand smiled, baring his teeth. Iris liked when Keivrand smiled like that.

“I understand, my wife. Do as you please.”

Only after Keivrand took a step back did Iris knock on the door.

Knock, knock-

She waited for a while, but there was no response.

Knock, knock-

It was quiet inside.

In spite of that, Keivrand stepped forward and kicked the door.

Boom, boom!

Only then did they hear a thud from inside and the sound of something falling and someone cursing.

However, Iris stood tall and waited for the door to open.

Gauser.

A man of talent who would later on be recognized by the Emperor for his uniquely aggressive and clever investments, he will be among the few who will be able to invest on the royal family’s behalf and manage their finances.

Iris wanted to make Gauser one of her own people.

== Translator’s Note ==

1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section .