Chapter 59 - A gift to replace the cage

Wasn’t that the case with most of these northerners?

Especially him and his colleagues. If you hear praises of the Pope being a Paladin yourself, it’ll be borderline offensive. Well, it wasn’t unreasonable considering we were talking about Romagna.

I took a short breath and raised my eyes again. Izek was still sitting motionless, watching me. As if searching for something.

How many brides had been forced by the groom to talk about their families?

Most of my ex-fiances were good people, but there was someone who turned into a completely different person when he began prying into my relationship with Cesare.

The change was completely sudden.

His image was vivid in my mind; all that respect and goodwill turned into contempt and hatred in an instant.

It was just my guess, but Cesare seemed to be playing tricks on us, because of the disgusting rumors that followed everywhere.

It was possible with his crazy thinking.

Even though I was sent as a political asset, I would never get my husband on my side, and as a result, there was only one place for me to go back.

“No, of course not. But you don’t have a cage here yet?”

As I tried to turn around cheerfully, my husband’s eyes inspected to see if I had taken his efforts seriously.

To be exact, he suddenly grabbed my wrist and put something around it.

Huh?

“This is…”

“A gift to replace the cage.”

What an unexpected twist…. to give a gift out of the blue.

I stared blankly at the shiny bracelet from my wrist. The tightly woven black jewels sparkled under the colorful lights.

Looking at it more closely, I didn’t think they were gems I knew. What kind of jewel was this?

“What jewel is this?”

“Just some jewel. It’s good for your health.”

Aha. What kind of health fraud is going on here too? This is definitely not obsidian.

It had a pretty simple and intricate design for a lady to wear, but more than that, I was puzzled by wyhy he was giving me all these gifts.

I should make a fuss, but my body wouldn’t move.

As I stared at him silently, Izek stopped looking into the air and tilted his head.

“You have a weird look on your face. Is it a shame that it’s not a cage?”

“……No.”

“Or do you feel sorry about something else? I didn’t think Arien or Leah would come in today.”

(T/N: Just found out Princess Ari’s full name was Arien.)

Am I a kid? I can’t believe you think I’m upset that you didn’t invite my little friends.

“I just love you so much.”

“…….”

“Hehe, do you want me to show you something funny?”

Even before I heard the answer, I jumped up excitedly and ran. Izek shot to his feet.

“If you run like that..”

“It doesn’t even hurt anymore. I can actually move on one foot.”

“What?”

“I can dance like this. Look.”

I was someone who went to ballet school in my previous life.

I smiled brightly and turned around with my good foot upright.

Izek stopped, his eyes widening.

It’s amazing, isn’t it?

“You….”

“Don’t worry, I won’t get hurt.”

It felt refreshing doing it after a long time. It had been really hard when I went to ballet school.

I went on to show the simple moves. Entrechant, Plié, Passé, Arabesque. I wish I had some music.

Moonlight pouring through the glass wall blurred the view.

The sweet scent of flowers tickled the tip of my nose.

While I was dancing, my husband just stood stiff and stared. What else was he thinking?

If what he wanted was simple, and obvious as so many people, everything would have been easier.

I could play the role that fit anything, if you wanted me to be a bird in a cage, or a dancing puppet, I could do that.….

“Ah……!”

As expected, it was too much. Besides, my injured toe betrayed me. I tried to do Le Reve lightly, but my body slipped back.

Ah, another one of my darkest moments.

Thud!

“Are you alright?”

My husband, who approached me at a fast pace, reached out his arms and raised me, who fell on the damp bushes.

There was a lot of concern in his ruby eyes.

Handsome assassin, give my real husband back. I’m so confused.

“You should be careful…….”

“Hehe. Was I not good?”

Come on, tell me it was okay, come on! Just tell me it was worth seeing, you cold-blooded b*stard!

Izek just stared at me for a moment, who was grinning hard while shouting curses inside.

Moonlight glistened like a spider web, falling on his silver hair.

“Did you dance like this to the dragon?”

I almost hiccuped. Where did the dragon come from all of a sudden, you little prick!

“Absolutely not…”

“I’m joking. The lizard would be fretting otherwise.”

What lizard? He’s a dragon!

The man who grabbed me and hugged me, lightly touched the tip of my nose with his finger.

His mouth, which had always been stiff, was half-open, with a smile that looked almost playful. For a moment, he almost looked like a young teenager. Like a pure boy who had a crush on a ballerina.

“My wife has a lot of hidden talents. More than I ever knew.”

Before this magic disappeared…… Maybe, I was the one who was possessed by magic.

My hand moved by itself and touched his cheek. His cleanly shaved skin felt as soft as touching the baby’s cheeks.

I didn’t know that our eyes wouldn’t look away from each other. Every sound seemed to have stopped. And…

“Duke?”

Crack!

The sound of the spell breaking sounded out loudly in my ears.

God, why are there so many things in the way of my progress?

As I hurriedly withdrew my hand, my husband turned his head.

At times like this, it was none other than the butler who appeared at the entrance of the greenhouse. What was his name again? Except for the first day of greeting, we barely ran into each other.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but I think you should go to the banquet hall now.”

The butler, politely, glanced at me with a strange look.

Why are you looking at me like that? Damn, did something happen to Freya again? She had been looking bad all day, so did she fall down?

I thought we’d head straight to the banquet hall, but Izek looked back at me for some reason instead of stepping away or following the butler.

I just blinked as innocently as I could.

I’d been here with him the whole time! I didn’t do anything, I didn’t have time!

“Are they all dancing in the dance hall?”

“What? That’s true, but…….”

“Don’t interrupt unless there’s a problem. I can’t afford to care about the little things right now.”

“My Lord…”

“Since when have you been so rebellious?”

Oof, brutal. So brutal. The butler no longer argued against his coldness worthy of cuts from a blade.

“…I’ll follow your orders.”

I gulped and glanced at my husband’s haughty face. This unexpected attitude was very strange. As expected, he was a top-notch protagonist. Honestly, I thought he’d leave me like this.

“Er…….”

“My name is not Er. Or would you like to call me like before?”

What was this now? What did I call him earlier…… Oh, right.

I swallowed back the tears rising up in the terrible memory of my embarrassing self.

I was crazy, definitely crazy. I was very embarrassed, but to think I called him Honey!

“Then, can I call you Iz?”

“What else?”

“But… you’ve never called me by my name…”

As I dawdled, Izek fiddled with my hair, apparently speechless.

“Look, there’s a lot of dirt on it.”

“It’s not dirt, it’s petals…….”

“Is that any better?”

“…….”

“You’d better go wash up and rest now.”

What nonsense was this? He sent the butler off like that, and now he was shooing me away too?

Was I a fool to be happy that he didn’t walk away? The magic hadn’t completely died yet. Was I a fool to believe?

“I want to talk more today, but be patient. I’ll tell them to prepare a bath, so your feet…….”

“But that would be scary!”

A moment of silence fell as I clung to him and shouted urgently.

My husband, who was striding out of the greenhouse, looked at me from afar.

“Do the servants scare you?”

“What? No, no, I mean…”

“I thought the new maid would be better, but I guess not. What the hell did they do to you?”

Go away you dragon cub, with those freezing eyes of yours.

Ronja did not do anything wrong, you hothead! Listen to me, please!

“It’s not that, actually, I’m just scared to be alone… that too, with this foot injury. You might think I’m stupid, but I keep feeling like someone did it on purpose, so I’m nervous. The maids won’t make me feel any better. The night is long and they’re all gathered in the banquet hall.….”

“…….”

“Can you stay with me a little longer?”

It sounded like it wouldn’t work, even to my ears, but I pushed it blindly and made my eyes as mournful as possible. It was because I thought I would never have such an opportunity again unless it was a night of unexpected events.

Come on, get back under the spell!

“What do you think I’m like?….”

W-Was it a failure?

The man who let out a short sigh, stepped toward the hall again.

I couldn’t dare to stop him anymore because he was so scary.

Ahhh, what the hell are you doing, you ice block? Is that all you have to say?

“What do you need, Duke?….”

“Get a bath ready. And holy water.”

“As you wish.”