Chapter 21

Why did her hand slip right then…?

It could not be that she was surprised to hear him complimenting her beauty, she had grown tired of hearing it so often before.

Her heart was pounding rapidly.

Yelena spoke as if nothing had happened.

“So, what about me is beautiful? You didn’t plan on ending it there, right?”

“…”

It seemed like he had planned to end it there.

Duke Mayhard’s face burned again just as it seemed like he regained his composure.

“Tell me in detail. How beautiful am I? Where?”

Duke Mayhard’s lips were tightly pursed.

Yelena found his reaction quite amusing. Just fascinating, actually.

He was very possibly the first man she had seen to have so much difficulty complimenting others.

Especially since it’s easiest for most people to compliment looks.

“Your silver hair is… gorgeous.”

“And?”

“Your eyes are pretty.”

“More specifically?”

“The color is vivid and bright.”

Duke Mayhard struggled to speak as per Yelena’s request.

Others might have felt that such forced compliments were unpleasant, but Yelena did not feel that way at all.

Rather than saying that there was nothing about Yelena to compliment on… Instead, it was Duke Mayhard who was awkward and had difficulty praising her.

‘Could he have not praised others before until now in his life?’

Could that be true?

Though Yelena was flustered, thinking about it, it made sense to a certain extent.

Yelena narrowed her eyes and held those reasonable suspicions to herself.

Unsure how he had interpreted Yelena’s expression, Duke Mayhard mumbled something under his breath before speaking up.

“Your fingers.”

‘My fingers?’

Yelena’s eyes widened.

Duke Mayhard did not continue his sentence immediately.

His lips moved, but he seemed to change his words at the last moment, awkwardly finishing the sentence.

“…They are pretty.”

Yelena blinked, eyes wide.

Whether Duke Mayhard was trying to say that her fingers were pretty or not was not important to Yelena.

Yelena sunk deep into thought.

‘Did I ask for too much?’

Just how much did the Duke lack in praises for Yelena that he had to resort to complimenting her fingers…?

Though she wanted to see him flustered, she felt guilty as she saw how hard it was on him.

“Thank you. That’s all, for the praises.”

Yelena decided to relieve him of his pain.

She thought that Duke Mayhard would look relieved, but he looked surprisingly composed.

While observing his facial expression, Yelena unconsciously began to delve deeper into something else.

Yelena’s eyes had caught smaller details of him as she quietly observed the Duke.

For example, his high and well-balanced nose and a clear forehead.

His moderately deep eyes and philtrum* that was of a nice width.

*ED/N: The philtrum is the vertical indentation running from the nose’s base, to the upper lip.

His well-shaped lips, delicate and cleanly shaved chin…

‘Oh?’

Yelena was caught by surprise.

Wait, what?

What was that?

If she was not delusional, her husband was actually quite good-looking…

Yelena blinked in embarrassment and said, “M-my name.”

“…”

“What’s my name?”

Though she had randomly thrown out a question, why…

It was depressing.

Yelena rambled on in an attempt to make her question sound valid.

“Uh, come to think of it, you haven’t addressed me by my name, right? That doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t know my name, but just to be sure.”

“Yelena.”

“Should I add your last name? Yelena Sorte. Now… It’s Yelena Mayhard.”

Yelena’s heart started pounding.

Yelena was unsure what she should call this feeling, as if she had been hit by a surprise attack.

Even so, her mind began working its imagination.

‘It sounds nice coming from him.’

It certainly didn’t sound any worse than she had expected, hearing her name from him.

As her brain jumped into weaving its own story, it was her mouth’s turn.

“… That’s one last thing I want. Address me by my name when we’re alone.”

” …One last thing. Address me by my name when we’re alone.”

What did she just say?

Yelena’s brain only registered those words after they were already out.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Though her eyes wavered, it was too late to take those words back.

The bigger problem was that Yelena didn’t even want that to happen. It would only get in the way of the plan.

Argh, whatever.

Yelena stopped overthinking and hopped down from the desk.

“I’ll leave now! Thank you for taking the time out for me!”

Although it had been Yelena who’d barged in without a second thought and took his time from him.