Chapter 75

My mouth was also very sneaky today.

My sudden tone was so cheerful that it was weird even to my own ears.

Her brown eyes glistened with mirth, as if she knew I’d ask this.

“You know better than anyone else. It’s just a matter of time, and everyone knows you’ll leave this castle anytime.”

“My reputation is indeed, a bit glamorous. But we’ve already had our first time after getting married. Where would I go after making such a sacred offering of myself?”

“The Lord...”

“Don’t worry, I won’t go out of here, even if you pray till your tongue falls out.”

Unexpected words were popping out as if there was some kind of spell on my tongue.

The maid, who was staring at my smiling face with a look similar to Freya, soon smiled again.

“First love is like a sweet dream. Even though I am unfamiliar with the way he looks these days, you must feel safe.”

Oh, was this the first time she was talking about him? Why the heck did these northerners love to talk about his first love?

“It’s just a midsummer night’s dream after all. Especially for Young Master. I’m telling you this for your wellness, but in the end, you will realize who is most appropriate as the mistress of this castle.”

There was silence.

Amid a cold and twisted silence, the maid was sitting idle waiting for my response.

How long have you been doing that?

Perhaps because she thought there was no sign of a reaction, but the maid finally bent her head slightly and turned away. Her walking manner made her seem really elated.

I could guess who the most appropriate person was as the hostess of her castle.

Wasn’t that too obvious?

By comparison, I would have been just a psychopath who had invaded this noble land.

Like a corrupt Pope’s daughter, a member of a dirty and ugly family.

That’s why I knew.

I already knew, but why was everyone trying to come forward and remind me?

I was just going to let it go. I was going to let everything that happened the other day go away. I was really trying to behave.

Why can’t you just leave me be?

I was having a headache. My head was killing me.

The inside of my ribs shook violently as I stood with a blank smile.

Yes, that’s it.

It was unsettling to hear that everyone was worried and coming forward to me because this was Izek’s first true love.

The excuse of saying it for me couldn’t have been more selfish.

How did they know what it meant for me?

I was really just trying to stay lowkey.

If I could live, I was going to give them everything they wanted, do whatever they wanted, lie flat and live quietly.

I tried to live quietly, but they didn’t help me.

Well, there were a lot of people who twisted everything I did anyway. There were so many people who couldn’t accept it.

No matter how much I proved that I was not such a smart person, they would decide on their own and point fingers at me, whenever the secret related to monsters got revealed.

What was so wrong about believing in those that were nice to me, whether it was my husband or the monsters?

Was first love so scary?

The ascetic gave me his sympathy, and he was just mesmerized for a moment?

Yes, I guess I had made my way to the point where our main character is so enraptured that these guys became nervous.

I’ll use him for the first time. I’m a human being who doesn’t care what I do for my own safety anyway.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t worried about what would happen in the future, but it didn’t matter.

I could look at myself normally if I put my mind to it.

I could do well as long as the pain wasn’t too great.

Either way, this body was one that was going to suffer.

But I didn’t think the images I’d built so far would be very useless.

“Hey.”

As I stood up from the bench and spoke cheerfully, the nanny maid, who had been a few steps away, turned around.

I strode toward her without delay.

There was a sharp sound of a slap landing on her cheek.

My fingertips were all tingling.

The maid, who was slapped out of the blue, seemed to have hardened on the spot.

Her wide open brown eyes were shocked.

“What....”

“Why? Didn’t you expect me to do this?”

“What, what, what do you.......”

“You wanted to be beaten by me. I’ve been wondering, do you like girls?”

The maid, who was staring blankly at me, slowly pulled up the corners of her mouth.

Ah, it was such a creepy smile.

“You’ve been acting so pitiful, and now you’re finally showing off your true colors. If you know.......”

“You got what you wanted, so go ahead and tell her. If a maid dared to question mine, the holy daughter of The Pope of Romagna’s capability to be a hostess, then cutting off your tongue would barely be enough.”

“My lady.......”

“It would be quite noisy if I really told you I was going to cut your tongue off. Now I see you’ve forgotten about my origins.”

Ellenia had no authority to reprimand me, even if I slapped the maid on the cheek for some trivial reason.

I didn’t know what she was thinking inside, but since when had I ever wanted the luxury of a true friendship?

I was foolishly expecting a little bit, but that was it.

Besides, I didn’t expect the people here to be on my side in the first place.

What would I want from humans who secretly poured sand in water bottles?

They deserved to give me a reason to act like a jerk when I didn’t do anything.

The maid looked at me with frightening frozen eyes, but she quickly turned around and ran out of the greenhouse.

I turned my steps and came close to the fountain.

I almost wanted to jump into the water because it felt like my stomach was boiling.

I think I felt a little relieved, though.

The other day, when I was embarrassed at my husband’s birthday party because of her.... damn, what, pretending to pity me?

I’ll show you what pity is.

Huu, suddenly I missed Popo so much.

Griffin and the dragon. What would they be doing right now?

I wonder what kind of expression Ellenia would make when she heard that I hit the maid. Izek too.

Haha, I’m sure it’ll be very nice to see.

“Tell me you’ll remember me, standing in nice clothes, looking at the sunset, baby.......”

To calm my beating heart, I squatted near the bushes and started making bouquets of flowers.

Yellow rudbeckias and red roses. I think it was worth seeing if I spread them out on the bed.....

“Ruby?”

As I was weaving bouquets of flowers, I almost collapsed when the sound of water splashing sounded near the entrance.

Oh, god, why was everyone popping out of nowhere?

Well, even if they made a sign, I might not have been able to hear it because I was so absorbed in my thoughts.

That wasn’t the problem right now. Don’t tell me he was home already!

“Are you here?”

My eyes were spinning. I didn’t know what had happened in the next instant.

When I came to my senses, I was crouching in the dollhouse, crawling through the trail of rosemary and lavender bushes.

I could hear Izek moving forward.

My heart thumped like the fast tempo of hip-hop music.

There was no way he didn’t know that I was there until a while ago because I left the can of fireflies intact on the bench.

What the heck was I doing?

What did I want to do by hiding like this?

“...That’s strange.”

You’re the strange one! I’m going crazy. I can’t go back out now. What should I do?

Mrs. Curie, sitting in the attic of the dollhouse, was looking at me with a smile on her face.

I had no choice but to sneak out and quickly return to my bedroom after hiding until he left, the water had already been spilled after all.

So I had a snowball fight with Mrs. Curie and listened with bated breath as much I could.

I thought his footsteps passed by, but I couldn’t hear anything for a moment.

Where’d he go? Did he leave? Did he?

“...Ah!”

The harsh noise that rang on my head without warning made me startle.

It was not long before I saw the face of my husband looking down this way, lifting the roof of the dollhouse, along with the glass ceiling of the beautiful greenhouse garden shining.

His red eyes, which were wide open, streaked with desperation and absurdity, focused on me.

I never knew how he found out right away that I was hiding here.

While I was in a panic and couldn’t do anything, Izek opened his mouth first.

“What are you doing?”

“...Playing hide-and-seek.”

“Who’s the tagger?”

“It’s you.”

I was sweating as I forced the corners of my mouth up.

Agh, should I just bite off my tongue?

I think my mouth has turned into a disastrous mouth today.

Izek, who put down the wooden roof on the bushes, almost throwing it, now shook his hands and looked at me sideways. I gulped, my mouth growing dry.

Don’t tell me he was going to scold me here....

“So what’s the reward?”

“What?”

“I found you. What’s the reward?

I was overwhelmed and confused. In the great North, even in hide-and-seek games, rewards must be paid separately.

Such greedy paladins.

“That’s... a sincere kiss.”

“Just that?”

What? Just that? You cold-blooded b*stard!

“It’s an actual kiss.”

“Give it to me, then.”

I kept digging my own grave.

I felt like a chick going into the slaughterhouse, but I crept up in vain.

It was so romantic to have a kiss in this situation.

While I gently lifted my toes and put my arms over his magnificent shoulders, Izek stood proudly with his arms folded and did not budge.