“Glen, she is a cute girl. I am glad you could marry such a good child.”
After finishing our greetings with Deborah Blanchard, who had become my wife, Iris said such foolish things, so I glared at her.
However, she shrugged her shoulders without looking scared.
“It is a royal decree, so you cannot disobey it, and you cannot divorce her either, right? What was it again? An ‘air wife’? Wouldn’t it be fine if she becomes that? You can give her a little money and let her become an air wife. Then maybe my job will be done too. Isn’t it fine? She is kind of like my successor. Besides, she is already your wife by royal decree. I will start packing my bags.”
“Iris, do not joke around.”
I had no choice but to get married due to the pressure from my older half-brother, who is the king.
If I had not done it, he looked like he would raise taxes. My older half-brother jokingly said, “If you do not obey, I will raise taxes,” but that was very close to being serious.
There was more than enough possibility that taxes could be raised temporarily under the pretext of war. After all, I did not go to the battlefield this time.
“But even you knew somewhere in your heart that things could not go on like this, right? I am already forty, and playing the role of the mistress is getting tough. The money has piled up, so maybe I will go on a trip somewhere. Where should I go? A warm place would be nice.”
“Iris, you are still young and pretty, and I thought I would just stay unmarried and let a relative or my older half-brother’s child inherit everything.”
“Praising me won’t work. You married in accordance with the royal decree, so give up already. If you give that girl money, she will stay like me.”
“She said she wants money and will become a sensible air wife, but who knows what her true intentions are…”
“Well, that is true. There are plenty of precedents where even a mistress ended up falling in love with you. Isn’t it because young Glen is too handsome?”
“Hey, stop calling me ‘young’ [boy].”
Iris stroked my head, saying, “You really are a hopeless boy.”
The way she touched me was like she was treating a clumsy younger brother or a child.
“Excuse me.”
Sebastian, the butler who had gone to check on Deborah Blanchard, returned.
“How was it?”
“Well… um, she is a very mysterious wife.”
“On paper, I only made her my wife.”
“You made her your wife, so give up already.”
Iris chimed in while tossing back her black hair, but I urged Sebastian to continue.
“She was petting the bedding for a long time, and she said she has no intention of driving a wedge between Your Lordship and Lady Iris, nor does she have any intention of making children. She even suggested that if a child is born between the two of you, it could just be registered as her own child on paper.”
“Words can say anything.”
There were many young ladies who forced themselves on me, saying they did not care if I had a mistress or if they were second. In the end, they left out of jealousy, but that is not the problem.
“The ceremony? Women want to have a wedding.”
Asking through Sebastian if it could be a family-only ceremony was purely to probe Deborah Blanchard. Who would want to hold a wedding?
That girl only attended her debutante ball and never showed up at evening parties or tea parties, so there is almost no information on her.
She looks fragile with her silver hair and green eyes, but her family is in extreme financial distress.
And her father, Count Blanchard, is the “Silver Demon” who performed the best in the recent war. It seems he got that nickname because he would run across the battlefield with his silver hair fluttering and covered in returned blood, completely unbothered. The daughter of that father cannot possibly be just fragile. She is a woman who calmly talked back to me even though I surrounded myself with Iris and said, “I will not love you.” An ordinary, fragile young lady who is not used to high society would burst into crying.
“Ah… she said it would be rude to God to make someone pledge false love when you bluntly hit them with ‘I will not love you’ upon first meeting, so we do not have to do it.”
“Fufu, ahahaha!”
The one who started laughing was not me, but Iris.
“My, what a truly interesting child. Isn’t it fine, young Glen? That girl is a little different from the ones until now.”
“If she is different from the ones until now, won’t it be hard to drive her out, which is a problem…”
“She said that if you are worried about the Duke family’s reputation by not holding a ceremony, you can just donate the cost of the ceremony to the town on the border.”
“My, my, Glen. A pretty good child has arrived. Surely His Majesty the King thought so too when he issued the royal decree.”
“My older half-brother just sold me out. What is this, getting the right to choose a spouse as a reward?”
“Young Glen’s name must have been at the very top.”
“How should we handle this? The wife did not seem like she was speaking in jokes or acting tough.”
Sebastian looked at me with an unusually puzzled gaze, while Iris looked amused.
“For now, let’s give her money and watch without meeting her at all. To see if she really aims to be an air wife.”
“If she aims to be an air wife, won’t you drive her out?”
“There is also the option of making her live in the royal capital for a while for the sake of appearances, and then letting her rot away in the territory. With this, I am happily a married man.”
“Oh, persistent young ladies will come without caring if you are married, as long as the wife is absent. Why don’t you have her stay in the royal capital? Besides, you have to attend evening parties together, or people will call you a sham couple. If she doesn’t show her face too much, there might even be suspicions that you murdered her.”
“Whose side is Iris on anyway?”
“Nfufu, I am on the side of my employer. Therefore, I am on young Glen’s side.”
“If there are any movements for her to approach me, Iris, bully her and drive her away like you always do.”
“Oh no, I have never bullied anyone. Weren’t we just clinging to each other, boy?”
The Duke of Durtal was supposed to be crazy about his mistress and pay no attention to the swarming young ladies. To think I would be forced to marry by royal decree.
My older half-brother should know the reason why I hate even engagements, let alone marriage, yet he pulls this stunt. My older half-brother sold me to the daughter of the Silver Demon.
I must not get married. I must not fall in person.
It is terrifying to love someone or be loved by someone.
A blood-covered woman almost appeared behind my eyelids, and I hurriedly shook my head.
Iris seemed to have understood my inner turmoil. Saying “You poor child,” she patted my head again.