Lisi was taut with tension. In her past life, her parents-in-law had been truly terrible. They had despised and abused her as if they hated even the sight of her breathing. She could not help but shrink back now because of those old traumas, even though she did not think the Green viscount and his wife would be like the Huchis family. Still, Lisi forced herself to compose her face and meet the Green viscount’s wife’s gaze with everything she had.
“All right, Lisi. I will treat you comfortably.”
Helerina’s voice was cold.
“Let me apologize in advance if what I say from now on makes you uncomfortable.”
“Mother.”
Helerina opened her mouth to scold Kay for interrupting without tact, but Lisi placed a hand over the back of Kay’s hand.
“Kay.”
When Lisi shot him a steady look, Kay sighed and nodded. Hel erina was inwardly surprised.
‘He trained our son that well.’
Kay was stubborn as if his spine were made of iron; though he seemed to obey his parents, he actually acted as he pleased.
“How did you meet Kayvrant?”
“I went to see Count Green. I proposed to Count Green.”
The answer stunned not only Hel erina but Wyvern and Kay as well.
“Lisi!”
Kay, taken aback, squeezed her hand. Lisi gently withdrew it. Her eyes remained fixed on Hel erina.
“You came to my son first…and proposed?”
“Yes.”
Again, Lisi answered calmly. Hel erina could not predict where the conversation was headed. A lady proposing first was almost unheard of; even if it happened, the world would usually be told the man proposed. A lady clinging to a man lowered her standing. Yet at a moment like this Lisi’s dignity did not slip an inch—she remained poised and noble. Gathering herself, Hel erina managed to ask,
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to run away. I wanted to escape the Whitlow Ducal House.”
Hel erina had suspected that Duke Whitlow might have been treating Lisi as merchandise, but she had assumed Lisi had been raised with great care. Why would she want to run away? Hel erina worried how to broach the subject without striking a raw nerve. She needn’t have worried. Lisi began speaking first.
“I am an illegitimate child. I was born between Duke Whitlow and a maid.”
A heavy silence fell. The drawing room chilled. No one dared breathe as they stared at Lisi’s lips calmly speaking a truth none of them had imagined. This was Lisi’s gambit.
‘The fact that I am the duke’s illegitimate child will bind my feet someday. Better that I reveal the truth first.’
No matter the consequences. Even if Kay were to be disappointed and cast her out, it was better than having the truth revealed later and watching everything she had built collapse. Hel erina saw through Lisi’s intent.
‘Clever.’
Hel erina liked clever children.
“Duke Whitlow killed my mother and left only me alive. He planned to raise me well in order to sell me off. But Duke and Duchess Whitlow had no talent for raising a child. Either they spoiled me or they abused me.”
A bitter smile flickered across Lisi’s face and vanished.
“I suffered severe abuse. I was beaten, despised, and mocked. I had to work like a maid, and even the maids did not treat me as a noble lady. I could not silence all the maids’ mouths, and sometimes stories about me leaked outside….”
Lisi swallowed.
“Those who spread the stories, and those who heard them, are dead now. The truth about me surfaced briefly and then disappeared, leaving only false rumors. ‘The Flower of the Whitlow Ducal House.’ The duke’s most cherished youngest daughter.”
Lisi paused and lowered her gaze. Her long lashes, the same color as her hair, hid the emotion in her eyes.
“Duke Whitlow agreed to hand me over to Viscount Huchis in exchange for a gold mine. I didn’t want that. So I went to Count Green.”
“Why…of all people?”
“Because I thought Count Green would help me.”
“Why would you think that? Kay doesn’t show any interest in women.”
“I wrote a letter to the count.”
Kay interrupted Lisi’s words. He had guessed Lisi would candidly blurt out, “I know the count’s weakness!” and he did not want that said aloud. His parents were very sensitive about that.
“I sent letters to Lisi several times. Asking him to tell me Duke Whitlow’s weakness.”
Fortunately, Kay’s parents did not tell him to keep quiet.
“Duke Whitlow’s weakness?”
“Yes. Brittany Whitlow spread nonsense about my relationship with her — that I had asked her to dance and that I was attracted to her. It was annoying, so I planned a little prank.”
Helerina narrowed her brows. Wyvern leaned back on the sofa with an amused, thoughtful hum.
“I needed information about that household, and I also wanted to interact with the young lady called Iris, who is known as the household’s flower. So I sent a letter.”
“And?”
Helerina looked at Lisi with a face that clearly did not believe her. Lisi, who had been eyeing Kay and then glanced at Hel erina, forced a nod.
“Yes.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Lisi answered honestly. Helerina could not help smiling at that. Lisi looked like a child being scolded by her parents.
“I won’t press you. Even when it comes to a child’s affairs, probing deeply into romantic relations is impolite. But tell me this honestly: is life here better than life at the Whitlow Ducal House?”
At that question, Lisi’s eyes flickered for the first time. Her pale purple irises wavered like a ripple and then stilled. Lisi smiled, and Helerina thought she looked as if she might cry.
“I have never been this happy in my life.”
Kay squeezed Lisi’s hand.
“You’ll be happier still.”
Lisi turned to Kay.
“I look forward to it.”
They exchanged a soft smile; to anyone watching, they were a couple in love. Only then did Helerina feel relieved. Her son had not forced a lady into marriage.
“All right, I understand. That will do. I shall not mention your marriage again.”
“I apologize for not telling you beforehand.”
“That is not something you should apologize for.”
Helerina glared at Kay. He grinned sheepishly.
“Sorry, Mother. Father.”
“We will go out a little later. You two go out first.”
“Yes, then we will step out first, Viscountess Green.”
“Lisi.”
“Yes?”
“You are not Viscountess Green’s wife.”
“Then…?”
“I hear the marriage registration has already been done. May I call you Mother?”
Lisi’s eyes opened wide and then lit up with a radiant smile.
“Yes, Mother.”
As soon as Lisi and Kay left, Helerina turned to her husband.
“What made you like Lisi at first sight?”
“Lisi looks like a demure and delicate lady to anyone….”
A smile spread at Wyvern’s mouth.
“She has the gaze of a warrior.”
+++
Kay and Lisi left the drawing room and headed for the garden. Only once they were out in the open could Lisi breathe easily.
“I was so tense.”
“You didn’t look it.”
“Sorry.”
“For what?”
“For hiding that I’m an illegitimate child.”
“I had suspected it.”
“Really?”
Kay gently took a lock of Lisi’s hair and wound it around his index finger. He kissed the wrapped strand and said,
“If such a pretty person suffered abuse, I thought there must be a reason.”
Lisi had heard many people call her pretty, but when Kay looked straight at her and said it like that, something fluttered near her heart and she found she could not meet his gaze directly. She turned her eyes aside and said,
“I’m glad your parents accepted me.”
“They are not just my parents now, Lisi. They are your parents, too.”
“But….”
“I believe it. From the moment your mother said you could call her Mother, she accepted you into our family.”
“That is a relief, then.”
In her past life, Alford’s mother had said similar words.
—Call me Mother from now on. I will treat you like a daughter.
Lisi had hoped she could live a different life. She foolishly expected that, like Duke Whitlow spoiling Brittany, Alford’s mother would cherish her. But nothing changed. If anything, it became worse.
“Lisi?”
Kay’s voice pulled her from her thoughts. Concern in his blue-gray eyes eased the pressure in her chest.
“Do you sometimes make such a pained expression?”
“Do I?”
She must be careful.
“What must I do so my wife does not suffer?”
“Kay, I am not suffering.”
Kay knitted his brow slightly.
“How can I make it so my wife does not lie?”
“I am not a liar, Kay. I am truly not suffering.”
Only the memories of her past life sometimes pressed on her chest, and she disliked that feeling. She was otherwise perfectly content with life with Kay.
“Oh, I remembered something good.”
Suddenly Kay hugged Lisi tightly. A hug so firm it took her breath away. When she was held like that by Kay, all the tension in her body relaxed and a new kind of tension arrived—different from the dark, heavy kind; it was a sweet, rosy tension.
“When I felt bad because I wasn’t an ordinary beastman, my family used to hug me like this when I was down. It made me feel better.”
“It does more than ‘better’.”
Buried in Kay’s chest, Lisi mumbled. Kay laughed and stroked her hair.
“Better now?”
“Very much.”
“That’s good. Then, Lisi, whenever you look troubled, I will hug you like this.”
“Anywhere?”
“Whenever, wherever.”
“Even before the Emperor?”
Kay smiled faintly and kissed the crown of her head. His warm breath slid into her hair as he whispered,
“Even before the gods.”
+++
The Whitlow Ducal carriage left the estate. The destination was the Green Count estate.