Brittany could not believe what was happening before her eyes.
‘This is a dream. Yes, this must be a dream. If this were reality, Count Green would never propose to that shabby girl! And besides… that stupid girl wouldn’t be standing there accepting the proposal so confidently.’
Despite Kay’s sudden proposal, Lisi did not look flustered. As if she had expected this all along, she stared down at Kay’s bowed head with arrogant eyes.
“Please raise your head, Count.”
“Until Lady Iris accepts my proposal, this head will remain right here.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then I suppose I will remain like this forever.”
“You intend to become a statue in that position?”
A faint smile formed at the corner of Lisi’s lips.
‘What is he doing? In front of everyone? What is wrong with him!’
Brittany’s insides boiled with rage. The place where Lisi stood should have been hers. Then why was that girl the one standing there, exchanging words with Kay?
“Well, since Count Green insists so strongly…”
Lisi’s violet eyes slowly moved and landed on Globurn.
“What should I do, Father?”
Brittany also snapped her head toward Globurn. She was certain that he would become furious and drive Lisi out of the room.
“Ahem, ahem. Well… ahem. If Count Green says he likes you that much, perhaps you should accept.”
“What do you mean—!”
Brittany sprang to her feet. Globurn grabbed her wrist and shot her a stern look.
“That is enough. Leave the room, Brittany.”
“But Father. I…”
What should she say next?
That she did not want to give the man she desired, the man everyone coveted, to someone like Iris? That she wanted to marry him herself? That Iris should marry some greasy old man like Alford instead?
The last shred of reason she had left kept her from making a complete spectacle of herself in front of Kay.
“Brittany, leave.”
Globurn spoke firmly.
Brittany stared at him in disbelief, but Globurn avoided her gaze. She bit her lower lip hard. Even if she stayed, there was nothing she could do here.
As she quickly left the room, she brushed past Kay and said,
“You will regret this, Count Green.”
“I doubt that.”
“Hmph.”
After Brittany left, Globurn spoke.
“Count Green. I will permit your marriage to Iris, so please come and sit.”
“I have not yet heard Lady Iris’s answer.”
“Iris, what are you doing? Answer him at once.”
“Yes, Father. Count Green, I will accept your proposal.”
Only then did Kay straighten his back.
“Iris, I have important matters to discuss with the count, so you should leave.”
Globurn said it kindly.
“No, Duke. I would like Lady Iris to remain with me.”
Kay objected.
“What?”
“We are to be husband and wife from now on. We should begin being together already.”
“Ah…”
Globurn was bewildered. Was the man before him truly Count Kayvrant Green?
The Kayvrant Green he knew was not a man who behaved kindly toward women.
“Will you stay with me, Lady Iris?”
At Kay’s request, Lisi nodded slightly.
When Kay lifted his arm toward her, Lisi gently slipped her hand through it. The two of them walked to the sofa and sat down side by side, looking like a couple who had been in love for years.
“Now then, Duke, let us discuss the gold mine.”
Globurn had been watching Kay suspiciously, but at the mention of the gold mine his eyes immediately changed.
Yes, the gold mine. If he could obtain that, it did not matter how strange Kay’s behavior was.
“If you sign this contract, the gold mine will belong to Duke Whitlow.”
Kay unfolded the document.
“And the Lady Iris sitting here will belong to me.”
“Y yes, of course.”
Globurn hurriedly grabbed his quill pen and tried to pull the document toward him, but Kay smoothly slid the papers back.
“I will return to my territory today with Lady Iris.”
“What? Today?”
“Yes.”
“But we must prepare the wedding… and there are many things our Iris must learn…”
“I am worried that Duke Whitlow might suddenly change his mind after realizing how exceptionally lovely Lady Iris is and decide not to give her to me.”
“No, absolutely not. I am not a man who goes back on his word, Count.”
“And now that I am holding her hand…”
Kay gently placed his hand over Lisi’s hand, which was resting on his arm.
“I find I do not wish to let go. I will take her with me, Duke.”
Globurn’s eyes wavered.
Originally he had intended to send Iris away today if Alford arrived. He still wanted to place Brittany in the position of Count Green’s wife.
‘No… it should not matter if Iris leaves. That girl will obediently follow anything I say anyway, and if Count Green is already so taken with her, I will be able to make use of that.’
Globurn nodded.
“Very well. Do as you wish.”
+++
On his way to meet Iris, the Flower of the Whitlow Ducal House, Alford was suddenly attacked by suspicious masked men.
Alford was a coward, so he normally paid large sums to travel with powerful mercenaries. This time he had hired several who were said to be among the top ten of the Mercenary Guild.
Even they could not defeat the three masked attackers.
After being trapped inside the carriage for several hours, Alford cautiously peeked outside through the small carriage window.
There had been two masked men before, but now there were three.
“Are you finished?”
When he strained his ears, he could hear their conversation.
“Yes. Send him.”
One of the masked men walked toward the carriage.
Alford quickly collapsed in his seat and pretended to be unconscious.
Bang!
The masked man roughly opened the carriage door and jabbed the scabbard of his sword into Alford’s thigh.
“AAAAAH!”
Thinking his leg had been stabbed with a blade, Alford screamed.
“What is it?”
Another masked man approached after hearing the commotion.
“I barely poked him and he is screaming like this. What a coward.”
“Come on, let us go.”
“Alright, alright. Hey. We are leaving, so try living a decent life from now on. And stop chasing women so much.”
The masked men snickered as they left.
Even long after they were gone, Alford remained trembling inside the carriage.
Eventually he managed to gather himself and rushed to the Whitlow Ducal Estate, only to hear a shocking piece of news.
Iris had already become another man’s wife.
+++
As soon as they got into the carriage, Lisi lowered the hand that had been resting on Kay’s arm.
Kay had done far more than she had expected.
The moment he proposed to her, Lisi thoroughly enjoyed watching Brittany’s face twist with humiliation.
Brittany, whose doll like beauty always made her the center of attention wherever she went, must have felt like a mere extra for the first time today.
‘Now it begins, Brittany Whitlow.’
In her previous life, the Whitlow Ducal House had prospered using the Lavent gold mine they received in exchange for selling Lisi away.
While Lisi struggled through a miserable life she could barely endure, Brittany possessed everything and tormented her until the day she died.
‘This time, you will have nothing.’
+++
Kay did not speak at all until they arrived at the Green Count Estate.
Lisi also had many things to think about, so she was grateful for the heavy silence inside the carriage.
“Lady Whitlow.”
When his voice brought her back to her senses, Lisi realized she was standing in the middle of his room.
Because the sunlight streamed in from the window behind him, casting him in shadow, Kay looked like a gigantic beast.
“You may call me Lisi.”
“Very well, Lisi. You may call me Kay as well.”
“Alright, Kay.”
“From today onward, you will sleep in this room with me. In the same bed.”
Kay’s hand pointed toward the large bed.
“Understood.”
“Is that all?”
“What more is there?”
He strode toward her.
As expected, he smelled faintly of the forest.
“You understand what sharing the same bed means. Or perhaps the Flower of the Whitlow Ducal House was raised too innocently to know such things?”
Lisi gave a short laugh.
“I am not a fool, Kay.”
What it meant for a man and a woman to share a bed was something Lisi understood very well.
Some women might consider that act extremely precious, but Lisi did not.
In her previous life, and even in this one, it did not matter much to her.
“That is fortunate.”
Kay’s palm touched the back of Lisi’s neck.
Feeling his body heat, she flinched without realizing it.
“I have no taste for teaching foolish women one thing at a time.”
Kay lowered his head.
His breath brushed past Lisi’s earlobe and cheek.
“The sun has not even set yet…”
Lisi murmured.
“As you know, I am something of a beast.”
“Ah, speaking of beasts…”
Lisi politely but firmly pushed Kay’s face away from her neck.
Her calm rejection made Kay narrow his eyes with amusement.
“Can you show me?”
“Show you what?”
“The beast.”
“You will regret it.”
“I will not.”
“Very well. If the wife I paid a gold mine to bring here asks to see it, I should show her. Step back.”
Lisi stepped backward toward the corner.
Excitement filled her chest at what was about to unfold.
Standing with the sunlight behind him, Kay’s shadow began to grow larger.
His back bent and his sculpted face began to change shape.
Rip.
The sound of tearing cloth filled the room.
After a brief moment passed, a massive black wolf was sitting calmly where Kay had been.
Even while sitting, the wolf was as large as Lisi herself.
As if worried that she might be frightened, the wolf remained perfectly still like a well trained dog.
When Lisi had drifted through the darkness of death, she had witnessed this wolf’s final moments.
The great beast, betrayed and wounded, had struggled desperately until the end before dying horribly.
Lisi slowly approached the wolf.
She had not noticed it before, but there were patches of silver fur above the wolf’s eyes.
Lisi cautiously reached her hand toward its muzzle.
The wolf slowly rubbed its muzzle against her palm.
“It is big.”
“Are you not afraid?”
Kay’s voice, now in wolf form, was lower and deeper than when he was human.
It carried the rough vibration of a growling beast.
“It is cute. Especially these round eyebrows.”
Wrinkles formed across Kay’s snout, revealing long, sharp fangs.
It looked less like anger and more like laughter.
“You are fearless.”
“There is nothing left for me to fear.”
After all, she had already died once.
Kay’s ears twitched, and suddenly he slipped back into his original form.
When Kay returned to his human appearance, Lisi’s eyes widened.
Looking down at the frozen Lisi, Kay grinned.
“I told you that you would regret it.”
When she had heard the sound of tearing cloth, she should have realized.
The clothes that were ripped apart when he transformed into a wolf would not magically restore themselves when he returned to human form.