Chapter 13
Alfred came to his senses as soon as Keivrand looked away.
Only then did the shame of wetting himself in front of Keivrand came.
But now wasn’t the time to care about that.
Lavent’s gold mine, which Alfred intended to give to Duke Whittle, was, in fact, a gold mine that would soon be abandoned. It was because almost all of the buried gold had been dug up already.
Although he didn’t care about selling it to others, he wouldn’t give it to Keivrand who had taken ‘his Iris.’
“Doing something like this…I’m not going to hand over the gold mine! I will take this matter to the Divine Kingdom and make a formal complaint with the Holy Father!”
Alfred squeezed out all the courage he had and shouted, then he turned around.
He was going to run away, but he couldn’t. At some point, three masked men had stood guard in front of the door.
When he saw them, he was reminded of the strange men who attacked his carriage while he was on his way to Duke Whittle a few days ago and his spine chilled.
“W-what are you doing? Get out of my way!”
Alfred couldn’t bring himself to get close to them as he shouted.
They just stared straight ahead as if they couldn’t hear him.
He wanted to turn around and complain to Keivrand, but he was scared. Somehow he found himself unable to move because something evil seemed to be behind his back.
A dark terror crept up behind his feet and shrouded him. For some reason, he felt like he wasn’t standing in the same world that he knew.
“Do…do you think you can do this, Count Green?”
Alfred said with trembling legs.
“N-no matter how much you threaten me…I… I’m sure I’ll tell the Holy Father about this. No, I’ll let the press know too.”
His fear went away once he started talking. Only then could he look back at Keivrand.
“The Count forced Iris, who promised to marry me, and when I came to protest, was locked up in a torture chamber and blackmailed. It would be a big problem if it was known that there was a torture chamber in the mansion where the faithful guardian of the sacred relics live, but it would be a bigger problem if you locked me up in here and blackmail me.”
Keivrand chuckled. The masked men guarding the door also chuckled.
Alfred felt uneasy because he couldn’t see why they were laughing.
“Viscount. Thank you. For making me laugh.”
Unlike his words, Keivrand’s eyes were cold.
“You think you will be able to leave here safely and see the Holy Father. That’s really funny.”
Alfred, who belatedly realized the meaning of his word, jumped around and ran toward the door, but the masked men were blocking it, so he couldn’t reach the door.
Among the masked men, a big man grabbed him by the neck.
“Keuk!”
He gasped for air. The masked man lifted him up as is.
He struggled with his legs as he looked into the cold eyes of the masked man.
“Keu…euk…!”
Alfred thought the masked man would let him off after a moderate scare. But the masked man’s hand didn’t lose strength, and on the other hand, Alfred’s body gradually lost strength.
The world turned black.
“Heuk!”
When Alfred, covered in cold water, woke up, there was Keivrand in front of him.
Alfred didn’t forget the fear of death he had experienced before he fainted. He then realized that shame and humiliation in the face of death were nothing.
He jumped up and knelt down in front of Keivrand.
“I-I’ll give it to you.”
Keivrand looked at Alfred sluggishly.
“What?”
“T-the gold mine. Lavent’s gold mine. I’ll give it to you. Yes. You can have it.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve always wanted to try this.”
Keivrand had a terrible device in his hand. Alfred didn’t know what it was for, but he didn’t intend to find out.
Looking at the instrument with spikes, he swallowed a dry saliva.
When Keivrand winked, a masked man quickly brought a piece of paper.
It was a contract to hand over Lavent’s gold mine to Iris Green.
“I-Iris…”
When he saw the name on the contract, Alfred muttered unconsciously.
“Viscount.”
Keivrand aimed the terrible instrument at Alfred.
“Don’t call someone else’s wife by their name. Her title is Countess.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Alfred no longer wanted to go against Keivrand’s will. He just wanted to quickly get out of this torture chamber.
‘Just see what happens when you let me out. I won’t let you go.’
Stamping his thumbprint and seal, Alfred was only able to leave the torture chamber after signing the contract to turn over the gold mine.
Keivrand saw Alfred off at the gate of the mansion.
Alfred planned to run to the press from a large newspaper and report everything that had happened, as well as head to the Divine Kingdom.
“Viscount. Let me give you a piece of advice for your sake.”
The advice, or whatever, Alfred just wanted to leave quickly, but he endured it and looked up at Keivrand.
“You, Viscount, the greedy merchant. And I, the guardian of the sacred relic. If you go and talk nonsense, I’ll respond in kind…Who do you think people will believe? A merchant or the guardian of the sacred relic?”
“…!”
“As soon as you talk nonsense, the shadows that you saw earlier will come for you. Who do you think is quicker? My shadows finding you, or you meeting the Holy Father?”
Alfred felt his heart fall.
“Behave yourself, Viscount. I’ll be watching, and keeping an eye on you. Okay?”
* * *
“There’s a bad rumor circulating among the servants because of the man who came to see you earlier.”
Iris listened to Christina’s report as she looked out the window.
“Anyhow, the maids seem to believe him. Also…Miss Juliette came forward and added fire to the rumor…”
“Crazy bitch…”
The end of Christina’s speech overlapped with the sound of profanity.
It sounded like Elly’s voice, but Iris decided to think she heard wrongly.
“Miss Iris. Juliette, she… ”
The silent Elly opened her mouth for the first time in a while, and then there was a ‘pa’ sound.
When Iris turned around in surprise, Elly looked at Christina with her eyes wide open and clutching her sides.
“Elly?”
“I don’t think Miss Juliette should be left alone, Miss Iris.”
Said Christina.
Elly lowered her hands and held her sides as if nothing had happened. Although her lips were pursed as if she was wronged.
“The false rumors will have more weight to them if Miss Juliette, Miss Iris’ personal maid, spreads such rumors.”
Elly nodded vigorously at Christina’ words, and her lips rattled as if she wanted to say something.
“Elly, do you have something to say to me?”
“Oh, Elly doesn’t talk much…”
Christina replied instead.
‘No. She seems to have a lot to say.’
“You can leave Juliette alone.”
Elly’s face crumpled at Iris’ words. Iris thought Elly was a girl of few words but various facial expressions.
Iris decided to take some more time to solve the problem of Juliette.
Right now, there was no justification to expel Juliette who works diligently in her own right.
If Juliette was kicked out for no reason, people would think that the new Countess was jealous of the maid next to the Count.
Even if they were told that she had been rude to Iris, they wouldn’t believe it. People prefer to side with the absurdity of the weak than the strong.
Iris’ eyes, looking out the window, saw Alfred walking with Keivrand to the front door of the mansion.
Alfred was hurrying with his feet as if he was a fugitive.
After a while, Keivrand came to see Iris.
The maids left the room when Iris winked.
Keivrand offered Iris the contract.
“I’ve obtained Lavent’s gold mine, Irie.”
The contract clearly stated the name Iris Green.
Iris Green.
In her previous life, Iris lived as Iris Whittle and died as Iris Hutch.
These days, she was called Countess Green, so the document that read ‘Iris Green’ had touched her heart.
“Good job, Kei.”
“Is that it?”
“What else do you want?”
“A compliment or reward that shows you’re proud of me.”
A compliment to show that she was proud of him.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find a compliment better than ‘good job.’
“Do you want me to brush you?”
She was just joking, but Keivrand said, ‘Oh!’ and then he quickly turned into a wolf.
Iris was shocked.
Because she didn’t really mean to brush Keivrand’s fur.
When Keivrand turned into a wolf, the clothes that he was wearing came off.
Which means he was naked…
Does he want her to brush his naked body?
But before Iris could say anything, Keivrand had already taken a big comb from Iris’ dressing table.
Then he put down the comb and laid gently in front of her.
The large well-trained puppy-like figure tickled a part of her chest for some reason.
‘Okay, well…fur is like a dog’s clothing.’
Nobles who raised dogs maintained their dog’s fur.
And dog hairdressers that took care of dog hair have become one of the rising jobs.
Gently sitting down next to Keivrand, Iris picked up the comb and brushed the fur on his back.
The wolf’s fur was stiff, but it felt soft when she touched it because it was glossy.
As she combed his fur, the thoughts that filled her head gradually disappeared.
‘Brushing a dog’s fur can be therapeutic too.’
Keivrand, who never could have imagined that Iris was thinking of him as a dog, closed his eyes with a pleasant, low growl.
* * *
Keivrand’s younger sister, Celestine heard an unimaginable story at a friend’s small tea party.
Her eyes rose and gradually became sharper and sharper.
“What?”
“Countess Green. Your new sister-in-law is having an affair.”
“What do you mean…”
Celestine’s blue-gray eyes shook.
The friend who broke the news patted Celestine on the shoulder as if she was sorry.
“Isn’t that really ridiculous? I can’t believe she’s seeing another man over your brother…How long has it been since they married? Rumor has it that your sister-in-law dated the man even before she got married. The man also visited your brother’s mansion.”
“Ha…that’s ridiculous.”
“Yes, of course. It’s ridiculous. Cel, don’t just shut yourself in your mansion and come out and listen. You’re the only one who doesn’t know about this. It was published in a magazine last time. A reliable person tipped the press.”
“Wah, I don’t believe it.”
Celestine grabbed her short hair with both hands.
“My brother, what the hell…”
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At the tea party, Celestine’s friends gave her a pitiful look.
Looking at those friends, Celestine asked.
“When did they get married?”
== Translator’s Note ==
1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section .