Chapter 23
“I don’t think Miss Julliete is so young as to not know, right?”
Viscount Merdi’s face turned red.
“Please…please…”
Juliette didn’t want to believe the reality of her father kneeling down in front of Iris and pleading.
Who was Iris? She was just someone who had recently met her husband and was fortunate enough to become a part of the Green family.
Making her look like this because she was lucky to have met a good husband.
But Juliette was stuck. It was because she knew that the situation would only get worse if she moved here.
In addition, Viscountess Merdi, who had managed to come to her senses, was gripping Juliette’s wrist hard enough to the point where it might break at any minute.
Only then did Juliette realize what she had done.
There was a family in the world that shouldn’t be touched.
The Green family, protected by the Divine Kingdom. It was a family that even the Emperor cannot touch.
Juliette was also aware of that fact.
However, she just couldn’t accept that Iris had become a part of the Green family from the moment she married Keivrand.
Juliette closed her eyes tightly and opened them. She hated it, but couldn’t help it.
At this moment, what Iris wanted was obvious.
Juliette’s apology and submission.
When Juliette tried to walk toward Iris, her mother stared at her as if not to do anything useless.
Juliette whispered, ‘It’s okay,’ and headed for Iris.
Everyone’s eyes moved toward Juliette.
In time, Juliette, standing in front of Iris, kneeled calmly next to her father, Viscount Merdi.
“It was me who spread the false rumors.”
It was actually Alfred who brought it up. But he will never admit it, nor will the servants who were there.
“I was wrong, Countess Green. I’ve committed a great crime. Please punish me.”
Now the eyes of the people turned to Iris’ lips.
The crime of starting a scandal against a Countess and spreading false rumors to other countries was severe. And it wasn’t just that simple. It was a scandal over the honor of Duke Whittle and the mistress of the Green family. Everyone watched curiously as to how terrible Iris punishment would be.
‘At minimum it’s exile.’
But Iris said something that went against everyone’s expectations.
“You won’t be punished.”
Iris said plainly.
“I’ll forgive you for being honest and apologizing. That will be the end of this.”
Most of the commoners and nobles here had the same thought.
‘She has a big heart. Of course she’s the flower of Duke Whittle, but is it because she was raised to be kind too?”
While some other nobles here had a different thought.
‘I thought she would be naive since she’s the flower of Duke Whittle, but that turned out to be wrong. I’ll have to be careful from now on.’
Such thoughts were happening around the plaza.
Iris forgave Juliette, which the reporters here will write and spread.
Countess Green, who had forgiven her personal maid for falsely creating and spreading a scandal.
But in reality, some here knew it wasn’t forgiveness. If she had really intended to forgive Juliette, she wouldn’t have dug up the truth in a place like this. She would have found out quietly and spoke to Juliette in private and forgave her then.
Now that everything is revealed here, neither Juliette nor the Merdi family will escape from the fact that they had tried to tarnish the name of the Green family with false rumors.
The Merdi family will be ostracized by the nobles, and they will be the laughing stock wherever they go. This case will follow everything the Merdi family does, and soon the business in the name of the Merdi family will be ruined.
But since Iris forgave Juliette, no one could say that Iris was too much, no matter how the Merdi family will be treated in the future.
Elevo’s Witting also realized why Iris forgave Juliette.
If this was the usual, Witting would have written a preface to the article as something along the lines of ‘Duke Whittle’s Flower has a sharp spine,’ but this time he had no intention of doing so.
‘Countess Green. She’s interesting.”
The new priest who came to see Keivrand was also watching all of this.
His face gradually turned blue as things progressed.
When Juliette knelt down in front of Iris earlier, he also had the thought of kneeling down.
‘God. What am I supposed to do?’
* * *
Immersed in a bathtub full of warm and fragrant water, Iris was reading the newspaper.
Elevo’s newspaper published this morning.
On the front page, there was an article about Iris.
The article written by Witting painted her in a good light.
‘Witting would have noticed why I had forgiven Juliette. However, he didn’t mention that part.’
That means Witting has a good impression of Iris.
At a time where the power of the nobles was not as absolute as before, it was important to win the favor of journalists.
‘But…’
[The flower of Duke Whittle and its petals are still as bright as ever.]
Iris glared at the end of the article.
The flower of Duke Whittle. A title that has always followed when describing Iris.
Iris wanted to get away from that title.
However, it won’t be easy.
In her previous life, the title had followed her to the last moment of death.
Click-
She turned her head to the sound of the bathroom door opening and saw Keivrand walking in with a tray.
Iris looked down reflexively.
Full of red rose petals in the bathtub.
Her fair skin was revealed through the countless rose petals.
She was embarrassed to show this to Keivrand, but she also didn’t want him to know that she was embarrassed by this.
So she relaxed, as if not embarrassed by anything.
Iris wanted to be that kind of woman in this life.
She proudly raised her chin slightly, but still couldn’t stop her body from going deeper into the bathtub.
“What is it?”
“I want to serve my wife while she bathes. I’d like to have a toast too.”
On the tray that Keivrand brought were fresh green grapes, cheese, wine and two glasses.
Keivrand put the tray down on the table next to the tub, and sat on the edge of the tub.
He swept the water in the bathtub with his fingertips.
Some red rose petals clung to his pretty fingers.
Iris watched as Keivrand gently removed the rose petals and dropped it back into the bathtub.
Keivrand moved as if he was an actor on stage, and it was so intense that she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
After removing all the rose petals, he swept his hair back with his wet hand and smiled at Iris.
“You’re going to poke a hole through my face, Irie.”
“Ah…”
Iris blushed and moved her eyes to the bottle of wine.
“Because you were acting like an actor, I thought you wanted me to watch.”
“I’ve never acted like an actor, but I’m glad I looked like that in your eyes.”
“Not exactly…”
“Shh.”
Keivrand’s index finger pressed down on Iris’ lips.
The wet touch on her lips felt hot.
With the pair of gray eyes gently gazing at her, he spoke.
“Stop talking, Irie. Even if it was an illusion, so that I can be more pleased.”
Iris nodded and shook his finger off.
Keivrand skillfully poured the wine and handed a glass to Iris.
Her arm, which was submerged in the water, received the glass and a ripple broke out.
The rose petals that were covering Iris’ upper body disappeared and returned to their original positions.
In that short time, Keivrand’s eyes stayed for a moment and fell.
Iris wanted to drown her face in the bathtub, but she accepted the glass gracefully.
“What are we toasting?”
Iris rolled the glass gently and asked, smelling the wine.
“Your stigma has been lifted. Our unprecedented wonderful wedding. Gaining Witting’s favor. Which one should we toast to?”
As expected, Keivrand was sharp.
He also noticed that Witting had a good impression of Iris after reading the article in Elevo.
“All three.”
Iris held out her glass in response and Keivrand lightly bumped it.
Clang-
A fine sound spread through the bathroom.
Iris enjoyed the sweet smell of wine in her mouth.
In a warm tub, surrounded by roses, and wine that delights one’s mouth.
She felt like she had already accomplished everything.
Keivrand picked up a small slice of cheese on the plate and put it in Iris’ mouth.
“Have you ever been to a wedding, Irie?”
She has been there a few times in her previous life, but shook her head because she hasn’t in this life.
Keivrand picked a grape and put it in her mouth.
“You’ll be exhausted. Attendees, organizers, it’s all very exhausting.”
“I guess you don’t like parties.”
“It’s more beneficial to spend that time searching for the sacred relics and subjugating the wild.”
“I’ve always wanted to attend parties with you.”
“Then I’ll have to love parties from now on.”
Keivrand calmly replied, picking another grape and putting it in her mouth.
Iris, who was eating the grapes without thinking, recalled that it was the first time someone has fed her like this.
Is this how it feels to be loved?
‘This man doesn’t love me.’
Whatever Keivrand’s feelings were, it was clear that he was treating Iris dearly.
‘In my previous life…there was. It was only for a short time.’
Iris stared at him quietly, recalling her brief encounter with Keivrand in her previous life.
Feeling Iris’ gaze, he squinted his eyes, bent his upper body and overlapped his lips with her’s.
Iris’ lips opened naturally and accepted him.
His hand penetrated into her hair, and his breath dyed her hot.
Keivrand’s lips were hot enough to make the warm water feel cold.
“I don’t know what to do when you look at me that way, Irie.”
He whispered softly with their lips overlapped.
“You’re very good at things you don’t know.”
Keivrand chuckled.
“You taste like grapes.”
“You too.”
“You know what, Irie? Among the ladies these days…”
He brought a bottle of wine and tilted it over the bathtub.
Expensive wine gushed down the bathtub and dyed it red.
“I heard it’s a trend to take a bath with wine.”
The wine splashed and fell like blood against Iris’ neck and collarbone.
Is it because of the strong scent of wine?
Or is it because of those blue-gray eyes that are fixed on her?
Iris became dazed as if she was drunk.
As she was about to accept his approaching lips again, Keivrand passed her face and buried his face into her neck.
His lips moved along her neckline.
Then, it climbed up the nape of her neck and overlapped on her lips.
This time Iris also tasted grapes.
When she thought about how she could share a taste like this, her head became dizzy.
Reason melted away and desire filled the void.
Keivrand’s hands went down her neckline and grabbed her slender shoulder.
Suddenly, Keivrand’s hands strained.
He grabbed her shoulders, then with a plop, it fell away.
Iris looked up at him with misty eyes.
Keivrand gently swept the corner of Iris’ eyes with his thumb and spoke.
“The wedding invitation has been sent out, Irie.”
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‘Is it just my imagination?’
There was a thin trembling tone in Keivrand’s voice.
It can’t be that the king of beastmen, the guardian of the sacred relics, Keivrand Green is nervous?
== Translator’s Note ==
1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section .