IPTVI – Chapter 20

At that unexpected comment, Grand Duke Richard’s head whipped around to glare at Young Marquess Spencer. The Young Marquess just smiled with complete nonchalance.

“Then I’ll ride in the carriage. That’s all right, isn’t it?”

“Suit yourself.”

His voice sounded oddly disgruntled.

“Then, if you’ll excuse me, Your Grace.”

Almost at the same time as the Grand Duke’s curt reply, the Young Marquess promptly climbed into the carriage I was supposed to be taking.

The journey to the Grace Kingdom was fairly long. Before I knew it, I ended up sitting face-to-face with the Young Marquess, just the two of us. At first, I tried to strike up conversation here and there.

“Young Marquess, where should I invest if I want to hit the jackpot?”

“…Pardon?”

“Come on, share some secrets on how to really rake it in.”

My question must have amused the Young Marquess, because he just kept laughing and laughing. But when I scowled at him for just chuckling without answering, he seemed to sober up and gave me a few earnest tips. The problem was, they were all the same bland kind of advice as, ‘If you want to get into a prestigious academy, just pay attention in school and focus on your core subjects.’

My interest fizzled out right away.

Eventually, just to kill time, I started rifling through the stack of books the Young Marquess had brought along.

“<Seducing My Friend’s Wife>, <Forbidden Love Aboard a Carriage>… ugh.”

I made a small groan at the stack, which was packed with nothing but trashy romance novels. When I did, the Young Marquess lifted his eyes from the book he was reading; resting one elbow on the armrest, he tilted his head and looked at me.

“Not a fan of romance novels, I take it?”

“No. Love doesn’t exactly put food on the table.”

I had no interest in some sappy love stories that didn’t make me any money. I answered flatly and turned my eyes back to the pile of books. The Young Marquess let out another amused laugh, then added with a grin,

“Then perhaps you’ll enjoy this one. The paintings depicted have starting auction bids of over five hundred million gold.”

<The Masters of World Art>, huh…

The book he handed over was crammed with pictures of all sorts of artworks. Figuring I might as well do some window shopping, I lazily flipped through it. That was when—

Clunk!

With a loud noise, the carriage jolted to a stop, making my body pitch sideways toward the Young Marquess.

“Kyaa!”

 “Are you all right, Your Grace?”

The Young Marquess quickly reached out and steadied me as I lost my balance.

“……!”

My eyes grew round in surprise at the solid muscles holding me up. Given how he said he preferred carriages over horseback and liked romance novels, I’d just assumed he was the bookish type. Turned out the Young Marquess had quite a firm, muscular build.

“Uh, thank you.”

Feeling oddly embarrassed, I avoided his gaze and tried to gently push away his arm that was still wrapped around me. Just then, the carriage door suddenly burst open with a loud bang.

“……!”

Standing there was Grand Duke Richard. He froze in place, staring unblinking at me and the Young Marquess tangled together in an awkward pose.

“Uh… this is…”

For a second, I stammered like someone caught doing something wrong.

Should I say it’s a misunderstanding? All he did was catch me from falling over…

I could’ve just brushed it off coolly, said the carriage had braked hard and the Young Marquess helped me, because that was the truth. But for some reason, my mind went completely blank in a panic. Not like we were an actual married couple anyway.

“The carriage stopped abruptly, and Her Grace almost fell. It was fortunate I was here to catch her. Is something happening outside?”

It was the Young Marquess who finally answered on my behalf.

“……”

Grand Duke Richard only scowled deeper and stayed silent. Apparently impatient, the Young Marquess glanced outside, then nodded.

“Ah, looks like they’re clearing some obstacle on the road. That’s why you came, yes?”

“No. I have a different reason.”

At last, the Grand Duke responded in a clipped voice. His eyes dropped to the books that had tumbled to the floor from the carriage’s sudden jolt, and his face twisted in a terrifying scowl. I cautiously asked him,

“And that reason would be…?”

“From now on, I’ll be riding in the carriage as well.”

“……?”

I blinked wide at the completely out-of-the-blue statement. At the same time, the Grand Duke Richard abruptly clambered into the carriage. Thanks to his large frame, the Young Marquess ended up shoved awkwardly into the corner.

“Gah!”

The Grand Duke pretended not to hear the Young Marquess’s pained grunt. In an instant, he was seated directly across from me, arms crossed.

“Then let’s depart.”

At his order, which sounded like nothing at all had happened, the carriage gave a lurch and started moving again.

“Your Highness—! Just abandoning your horse like this— what am I supposed to—!”

Outside, I could vaguely hear Victor’s voice rising to a near wail. But with the racket of the carriage wheels, I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying.

*   *   *

We’d set out quite early in the morning, but by the time we crossed the border into the Grace Kingdom, night had already completely fallen. So when we finally stepped into the inn we’d arranged, we were utterly exhausted.

That joy of finally getting to lie down was short-lived, though, because we quickly found ourselves in an awkward situation. Once the rooms for our party had been assigned, I realized—rather belatedly—that I’d have to share a room with the Grand Duke Richard. The entire pretense of this trip was as a “honeymoon,” so it would be absurd for the newlywed couple to suddenly request separate rooms. Not to mention the nightmare I’d be if that got out.

“Ths rooms we have prepared for you are right this way.”

A very elegant manager took the lead, and the Grand Duke and I followed along almost out of reflex.

“I’ll see you both tomorrow morning then…”

Five steps in, Young Marquess Spencer offered a faint smile and a small nod, then disappeared off to his own room.

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call, my lady!”

By the twelfth step, one of the maids gave me a deep bow as she turned the handle to her room.

“Have a lovely night!”

And last of all was a thoroughly battle-worn looking Victor, who sent us off with a beaming grin. Apparently, somewhere along the way he’d ended up hauling two horses at once and was now completely spent. Even so, ever loyal to the Grand Duke, he shot him a conspiratorial wink, and a very knowing thumbs-up.

At last, the door to our assigned room swung open, and the manager gestured inside with a proud look on his face.

“This is the most beautiful room in our inn. We’re fully booked tonight, but we held this room aside especially for the newlyweds.”

“……!”

I stood there with my jaw hanging open at a bedroom so glamorous it almost bordered on gaudy.

The canopy over the bed was draped with sheer fabric in a color that felt downright suggestive, not to mention the giant rose petal heart adorning the pristine white sheets.

“Is it to your liking? Sir Genoa made a special request for this service when he arranged the room. The same service awaits you in the bath as well.”

The manager looked at us with an eager face, as if hoping for praise. It was basically the exact same look Victor had worn when he’d sent us off earlier.

Not long after, the manager, deprived of praise, left looking rather dejected. And so we were finally alone in the room.

“W-would you like to wash up first?”

I pulled my gaze from the bathtub, which was brimming with bubbles and rose petals, and managed an awkward smile. Thanks to the dozens of candles lit around the room, a warm red glow danced across the Grand Duke’s face.

“I—I don’t need to bathe!”

Suddenly snapping, the Grand Duke threw open the door and bolted.

“I guess he’s… more unhygienic than I thought…”

Scratching my cheek, I recalled how he’s been refusing to bathe more and more often these days. Granted, it’s a win for me. With him gone, I get to soak in peace.

“Ah, that’s better.”

After my bath, I felt completely refreshed. The Grand Duke still hadn’t returned. Narrowing my eyes, I took in the enormous bed smack dab in the middle of the room.

“Guess I’ll be sleeping on the floor.”

Even in my past life, I prided myself on being a service-oriented lawyer. No matter the situation, the client was always king. Which meant it was ‘client first,’ not ‘ladies first.’

With a nonchalant face, I brushed the rose petals from the bed, then neatly spread out one of the extra blankets on the floor. Just as I was about to lie my tired body down—

“……!”

The door opened, and I locked eyes with the Grand Duke as he walked in. His hair was sopping wet, apparently from washing up somewhere else. I looked up at him and flashed a bright, professional smile.

“I was just about to go to sleep. Please, Your Grace, use the bed.”

“What…?”

The Grand Duke’s brow twitched and then furrowed deeply. Steam practically rose from his body.

“Ha… are you really…”

With a serious expression, he rubbed his forehead and looked down at me with an oddly complicated gaze.

“I may not be the most refined man alive, but I’m not such a brute that I’d make a lady sleep on the floor. You take the bed.”

He spoke gruffly, marched over, and snatched the blanket right out of my hands. Then he threw himself down on the floor without a second thought.

“What? No, absolutely not!”

The words burst out of me in panic. There was no way I could rest easy on a bed while my client slept on the floor.

“Please, just take the bed!”

“I appreciate that you’re willing to make sacrifices for me, but I’m not letting you sleep on the floor.”

Hearing his retort, my eyebrows drooped. It really wasn’t such a noble sacrifice that he needed to phrase it like that, but still—I couldn’t bring myself to make him sleep on the ground. So I offered a compromise.

“Then why don’t we just both sleep in the bed?”

“……!”

The Grand Duke’s hand, still clutching the blanket, gave a visible twitch. He hesitated, then slowly pulled the blanket a little higher over his body.

“I knew it… this was your plan all along…”

“……?”

What is he even accusing me of planning? I squinted slightly, trying to interpret his words, and my eyes landed on the crumpled edge of the blanket in his grip. I raised both palms as if to show surrender.

“If you’re talking about the blanket, then by all means, Your Grace, you can have it. I’m perfectly fine with just the quilt.”

“…….”

The Grand Duke just fell silent, as if in protest.

“If you keep this up, I’ll sleep on the floor too.”

In the end, I plopped right down on the carpet next to him, unwilling to budge. A moment later, I heard him let out a long sigh. Then, as if he’d reached some sort of decision, he abruptly stood up.

“Fine. If you insist… prepare yourself.”

“……?”

Prepare for what?

Still seated on the soft carpet, I tilted my head up to look at him. His lips were pressed into a firm line, and his face was set with almost grim determination.

Click—!

“W-wait, what are you doing…!”

My eyes flew wide open as I watched the Grand Duke unfasten the buckle of his belt.

🫰🏼🍓🍓🍓💜🍓🍓🍓🫰🏼
Hey All! I hope you like this translation!
My updates may be slow, but I do read/edit my chapters!
If you’re enjoying it, show me some love?
💕💗 https://ko-fi.com/stanrofanscans💗💕

✨Wanna read more of my translations?✨
💖https://linktr.ee/stanrofanscans💖