Chapter 67
“Sir Thomas.”
Thomas turned his head.
It was a clear and sweet voice.
Before she knew it, Yelena suddenly stood in front of him and looked at him with a smile. “Nice to meet you. Is it our first time meeting?”
“Yes? Oh, yes. Duchess… Ah, no, Madam.”
Thomas was flustered, surprised by either Yelena’s sudden appearance or her beauty.
Yelena continued to speak with a smile. “There’s something I’d like to say to you privately…”
Yelena reduced her voice to a low volume.
Unknowingly, Thomas leaned defenselessly towards Yelena and listened.
Without missing the opportunity, Yelena stepped on Thomas’s foot with all her strength.
The shoe’s sharp and pointed heel crushed her opponent’s foot mercilessly.
“…!”
“…if you can’t avoid the foot of such a weak woman, even if you received power from the devil, it would be useless.”
“Ma-madam, th-this foot… Your foot…”
“That’s what I think, but what do you think, Sir?”
“W-wrong… I was wrong.”
“What?”
“I-I made a slip of the tongue, Madam. So please…”
“Hmph.”
After hearing Thomas’s repeated apologies and pleas, Yelena took her foot off his.
She had stepped on him with all her strength, so the foot inside his leather shoe might be bleeding.
‘It’s a good thing I came out in high heels.’
As soon as Yelena removed her foot and turned around, Thomas sank in his spot.
Even after literally crushing her opponent’s foot, Yelena’s anger did not subside.
She raised her head with a huff and suddenly made eye contact with her husband.
The sparring seemed to be over as no more knights were standing in front of her husband.
When Yelena saw a servant with a towel heading towards her husband, she quickly walked over to catch up with the servant.
“I’ll take this with me.”
Yelena spontaneously took the towel from the servant and approached her husband.
Kaywhin stared silently at Yelena as she approached and accepted the towel she handed him.
“…Thank you.”
“No problem.”
“What brings you to the training grounds?”
“I was originally on my way to your office, but the servants said you were here.”
Hearing that she had come to see him, Kaywhin paused for a moment before handing over the towel that he had roughly used to wipe off his sweat to the servant.
Even after fighting against so many knights, her husband didn’t seem to have shed a drop of sweat.
Yelena inadvertently thought this was enough to make others jealous and then immediately shook her head.
No matter what anyone said, Thomas, the bastard, could not be forgiven.
“What are you doing now? Are you going to the office?”
“Yes, probably.”
“Oh, are you busy with work?”
“…No, it’s all right.”
“Then, let’s go there together.”
Her husband’s office was well-equipped for guests.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a cup of tea there. However, Yelena’s expression suddenly became serious as she walked out of the training ground with her husband.
Kaywhin asked, “What’s the matter?”
“You know. As far as I know, there’s a lot of knights in the duchy, so would it be okay to send one person out?”
“You mean Thomas?”
Yelena blinked.
“…How did you know?”
It truly felt like he could read her mind.
“I saw you step on his foot,” Kaywhin answered as Yelena started to suspect whether or not her husband had talent in mind-reading.
“Ah, did you see that?”
Yelena awkwardly averted her eyes.
“Well, I’m just saying this just in case you misunderstood me, but that person made a mistake first, so I stepped on him. I’m not a woman who tramples on people’s feet for no reason.”
“I can expect that. Thomas doesn’t usually speak very carefully.”
“It’s not that he wasn’t careful… no, you know that yet you’re going to leave it alone?”
Yelena ran up and stood in front of Kaywhin.
Kaywhin, who stopped walking, looked down at Yelena and said.
“He’s a pretty earnest knight, though. And he’s quite competent.”
“Even if his personality is like that?”
“That’s not something that greatly influences his skill.”
Yelena glanced at Kaywhin and softly bit her lips a few times.
Soon a sigh escaped.
“It was only my husband that judged by skill…”
“Wife?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
It seemed there would be a lot of hardships to go through before she could fall in love and have a child with her warm-hearted husband.
Well, it couldn’t be helped.
‘I have no choice but to remain strong.’
Yelena firmly made up her mind and started walking without hesitation.
* * *
“…That’s ridiculous.”
The trouble in question came earlier than expected.
“How could this be…”
Yelena’s voice trembled slightly.
Her pink eyes stared in disbelief at Ben, whose face was pale and whose eyes were closed.