I Will Become the Ex-Wife of the Beast - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Oh, but we were supposed to get ten percent. That was my sister’s share.”
“…At the very least, there look to be about a thousand of them, and ten percent of that is…”
“Yes. Twelve of them.”
“….”
How on earth did the math work out like that? Kiers hid his conflicted expression and rested a hand on the back of his neck. But Rose was smiling so blissfully that he didn’t have the nerve to say anything to her.
With a faint sigh whose meaning he himself didn’t quite know, he placed a hand on Rose’s shoulder.
“…Little Lady, your steps are a bit slow.”
When he crouched down again, Rose’s eyes went wide. When Kiers reached out once more, the Count flinched, but Kiers looked only at Rose.
“…How about it? I think I can take you there a little faster.”
“…Mm-hmm.”
“Are you scared of me?”
When Kiers asked calmly, Rose shook her head vigorously. She shook it so hard that he worried she might topple over.
“No. I’m not scared of you, Brother-in-law Grand Duke.”
“Well, that’s a relief,”
“Your eyes sparkle like moonlight!”
“….”
“See! They’re just like my hair color!”
Rose lifted one end of her hair and held it up beside his face, delighted with herself. But Kiers, who had met her eyes, and even the Count, stopped breathing and froze in place.
Kiers swallowed audibly, and slowly his eyes widened.
“What color are my eyes, exactly?”
“Silver!”
At Rose’s confident answer, Kiers pressed his lips together, then let out a slow breath.
“…And my hair?”
“Golden, like the sun!”
“…Y-Your Grace.”
With a subtle shake of his head toward the Count, Kiers rested his hand on her hair as gently as he could, so Rose wouldn’t be startled. Rose wriggled her head in ticklish delight, and there was not a trace of the wariness one would show toward a beast or a monster. Kiers’s voice had grown more careful than it had ever been.
“Rose, have you ever mentioned this to your sister?”
“My sister? Hmm, no. I was going to tell her, but my sister said not to.”
“….”
“You can’t tell my sister about Brother-in-law Grand Duke. She might not like it.”
“….”
Should he be pleased by this, or troubled? Kiers rose to his feet with a resigned sigh. “Rose!” A cry rang out from somewhere far off, sounding almost like a wail, and he turned around.
“Rose, you’d better go see your sister right away.”
“Yes! Brother-in-law Grand Duke!”
“…Right. And it would be best not to say a word of this to your sister, not until the very end.”
Mm, Rose nodded at his request, which was no request at all. In truth, she was so gentle and timid that she’d had no intention of saying anything the moment her sister told her not to. She could only wriggle with her whole body, aching to dash off the moment she saw her sister calling for her.
The instant Kiers let her go, Rose tore off across the garden.
“Sister!”
“…Rose!”
Watching the two of them throw their arms around each other as though they were a family reunited after years apart, when they had been parted for less than two hours, the men felt a strange heaviness settle over them. The Count, no longer able to smile so freely, approached Kiers’s side while trying to hide his unease.
“Your Grace, I’m afraid the youngest Lady might be…”
“Not yet, we don’t know.”
“….”
“Summon Kenier. Right now.”
At Kiers’s order, the Count showed his dismay.
“But Your Grace, Kenier is not one to stay put and keep to a schedule, so…”
“Set fire to the Magic Tower. Then he’ll show up.”
“….”
Kiers turned his crimson gaze away coldly. Since it was by no means a joke, the Count didn’t dare to argue any further.
“By the way, Your Grace, if it turns out to be true…”
“…Then.”
His sigh scattered in a tangled way. Watching his future wife hold Rose tightly and check her face right before his eyes, he stroked his chin.
“I suppose we can only say that my wife has brought an absolutely enormous dowry.”

◇ ◆ ◇

Huff, huff!
Her legs gave out halfway through sprinting down the pitch-dark mountain path. Pain shot through her twisted ankle, but she couldn’t stop here. She forced her knees to keep moving, yet no matter how far she ran, the path never seemed to end. Gasping for breath, she shoved aside branches until she tasted blood at the back of her throat.
Heeeng!
The presence of the pursuing horse drew closer by the moment. Her heart clenched so tightly she pressed a hand to her chest, and before she knew it, the black horse reared up right behind her.
“Move! Get out of the way!”
“…Why would I?”
The owner of the voice leapt down from the black horse and slowly approached me. His footsteps, crunch-crunch, sounded strangely familiar. As he closed the last step between us, a silver blade glinted at his waist.
Ha, now he’s going to strike me down with that sword!
I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the end. A helplessness where I could do nothing, a wretched feeling, and yet a twisted hope that it would at least be painless, crossed through me. But… no matter how long I waited, I was still breathing.
What could it be? Carefully, I opened one eye, and instead of a sword, his body was pressed right against mine. His toned, bare body, having already tossed aside his clothes.
“W-are you crazy? What are you doing?!”
“That’s because…”
His night-black hair brushed against my nape and rose toward my ear.
“Because you were thinking this far.”

“Eeeek!”
I shot up from the bed and clutched the blanket to cover myself. What is this dream, I thought, though it was far too vivid, and I gasped for breath for a long while.
It was only when I spotted Rose’s hair, as she slept without a care in the world, that I clapped a hand over my mouth.
…I’ve lost it, I really have. Of all the dreams to have.
I wiped the cold sweat beaded on my forehead with the back of my hand. I’m not a teenager anymore, so why on earth am I having dreams like this in a place like this at my age? I wanted to bury my face in a pillow and bawl my eyes out.
…Right. It’s all because of that man.
I ground my teeth and conjured the cause of all this restlessness. Your Grace the Grand Duke, why would you go and say such things?
The way Kiers smirked was so infuriating I couldn’t stand it. He probably doesn’t even realize that one of his words led to this whole mess. Well, it’s not as if that man’s instincts appeared overnight, so that astonishing potential of his must still be alive and well. That’s why even in dreams he torments people like this…
Wait.
As I tried to recall the dream so I could curse him properly, I pushed the blanket off. The cool air cooled my heat a little, but a warm sensation still lingered at my nape and even inside my mouth. I fanned myself with one hand, flutter-flutter.
Bella Mayfield. Let’s be a little honest with ourselves. After all, it’s just me, and it’s my own heart.
Propping my chin on one hand, I narrowed my eyes slightly. In the dream, he had gazed at me like that, pressing his skin against mine, about to perform all those techniques… Did I really hate it?

4. It’s Not Bad

In that instant, a chill ran straight down my spine.
You’ve definitely lost your mind! Even if there are no men around, how can you… well, the Male Lead is actually pretty good at it, isn’t he.
To be honest, there’s only one reason to read an Adult Novel. A male lead who is unrivaled in every way, vigorous and powerful, appears and gives you hot, varied nights you never even knew existed.
Of course, there has to be a heartfelt romance at the base of it, but there are plenty of other stories that have nothing but “romance.”
…Yes. That’s right. I paid good money to read that, and the moment it turned out to be something that might happen to me, I panicked first. Of course my body is precious, so that’s only natural. But I’m not going to avoid men my whole life, and in the end I’ll be sleeping with someone anyway.
So if that’s the case, why not go all in? If he’s the strongest lover in this world? With his great stamina, if he’s a god in that department?
“…Well, it’s not bad.”
I murmured, my chin still propped up. Maybe this is just mental self-deception, accepting a situation I can’t escape, but so what? At the very least, he’s better than a man who clings to you wanting to do something he can’t even manage. No matter how much I flail and insist that this is not okay, the Male Lead has apparently made up his mind to do it.
And where am I? Right inside the novel. A place where the protagonist’s will is the law, the buff, and the truth all at once. On top of that, Kiers isn’t some self-made Male Lead crawling up from the mud of life; he has everything, a title, wealth, all of it. In this situation, what chance would I have if I ran away saying no?
I looked down at my scrawny body under the moonlight streaming in. If I run alone with my current stamina, I predict three minutes; if I run with Rose, one minute and twenty seconds.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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