Strategic Marriage with the Mad Villain - Chapter 79

Everyone except Theron couldn’t stop laughing for quite a while. But soon, Roel slowly stopped laughing.

‘…300 million?’

The price that the employee had mentioned earlier suddenly came to mind.

While Roel was frozen in shock at the price, Theron casually said:

“Hey, master. Pay up.”

With those words, an atmosphere naturally formed where payment had to be made no matter what.

Roel was bewildered by both the price of the watch and this atmosphere. Originally, even before that woman barged in, she hadn’t expressed any intention to purchase it yet.

She had merely asked about the price.

‘A 300 million won watch… me?’

Theron seemed to understand what the slightly dazed Roel was thinking.

‘I thought she had no intention of spending that much money. But this is exactly when you’re supposed to use it, isn’t it? Geez…’

The person managing the money flowing out of the Ibel family was none other than Theron himself.

Which meant he knew better than anyone that even if 360 million was spent here, there wouldn’t be much change in the amount in Roel’s bank account.

“I’ll help you with the payment, customer.”

“Ah, yes…”

Roel took out her checkbook and handed it over uncertainly, wondering if this was really okay, but neither Millie nor Theron seemed inclined to stop her.

‘Really? Is this really okay?’

Come to think of it, everything Reus used cost tens of millions, so 360 million won was actually quite fitting for a gift. Roel certainly had the means to spend that much money on a gift.

After all, Reus was the one who had enabled her to have this money in the first place, and even without that, there were countless days she wanted to express her gratitude and repay him somehow, as he was someone she secretly held dear in her heart.

But apart from all that, Roel couldn’t shake the feeling that she was somehow making a big mistake.

It was natural to be even more frightened when spending tens of times more money than the few million won that already made her heart drop.

But soon, a gift-wrapped 360 million won watch was placed in Roel’s hand.

‘A whole house is now in my hand…’

While Roel was half-dazed from the biggest purchase she had made in her life, Millie and Theron were conversing.

“But I’ve never seen someone like Sir at the Grand Duke’s mansion…”

Millie muttered that with such looks, there would be no one in the Grand Duke’s castle who wouldn’t know him.

“…It’s right that you don’t know me since I was sent from Leveren…”

“Ah…! I see. When you said escort, I naturally thought you were a knight from the Grand Duke’s family. I’m sorry…!”

Theron was skilled at improvisation. Millie, who fell for it completely, continued naturally:

“Then will you be escorting Her Highness until she returns to Asilid from the Kingdom of Leveren?”

“That’s right… yes.”

“What should I call you from now on?”

“As I said earlier, just call me Ron… please.”

“Yes, Sir Ron. But your way of speaking is quite unique.”

Talking about such trivial matters, they soon arrived at the area used by the Rocheter Grand Duke’s people, passing through the VIP lounge.

Millie disappeared quickly, saying she would tidy up the room, leaving only Theron and Roel in the small lobby. Roel, who had now regained her senses a bit, spoke with a more composed face than before.

“But Theron, why are you really here?”

“It’s complicated to explain… Just know that your husband hired me.”

“Hired?”

“Yeah. To escort you during the trip and, well… keep an eye on things too. Just understand the gist of it.”

This was the first time in his life that Reus had asked Theron for something first.

The emperor was such an unpredictable person, and he showed such creepy persistence when he set his mind to something, that the Grand Duke’s knights alone weren’t enough to put his mind at ease.

But he always had an implicit belief that Theron could definitely save Roel in any situation.

If he had seen Theron watching until the very end as some woman picked a fight with Roel throughout the shopping time, he might have slightly revised his assessment downward.

But originally, if it had been Theron, he would have not only balked at the request to protect Roel but even gotten angry and refused.

However, knowing that it was thanks to Roel that the Grand Duke’s family had regained its power, it was difficult to harbor hostility as before.

Beyond completely letting down his guard and not doubting, he even felt a bit apologetic.

‘I did overreact in being so wary of an innocent woman. What was I so cautious about against such a soft woman?’

While subconsciously feeling that Roel was another victim, he had unknowingly maintained a defensive attitude for fear of messing things up.

But Roel Ibel… no, Roel, far from ruining things, had essentially done what he thought was impossible on his behalf.

‘She’s not just a benefactor to Reus, but practically my benefactor too.’

At that moment, Theron, who had been staring intently at Roel, suddenly held out his hand.

“Give me your hand for a moment.”

Roel, though puzzled, obediently stretched out her arm. Then a silver bracelet with blue magic stones embedded in it was fastened around her thin wrist.

“It’s nothing special, just for protection. If it seems like something dangerous is happening, just break it off.”

Though he was saying that, Theron wasn’t quite sure if Roel would actually be able to break that bracelet.

“But why are you giving this to me…?”

“You already know from your intuition. That Reus and I have the same goal. I can’t explain in detail, but… him regaining the family’s power is a good thing for me too.”

“Ah…”

In fact, Roel was learning for the first time now about regaining the family’s power.

That day, Reus had been unable to stop crying, so she had fallen asleep comforting him, and afterwards, she deliberately didn’t bring up the topic.

‘I guess the story about his father was related to the family’s power too.’

Roel nodded as if she understood roughly.

“Thank you… I’ll cherish it well, Theron.”

“Well, there’s no need to cherish it that much… Right, it’s better not to use it. Do as you like.”

For something meant for protection, the bracelet was quite pretty in appearance.

As Roel was admiring the bracelet that looked like blue starlight was attached to it, she suddenly seemed to remember something and her eyes widened.

“Ah. Theron, I’m curious about something, can I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“Do you also know what kind of things come into the Grand Duke’s castle, where they come from…?”

“Probably most of them.”

“Then do you roughly know what kinds of medicinal ingredients there are…?”

“Medicinal ingredients…”

Theron, who had been questioning, narrowed his eyes as if he roughly understood what she was trying to ask.

“Are you curious about what medicine you took when you were sick?”

“Ah, yes! Do you know?”

It was about the herb that she hadn’t been able to find out about last time because Reus had so blatantly avoided the topic.

After fully recovering, Roel had subtly asked Dwin, but failed miserably in finding out the identity of the medicine.

It was an expected result.

Reus had silenced the people of the Grand Duke’s castle so thoroughly. He had been especially cautious with his own aide, so there was nothing more Dwin could do in response to Roel’s question except look dejected.

‘I just asked casually because it suddenly came to mind, but the reaction was too strange.’

While she was looking suspicious, Theron said:

“I don’t remember well because we bought so much… But what you’re asking about is probably Melsia root.”

Melsia? Roel tilted her head at the name that somehow sounded familiar.

‘Where did I hear about Melsia?’

Was it from Roshan, or Emily…?

After pondering for a moment, she soon recalled hearing it from Roshan.

[“Did you hear? You know Jayden from the Hereis family. He went home with Hazel to get married but was turned away at the door. But I heard he finally got permission recently. They say he gave Melsia root as a gift?”

“Melsia? What is that, to get marriage permission with just that one thing?”

“It’s a flower that grows in the Kingdom of Leveren, but it’s so rare that they might find one in a year if they’re lucky. I don’t know if it really has an effect or if it’s just because of its rarity, but anyway… it’s incredibly expensive. It’s probably worth more than a small mansion?”]

Roel asked Theron again, hoping she had misheard:

“Melsia root… no way, right?”

“What did you hear. I said it’s Melsia root. But he didn’t explain that to you while feeding it to you?”

That’s what I’m saying.

Roel didn’t know whether to laugh or cry now.

* * *

He had so blatantly avoided the question, so I thought it was some creepy ingredient, or food that people don’t usually eat.

I asked because I was confident that Reus wouldn’t feed me anything bad, even if it was something like that…

There was a reason why Dwin kept trying to gloss over it when he heard my question.

I… without knowing anything, I gulped it down so well, something several times more expensive than a bag. ‘I see…’

I had momentarily forgotten that Reus was not a predictable person.

Just then, the door to the room opened gently.

“Why are you like that over there, Roel.”

Reus paused as he was about to enter the bedroom, then soon turned his gaze to me, who was hugging my knees on the sofa.

“Let’s talk for a moment, Reus.”

Though he looked a bit puzzled, Reus sat down next to me without a word. It didn’t seem necessary to beat around the bush, so I got straight to the point.

“By any chance, what I ate when I had a cold… was it Melsia root?”

“…”

When I mentioned the exact name, it seems he couldn’t say it wasn’t. Reus just looked at me silently for a moment, like someone who had been hit right on the mark.

‘It really was… He fed me something worth tens of millions of won just because of a mere cold…’

I had so much to say that I opened and closed my mouth a few times before I could finally continue speaking.

“That, such a precious thing…! How could you use it for just a cold!”

But hearing my words, Reus quickly relaxed his expression as if that wasn’t the problem.

“Is it important that it was a cold? What’s important is that you were sick.”

Reus’s words, which seemed not to understand my reaction, left me speechless.