Strategic Marriage with the Mad Villain - Chapter 80

I took a deep breath and spoke again.

“Reus… It’s not a deadly disease, it’s just a cold. It’s true that wasting that medicine was a problem. A cold can be cured just by taking regular medicine…”

“Let’s say it was used because of me, since I felt like I was going to die of frustration then.”

This man is trying to gloss over it again!

I looked at him with eyes that said I wouldn’t let it slide this time, and Reus reluctantly opened his mouth.

“At that time… Wasn’t it when I couldn’t use my power?”

“Even so, how could you use that on me?”

“Who else would I use it on if not you?”

I was even more dumbfounded by Reus’s answer, which sounded a bit incredulous.

‘No, who should be incredulous here!’

I couldn’t shake the strange feeling that the conversation was going in circles.

“And when you just took medicine, there was no improvement, was there?”

“Cold medicine isn’t a cure-all, it’s weirder to get better right away. If you had just taken medicine and waited a few days, you would have fully recovered.”

No matter how much I disliked spending money, I couldn’t understand using millions of won for a cold. Wouldn’t anyone think it’s too excessive?

‘I know I’m your benefactor, but…’

I don’t want to waste a medicine worth millions of won for a cold.

But Reus’s expression quickly turned displeased at my words. He soon let out a deep sigh and continued in a voice that seemed to say he couldn’t understand why I didn’t understand his feelings.

“Roelle. Didn’t you cough quite severely starting from the day after you got sick?”

“Well, that’s true…”

“You probably didn’t know because you were sleeping while sick, but I was really worried.”

“…”

I knew Reus cared about me, but it was the first time he had shown such sincere concern.

“So I wanted you to get better right away. But I couldn’t use my power, and no matter how much medicine you took, there was no improvement. It’s true that I hid it knowing you wouldn’t like it… But at that time, I couldn’t think of any other good solution.”

As Reus continued speaking, the frustration from that day was evident in his voice. Because of that, my intention to argue a bit naturally subsided.

‘When you make that kind of expression while talking, I can’t do anything…’

“When you took cold medicine, you just kept being sick, but didn’t you improve right away after drinking the Melsia?”

“…”

“So Roelle. Can’t you let this one go just this once…?”

I really didn’t know where to start pointing out what was wrong with this.

Then Reus subtly touched my hand with his fingertips. His long, firm fingers gradually moved up my hand and soon gently rubbed the back of my hand.

It felt like he was apologizing, and the words I was about to say automatically disappeared.

“Roelle, I did everything wrong.”

“B-but still…”

“Next time, I’ll definitely ask you first.”

It wasn’t that he did something wrong, just a bit excessive. But when he apologized like this, I wondered if it was right to just let it go…

My heart was too shaken, and I was conflicted for a long time about how to handle this.

But then, Reus pulled my hand a little towards him. He seemed to be fiddling with my hand, and soon he was pulling on my bracelet.

“Oh! Reus, you shouldn’t pull on that like that…!”

“…”

He stopped pulling when I urgently grabbed his hand, but he didn’t let go. He just kept fidgeting with the inside of my wrist with an extremely gloomy face.

Every time his fingers moved, the bracelet moved with them, and all the sensation was concentrated on my wrist. I swallowed quietly, feeling somehow tense.

“…Reus, what’s wrong?”

Reus, who had been staring at the bracelet for a long time, finally answered.

“I had a bracelet I wanted to give you as a gift.”

“A bracelet…?”

“The bracelet we saw in the festival street.”

In the festival street…

‘What bracelet… Ah, could he be talking about the bracelet I thought looked like Reus’s eyes?’

At that time, I didn’t bring money, so I was too embarrassed to ask him to pay for that too.

The bracelet itself probably wasn’t that expensive, but with the array of stimulating foods, I felt embarrassed about asking to buy this and that for everything I saw, so I couldn’t ask for anything else after that.

But hearing that he secretly bought the bracelet I had been looking at intently, I was a bit touched.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s not the first gift. Really…”

“It’s not the first?”

“Huh…?”

“Don’t tell me, who gave you this bracelet as a gift?”

It wasn’t exactly a gift…?

Theron didn’t say it was a gift, just that I should keep it safe. But I had no other way to express it, so I just nodded affirmatively.

But as soon as I did, Reus stiffened.

“What kind of… who…”

“A-actually, rather than a gift…! Theron gave it to me for protection.”

“…”

I quickly added words because the reaction was a bit strange, but his face darkened even more. This time, he looked a bit angry.

‘Why is he acting like that? Did he want to give me the bracelet that badly?’

In fact, if he had bought it at the festival, he had plenty of opportunities to give it to me. I didn’t quite understand why he hadn’t said anything during that time, but I couldn’t cancel the fact that I had already received a bracelet from Theron first…

After pondering for a moment, I said to Reus.

“Then… Since it’s come to this, shall we exchange gifts?”

At those words, Reus, who had been staring at my wrist, finally raised his head.

I leaned over slightly and pulled the shopping bag that was next to the sofa. Reus had a rare, slightly dazed expression, as if he hadn’t expected me to have bought a gift for him at all.

But as soon as he saw my shopping bag, he frowned sharply.

This time, rather than looking complicated, he looked a bit… dumbfounded.

“The money I gave you to buy what you want… No. The money I gave you wouldn’t have been enough to buy this watch.”

“Well… Last time, just in case, I asked Theron. To put some of it in my name so I could use the money anytime-”

“Are you planning to leave for Beliata?”

“No…?”

I was always so flustered when the Beliata topic came up at such unexpected times.

I don’t know why he brought up Beliata again, but I had moved some of the money that had been accumulating in my fake identity to an account in my current name just in case Feria might visit the Grand Duke’s castle again.

Reus said it was his fault, but honestly, I think once we’re on the same boat, it can’t be just one person’s fault.

And since I was the one who knew Feria’s personality best, it was something I could do voluntarily to visit occasionally and write letters to avoid suspicion.

‘Fortunately, it seems he hasn’t noticed it’s our doing yet.’

Anyway, due to my careless behavior, an unfortunate incident occurred where Reus personally helped Ibel.

He said it was his fault and not to worry about it, but no matter how I thought about it, it was too uncomfortable.

‘Knowing how much he hates Ibel, how could I just let it go…’

Since all the money I have came from the Ibel family anyway, I thought it was right to resolve such issues with the money in my fake identity if they happen in the future, so I asked Theron.

Reus’s furrowed expression still showed no sign of smoothing out. He also seemed to think I had just brushed off the question about Beliata.

“You know my mother visited last time. I thought she might demand something again somehow…”

Reus nodded with a sour face, as if his curiosity had been satisfied. Then he looked at the shopping bag and asked me again.

“Did you know how much this watch costs when you bought it?”

“Um…”

From my reaction, Reus seemed to realize that I did know the price when I bought it.

“Roelle.”

“Yes…?”

The expression he was looking at me with seemed to change slightly, and Reus suddenly burst into laughter.

“Is this really a gift for me?”

“Ah, yes…! That’s right. It’s a gift for Reus.”

I couldn’t understand why he was laughing like that, but I answered anyway. Then Reus took the shopping bag and opened the box.

I watched nervously for a moment, worried that he might reject it, and quickly took out the watch and wrapped it around Reus’s wrist. I felt a bit of cold sweat thinking about the price, but fortunately, I managed to fasten the watch buckle without any mistakes.

Reus, who had been silently staring at his wrist, met my eyes.

“You really… You’re good at causing trouble quietly.”

“…There was a bit of a story behind it.”

If that woman hadn’t acted like that, I would have bought something else after hearing the price!

Honestly, I admit that 360 million won is expensive.

‘It could be ridiculous.’

After making such a fuss over a 10 million won bag, I bought a 300 million won watch… Even I think it’s a bit absurd.

But then Reus calmly said,

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

“Really…?”

“Yes. No matter what you do, I have no intention of saying anything about it.”

Fortunately, Reus didn’t make a fuss like I did when I received the bag. Instead, he smiled very satisfactorily.

“I’ll keep the price in mind.”

“Pardon…?”

“Since you gave me such a gift, I thought you’d be okay with receiving something of this level too, right?”

“…”

“It’s a bit surprising that tens of millions won’t do but hundreds of millions are okay… Well, is it a problem? Now that I know that’s your standard, it’s fine.”

This is not it.

“I, I, I really didn’t know the price when I bought it, and only realized after…”

At my words, Reus just smiled as if that didn’t matter at all either.

“I’ll cherish the gift you gave me for the rest of my life. But, Roelle.”

“…Y-yes?”

What else is there? As I looked up with anxious eyes, Reus smiled brightly.

“I thought you had bought the bracelet, but if you received it as a gift, doesn’t that mean you didn’t use the money I gave you after all?”

“…”

Why did I only think of this now?

‘Tw…ice.’

I sincerely felt like crying.