Strategic Marriage with the Mad Villain - Chapter 81

It had been a while since I woke up, but I still hadn’t gotten out of bed.

Today was the day I had to settle the “double” I had promised Reus.

‘Why did I make such a promise…’

I should have said no until the end.

For four days since boarding the cruise, I was able to avoid shopping by using the travel schedule as an excuse, but today there was nothing that could be called a schedule except for the masquerade ball in the evening.

In other words, there was more than enough time to spend twice the amount of money in my suitcase after leisurely eating lunch and walking around the shopping center.

I was seriously pondering what excuse to use to avoid it today.

‘I definitely didn’t intend to accept that money, but how did it end up like this?’

At first, I’m pretty sure I clearly said no. But when I came to my senses, I was already nodding to Reus’s words.

While I was trying to figure out where exactly I got caught up in this, I heard the sound of blankets rustling behind me.

‘Pretend to be asleep. Pretend to be asleep no matter what.’

Fortunately, I was already facing away from Reus when I woke up, so there wasn’t much else to do. So I relaxed my body to look completely limp and focused on not furrowing my brow.

‘If I keep sleeping, he might leave me alone all day without waking me up.’

Maybe seeing how tired I looked, he might even suggest I rest in the room today. Isn’t Reus the type of man who overreacts even to a simple cold?

As I was lying there with my eyes closed for a while, suddenly something touched my cheek without warning. Then it began to gently rub up and down. From the firm curve I felt, it seemed to be Reus’s finger.

Was it because the movement was so careful? Every time Reus’s hand brushed over my cheek, it felt like a thin cloth was softly grazing my heart again.

For some reason, it became harder to keep my hands still each time. I was so thankful that my hands were well hidden under the blanket.

Reus, who had been gently moving his hand while waiting for my reaction, finally called my name.

“Roel.”

As his voice without inflection flowed into my ears, the feeling that had been stirring inside me became a little clearer.

Another crisis came, but I lay still without moving. Then Reus muttered in a low voice, wondering if I was very tired.

Just as I was starting to feel relieved that this method might actually work.

The fingers pressing softly on my cheek slowly traced upwards in a gentle line until they reached my earlobe.

I wondered what he was trying to do, but soon Reus tidied my messy hair and tucked it behind my ear. Then a tender touch followed along the curve of my ear.

Because it was much softer than Reus’s usual touch, I almost curled up from the ticklishness. I barely managed to endure it and kept repeating affirmations to myself.

‘It’s not ticklish. It doesn’t bother me at all. It’s not ticklish at all.’

But because I was so focused on the mental affirmations, I didn’t notice the tension gradually building between my brows. Unaware of this, I was enduring the ticklishness when suddenly a warm energy flowed into my body.

It seemed Reus had used his ability to help me sleep deeply.

Feeling that, I lay still and my clear mind quickly became hazy. Just as the tension was leaving my limp body and I was about to become drowsy, that’s when it happened.

Reus’s voice, still a bit husky, quietly came from behind me.

“I guess spending money today is too much as well.”

I thought my acting had worked for once. But the next words made me realize I had been completely mistaken.

“I wonder how you’re planning to spend it if I give you twice as much.”

My body, which had been limp just moments ago, naturally tensed up and my eyes flew open.

Even though I hadn’t moved much, Reus seemed to realize I was fully awake and gently turned me over.

I thought he would give his usual light morning greeting, but the unexpected words that came out made me even more flustered.

“Pretending to be asleep.”

“…”

“I think that’s enough of that.”

I thought I had fooled him completely, but it turned out I was the one who had been fooled. I slowly raised my eyes, tinged with betrayal.

“Since when…”

“Since you decided to try and deceive me.”

“…”

“I was going to pretend to be fooled until the end if you had really fallen asleep, so why did you wake up?”

Says the person who so blatantly said that for me to hear.

‘…How shameless.’

I deeply resented Reus’s calm face and tone, but before I could even attempt to argue, my face suddenly flushed red.

To hide my increasingly reddening face, I hurriedly pulled the blanket up over my head.

‘Fooled again…’

I don’t know how he managed to hide such overflowing mischievousness until now. Is it just my imagination that he seems to have gotten even more mischievous lately?

‘And I keep falling for it every time…’

Ah, is that why he keeps teasing me?

Just as I had this small realization, I heard rustling sounds from the blanket. Trying to avoid Reus who kept fidgeting as if trying to pull it down, I tightly hugged the blanket to make sure my face couldn’t be seen.

Then a slightly amused voice fell from above my head.

“Roel, are you angry?”

“…No.”

“I’m sorry. It was just too obvious that you didn’t want to keep the promise.”

I flinched reflexively at those words. Since it was true that I had tried to break the promise, I wasn’t really in a position to say anything. But for some reason, I didn’t want to just let it go, so I added timidly.

“Don’t make it so I have nothing to say…”

“Alright, Roel. I’ll stop, so let’s put down the blanket now. If you keep doing that, your face will only get hotter.”

However, contrary to his words, there was still undisguised amusement in his voice, which made me bristle without realizing it.

“Why do you keep laughing… Your voice doesn’t sound at all like someone who’s sorry.”

At my feeble complaint, Reus burst out laughing a bit louder.

“I’m sorry for that too.”

Because it was vexing that he couldn’t stop laughing, I kept hugging the blanket tightly for a while, not wanting to lower it.

* * *

After eating a light lunch, we went down to the shopping center. However, this time I came alone with Reus instead of Milly.

Don’t most men usually dislike this sort of thing? As I was briefly puzzled, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘Could it be he came to keep an eye on me?’

As I glanced at him suspiciously, Reus uncannily noticed my gaze and met my eyes.

“I came with pure intentions, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t doubt me too much.”

In the past, I would have nodded right away, but lately Reus’s words, which seemed to tease me at every opportunity, weren’t very trustworthy.

“Anyway, if you don’t end up spending all the money today, it’s already promised that you’ll receive twice as much−”

“I-I’ll spend it! I’ll really spend it today…”

Just as I thought. He wasn’t so relaxed for no reason.

Since I was the one who got caught up in the plan and easily made the promise, I couldn’t blame anyone else. Half-resigned, I quietly took Reus’s outstretched hand.

After looking around the shopping center a bit, we entered a store. It was to buy a dress suitable for the ball since there wasn’t one among the luggage I brought, and coincidentally, it was the same store where I had a run-in with that strange woman on the first day of boarding.

I’m sure there were quite a few clothes I liked back then, but today, even though that strange woman wasn’t here, I couldn’t focus on shopping at all.

‘Everything looks similar.’

Perhaps it was because I didn’t particularly like attending balls, so I wasn’t interested in ball gowns specifically.

Is it natural since I always attended reluctantly due to Feria’s insistence?

But since I had never been to a masquerade ball before, I was a little curious about the ball that would be held tonight.

There would be no one staring at me and gossiping behind my back, no one mocking and giving me looks as if I should hear them, so wouldn’t it be okay? Of course, I had such thoughts.

‘But why is Reus so quiet?’

Quite some time had passed since entering the store without him saying a word, so I thought he must be bored.

But when I turned around to look, Reus was staring intently at a snow-white dress.

“Reus, what’s wrong?”

“Ah, I was reminded of when we got married.”

I was a bit surprised by the mention of something that happened quite a while ago.

That’s because at that time, I was just a descendant of the hated Count Ibelle to Reus.

It was a day when I entered the wedding hall with someone I hated to death for future plans, and even had unwanted physical contact, so I thought it might remain an somewhat uncomfortable memory.

But Reus looked not just unbothered, but rather comfortable, as if recalling one of his good memories. And the words that followed left me completely speechless.

“I think it would suit you very well, like the dress you wore at our wedding.”

Even knowing he didn’t mean anything by it, my heart fluttered for a moment.

‘Why is my face heating up again?’

In an attempt to hide my condition, I hurriedly turned around and ended up picking up the dress Reus had mentioned. But it was heavier than it looked, and my hand holding the hanger drooped down.

Thanks to that, I was able to immediately discover the price of the dress hidden inside the garment…

‘…50 million won?’

Surprised by the price, I didn’t notice that my hand was dropping lower and lower. Noticing this, Reus supported my hand and took the hanger.

“I’ll hold it for you.”

“Ah, no. I−”

“This dress is too heavy for you to hold.”

“That’s not it…! I just feel like a dress other than white might be better.”

Since it was a dress I had been quietly liking, I thought he would tell me to try it on before deciding. But contrary to my expectation, Reus silently hung the dress back in its original place without saying anything.