A Wife's Heart, a Husband's Unyielding Will
At those words, Irene turned her head to look at him in surprise.
“Why are you saying that?”
When Irene gazed back at him, Michael turned to face her as if questioning whether something was wrong.
The idea of cutting off his hand so he could not participate in the auction seemed an outrageous statement, one he would never have uttered.
In this life or the previous one, Michael was the holy knight whom everyone admired. His reputation was not merely because he was strong.
He truly seemed like someone who had received divine guidance, a person who was entirely correct in every way.
He never committed any wrongdoing, and no matter how difficult or painful the circumstances, he never uttered a single harsh word.
The same applied to how he treated people.
He had never spoken ill of anyone or harbored dislike for them. Even toward those who loudly denounced the temple and disregarded him, he always maintained his politeness.
The only person he had ever avoided was his Pair, Irene.
It was the first time such a passionate hatred had surfaced from him toward someone so directly.
“No, I just… you seem very angry…”
She could not ask why he was speaking so out of character.
She had not spent that much time with him in this life yet, so she could not act as if she knew him well.
“Is that not natural?”
He stood up from his seat.
Among the people who had entered the same booth, he sat too far away.
Michael placed his hand on the railing right beside Irene and looked down.
The look of contempt in his eyes was directed at the man being celebrated around him.
Leaning close to Irene, he whispered in a low voice, “Is it not natural that you feel unpleasant when someone who acted so carelessly toward you takes the reward you have earned?”
He continued whispering.
“Moreover, the way you spoke as if such humiliation was something you were used to made my stomach turn even more.”
At his words, Irene’s throat tightened with a surge of emotion.
In the previous life, no matter how many times insults and humiliations were hurled at her, he never said anything like this.
Her Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.
Long ago, whenever Irene saw other affectionate Pairs and returned alone to their narrow room to sleep, she would imagine how Michael treated her with such kindness.
During those moments, she could forget reality for a while and feel happy.
But when the imagination ended, even more self-recrimination and bitterness would flood over her. Still, the only time she could smile during those lonely and difficult days was then.
The imagination of curling up on a hard bed in a narrow room was not grand at all.
Michael getting angry at those who threw dirty remarks at her.
While doing so, asking if she was all right.
Even in her imagination, Irene had never dared to wish for more than that.
“From now on, do not endure such humiliation.”
And now, in reality instead of imagination, Michael was saying exactly the words she had longed for.
So Irene had to doubt everything for a moment.
Could this not be a hallucination she was seeing as she was dying? Otherwise, how could everything be going so smoothly?
Irene no longer stayed in the cold and narrow room.
Instead, she was in a bright, spacious room filled with sunlight.
She no longer saved money by buying the hardest and worst bread to eat for days, dividing it up. Instead, she always tasted fresh and delicious food.
The days when she could not speak a single word all day long were long gone. Days passed without even finishing one, but every day was busy with friends visiting her and people wanting to see her.
In front of the princess Cecilia, who had always made her lower her head, she now turned her back without any hesitation.
This was all a day she had imagined before falling asleep.
And most of all…
“If you wish to punish them, tell me anytime. I will ensure that those who humiliated you cannot move that rebellious tongue again.”
Seeing Michael thinking of her like this, Irene felt a sudden jolt of fear.
It was strange.
Could everything truly be unfolding exactly as she desired?
It felt as if this life was moving only for her.
“So do not endure it alone. I am your…”
Michael slowly lowered his waist. His face approached Irene’s, who was gripping the railing.
His breath brushed against her nape and skimmed the fine hairs that had risen there.
At the moment when his lips, which appeared unnecessarily red and soft beneath his knightly armor, were about to touch her neck,
clap clap clap!
“Thank you! Then, after a short break, we will proceed with the second auction!”
Accompanied by vigorous applause, the auctioneer’s energetic voice rang out.
At those words, Irene snapped back to her senses. At the same time, she realized how close she and Michael had become.
In that instant, she quickly pulled her body back.
“W-well, um… I’ll be right back after using the restroom!”
Stammering, she turned and fled from her seat.
Watching her hurried back as she slammed the door shut with a bang, Michael removed his hand from the railing.
The gentle smile he had been wearing while looking at Irene moments ago had completely vanished from his face.
Instead, muttering with a hint of disappointment, he said, “I never imagined she would be this cautious even now.”
He placed his hand on the railing she had been gripping moments ago. As if tracing the warmth still lingering there, his fingers lingered for quite a while.
Realizing that no trace of her body heat remained, he returned to the sofa and recalled the day she had performed purification there.
She had repeatedly begged him to let go, saying it was painful, but he had pretended not to hear and continued holding on.
How could he ever let go?
Even though the place where they touched was hot enough to melt, and he did not know what emotions he was holding her with, he deliberately parted her fingers.
Each time her soft skin was rubbed by the ridges of his thick fingers, Irene’s body trembled as if struck by lightning.
She had seen her legs trying desperately to close and she could not understand how he had endured it even now.
With any other Pair, the sight would have triggered an immediate frenzy of desire and he would have found a way to quench the madness.
But he had to endure it. There was still more time needed before she would fully accept him.
Perhaps she would push him away again. Just like moments ago.
He recalled her snowy, slender neck as he had gazed at it.
Imagining the way the fine hairs had stood up with just one breath, his lower body grew heavy.
He looked down. Beneath his formal attire, his head rose on its own, revealing part of his body.
A low chuckle escaped Michael’s lips.
Who would imagine that the most noble holy knight in the world would be imagining his Pair while becoming erect in such a place?
If he had imagined another woman and ended up in this state, he would have been pointed at as a lecher. But the one he had imagined was Irene.
His Pair. Even though it was temporary, she was legally acknowledged as his wife.
“My wife.”
He murmured with a sweet and gentle voice that sounded like swallowing honey, “I am your husband.”
A husband yearning for his wife was not a crime.
Looking at his own lower body, he sighed.
He did not know when the woman who had left would return, but he would likely need quite some time to calm himself. If so, would he have to force it?
Just like every night since arriving at the fortress.
At that moment, a man’s voice came from below. It was the repulsive voice of the man who had been scanning Irene with his eyes and swallowing saliva.
He was urging the auction staff to explain the acquisition procedure, saying he wanted the artifact right away.
Even though he was far away, Michael could hear every word he was saying.
When he would pay, and where he was staying now.
“…”
Michael recalled how Irene had accepted the humiliation without caring in the slightest.
His hands, clenched tightly, had bulging veins, and his finger joints were creaking with effort.
“Irene.”
Michael spat out his wife’s name and picked up his formal attire.
Then, walking down the corridor, he murmured softly, “From now on, everything will move for you.”