Chapter 21
“Mm..D,d,duke…?”
She mustered up her courage and blurted it out.
Meanwhile, Alphonse watched her face turning red and blue with interest.
‘As expected, your expression has become much richer.’
He absentmindedly placed a finger on Chloe’s cheek. The moment his finger touched Chloe’s cheek, her eyes closed tightly.
Alphonse’s fingers slid down her round cheek, drawing a curve. His fingers touched Chloe’s lips making Chloe’s tense body tremble as something touched the thin, sensitive area.
‘Isn’t it difficult to respond to each and every one?’
Alphonse found it fascinating how Chloe responded to every movement of his fingers.
In that sense, this reaction was also different from the past. When he touched, kissed, and hugged his wife, Chloe’s reaction was always the same.
She was frozen in fear and couldn’t show any reaction. That was all.
Holding her, frozen like a block of wood with a frightened face, was more like holding a corpse than a woman.
Anyway, even that was better than a relationship that was obligatory and only one side was obsessed with the other for the sake of enjoyment.
That was what Alphonse thought.
He then touched Chloe’s soft lips a little more and felt a truly unfamiliar feeling.
He found her blushing and flinching at the touch of his hand quite cute.
He brought his face a little closer to Chloe’s.
Chloe was clearly nervous.
‘It’s coming…!’
Even though her eyes were tightly shut, she could tell something was happening by the sound. She waited with her head still frozen.
…But what was to come did not come. Chloe opened her eyes cautiously and impatiently.
Alphonse was still looking down at herself with an expressionless face, while touching her hair.
Her long, dark brown hair with curls.
Alphonse felt a strong impulse at that moment. Then he did something he normally wouldn’t do. He wrapped Chloe’s hair around his fingers and kissed it while looking into her eyes.
Chloe saw her hair wrapped around Alphonse’s long fingers, then he kissed her hair too.
For a moment, her heart sank. And her already hot face grew even hotter.
At that moment…
The bedroom door opened and one of Chloe’s personal maids came in through the gap.
“Madam, excuse me… Oh my gosh!”
The maid was startled. It was obvious that she had misunderstood something, seeing Chloe lying on the bed and Alphonse on top of her.
The maid seemed to think that she might lose her head at any moment for interfering with the hot private life of the duke and duchess as she immediately bowed her head and apologized.
“I’m sorry! I knocked on the door but there was no answer so I thought you were out…I’m so sorry!”
The maid folded her waist like a flip phone and walked backwards out of the room, then closed the door.
There was a moment of silence. Chloe, who had barely come to her senses, said as she carefully pushed Alphonse away.
“Oh, Your Grace. Please let go.”
Alphonse got off her as soon as she said that, as if he had no intention of forcing her to do anything. In fact, he had already achieved his original goal.
Chloe was finally able to catch her breath. She sat up. Alphonse looked back at the wall clock and said.
“It’s dinner time. I think it would be best to go down now. Would you like to come with me?”
“Um, no. I need to fix my clothes and makeup. Please go down first, I’ll follow you soon.”
Chloe wasn’t looking back at Alphonse, but she could feel his gaze. Was he checking her clothes and makeup?
Alphonse looked at Chloe for quite some time and then said briefly.
“If you say so.”
Alphonse gave a brief bow and left Chloe’s bedroom first. When she heard the door close, Chloe let out a sigh she had been holding back.
“Phew. Seriously, why are you doing this?”
Chloe pressed the pad of her hand against the area of her chest where her heart was. But instead of calming down, her heart continued to beat violently.
Eventually, she decided to stay in her room until her heart recovered. Otherwise she feared that the other people would hear it beating.
Chloe thought about what Alphonse had done earlier. Why had it felt so electric when he had looked into her eyes and kissed her hair?
Chloe shook her head sharply, recalling Alphonse’s expressionless face and his piercing red eyes at that time.
‘Why on earth did he do that?’
Chloe thought it was a very strange thing to suddenly lay someone down and kiss their hair. If he had been a wild and passionate person, it would have been easier to understand, but he was a person whose heart was like lead.
Having inherited all of Chloe’s memories, she remembered clearly what kind of person Alphonse was. The man who tried to avoid contact with his wife, Chloe, except for the minimum necessary contact between a couple. The man who, even when they did come into contact, did not hide the fact that it was an act of duty, like a robot that followed orders.
Yes, that person had been living with Chloe for 13 months. Chloe had no idea why he was suddenly acting this way today.
Her heart was still pounding. Chloe, who had been pondering the above questions for a moment, expressed her conclusion by blurting it out,
“Weirdo.”
***
“You’re running a business? With your wife?!”
Alphonse’s gaze sharpened as he looked at the terrified Kiel.
“Is there any reason why not?”
“Oh, no…”
Kiel immediately lowered his head. But that didn’t mean he was completely convinced.
It was surprising that Alphonse, of all people, was doing business with women. Basically, women were not properly educated to become businessmen. Therefore, in the empire, women doing business was limited to helping their husbands or other male family members in their business, or to very few occupations such as dress designers.
And that partner wasn’t just another woman, it was Chloe! Kiel still remembered the incident where Chloe almost caused a huge loss to the dukedom.
Of course, Kiel trusted his master’s keen eye for people. However, he couldn’t help but feel worried.
It was true that she had recently hosted a successful tea party. But hosting a tea party and running a business were two completely different things. Kiel had no doubts about Chloe’s ability to host a tea party, but he wasn’t sure if she was a good businesswoman.
While Kiel was thinking like that, Alphonse took out a bundle of documents from a drawer. He said as he handed them over to Kiel.
“Read and organize these files. Then, investigate and report on the commercial and real estate properties in Benjamin Street, Eliza Street, Picadilly Street, and Ayrshire Street, and write to all the people on the last page of the document.”
It seemed to be a document about the business Alphonse had just mentioned. Kiel took it, feeling that he would soon be bombed with work.
“I will do as you command.”
Returning to his room and looking through the documents Alphonse had given him, Kiel was startled without realizing it.
‘Are these Madam’s…?’
The document contained everything Alphonse and Chloe had ever done and concretized. Their opinions, their thoughts, their knowledge, all of it.
Kiel’s eyes widened in disbelief as he read Chloe’s proposal.
‘How on earth does Madam know something like this…?!’
