When A Villain Meets A Villain - Chapter 69

“Are you out of your mind?”

As Atalante checked what she was wearing through the mirror, she couldn’t erase her startled expression.

“Are you calling this… a dress…?”

However, Atalante was the only one that was bewildered, and the maids just shrugged like they were wondering what was the problem.

“It’s really beautiful, but… Is there anything that’s uncomfortable?”

“Whether it’s uncomfortable isn’t the problem! This is too, too…”

It’s too racy!

Unable to voice that aloud, Atalante eventually averted her gaze from her reflection in the mirror.

At this moment, perhaps because they understood Atalante’s thoughts, they looked at the girl, who had officially become the grand duchess, with insidious smiles.

“Hey, don’t be shy. What’s the matter when you’re a married couple?”

“There was a period of time when my husband and I were as shy as Your Highness was, and I miss those times.”

“With all due respect, I hope that the first young master we’ll meet is a grand princess. It’s my dream to serve a little girl.”

If you know that you’re being disrespectful, don’t say it!

Atalante swallowed down the words that were rising up her throat, pointed towards somewhere near her still-burning cheek.

“This is but a matter of course in the Grand Duchy… That’s what it means, right?”

Even if we’re married, it’s a little too much to wear something like this.

Unlike the cold weather, the people of the Grand Duchy are rather passionate… That seemed to be the case.

The maids’ gazes secretly met upon hearing Atalante’s question, before disappearing in an instant.

At the same time, they answered in unison with bright smiles.

“Of course!”

Since she’s in the Grand Duchy, she ought to obey the Grand Duchy’s laws.

Atalante held in a heavy sigh, walked towards the door with a deflated look, as though she was being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

Following behind her were two maids with a large cloth, and they guided her to the bedroom.

“All the best, Your Highness! Make it so that His Highness won’t stand a chance!”

“You should just cut it into half! Please vent our accumulated anger on our behalf.”

The rest of the maids saw Atalante off with a strange chant. Had she mistaken herself as a soldier on the battlefield, and not a newly-wed bride?

Although there was quite a distance between the room Atalante was adorned in and the bedroom, it felt like she had arrived very quickly for some reason.

The maids used the cloth to cover Atalante, walked alongside her and left after a deep bow once they reached the door.

“All the best, Your Highness.”

They also left an unexplained slogan, making her confused about what they were cheering her on for.

After Atalante swallowed dryly, she raised a clenched fist in preparation to knock.

‘No, why would I need to get permission to enter.’

Atalante immediately changed her mind and pushed the large bedroom door open instead of knocking on the door.

There was no need for her to cower at all, because she was going to live here as the grand duchess, at least until the antidote was complete.

“Atalante.”

As soon as she opened the door, she saw a shining man inside the spacious room.

He was sitting at the end of the open window, and for some reason, her stomach felt even stranger than if he was on the bed.

‘There was a full moon today?’

Upon spotting a blue and white full moon behind Lionel that matched artfully with him, Atalante frowned involuntarily as her eyes stung.

But her feet differed from her uncomfortable vision and moved slowly but accurately in Lionel’s direction.

However, as Atalante approached, Lionel’s originally bright face became noticeably distorted.

“Goodness.”

Shortly afterwards, when she stopped in front of him, an obviously troubled look was written all over Lionel’s face.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

At her question, an even more bewildered smile appeared on Lionel’s lips.

“Are you asking because you really don’t know?”

She didn’t know, that’s why she asked.

Atalante hated the hassle of asking while knowing the answer. Atalante’s lips were twisted in the opposite direction of his as she replied with a pointed tone.

“If there’s something you’re unhappy about, speak directly. Don’t look at me like that.”

“Haha, have I ever been unhappy with you?”

“……Indeed, that hasn’t happened before.”

Lionel smiled softly at her honest reply.

Just as she was about to speak sharply again, Lionel stood up and put the chlamys he was wearing around her.

“What’s this? I’m not cold.”

“It’s because I turn warm at that sight.”

After saying something that she couldn’t understand, Lionel caressed her slightly damp hair. But he couldn’t continue for more than a few times before a deep sense of frustration crossed his face.

Perhaps it’s due to the unusual fragrance oil that the maids had carefully applied to her entire body.

‘It clearly smells good, but why is it like this?’

When Lionel took a step back from Atalante, who had a puzzled look on her face, he gave a suppressed smile with his hands behind his back like usual.

‘Darn it. You’ve gone to quite the effort to make it difficult for me.’

After a short moment of contemplation on whether to reward or punish the overly hard-working maids, Lionel decided to think about dealing with them after breaking up this deadlocked situation.

Atalante, whose eyes turned bleary, still had a puzzled look.

“How can you still look so fascinating, even with this large cloth draped around you?’

Rather, the danger seemed to have increased because his clothes were draped over her.

“…You’ve been busy since morning, was it tiring for you? Oh, aren’t you thirsty? I didn’t know which one you’d like, so I prepared a variety of things.”

Lionel, who barely managed to take his eyes off her, turned to the array of snacks and drinks on the table in order to change the subject.

“Grand Duke.”

But as soon as he turned his head, Atalante’s determined voice resounded.

This time, he couldn’t ask her to call him by his name. He thought that it would be unbearable for him if she called him by his name in that outfit.

“Lionel.”

But the beautiful villain was merciless. Atalante, who called his name directly, blocked the table and looked up at Lionel.

He used so much strength in his arms, which he’d hidden behind him like they were bound together, that they were about to break. Lionel made a plausible-looking soft expression and tried to respond to the call with a gentle voice.

“Though I have no experience in this aspect, I’m aware of what a newly wed couple should do.”

Don’t treat me like a fool that knows nothing.

With slight anger in Atalante’s purple eyes, it shone with a mysterious colour under the moonlight.

Rather, Atalante grew up hearing all kinds of rumours than he, a nobleman, did, so she might have more information in this aspect.

She has never done it before, but she was confident in things that required the use of her body, so she could somewhat do the basics.

She didn’t intend to use him unilaterally without giving him anything. At least, it was what they should do as a married couple.

It would be a lie if she said she wasn’t scared, but it wasn’t something that she couldn’t do. Instead of being dragged around by the nose miserably, she would rather use what she had thoroughly and assert her rights.

“At the wedding earlier, I was flustered and foolish, but I’m not a fool that’ll make the same mistake twice. However, please be understanding if I’m a little clumsy.”

“Atalante.”

He called Atalante’s name in a rather threatening voice, like he was telling her to stop, but she threw off the clothes that were clumsily wrapped around her unhesitatingly.

Under the gentle moonlight, the appearance that the maids had dressed her up with all their heart and soul was exposed.

“Atalante, enough.”

“I’ll do my best, so you should also do your best. Of course, I don’t intend to have children.”

After adding determined words, Atalante put her arms around Lionel’s stiff neck with a frown, and kissed him lightly like he’d done during the wedding.

Before she could let out a sigh of admiration at his overly fragrant breath, Lionel’s lips opened and through them, a subdued voice that was hard to understand flowed out.

It seemed like a curse, and yet it seemed like a hot breath……

But Atalante wasn’t able to understand those words.

It was because Lionel, whose arms wrapped around her waist like they were unshackled, swallowed Atalante’s lips at a completely different intensity.

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It was a night of merriment for everyone who gathered in the Grand Duchy, after a memorable national wedding.

Due to the supporting funds and remedies from the Grand Duchy, everyone became quite well-off tonight.

The capital’s shops were hit with an untimely business opportunity, while merchants in the outskirts also packed up and sold out their goods overnight. It was a happy day without any tears, like it was a lie.

The same held true for the members of Argo. After a taste of the feast and enjoying a pleasant wedding reception, they realised that they had forgotten something important only after returning to the annex.

“Atalante!”

Come to think of it, they’d merely watched Atalante in a daze as she greeted the people of the Grand Duchy from afar, but forgot about asking her for the whole story.

The most contact they had with their boss, who they were separately from for a few months, was awkwardly responding to Atalante’s happy hand gestures.

“You’re being noisy, Jenna. Didn’t Atalante say that she’d call everyone separately later to explain.”

“Still… I thought that we’d have a chance to talk.”

After recalling Atalante’s appearance today, Jenna sighed deeply. It was the first time that Atalante had been separated for such a long period of time from the executives.

Surprisingly enough, Atalante was afraid of being alone, so Jenna would worry about whenever she had time. She was alone, and didn’t even have her own connector, so it was natural that her worries doubled.

But the Atalante, the boss, that she’d seen today was… She looked extremely beautiful and at peace. Like someone that belonged there originally.

“Atalante, she seemed so happy.”

“So what?”

Devon answered Jenna’s murmur impatiently, and glared at her fiercely.

“H—His Highness also seemed to treat the boss sincerely… It seems like they love each other.”

At the following words, Devon slammed on the table next to him hard.

“So what about that? If there’s something you want to say, say it properly.”

“Devon, calm down.”

Mia tried to stop him from aside, but it was not enough. Devon rose from his seat and approached his sister threateningly.

“… Should Atalante continue living here?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Atalante hates the aristocracy. Don’t you know what position the Grand Duke has? Something is definitely up with her marriage to a man that’s at the pinnacle of the aristocracy.”

“Hey, if you had eyes, you would have seen it! The way they looked at each other during the wedding earlier?”

However, Devon couldn’t help but shut his mouth at Jenna’s subsequent rebuttal.

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