Violet Zerotta's Hasty Marriage - Chapter 32
“Hey, Aldrick…”
“What? D’you need something?”
With time still to spare before dinner, Aldrick was perched on the windowsill inspecting his sword. He looked up at her immediately.
Aldrick always responded right away when Violet called him, always asking what she needed.
“Well, um…”
That sight was somehow endearing and touching. Violet had absolutely no complaints about this good-natured husband—in fact, she thought she had married someone far too good for her.
“So, um, it’s just, d—”
“Violet?”
Why was it so hard to get the polite term of address out of her mouth?
Violet couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Why did something like this make her face feel so embarrassingly hot? It was something that should have been natural from the start. Was her body resisting because she was only now trying to correct it?
Moreover, the fact that Aldrick was younger than her seemed to contribute to her reluctance.
Don’t be childish.
Determined, Violet opened her mouth again.
“De—”
“De, what?”
“My dear!”
When Violet suddenly shouted a little louder than intended, Aldrick’s movements came to a halt.
“…My dear…?”
(T/N: 여보, meaning honey, my dear, darling, etc. It’s a respectful term of address used by married couples.)
“We’re in the capital now, and we’ll be meeting all sorts of people, and you’ll be receiving a title too. So from now on, let’s speak formally to each other… That’s bett… Why the heck are you making that face—”
Oops.
“Um… Respectfully?”
She had gotten so used to speaking casually with him that formal speech simply wouldn’t come naturally.
Still, they couldn’t keep saying “hey” and “you” to each other in front of Count Lambert and his wife, or at the title conferment banquet.
“I asked why you’re making that face, dear?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, Aldrick stepped down from the windowsill and suddenly wrapped his arms around her.
Then he lowered his head and buried it in her shoulder. The hair brushing her neck and cheek tickled.
Caught off guard, Violet instinctively wrapped her arms around his shoulders. His broad shoulders, clutched in her hands, were… trembling ever so slightly! She could also hear him intermittently letting out short breaths.
Wait, was he laughing?
“Aldrick!”
Annoyed, she tried to push him away. Only then did he lift his head, tears nearly forming in the corners of his eyes from silently laughing so hard.
“You’re laughing at me… aren’t you, my dear?!”
He couldn’t bring himself to answer and simply shook his head. But his face still showed clear signs of struggling to hold back laughter.
“This isn’t funny, okay? Are you seriously going to keep saying ‘hey’ and ‘you’ in front of other nobles… dear?! We shouldn’t have been doing that in the first place, dear husband!”
“Haah, Violet.”
Finally regaining a straight face, he pulled the sulking Violet closer into his arms.
“I wasn’t laughing at what you said. I just… I found you so adorable and lovely that I couldn’t help myself. What am I supposed to do with you? I think this might be the first time I’ve ever laughed like this in my life.”
Trapped in his arms and hearing such sweet words, Violet felt her skin crawl in embarrassment. She pushed him away half-heartedly and pointed out,
“If you don’t speak formally, I won’t talk to you anymore.”
Despite her pushing him with all her might, Aldrick didn’t budge and replied quietly,
“I will be more mindful from now on, my darling wife.”
She had expected it to feel terribly awkward, but his low voice gently laced with formal speech didn’t sound bad at all. At the very least, it was much nicer than Violet’s own clumsy attempts at polite speech.
But why was her face heating up so much when all he did was speak politely?
“In that case, my darling…”
What caught Violet off guard even more was Aldrick’s hand.
“There’s still quite some time before dinner. Might I offer you a small pleasure in the meantime?”
Only then did Violet realize that the hand that had been resting on her shoulder had moved significantly lower.
With subtle movements, he traced the small of her back over her dress as he locked eyes with her. His gaze clearly burned with desire.
They had just exhausted themselves in bed only half a day ago. Was he out of his mind?
As he cast a glance in the direction of the bed, unmistakable in its implication, Violet burst out in anger.
“Aldrick! You—no, dear! Are you insane?! Do you even know where we are?!”
“We are husband and wife, and there’s no one here but us.”
“This is Count Lambert’s mansion, dear!”
Struggling to push away the lips closing in for a kiss, Violet barely managed to get the words out.
But it didn’t seem like Aldrick had any intention of listening.
“Our good friend did say to make ourselves feel at home. There should be no problem.”
Having failed to claim her lips, he began nuzzling around her ear with his mouth instead.
Violet, trying not to lose her mind to the chills that shot down her spine from the back of her neck, began smacking Aldrick’s chest.
“No matter how much you try to seduce me, I will never do it in someone else’s house! The servants will definitely catch on!”
In her flustered, overheated state, Violet had completely forgotten to use polite speech.
“You said we should speak formally, Violet. A promise is a promise.”
Even as her resistance proved completely ineffective, Violet could only let out a hollow laugh.
