THU | Chapter 03

Chapter 03

Perhaps because she had taken too much medicine, there was less pain than she had expected.

When Violet opened her eyes again, she was lying on a bed so soft that it felt like her whole body was melting into it. Without realizing it, she smiled and buried her face in the pillow.

A breeze came through the slightly open window, brushing against the curtains and moving her hair.

If I had known death would be this peaceful, I should have died three years ago.

She had never felt this refreshed in her entire life. Not only had the headache she had suffered from constantly completely disappeared for the first time, but the fatigue that had always weighed down her body was gone too.

“I’m happy…”

Violet’s eyes, which had been slowly closing, suddenly opened wide at the sound of her own voice.

She sat up.

Violet wrapped both hands around her neck. Then she looked at her hands again.

Her neck and hands were not hers.

They were her husband’s large hands, which she had held only once at their wedding.

And that was her husband’s low, fierce voice.

Violet touched the healthy body strengthened by manual labor and sports, then quickly covered her mouth with both hands.

She got off the bed and was shocked once again by the feeling of the strong muscles in her legs.

“What on earth happened…?”

With a blank expression, she looked at herself in the full-length mirror in the bedroom.

The man in the mirror was definitely Winter Blooming.

A man over 190 centimeters tall, with broad shoulders, an intimidating physique, and a handsome yet somewhat wild appearance.

Winter Blooming had slightly curly black hair and gray eyes.

“I think I’ve really gone crazy.”

While Violet was talking to herself, the door suddenly flew open, and Winter’s secretary, Hayel, rushed inside.

“Sir! That bastard Rowell is already here and fully prepared! Hurry up and get ready!”

Hayel was holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a suit in the other.

Unlike when Violet had seen him at the Blooming family mansion, he was completely casual with Winter and had thrown away all formal manners.

Hayel laid a white shirt and suit trousers on the bed.

“Just put these on. And please, I’m begging you, wear a tie today. This is an official meeting.”

“Yes… Ah, no. All right.”

Hayel frowned at Violet’s polite answer.

But then, as if he understood the reason, he nodded.

“Oh, you’re practicing polite speech for today’s meeting. Well, you were pretty angry yesterday.”

Violet tilted her head in confusion.

“…Why are you practicing?”

“What do you mean, why? You’re terrible at manners, sir.”

“I am?”

“Are you really going to say that? You already overslept, so there’s no time for this! Hurry up and change!”

Violet nodded in surprise and hurried toward the bed.

A little later, one of the maids placed a cup of coffee on the table. It was still boiling hot.

Hayel scooped large amounts of sugar into the coffee with a spoon and said,

“About the beans from the Baidellin Mountains, Rowell is asking us to raise the price by 30 Round per gram. Isn’t that bastard crazy?”

“Hayel, could you leave for a moment while I change?”

Hayel’s eyes widened.

“Why are you acting so strange this morning?”

Normally, servants helped people change their clothes, but it was only natural for men to help men and women to help women.

Violet felt extremely uncomfortable changing clothes in front of Hayel, so she asked him to leave.

“I just feel a little uncomfortable today. I’d appreciate it if you could at least turn around.”

“Why are you suddenly speaking so elegantly…? And why aren’t you drinking your coffee?”

Hayel looked puzzled, turned around, and began giving his briefing.

Violet picked up the coffee and took a sip.

She almost spit it out.

It was incredibly strong, and there was so much sugar in it that her tongue hurt from the sweetness.

And why was it so hot?

It felt as if someone had put a stone heated in a fire inside the cup.

Violet couldn’t drink more than one sip.

Giving up on the coffee, Violet struggled for quite some time to put on the white shirt and black suit trousers. Then she tied the gray tie around her neck.

She looked awkwardly at Hayel.

“Hayel, I’m sorry, but…”

“Another hangover? Do you think you can’t go to the meeting?”

Apparently, Winter only apologized when he had a hangover.

Violet held up the tie.

“Could you tie it for me?”

“Are you punishing me right now? I don’t know what I did wrong, but please just swear at me like you normally do.”

Hayel walked over with a confused expression and skillfully tied the tie for her.

Violet turned her head away because having an unfamiliar man so close to her felt awkward.

Once Hayel finished, Violet put on her brown shoes.

“So… we’re going straight to the meeting?”

“Yes. Sir, no matter how much that bastard gets on your nerves this time, please don’t get angry and flip the table.”

Apparently, Winter normally swore at people and flipped tables.

The image Violet had of her husband as nothing but a cold-blooded man who would not shed a single drop of blood even if stabbed suddenly collapsed.

If I really have gone crazy, then all of this must be a hallucination too.

“Okay, you’re ready. Let’s go!”

Hayel pushed Violet forward by the back.

Violet was surprised when Winter’s solid body did not move even slightly from Hayel’s push.

She walked out.

***

Before Violet had any time to adjust to her new situation, she found herself sitting in front of the contract Winter had failed to finish.

Sitting at a table covered in documents, Violet realized that Winter had not leaned back in his chair just because he was being arrogant.

The table had clearly been made to suit her height, so it must have been ridiculously low for Winter.

What should I do…?

Violet was almost convinced that she had gone insane and was imagining everything.

But even so, she couldn’t handle the important contract carelessly.

Blaming herself for being the kind of person who couldn’t even relax while crazy, Violet began checking the documents.

After Violet had been reading them for quite some time, Rowell, a member of the Baidellin Mountain clan sitting across from her, spoke.

“You were shouting so loudly yesterday, but today you’re quiet?”

“I was rude yesterday. I apologize.”

From the briefing she had received, Violet understood that Rowell was a lord with an enormous sense of superiority and that he placed great importance on manners.

Perhaps Violet’s unusually polite behavior annoyed him, because he spoke again in a critical tone.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull. Were you violent yesterday, so today you’re planning to act gentle?”

“It’s not really like that…”

“All of these numbers.”

Rowell increased every number written in the contract by 30.

“If you won’t buy Baidellin coffee beans at this price, I won’t sell them.”

Baidellin coffee was famous for being one of the finest coffees in the world.

Violet had occasionally drunk it at the royal palace.

She had never realized that the beans were this expensive.

Having never sat at a negotiation table before, Violet spoke awkwardly.

“It is already written in the contract… And if you raise the price by 30 Round per gram, the burden on our side will become too great.”

Rowell replied irritably,

“Don’t exaggerate. The hotel chain you operate is enjoying an unprecedented boom, isn’t it? Saying that it’s too much of a burden sounds like an excuse to me.”

Violet had heard that her husband had become practically penniless after their marriage, to the point that he could never recover.

But judging by Rowell’s words, it seemed Winter had managed to recover some of his wealth.

Or maybe I’m only hearing what I want to hear because I’m crazy.

Violet thought about it.

She felt terribly guilty toward Winter.

That was why, no matter how long Winter stayed outside, she always welcomed him happily whenever he came home.

While she was thinking, Rowell continued.

“At this price, the children of Baidellin don’t even receive enough money.”

“Do the children work?”

“Of course.”

Good heavens, the children are working!

Violet thought the children should be properly paid for their labor.

She looked through the documents, found the seal, and answered,

“Then, as you said…”

As she was about to stamp the contract, Hayel rushed over in horror and grabbed her arm.

“Oh, dear! You drank too much yesterday, so you’re still drunk!”

He held onto her and struggled to pull her up.

Violet quickly understood and followed him out of the meeting room.

Once they were outside, Hayel lowered his voice and demanded,

“Are you really still drunk? What’s wrong with you?”

“Ah, because you said the children work…”

“He’s obviously trying to use the fact that the boss was forced to work as a servant when he was young. And you know this better than anyone, sir. Even if children are being used as workers, the money doesn’t actually go to them. It eventually ends up in Rowell’s pocket… Wait, why do I have to explain something this obvious to you all of a sudden? How much did you drink?”

Hayel looked completely convinced that the only reason his boss was being so soft was because he was still drunk.

Violet asked with a blank expression,

“Then how would I normally react? If I weren’t sober yet.”

“You’re having a strange kind of drunk tantrum… The moment he mentioned raising the price by 30 Round, you probably would have flipped the table. Then I’d stop you, and after that we’d schedule another meeting, right?”

“……”

So, to act like the usual Winter, I have to flip the table…

But that table looks like it’s made of marble. Can a person really flip something that heavy?

Violet thought about it for a moment.

Then she walked over, grabbed the table with her hands, and tried to move it.

To her surprise, the table, which looked like it wouldn’t move at all, lifted easily.

Violet was horrified by the strength in Winter’s arms.

At the same time, she looked at Rowell.

He had shrunk back in fear, his shoulders trembling.

Violet stared at him for a moment.

Then she gathered up the documents that had scattered onto the floor when the table tilted.

She sat down and used her pen to cross out all the numbers Rowell had written.

“Let’s negotiate again. From the beginning.”

Rowell asked in a trembling voice,

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s talk it out. We’ll sit here and discuss it until the negotiation is finished and both of us are satisfied.”

Threatening people and flipping tables was Winter Blooming’s way of doing things.

But the person sitting here was Violet Lawrence.

And the thing she was best at was staying in one place and enduring.

She had spent her days standing like a ghost at parties, unable to avoid the stones people threw at her, yet enduring it anyway.

Violet spread the documents she had gathered across the table.

“Let’s read it all again from the beginning.”

“Reading it again won’t change the words.”

“I’ll read it again and again. Until we find an answer, or until one of us gets tired and gives up.”

It didn’t matter whether this was a dream or whether she was mentally ill.

Violet was a responsible person, so she decided to do her best with this contract.