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Chapter 14. A Husband in Name Only
As I watched their faces grow slack and drowsy, as if they’d sunk into hot spring water, I cautiously asked,
“…Um, by any chance, what kind of place is this?”
The two men exchanged troubled looks.
“We can’t tell you that. …It’s run by someone very high up.”
Someone high up?
“They want this kept completely confidential.”
Hmm… That alone didn’t tell me whether this place belonged to Taeon or to the Empress.
But what they said next was decisive.
“If word leaks, our heads might end up like this.”
With an exaggerated expression, the man brought a hand to his own neck.
“Gasp…!”
Startled, I clutched my own throat with both hands.
Taeon might be cold and pragmatic, but he wasn’t a cruel man.
The Empress, on the other hand, was someone who would slit even her own subordinates’ throats without hesitation.
‘So this place is run by the Empress…!’
I had walked straight into a tiger’s den on my own!
Come to think of it, there had been a description that Empress Carlota pretended to drink only black tea in front of other nobles, to hide the fact that she was from a foreign land.
This had to be a place the Empress had set up to secretly research delicious coffee.
Watching them whisper in voices too soft to make out, I slowly began to back away.
“Right. It’s such a good job—if we leak secrets first, we’ll get fired.”
“She’ll be here soon, so we can introduce you then.”
“Hey. The distinguished person will be arriving shortly, so you can meet her directly—huh?”
By the time they turned around, I had already slipped past the kitchen door.
“Hey! No, wait! You can’t leave without telling us who you—!”
‘Sorry. If I do that, my head might really roll!’
“Thank you for the coffee! It was delicious!”
Shouting that from beneath my black cloak, I hurried out of that mysterious place.
After leaving the jewelry shop, Taeon finished a brief market survey and headed to a building in the city owned by the Roderick family.
It was the new product development headquarters he had set up in preparation for his coffee business.
He had stocked the place with every ingredient and tool needed to brew coffee.
He had even hired the most famous tea masters in the Empire.
All of this was for a new business involving the import and export of coffee.
Of course, as the head of the Roderick Trading Company, he had mountains of other responsibilities as well.
‘Right. This isn’t the time for me to be worrying about a married woman.’
And yet—why wouldn’t that confident smile of the woman he’d seen through the shop window leave his mind?
Just then—
Thump!
“Ah—sorry…!”
Someone hurrying down the street brushed shoulders with him.
Taeon’s amethyst eyes casually swept over the stranger.
It was a woman completely covered in a black cloak.
“I’m really sorry! I wasn’t paying attention just now…!”
After bowing her head, the woman ran off down the street again.
As if nothing had happened, Taeon brushed off his shoulder and continued on his way.
He was never one to take much interest in others.
Even more so if the other person was a woman.
He had too often experienced how even a fleeting glance or a shred of attention could spark needless misunderstandings.
Putting the brief incident out of his mind, he strode into the building.
“You’ve arrived, Master of the Trading Company!”
The tea masters inside hurriedly bowed when they saw him.
“Yes. Have you made any progress in your research?”
Skipping any pleasantries, he went straight to the point.
His tone was polite, yet firm and uncompromising.
The tea masters exchanged glances and stumbled over their words.
“W-Well…”
Taeon valued action over words, and results over process.
Without waiting for an answer, he promptly took a sip of the coffee on the table.
And then—
His amethyst-like eyes widened slightly.
“This is…”
He hadn’t expected even the finest tea masters to figure out how to brew coffee in just one day.
Yet this was beyond his expectations.
The flavor was as deep and rich as the coffee he’d had in the Muslan region… no, even more so.
“Have you discovered how to brew coffee properly?!”
At his delighted question, the tea masters looked at one another again.
Taeon Roderick was famous for being strict but fair with both rewards and punishments.
There was no point in lying—it would be exposed soon enough.
Having made a quick judgment, they confessed honestly.
“Actually, we didn’t brew that coffee.”
Taeon frowned slightly, puzzled.
“Then who did?”
“Well…”
“We don’t know either. She was wearing a black cloak…”
“By the time we tried to catch her, she’d already gone out the door! She was like the wind!”
The tea masters exclaimed excitedly, as though they’d witnessed something extraordinary.
Suddenly, Taeon recalled the strange woman who had brushed past him earlier.
“Then… that person was…”
He rushed outside, but there was no trace of the woman to be found.
“Hah!”
Taeon let out a hollow laugh.
“What is this, some kind of fairy tale Cinderella…?”
Stories similar to Cinderella existed in every era and every land.
Here too, there was a fairy tale called “Cinderella,” meaning “Ella, the girl covered in cinders.”
Taeon ran a hand through his hair and narrowed his eyes.
If there was a difference from the fairy tale, perhaps it was that she’d left behind not a glass slipper, but a cup of coffee.
In the story, the prince searched the entire kingdom for the woman whose foot fit the slipper.
Then what was he supposed to carry around to find her…?
Lifting the cup, Taeon took another sip of the now slightly cooled coffee.
The properly brewed coffee, something he hadn’t tasted in a long time, gently enveloped his tongue.
The flavor was unbelievably exquisite.
He had found a talent he could never let slip away.
His eyes gleamed quietly, like a beast locking onto its prey.
“…I’ll have to find her as soon as possible.”
My Cinderella.
My expectation that I’d have to face Deopel at dinner turned out to be wrong.
When I returned home, Deopel was sitting on the edge of the bed in my small room.
After making out with his mistress until just moments ago, he’d come straight to see his wife.
Just how shameless did someone have to be to do that?
‘Right. That’s why, right after marrying Aileen, he’d spent ten years sleeping in separate rooms.’
Because he was so busy meeting his mistress outside.
Aileen’s memories weren’t complete due to the fire.
That was why there had been things I couldn’t understand—but what I’d seen today made all the pieces fall into place.
When I simply stared at Deopel with cold eyes, he awkwardly stood up from the bed.
“…You’re back? You must be tired after going out for the first time in a while.”
“Yes. Since you know that, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave my room now.”
At my icy words, Deopel flinched and muttered,
“Is it because your hairstyle’s changed? You seem… different somehow.”
Seriously. After living with his wife for ten years, with her very soul changed, that was all he had to say?
It really showed how indifferent he’d been to Aileen all this time.
Still examining me as if I were a stranger, he suddenly chuckled.
“Alright. Got it, got it.”
Then he pulled a small box from his trouser pocket and tossed it to me.
“Here.”
Catching it without thinking, I looked down at the box with displeasure.
It read: Roderick Jewelry Shop.
The very same store where he’d been with his mistress earlier that day.
‘…Is he joking right now?’
Buying his mistress’s gift at a place like that, then buying his wife’s gift there too?!
Swallowing my rising disbelief and anger, I opened the box anyway.
Inside was a necklace with a diamond smaller than my pinky nail.
The Roderick Jewelry Shop was one of the most luxurious in the city, dealing mainly in rare and expensive gems.
Which meant he must have deliberately chosen the smallest, cheapest stone they had.
“…Ha.”
I let out a bitter, incredulous laugh.
Had he spent all his money buying his mistress a ruby necklace the size of a fist?
‘He must’ve worked so hard, picking out a speck of a diamond like this in such a fine shop.’
But Deopel seemed to misunderstand the meaning of my laughter.
Lifting his chin arrogantly, he said,
“See? That’s a diamond.”
I can see that just fine.
I looked at him with an expression that clearly said, So what?
Flustered by my reaction, Deopel rolled his eyes, then put on an air of bravado again.
“Take that and forget whatever’s been bothering you. And forget about how Mother’s been a little disappointing lately, too.”
…A little disappointing?
My forehead had been split open, and my hair had been chopped off without warning.
