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Chapter 10
Life Pawned
The following morning.
Howard told Irina that he would return in the afternoon and asked her to wait for him before leaving.
Irina settled for a salad for lunch and headed straight to his office afterward.
“I thought you said to come after lunch. Why are you taking so long?”
Tap. Tap.
Swinging one foot impatiently, she looked around the office and muttered to herself.
The chilled tea prepared for his arrival remained untouched.
Only after quite some time did Howard finally enter the room.
“Why are you so late?”
Leaning lazily against the sofa like she owned the place, Irina greeted him with a rebellious grin.
“I was delayed by some business. Have you been waiting long?”
“Not really. I wasn’t bored enough to die. Just bored enough to want to pluck five hairs from your head.”
Irina replied sulkily.
Howard nodded as if relieved.
“That’s good.”
Back then, whenever she said things like that, Howard would look frightened, and it had been amusing.
“You’re no fun.”
Howard sat down and handed her a heavy envelope.
It was just the right size to hold documents.
“What’s this?”
“You’ll see.”
Tilting her head, Irina opened the envelope.
It had been sealed so carefully that it took her quite a while to undo the clasp.
Inside was a thick stack of papers, each about one or two finger joints in length.
Even lifting it with one hand felt surprisingly heavy.
She placed the stack on the table and picked up the thick top page.
Stamped clearly with the imperial seal was…
A marriage registration form.
“A marriage registration? Already?”
“Please read everything first.”
“Okay.”
She turned the next page.
It was filled with page after page of headache-inducing legal text about marriage laws.
“You only need to sign where your name appears.”
“Mm.”
One after another came the signature lines for Irina, followed by Howard’s signature, which had already been completed.
“These are all standard procedures. Just go through them in order.”
“Mm.”
“You’ll need to sign again near the end.”
“Mm.”
Not even a single flower for our wedding…
To be honest, even when Howard had suddenly brought up registering their marriage, it hadn’t really felt real.
After all, ever since they had reunited, everything had happened so quickly.
And the relationship between them was nothing like what she imagined a marriage should be.
But now…
Looking at the marriage registration bearing the imperial seal somehow made her heart sink.
Unable to turn another page, she simply stared at the blank space where her signature would go.
“Are you even listening?”
“So… once I sign this…”
“We’re married?”
Howard nodded calmly while sipping his tea.
“It will be complete once you sign.”
His face showed no emotion whatsoever.
So Irina threw another bomb at him.
“Then… we’ll be husband and wife?”
For the briefest moment, his eyes wavered.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—Irina failed to notice.
“Only in form.”
Howard answered calmly.
“Aren’t you going to give me flowers?”
“What flowers?”
She knew he was pretending not to understand.
“We’re getting married. Shouldn’t you at least give me something? You jerk. I hope you dream about getting pricked by rose thorns while you sleep.”
Irina openly cursed him.
“I thought you once said flowers shouldn’t be picked.”
“That was then!”
He acted as though he barely remembered the past—except for the painful parts.
Yet somehow, he remembered something like that perfectly.
Irina continued muttering curses under her breath.
There were far more documents than she’d expected.
They had felt heavy from the moment she picked them up, but she couldn’t understand how so much writing fit onto such thin paper.
As she casually flipped through them, she noticed family seals and the imperial seal stamped throughout.
The tiny print only made her want to stop reading.
The important parts were probably all at the beginning anyway.
She stuffed everything back into the envelope and handed it to Howard.
“You’re not going to read the rest?”
“Even if I do, it’ll all be the same.”
Howard looked as though he wanted to say something, but silently accepted the envelope.
“More or less.”
“Then that’s enough. I’ll sign it later and give it back to you. You take care of it. Once I’ve paid off my debt, we’ll talk about everything again, right?”
Howard reluctantly nodded.
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll be quite busy. You’ll need to learn about all of my businesses.”
“Why? All you needed was a marriage.”
“It may be useful to you someday.”
“Oh. I should’ve negotiated for hazard pay.”
Irina sighed dramatically.
“So… I suppose that makes us husband and wife.”
Howard said it almost like a casual greeting.
Irina narrowed her eyes.
“Let me make one thing clear. Don’t get the wrong idea. When I confessed to you back then, I was just young and didn’t know anything about men. Once I’ve paid off my debt in a year, I’m going to find a handsome prince on a white horse. So don’t even think about making a move on me. Got it?”
She spoke as though laying down an ultimatum.
Howard never answered.
That afternoon, all the servants of the estate gathered together.
Irina had wanted to sign the papers first and greet everyone afterward, but Howard had simply left her there on her own.
That damned idiot.
Forcing a smile, she faced the staff.
The mansion was enormous, so she had expected a great many servants.
Instead, only around twenty people were present.
To minimize security risks, Howard and his secretary Werner personally approved every new employee before they were hired.
As a result, there were only about twenty servants in total.
At first, it seemed incredibly inefficient.
But aside from maintaining the estate, there wasn’t much work, so they managed just fine.
Overnight, the household had gained a new mistress.
Yet none of the servants looked surprised, as though they had all been informed beforehand.
Although Irina was meeting every one of them for the first time, they all somehow felt strangely familiar.
Perhaps it was simply because they treated her so warmly.
“I’ll be in your care.”
Since she would only serve as mistress of the house for a year anyway, she kept her greeting brief and told them to continue as they had before.
Becoming the lady of the house so suddenly still felt awkward.
She planned to greet each servant properly another time.
Just then—
Crash!
A tremendous racket echoed through the hall as a boy—too young to quite be called a man—came charging inside.
Startled, Irina turned toward the noise.
Everyone else did as well.
“Fergus! We have a mistress now? Really? We finally have one?”
“Connor, you idiot! Quiet down! She’s standing right in front of you! Have some manners!”
The burly stablemaster, who also handled repairs around the estate, smacked the boy hard across the back.
“Urgh!”
The blow was so powerful that the boy yelped before rubbing his back and bowing deeply.
“Hello!”
His cheerful greeting made Irina laugh despite herself.
Connor had only recently joined the estate.
He helped in the kitchen and milked the livestock.
His deep forest-green eyes and sun-darkened skin made him look healthy and full of life.
Once again, Irina thanked everyone and concluded the gathering.
Where is he?
After dismissing the servants, Irina went looking for Howard.
Maybe he’s in the garden?
She was told he wasn’t inside the mansion.
Just as she turned to head outside, she spotted him through one of the mansion’s enormous windows.
She took two steps toward him—
Then noticed someone standing in front of him.
A woman wearing a dark crimson frilled dress and a matching wide-brimmed hat.
They appeared to be talking.
The woman pointed enthusiastically toward the forest while speaking.
Irina narrowed her eyes at the pair.
She strained to hear, but they were far too far away.
After chatting for a while, the woman extended a gloved hand.
Howard lightly took it and politely kissed the back of her hand in greeting.
“So much for being shy around people.”
The sarcastic remark slipped out of Irina’s mouth before she realized it.
An unexpected wave of irritation surged through her.
It’s just a greeting.
Perfectly normal among nobles.
Irina herself had received countless greetings like that.
Yet she had never realized just how irritating such a greeting could be.
The woman smiled, said something else, then climbed into her carriage and left without looking back.
Howard walked toward the mansion.
Irina stepped forward as well.
As he entered and headed for his office, Howard noticed her following him.
He hesitated for a brief moment.
Then he slowed his pace to match hers.
He opened the office door.
Irina leaned casually against the wide-open doorway.
“Why didn’t you just kiss her properly while you were at it?”
She sneered as she watched Howard remove his gloves and toss them into the wastebasket.
“…It seems your mouth has become much sharper since I last saw you.”
Howard raised an eyebrow.
“I was sold off because of debt.”
Howard chuckled softly and walked toward his desk.
“Since you’ve been sold here because of debt, would you mind wiping my desk while you’re at it?”
That bastard…!
Watching him sit down, Irina placed both hands behind her on the desk, hopped lightly, and perched herself on the edge of it.
Howard glanced at her briefly before returning his attention to the documents he’d just picked up.
“Who was she?”
“A visitor.”
“Really?”
Irina’s shoe, still dusty with a little dirt from outside, rested against his thigh.
Rub.
She slowly twisted her foot.
The dirt clinging to the sole smeared onto his neatly pressed trousers.
“Really?”
She kept staring at him insistently.
Yet Howard seemed completely unconcerned by the dirt or the inconvenience.
Instead, he gently caught hold of her slender ankle.
Her skirt lifted slightly, revealing the delicate curve of her pale ankle bone.
With his thumb, he slowly stroked it.
He threw away the gloves he’d worn after briefly shaking that woman’s hand…
So why is he perfectly fine touching me like this?
