Chapter 5

Beastmen.

It was called the ‘curse of the wild,’ but in fact, there was no exact information on why people were born a beastman.

Whether a beastman was born between a human and a beastman or two beastman, it was all random.

Usually, by the time they become an adult at around the age of 18 years old, they would naturally transform into a beast. They rarely lived long.

As soon as they transformed, they were reported to the government office and killed on the spot.

A long time ago, beastmen were said to have been treated as human beings.

Rather, beastmen were recognized as special and were treated just as well as wizards.

It was only after the Divine Kingdom started the beastmen extermination hundreds of years ago that they became labeled as the ‘devil’s children.’ Now beastmen were imprinted in people’s minds as “devil’s children” or ‘curse of the wild.’

Beastmen were not only discriminated against, but were also not given a chance to live.

Only Keivrand’s family knew the ironic truth that Keivrand of the Green family, protected by the Divine Kingdom, was a beastman.

At least, that was true before.

Keivrand stared joyfully at the frozen, fair little woman who was looking at him.

It was fun to see Iris, who seemed unshakeable no matter what happened, with her eyes wide open in astonishment.

It wasn’t long before Iris’ fair cheeks turned pink.

She closed her eyes and opened them, as if she didn’t want to be caught surprised.

Then she returned with a straight face as usual even though it was still flushed.

“…It’s awkward”

Iris murmured.

Keivrand looked down slowly at his own body.

“What?”

“This…this situation.”

“That’s the way it is. Do you like it?”

“Should I like it?”

“Because it’s the body you’ll see every day from now on.”

“Every day…”

Iris gulped, then swallowed her saliva. Suddenly, her neck became beet red.

She wondered if he knew. Does he know how red she is right now?

She didn’t know. That’s why she was pretending like she was fine.

Keivrand grew fond of Iris.

“Same as a beast.”

“It’s not the same… ”

As Keivrand approached, Iris became frightened and took a step back.

However, as soon as she came to her senses, she raised her head again and put on an arrogant look.

But Keivrand could see that Iris was holding her breath.

“I’m a beast, Irie.”

“Ah…okay. You should get dressed first…”

“Do I need to get dressed, Irie? I was going to sleep in the bed with you like this.”

Speechless, Iris’ amethyst-like eyes shook.

Keivrand wanted to tease her more and more when he saw it.

“If you don’t like the bed, we can stay here.”

As Keivrand bent over to Iris’ neck, her small hands clutched her skirt.

‘That should be enough teasing.’

When Keivrand thought so.

Creek-!

The door opened without knocking.

“Boss! Boss! Where’s my sister-in-law…? Agh! W-what are you doing, you must be crazy!”

Wallace’s voice was heard.

Keivrand sighed and straightened his posture.

“Knock.”

“Oh, right.”

Wallace stepped back and knocked on the door with his hand.

“I’m coming in, boss. Agh! Boss, why are you like that?”

“Did something happen to the boss?”

Nathan came in with a loud voice.

“Ah…Boss, oh…my…”

Eugene, who pushed back Nathan, silently went to the closet and took out a black gown and handed it to Keivrand.

Watching Keivrand put on the gown, Eugene spoke.

“We’ve completed what you had asked. And boss. It’s rude of you to look like this on the first day in front of a lady. Please refrain from doing so.”

Eugene eyed Iris.

“Miss Iris, I apologize for the boss’ rude behavior.”

“It’s okay.”

The redness disappeared from Iris’ face.

Keivrand felt a little disappointed. The heart of steel Iris was good, but the blushing and flustered Iris was also quite good.

“Hey, sister-in-law. You’re going to be my sister-in-law from today, right?”

Wallace cautiously asked Iris. She looked up fearlessly at Wallace, a tough-looking, big man, and nodded.

“You can call me Irie.”

“No, no. How could I dare to call the name of the boss’ wife. I really didn’t expect our boss to get married. Thank you, sister-in-law. Although the boss is lacking in many areas, please don’t throw him away and cherish him forever.”

Wallace was hastily holding Iris’ hand with both hands and waving it up and down as he wiped away his tears.

“Hey, why are you holding a lady’s hands so recklessly? You have no manners at all, you son of a bitch…Go away.”

Nathan pushed Wallace away and stood in front of Iris.

He then stood straight and bowed politely.

“I look forward to being in your company. Sister-in-law! My name is Nathan.”

“Please take care of me too.”

“Sister-in-law, if you’re lacking anything, you can tell Nathan. If you need anything while sleeping, just ring the bell over there.”

Iris was a little surprised.

On the pretext of knowing the secret that Keivrand was a beastman, she thought that he had decided to marry her in a political manner as if she was a threat to him.

Iris thought no one would welcome her in this mansion.

She couldn’t believe they were so hospitable.

This new life, it seemed, would be more enjoyable than she had expected.

* * *

Britney couldn’t contain her anger.

“He immediately took her away?”

“Yeah, he said he was afraid I might change my mind and won’t let her go.”

“No way. Count Green really said that?”

“That’s what he said. He must really be into Iris.”

“No, it really doesn’t make sense. Why would Count Green ask such a…No, no. Impossible.”

Britney shook her head hard.

“Father. Do something. I hate that she’s getting married to Count Green. Do you know how popular Count Green is? I can’t stand to see her appearing arm in arm with the Count and calling herself Countess Green.”

“Leave it at that. No matter how far she goes in the Green’s estate, she will be tied to the Whittle family. It’ll be a big help to us.”

“No, what do you mean help…I don’t care about any of that!”

“What do you mean you don’t care. Do you know what we got today because of the girl? We got Venott’s gold mine. That big gold mine!”

“Agh, what’s the use of a gold mine?”

“You think it’s just a gold mine? Count Green, that idiot sold the area all the way to Hadun.”

“Hadun? Isn’t there nothing there?”

“Right. The value of that wasteland can be sold for a fortune. He must have wanted to show off his wealth in front of Iris. Honey, you were right. I’m glad we raised her and sold her out.”

Reuben said, looking back at his wife, Denise.

Denise stared at her teacup and spoke.

“But the position of Countess Green is a bit of a waste on her.”

“There’s nothing wasteful about it. We have connections with the Crown Prince’s aides, so our Britney will sit higher than a Countess.”

Britney’s eyes shone when the word Crown Prince came out.

“Really?”

“It’s true. So don’t worry about the seat of Countess Green and just take care of yourself. Dear, can we fix the mansion now that we have money? You said you wanted to buy a dress too, didn’t you?”

“Actually, I do have a dress in mind…”

While Reuben and Denise were making a list of things to buy, Britney recalled the Crown Prince.

Although he wasn’t as handsome as Keivrand, he was still handsome.

Also, the position of Crown Prince was something a Count wouldn’t even dare to raise their heads against.

‘I can’t believe I’m going to be the Crown Princess…!’

Britney already felt like a Crown Princess.

‘Yes, you can have the position of Countess…I’m going to be the Crown Princess and summon Count Green every day. And in front of you, I’ll make Count Green mine.’

What kind of expression Iris will make then?

Perhaps she will be in tears but can’t say a word and has to keep her head down.

That would be befitting of Iris, she thought.

‘The role of being loved is mine, Iris. For you, you’re the prettiest when you’re wiping the floor.’

* * *

After having dinner brought to the room by the maids, Keivrand and Iris had a long conversation about what was to come.

As a result, it was soon time to go to bed.

“I didn’t get your pajamas ready. I thought you’d bring one.”

“My pajamas in the house were one of these. I don’t mind sleeping in this.”

“You can’t do that.”

Keivrand took a gown out of his closet.

“Wear this today.”

“Thank you.”

Iris reached out to receive the gown, but Keivrand didn’t hand it over.

She tilted her head sideways, wondering why, and then Keivrand spoke.

“It’s my wife’s first night, so I’d like to change her clothes.”

“Oh.”

Iris blushed as she recalled Keivrand’s naked body.

She thought she wouldn’t be embarrassed by a man’s body.

Because of her last life, her heart has hardened under the influence of the devil, so she didn’t think she could be surprised.

But the moment she saw Keivrand’s body, and the moment she saw the perfect body that she had never seen before.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Just by looking at it with her eyes she could feel such feelings. Her heart was beating wonderfully.

“Then, go ahead.”

Iris tried to calm down as she placed her hands on her clothes.

She had decided to do anything for a comfortable life. To undress in front of a man, it was nothing to her. She could do more than that.

Her hands moved slowly to untie the strap and buttons of the dress.

Throughout her undressing, Keivrand’s eyes were fixed on her.

It couldn’t be, but his eyes felt like he was stroking her whole body.

When the dress was taken off, what appeared was skin as pale as the corset.

The air against her bare skin felt cool, but it didn’t last long.

It was because Keivrand had covered her body with the gown.

Keivrand’s clothes were so big that she looked like she was wearing a blanket.

“You’re small.”

“Yes. And you’re big.”

Keivrand’s eyes narrowed.

Seeing the delightful smile in his eyes, Iris, for some reason, had a light smile on her face as well.

Keivrand widened his eyes a little at Iris’ smile, and then he gently pulled her small chin up with his thumb and index finger.

Staring at Iris with his blue-gray eyes, Keivrand whispered.

“Your smile is lovely, Irie. I want to swallow it whole so much.”

== Translator’s Note ==

1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section .