Living a Scheming Marriage with a Mad Villain - Chapter 53

At that moment, a middle-aged woman standing next to me gently pushed my shoulder and started talking.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“Ah… he’s my husband.”

“Oh my, your husband is very jealous. You must not have been married long.”

“Really? Haha…”

Jealousy? I wonder if Reus ever feels that way in his life.

Even if he did, he would never be jealous because of me.

I’m his benefactor, not his lover.

But I didn’t really understand why he threw away the flower crown. Could he think it was dirty?

‘I liked it…’

“By the way, this is your first festival, right?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

“How would I not know! Only people like you would bring their husband to a handsome man contest.”

“Ah…”

That was the procession of the handsome man contest winners. I nodded blankly as I realized this, and the woman laughed loudly.

Then she whispered quietly in my ear.

“Next year, come alone. That way, you can enjoy it more freely, okay? If you follow that line to the end, there….”

Before she finished, I was suddenly pulled somewhere.

“Don’t listen to every strange thing they say. Let’s go.”

Reus pulled me completely to his side and started walking faster. But the farther we got, the louder the woman’s voice became.

“Come to think of it, you don’t need to come since you have a handsome man at home! Oh my, it’s so annoying, really annoying.”

Still, she told us to come if we wanted to see more, quickly telling us where the best spots where and when things started. Reus covered my ears with both hands.

He covered them so tightly I felt like my ears were blocked. I just followed him as he moved.

But this man had no plans to stop.

I thought, “Let’s see how far he goes,” and followed quietly until we reached a brightly decorated tent. Looking around, it was full of small children holding their parents’ hands, waiting to enter.

‘Could this be a puppet show?’

Why on earth did he bring me here…?

“What is this?”

“A puppet show.”

“This is for babies, isn’t it?”

“I think it’s better than that contest earlier.”

For some reason, he didn’t like the handsome man contest procession at all. But I thought differently.

‘You watch things like this on days like today. When else can you?’

And it’s not like watching it will cause any harm. Isn’t he overreacting? I didn’t know if Reus was treating me like a child or just being grumpy, but I felt annoyed.

Noticing my mood immediately, Reus teased a little.

“Why? Want to watch those men some more?”

“No?”

“So you liked watching their naked bodies?”

“Why… why do you say that? That’s not true!”

He was talking strangely. How could he speak like that about enjoying one of the festival events?

“Not true? I saw you couldn’t take your eyes off them.”

“What! Reus blocked it right away, so I didn’t see anything!”

“Oh, if he hadn’t blocked, you would have kept looking?”

“No!”

I denied strongly, but he didn’t seem to listen.

Tired of this pointless argument, I pulled Reus away from the puppet show entrance.

“Are you trying to follow that procession now?”

“No…! No, I’m not!”

His tone was hard to tell if he was teasing or angry.

No matter how much I denied, Reus’s unhappy look didn’t change.

Then suddenly, I felt hungry, and my stomach growled.

‘Maybe it’s because of this silly fight?’

Without a plan, I grabbed Reus’s sleeve to suggest going somewhere with food.

“Leo, I’m a little hungry…”

Reus was about to tease me again, showing he was upset, but then he closed his mouth and asked seriously,

“Since when?”

“Uh, um… not long ago.”

If I said since you started arguing over nonsense, he’d probably get annoyed again.

“It’s not a big deal, just a little hungry.”

Before I finished, Reus quickly reached out for my hand.

He had been annoying before with pointless arguments, but since he wouldn’t move unless I gave in, I reluctantly let him hold my hand.

‘Still, he stops right away when I say I’m hungry.’

Maybe I should say I’m hungry whenever I’m at a disadvantage.

While thinking this, Reus suddenly started walking in an unexpected direction.

If we go this way, we’ll leave the festival street?

“Reus, where are we going?”

“You said you were hungry.”

“That’s right.”

We stopped and looked at each other, confused.

Looking where Reus was heading, it seemed like he wanted to go to the restaurant street outside the festival area.

‘But if you come to a festival, shouldn’t you try street food?’

And the restaurant street is mostly for nobles and middle-class people.

With my clothes today, it might be hard to get in.

I kept standing still, and Reus gave me a look asking why I wasn’t moving.

“The clothes aren’t really suitable…”

“What does that matter? It’s enough to go to a restaurant owned by the duke’s family.”

“Well, but… at festivals, people usually eat street food.”

Of course, nobles don’t come to festival streets and don’t even think about eating street food.

But I still had some memories from my past life, so I didn’t mind at all.

But Reus really didn’t like this idea.

“We came all this way, so I want to enjoy it properly…”

“What if you get sick from the food?”

As expected, he didn’t like street food.

“Then I’ll just watch.”

“El.”

“Yes?”

“Your face clearly says you’re lying.”

He’s just too sharp. Reus showed his dislike openly, but I avoided his eyes.

I kept saying I really wanted to go, so Reus finally gave in. We came to a street lined with food stalls. This place felt very different from where the handsome men had marched earlier.

The smells of many kinds of food filled the air, and the merchants shouted loudly to attract customers.

It felt lively and exciting, full of the smell of people.

While walking, I saw a delicious-looking chicken skewer and stopped without thinking. It was grilled chicken leg meat and green onions on a stick, cooked over charcoal with a strong smoky smell.

Just the smell made my mouth water, and the vendor covered the hot skewer with a lot of red sauce. No time to think if I should eat it or not, I walked over like I was hypnotized and pointed at the skewer with red sauce.

“One of these, please.”

Reus quickly paid since I wanted it but looked like he didn’t understand why I would eat something like this.

“Usually, you eat spicy street food at times like this.”

I agree that the food at the duke’s mansion is much better than street food.

You enjoy it with your eyes first, then your nose, and finally with your mouth… like a full course meal.

The elegant, balanced food at the duke’s mansion is great, but on days like today, certain foods just fit better.

Like this spicy chicken skewer I’m holding now!

‘It’s been so long since I ate something spicy.’

I took a big bite of the chicken dripping with red sauce, and the spicy flavor spread strongly in my mouth.

“Delicious!”

It was a bit spicier than I expected but still tolerable. After happily eating a few bites, I suddenly thought about the guards watching us from afar.

‘I wonder if they are hungry too?’

After thinking a bit, I quietly asked Reus.

“But what about the guards? Are they okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Suddenly, Reus reached out and gently wiped my mouth with a tissue he had somehow prepared.

‘You should have told me when I got it on my face…’

I thought I was eating carefully because he said nothing. Feeling a little embarrassed, I looked around and continued.

“I just wondered if the guards might be hungry too.”

Reus frowned slightly. He clearly didn’t understand why I was worried.

“They won’t die from not eating for a little while.”

“No… You always said eating is the most important thing to me.”

“That’s because it’s you. Those guys eat pounds of meat every day but still complain about being hungry.”

Wouldn’t they be even hungrier on a day like today?

“And they’re not careless during guard duty. They do their jobs, so don’t worry.”

“Hmm… I guess that’s true. What about Reus?”

Reus answered firmly again.

“I’m fine.”

“Fine? Reus, you haven’t eaten anything today. You barely ate lunch either…”

“Not eating for a day won’t kill me.”

Why is he so extreme?

I was a bit shocked but still worried, so I asked again.

“Still… I worry about you. So can’t you eat something?”

“Just something light…”

Ah, is it the street food that’s the problem? Looking around, I didn’t see any food Reus would like.

Support Living a Scheming Marriage with a Mad Villain