To the One Who's Only Cold to Me - Chapter 90

It was obvious that he was using a fake name, just from the way he acted and talked. Aisha looked at the man with disbelief. She opened her mouth, thinking it was best to get away from the situation first.

“Aisha.”

“Your family?”

“Like my name, if you tell me first, I’ll tell you mine.”

“That’s a bit difficult. Can I tell you later?”

Aisha felt talking with this man was pointless. When she took a step back cautiously, the guards quickly stepped in front of her. Standing behind them, Aisha gave a small nod and quickly turned away.

“Then I’ll also tell you later. Let’s go, Marie.”

Maybe it was because the guards were blocking the way, but unlike earlier, the strange man didn’t try to stop her this time. However, the intense gaze she felt from behind was so uncomfortable that even after walking far down the street, Aisha’s brows were still furrowed.

“She’s cute. And pretty. I like her.”

The man who introduced himself as Imir muttered under his breath after watching Aisha until she was out of sight. At his words, the man who had been silently standing behind him on the right suddenly stepped forward, grumbling.

“Why are you using my name, Lord Iskan?”

“What if she gave a fake name too?”

The real Imir, who emphasized the name “Lord Iskan,” looked very unhappy. But Iskan ignored him and spoke to himself, then gave an order to the man on his left.

“Follow her and find out. She looks like a noble from the capital. With the crest on the carriage, we should be able to figure out which family she belongs to.”

The man on the left bowed silently and disappeared quickly. His movement as he left the shop was as smooth as a snake’s.

“What do you plan to do once you find out? Don’t tell me again?”

Imir raised his voice as he watched the man vanish. Iskan shrugged and looked at him.

“What’s with that look?”

“Not this time. We barely have enough space for the current wives in the palace!”

“Then I’ll just build a new place.”

“The king won’t stay quiet if you do that!”

“Then I’ll kick out one except Madiha, Sana, and Kaula.”

Imir clutched his head in frustration. But Iskan, completely unaffected, touched the earring on his right ear and licked his lips.

“Don’t think of it so badly. We should have at least one wife from the Caesar Empire anyway. That’s part of why I came here.”

“Technically, she needs to be from the royal family or at least a high-ranking noble of the Caesar Empire.”

“I didn’t think that far. She’s probably not royalty but what if she’s from a humble family?”

“Actually, that’s no problem. I’ll just bring two wives back instead of one.”

Seeing how his master never listened, Imir gave up on responding. Satisfied with his own decision, Iskan stretched and continued.

“Madiha wanted fabric from this village, so let’s go where that lady told us. But first, we need to take care of something.”

His red eyes, which had been looking outside, rolled sideways to the door inside the shop. Imir, who had been staring at his master in disbelief, also looked at the same spot with sharp eyes and touched the dagger hidden in his robe.

“What should we do?”

“It’s fine if they tried to overcharge us. But making me get help from a lady that’s a matter of pride. Just break both his arms.”

Imir nodded and walked into the back room. Soon, a painful scream echoed from inside the shop.

The day after returning from Lafran Village, a large gift box arrived for Aisha early in the morning. It was as big as a dress box and filled with at least a hundred beautifully arranged flowers.

Each flower looked freshly picked and full of life. The scent was so wonderful that Marie, standing next to Aisha, gasped in awe and waved her hand in front of her nose to draw in the fragrance. But Aisha, the one who received the gift, showed no reaction. She simply stared at the flowers in the box without any sign of joy or surprise.

As Aisha stayed silent, the servant who delivered the bouquet, Lloyd, looked embarrassed. When he kept glancing at her while bowing, Aisha finally let out a small sigh and gave an order.

“You may leave now.”

Marie and the servant both looked a little surprised. Usually, it was polite to at least send a thank-you letter or message to the person who sent the gift, but Aisha did nothing.

“Yes then I’ll take my leave.”

With nothing more to say, the servant bowed awkwardly and left. Once he was out of sight, Marie looked at Aisha and asked cautiously.

“What should we do with this?”

“It’s too nice to throw away, but we already have plenty of flowers for the vases in the mansion Let’s decorate the servants’ quarters with them.”

“What? But…”

Marie looked shocked. Even though she didn’t know much about flowers, it was clear these were expensive each one looked valuable. Using them to decorate the servants’ area felt like a waste.

“Take it to Anne and let her handle it.”

Despite Marie’s hesitation, Aisha remained firm. She even assigned who should take care of the flowers before turning away.

“Ah…”

As soon as she turned, Aisha felt dizzy. A sharp pain poked at her stomach, making her frown. Sensing something was wrong, Marie approached, but the pain quickly faded, and Aisha waved her hand as if it was nothing.

Aisha straightened her back and began walking steadily. A strong scent of flowers lingered behind her like a trace of regret.

“Did it happen again today?”

“Yes…”

The servant felt like he was being punished even though he did nothing wrong. His master’s sharp blue eyes were filled with suspicion, as if accusing him of lying.

“So she really said and did nothing again today?”

“Yes, Master.”

The servant’s legs trembled with fear. Finally, Ian rubbed his forehead and waved his hand in annoyance, telling the servant to leave. The servant quickly disappeared as if he had just been thrown a lifeline.

Once the servant left the office, Ian covered his face with both hands and closed his eyes. He could see Aisha in his mind looking coldly at the bouquet he sent.

Aisha…

Just imagining her expressionless face made it hard to breathe. Unable to bear it, he ripped off the cravat around his neck and threw it to the floor.

Thud.

Even that harsh gesture didn’t cool his anger. Breathing roughly, Ian leaned back in his chair. But even in a relaxed position, the tightness in his chest didn’t go away, and his hand unconsciously went back to his neck.

Why?

It had been over a week since Aisha last responded. During that time, Ian had sent her a bouquet every single day each carefully selected.

He thought she’d at least send a short message by the third day. But Aisha hadn’t even given the usual polite thank-you. Ian was going mad. Even a message telling him to stop would have given him something to act on. But with her staying completely silent, he didn’t know what to do.

Should I just go see her? I said we should take some time apart, but by now…

Nervous, Ian jumped to his feet. But he soon slumped back down and shook his head, lips tightly shut.

No… if I go now, I might end up saying what I tried to stop myself from saying before…

The reason Ian hadn’t gone to see Aisha was simple: that night, at the end of their last conversation, he had guessed what she was about to say.

Aisha: Ian. Let’s take some time to think. First… about our engagement…

Ian had never imagined Aisha would say anything negative about their engagement. So even though he kept telling himself he was imagining things, he was still terrified.

Just wait a little longer. It’s only been a week.

He shook his head, trying to drive away the dark thoughts. But the more he stayed still, the more he remembered Aisha’s frosty expression, and a sigh escaped on its own.

After sighing and holding his head, Ian finally looked at the documents on his desk and sat up straight. The pile of papers was tall. Maybe if he focused on work, this anxiety would go away. Biting his lip until it bled, he pulled the top file toward him.

Astar Kingdom, huh…

Luckily, it was an important issue. A delegation from the Astar Kingdom was visiting for the first time in five years. Recently, the old noble faction and the rising noble faction were fiercely fighting over who would host the delegation, especially since the delegation included the crown prince.

“They’re not coming to the Imperial Palace. The Ministry of Palace Affairs should handle it.”

“No, it’s a diplomatic mission. It must be handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

This argument stemmed from trade with the Astar Kingdom. Though far across the sea from the Caesar Empire, Astar was an essential trade partner because of several unique goods. Especially their spices were highly popular, making the trade volume grow steadily.

But this growth caused tension between the old and new noble factions. The port currently used for trade was in a city under the old nobles’ influence, and they secretly blocked merchants linked to the new nobles. In response, the new nobles began secretly persuading Astar officials to change the port.

This strategy worked because Astar tightly controlled trade and could assign ports at a national level. But when the old nobles found out, they also reached out to Astar’s top officials to stop the change.

“The Astar Kingdom is sending a delegation and the crown prince will lead it!”

Amid these secret battles, the news that Astar’s crown prince second only to the king was coming made every faction extremely alert.

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