What’s Wrong With My Marriage? I Was Bought as a Wife, Yet My Husband Is Madly in Love With Me! - Chapter 23

Chad waved goodbye with a smile, telling Klaus to call him again if he ever needed help chasing people away. He didn’t seem to care in the slightest that Mirella had mocked his appearance.

“He says business is booming because of his stout build. He has a reputation for being a shop owner who clearly eats plenty of delicious food. …Chad and I have been acquaintances since we were children.”

“I see.”

It seemed they had seen each other frequently until Klaus’s mother passed away. However, after that, Klaus went to study abroad, and their contact had been cut off for a while. They reunited when Klaus began living in this mansion and Chad came by to deliver food supplies.

“I was carefully examining all the food supplies to welcome you, Luce. I was quite surprised to find that Chad was no longer a butcher.”

“You didn’t know he had married?”

“I heard he was in a bind because your older sister was making advances on him. But back then, I had no peace of mind after losing my mother, so I didn’t know the details. Chad says he left the butcher shop to his younger brother and married into another family as a groom.”

“…I see.”

Luce had never reprimanded her sister’s behavior, but she now worried that Cassandra might have been causing trouble for people all over the place. While she had frequented the butcher shop during her volunteer work at the church, she recalled that there were several other commoner men whom Cassandra used to lead around.

“I wonder if it was my sister’s fault.”

(If so, I feel terribly sorry.)

“Luce, it isn’t something for you to worry about. Regarding Chad or anything else, it isn’t as if you did anything wrong.”

“But we were family. I didn’t even try to stop her.”

“…Your sister is no longer a child who needs to be watched over while holding her hand. There’s nothing you could have done.”

Klaus’s words felt like mere consolation. Seeing Luce dejected, Klaus changed the subject.

“That’s right, Luce. The Dwarven craftsmen said they have finally finished it.”

“Finished? You mean the magic stone stove?”

“Yes. For the small, portable model, they managed to keep the costs quite low. The magic stone only costs about as much as two days’ worth of firewood. The small box with the grate is about the same price. With that, you can ignite a fire and simmer a pot roughly five times.”

“My, that’s amazing.”

(It’s much cheaper than the first one.)

“The trade-off is that the durability is lower. Still, it’s no longer at a price point that’s hard to reach. If someone wants something sturdy, they should buy the one I showed you first.”

Klaus said he intended to start selling them immediately.

“First, we’ll launch them in Ghoolam.”

“Not in the Royal Capital of this country?”

Luce asked honestly, wondering why he would go out of his way to sell them in the neighboring kingdom.

“Many people in the Kingdom of Ghoolam travel. You saw the Dwarves, didn’t you? They come all the way to neighboring countries to work. I thought it would be quite good if these portable stoves were used during those journeys.”

Klaus added, “Even if something is hard to sell in one’s own country, once it becomes a famous item in a neighboring land, curious nobles will scramble to buy it.”

(Is that how it works?)

As Luce looked up at him curiously, Klaus said, “For some people, the things others have always look better.”

Luce understood nothing about business. But Klaus was different.

She had recently had a chance to speak with Deck, so she had asked about Klaus’s work. Deck told her that Klaus had increased the fortune he inherited from his grandfather, the Count, and that it was currently growing more and more.

“The Master seems to have quite the talent for business. His grades at the academy weren’t anything special, but academics and business are two different things.”

Even if Deck said that, Luce felt he must be very brilliant to have studied abroad. When she said as much, Deck blinked a few times and then nodded.

“The Master is a very capable person. Even the previous Count acknowledged that.”

It was very striking how happy Deck looked when he said that, as if he were talking about his own success.

(Klaus is truly cherished by his servants.)

He’s the complete opposite of me.

The me who is looked down upon even by my own family.

Luce felt herself starting to sink into a gloom again, her mind drifting. However, Klaus’s voice immediately pulled her back to reality.

“So, Luce, for now, here are the patent rights and the contract fee for the prototype. I’ve put them in your name. You can keep them at home, but I recommend depositing them in a bank account.”

He placed bags of gold coins in front of Luce, stacking them up because “the amount is a bit large.”

“…Eh?”

“It was your idea, after all. I’ve set it up so that you receive this much for every stove produced.”

Klaus began to explain, but Luce remained in a state of confusion.

“C-contract fee? Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? You gave us so many points for improvement, Luce. Once we rebuilt it based on those, we were able to commercialize it. There’s every expectation that it will sell. I’m sorry that I didn’t do this through a formal contract from the start.”

“It’s not that…”

“Personally, I thought about gifting you an island or two in place of a contract fee. But the Dwarven craftsmen stopped me, saying you’d only be troubled by such a thing.”

They were right.

(In the first place, are ‘an island or two’ things you just receive as a contract fee?)

Luce felt her common sense further destabilizing.

“Y-you didn’t have to make such a big deal out of something someone like me said.”

“Luce.”

Klaus said her name firmly.

It was the first time he had used such a tone, and Luce flinched in surprise.

(I-is he going to scold me?)

Contrary to her fear, Klaus gently took her hand.

“Luce, you always use those words—’someone like me.'”

(Is that true? But I… there’s nothing I can do.)

I’m not beautiful like my older sister.

I’m not clever like my younger sister.

I’m not the heir like my brother.

I was never particularly favored by my parents.

I, Luce, have always been someone to be neglected.

“Please, I want you to never forget. To the person known as Klaus Barth, you are the only existence for whom I feel it is right to offer up everything I have.”

“…Why? Why would you go that far?”

Until now, Luce hadn’t wanted to know the reason.

She would have been satisfied just slumbering in the dreamlike moments Klaus provided.

She had to be satisfied with that.

(…But.)

Gazing into Klaus’s eyes, she found herself wanting more. She wanted to reach out.

Even though she had desperately suppressed herself and endured, she had never been given love by her family.

By belittling herself and taking a step back, she had been protecting the softest part of her. The part that longed to be loved.

Luce’s heart, which she didn’t want anyone to wound ever again.

Luce was now so intrigued by Klaus that she could no longer bear to hold herself back.

“Does it have to do with you being at the relief shelter?”

Luce finally asked the question about the memory of Klaus that had been haunting her.