CLABC 18

Chapter 18

An ordinary lady would have screamed in terror or fainted at the sight of a man smashing up a room and going on a rampage.

But Cecilia stayed by Rainer’s side all night.

Was there really another woman like her in this world?

Harry couldn’t let this opportunity pass.

“Your Grace.”

He stepped up to the desk and braced both hands on it.

His expression turned deadly serious.

“No matter what, you should apologize to your wife first. Preferably with a splendid gift. A husband has to grovel unconditionally to his wife to preserve domestic peace.”

Wasn’t this an eternal truth of mankind?

Rainer, being a man himself, wouldn’t be able to escape it.

Harry gazed down at him with sparkling eyes.

Rainer let out a sigh.

“…Harry.”

Harry’s eyes gleamed.

Is he finally going to change his ways?

But Rainer stood up at once.

“It seems you’ve had too much free time lately. Enough to entertain useless thoughts.”

“What? Me? Free time? That’s ridicu—”

“Perfect timing, then. Review all of these reports by today.”

Rainer dropped a heavy stack of documents onto Harry’s desk with a thud.

They were reports sent up from the Hayes territory.

Harry’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

“All of these? Today? That’s impossible!”

He looked up at Rainer in disbelief.

But Rainer only gave a curt nod, his face expressionless.

It was a silent command: get to work.

“My goodness. I was only giving advice for a happy household, and you choose to be this petty…”

What a cold-blooded man who didn’t know the first thing about treating a lady.

Harry grumbled under his breath.

But Rainer wasn’t listening.

He absently fiddled with his cufflinks, lost in thought.

“….”

Truthfully, he knew he was being unreasonable.

From the start, he needed Cecilia’s cooperation to bring Elise down.

Maintaining a friendly relationship would have been the sensible thing to do.

Building walls like this helped no one.

‘But still…’

It was a side of himself he had never shown anyone.

And now a fake wife of merely three years had seen straight through it.

And more than that—

‘Are you all right? I was worried about you all night…’

The image of her sitting defenselessly on his bed, dressed only in her nightclothes, without the slightest awareness of how she must have looked to him.

Rainer felt pathetic for being unable to erase that scene from his mind.

“…Your Grace.”

“……”

“Your Grace?”

Rainer snapped back to reality at Harry’s call.

Only then did he realize his fist was clenched tight.

Lowering his arm as if nothing were wrong, he asked,

“What is it?”

“Here—please take a look at this.”

Harry, having resigned himself to fate, held out a report he’d been reviewing.

Rainer accepted it immediately, but the words refused to register.

Instead, Cecilia’s face floated before his eyes—her eyes widened silently as she listened to his cold words.

‘…Damn it.’

Was this his punishment for forcing the issue?

Leaning back in his chair, Rainer covered his eyes and forehead with one hand.

Harry tilted his head.

“Your Grace? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Harry.”

“Yes?”

“So… if you give a woman a gift, does it really improve her mood?”

At the unexpected question, Harry’s eyes lit up.

“Of course! Just say the word—I’ll go prepare it immediately. What should it be?”

“A gift, huh…”

Rainer considered it briefly, then shrugged.

He’d never once thought about gifts meant to please a woman.

It seemed better to rely on Harry, who at least had a few short romances under his belt.

“Anything’s fine. Make it big, expensive, and something everyone can see.”

‘Is this really something worth putting so much distance between us over?’

Just as Harry had said, Cecilia had been quietly hurt by Rainer’s aloof behavior lately.

At first, she thought he’d get over it soon enough.

But nearly ten days had passed since the incident in the bedroom, and his coldness hadn’t changed.

‘It’s not like we were ever affectionate to begin with, but still…’

They had a contract. Shouldn’t they at least maintain a friendly relationship?

Besides, she had stayed up all night taking care of him!

She deserved a word of thanks at the very least, yet all she got in return was chilly indifference.

‘Rainer, are you very busy?’

‘Yes.’

‘If you have time later, would you like to have some tea together? There’s something I wanted to talk about—’

‘I’m busy with work. Another time.’

Sitting alone in the garden, sipping her tea, Cecilia let out a hollow laugh.

She’d worked up quite a bit of courage to reach out like that.

After being rejected so many times, irritation finally bubbled up.

‘Fine. Even if you’re crawling along the hallway floor, I won’t spare you a glance.’

She made that vow and decided to stop caring.

She had her next plan to prepare, anyway.

‘Soon, Evan is going to stumble upon an incredible business opportunity.’

In a few weeks, Evan would achieve huge success with tea leaves imported from the Eastern Continent.

In her previous life, word spread that it was good for skincare, earning it the nickname “Velvet Tea,” and it sold like wildfire.

Naturally, Evan became busy, and Cecilia spent her entire honeymoon watching only her husband’s back as he rushed off to work.

‘Looking back now, I wonder if he was really that busy.’

He probably used work as an excuse to meet Rosena on plenty of those days.

Still, his success back then was real—so this time, she intended to take it for herself.

‘If it rose by word of mouth, then it should fall the same way.’

She was deep in thought when—

“Huh? What’s that?”

She heard Wendy mutter.

At the same time, a commotion broke out on one side of the garden.

“Careful now! Watch it! This way!”

Looking up, Cecilia saw Harry energetically giving directions.

Behind him, workers were carrying something heavy.

“Oh my, it’s beautiful,” Wendy murmured in awe.

What they carried was a dazzling white grand piano.

Cecilia stared blankly at the sight.

“Ah, Madam.”

Just then, Harry approached with a bright smile.

“This is a gift prepared by His Grace. We chose the finest quality available. What do you think?”

“What? This… is for me?”

Cecilia’s eyes widened.

At her reaction, Harry nodded enthusiastically, grinning from ear to ear.

“Yes! His Grace said he wanted to get along better with you again—”

“Harry.”

Harry froze at the voice behind him.

Rainer had appeared before anyone noticed.

Cecilia stood up at once, but Rainer’s gaze remained fixed on Harry.

“Have you finished processing all the reports from the territory?”

“What? Well, I put them on hold because of this—”

“I don’t recall telling you to put them on hold. Go back and get to work.”

“Ahh, how cruel…”

Moments ago, Harry had been practically bouncing with excitement. Now his shoulders sagged as he trudged back into the ducal residence.

Cecilia still looked dazed.

“Is it really true that you’re giving me that piano?”

Only then did Rainer turn his gaze to her.

He hesitated briefly when he met her green eyes, vivid as fresh leaves.

“Yes. It’s an apology for everything that’s happened.”

He stopped himself from saying more.

He had never given a gift to anyone—let alone a woman—in his entire life.

And considering how distant they’d been until just this morning, the awkwardness only deepened.

“Ah…”

Surprise spread across Cecilia’s face.

She’d just sworn not to let herself care about Rainer anymore.

Yet that resolve melted away like snow.

She looked back at the piano as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

Rainer spoke cautiously.

“If you don’t like it, we can replace it with something else—”

“No! Not at all!”

Seeing her hesitate, Rainer seemed to have mistaken it for dissatisfaction.

Cecilia shook her head vigorously.

“I love it! More than love it—it’s too much, really.”

She smiled awkwardly.

It had been a long time since someone had given her a gift meant just for her.

She wasn’t even sure how to express her happiness properly anymore.

Still, it felt as though a wound she’d carried deep in her chest had finally been washed away.

“I’ll practice whenever I have time—until I become the greatest pianist in Brisen.”

She clenched her fist as she spoke.

It was the fullest expression of emotion she could manage.

“I’ll look forward to that,” Rainer replied.

That was more than enough for him.

Watching Cecilia make her earnest vow with shining eyes, a smile tugged at his lips.

He thought he finally understood.

Why men wanted to make ladies happy.

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