80. Damn Young Masters (1)
“This is trouble.”
Nikolai muttered with a dazed expression looking at Katya who had changed into her party dress.
“What is? Does it not suit me?”
“The number of men who will lose their sight has increased.”
“Are you having bad thoughts again?”
“No, even without my intervention, everyone will go blind from your radiance the moment they see you.”
He seemed to have fallen for his wife all over again.
At his doting response, she grimaced and elbowed his arm.
Though it was like trying to break a rock with an egg, so she was the one who ended up hurting.
“Grand Duke, could you please check if the buttons on my back are properly fastened?”
Katya showed her back while rubbing her sore elbow.
Since Alyona, her lady’s maid, usually helped with dressing, she had been struggling alone during their honeymoon.
At least common clothes were relatively easy with fewer pieces to wear, but noble attire, especially party dresses, was particularly troublesome.
She had to wear a chemise, then a corset and crinoline, followed by the bodice and skirt, and finally the robe.
Katya’s dress was designed to emphasize her slim waist with buttons fastening in the back.
This was all that remained after washing, so she had no choice.
“They’re all misaligned by one hole.”
“Really? Oh no……”
Katya reached back flustered, fumbling at her back.
“I’ll do it for you.”
“Would you?”
Nikolai quickly stood right behind her and undid each tiny button one by one.
As the fabric split into two, revealing her fair bare skin.
When his wife’s sweet scent suddenly tickled his nose, Nikolai held his breath for a moment.
He felt dizzy.
“If I had known this would happen, I should have brought Alyona.”
She said, oblivious to his feelings.
“No, it’s good we didn’t bring her.”
“Why?”
“Thanks to that, the day I get to undress you with my own hands came earlier than expected.”
“Look at this lecherous man!”
“Didn’t you know? My heart is always dark and black. I’m constantly looking for chances to devour an innocent herbivore like you in one bite.”
Nikolai flashed a seductive smile as he met her gaze in the mirror.
“Grand Duke, even herbivores can be surprisingly clever and cunning.”
“That’s fortunate. Run away quickly before you get eaten.”
“In the animal kingdom, they say it’s actually safest to stick close to the strongest animal.”
“So that’s why you keep sticking to me?”
“Of course. While we’re married, I plan to cling to you like a cicada on an old tree, never falling off.”
You’ll always protect me, won’t you?
It was a single statement that conveyed such deep trust.
Those words, what were they? Nikolai’s heart fluttered.
“While under my shade, no one can touch or harm you. Even with that certainty, all the big and small ‘what-ifs’ in the world make me anxious.”
He took something out from his chest and placed it in Katya’s hand.
A dagger and magic powder.
“In emergencies, if you sprinkle this along a path on the ground, it will glow even at night so you can be found anywhere. Though solo actions are forbidden as much as possible.”
“What about this? Wouldn’t a short gun be better than a knife?”
“It could misfire, and in close combat, there are more risk factors in responding quickly.”
“What if I really end up hurting someone?”
“If they bother you, you can cut their throat. I’ll take care of the aftermath.”
Katya quietly lifted her skirt slightly and attached a pocket to her thigh, then smoothly slipped the dagger and magic powder inside.
When his wife’s bare leg was exposed, Nikolai naturally turned his gaze elsewhere.
He had just warned about his dark intentions moments ago.
What a careless and insensitive wife she was.
***
“A chaperone?”
The vice principal cried out in surprise in front of the ballroom.
“Yes. She specifically asked me to introduce the children properly to the members. Haven’t you received word about this either?”
Katya said with an awkward smile.
It was as if she was asking whether their relationship with Viscountess Borodin was only this much, whether they were someone who could be easily dismissed.
The vice principal fell straight for her provocation.
When had she appointed a successor while disappearing without responding to any letters?
Moreover, she had been the one selecting and reviewing the girls until now, so who was trying to take credit?
Though it seemed she would lose her achievement to Baron Lantskoĭ’s relative, she didn’t have the courage to properly protest against a boyar.
“Now that you mention it, I think I did hear about this. At my age, I keep forgetting things. Shall we go in?”
“Feel free to head home first.”
Katya blocked the vice principal’s path to the party hall while flashing a smile.
“I’ll take care of everything else.”
“But……”
“Please go.”
At her urging, the vice principal finally left pathetically without being able to make another attempt.
Her dreams of expanding her connections by impressing the boyars had burst like a bubble.
Of course, Katya knew this well, which was why she had blocked her in advance.
She found it disgusting that people who tried to take advantage of young girls were working as educators.
“Teacher, you’re already here?”
“Have you been waiting long? It’s all because of her!”
“Who was the one dawdling by changing clothes at the last minute?”
“Girls, I’m fine, so calm down. Let’s go in quickly.”
When the noble young ladies who had secured invitations arrived, Katya followed them into the ballroom.
Inside the crowded hall, she saw the commoner students awkwardly looking around with blue roses pinned to their chests.
The Despot Club members who recognized the symbol exchanged glances and snickered.
‘Damn young masters.’
Katya suppressed the urge to strike the backs of their heads hard with a club as they mocked the girls.
As she was about to grab any glass to drink and calm her anger, she caught Nikolai’s eye nearby.
The original owner of the invitation was now drunk with Boris.
They had slipped in using the invitation stolen while she was intoxicated.
Besides Nikolai, knights were waiting outside the ballroom.
Just then, the music started.
“Teacher, aren’t you going to dance?”
“I’ll dance later. You go first.”
As the young ladies who had already received dance invitations headed to the center of the hall, Katya held up her open fan in her left hand.
Seeing this, Nikolai understood her intention and approached through the spinning dancers.
“Fan language?”
“Yes. I learned it at Molnitsky Girls’ Academy. How to speak with fans at parties.”
It was etiquette commonly used to discreetly exchange feelings with men who were interested in or showed interest in oneself.
Katya taught Nikolai some fan language gestures.
For instance, the gesture she had just shown meant ‘come closer.’
As it was social etiquette, he already knew it all, but he listened intently because his wife looked cute giving an enthusiastic lecture while fluttering her fan.
Nikolai stopped at a slight distance from her.
Even if others saw, Katya would appear to be enjoying the party like other ladies, exchanging silent glances with approaching men.
Since it was the most common language, it could blend in.
“Everyone seems to have found their partners.”
Nikolai muttered as if to himself while watching the dancing couples.
He meant to ask if all the Despot Club members had paired up with the girls wearing blue roses.
Hearing this, Katya kept her gaze elsewhere as she closed her fan and gently placed it on her right cheek.
It meant ‘yes.’
The people who had been snickering at the blue roses were all now approaching and conversing with students they fancied.
After counting the number of commoner students, she could roughly identify the Despot Club members attending the party.
Just as Nikolai was about to say something to her, Katya spun her closed fan in small circles with her left hand.
‘They’re watching us.’
The young ladies who had finished dancing and were heading up to the second floor with their partners gestured to Katya, beckoning their teacher to join them quickly.
Katya shook her head at her students to indicate she was fine.
Finally, the noble ladies scattered on the second floor to enjoy their dates, grateful for their teacher’s consideration.
When Nikolai leaned toward her as if they were sharing secrets like dating partners,
Suddenly, Katya tapped her left ear with her closed fan.
Seeing this, Nikolai was taken aback.
‘Please go away.’
That gesture definitely meant that.
As he tried to approach again, thinking he must have seen wrong,
She tapped her left ear once more with an even more exaggerated gesture.
‘I said go away?’
He was perplexed.
‘Isn’t this a bit harsh?’
A hurt Nikolai moved away from her.
‘Did I do something wrong to Tia today?’
He anxiously racked his brain but couldn’t think of anything particular.
Katya had set fire to the heart of a man who was already distressed about not being loved by his wife.
In fact, the person who had caused her husband such great worry had no such intention.
She just had an itchy ear but couldn’t openly scratch it with her finger at the party, so she had resorted to hitting it with her fan instead.
Katya, who often dozed off during etiquette lessons, hadn’t properly learned that this was a gesture of strong rejection.
As the misunderstanding between the couple deepened, she noticed something strange.
The girls who had been drinking the alcohol offered by the members were all unable to properly control their bodies and fell into their arms.
The men, successful in their plan, supported the commoner students while pretending to be matched lovers and naturally slipped out of the party hall.
‘They must have spiked the drinks.’
While keeping her eyes on them, Katya held her fan in her right hand and brought it to her face, signaling Nikolai to follow.
Because of the quickly disappearing members, she rapidly pursued them without having time to look back at her husband.
Just then, drunk men got into an argument between Nikolai and Katya, unaware.
When Nikolai emerged through the commotion, perfectly blocked by the large men from seeing her relatively small frame, Katya had already vanished from his sight.
