85. Damn Young Masters (6)
‘Aagh, my eyes!’
Katya tightly shut her eyes after seeing something she never wanted to see.
‘What sins did I commit in my past life to keep seeing all these filthy sights?’
While she might understand seeing Nikolai, she had zero interest in seeing other men’s underwear, so this felt completely unfair.
‘Wait, did I just think it’s okay to see the Grand Duke’s? Am I a pervert? I’m crazy! Crazy!’
While she covered her blushing cheeks in shock at her own unconscious true feelings, Mikhail tried to pull his lower body out through the window frame, raging with shame.
“Tia!”
Just then, Nikolai burst into the bathroom.
The first thing he witnessed upon entering was a strange man’s lower half struggling in mid-air with pants around his ankles, right in front of his wife.
As soon as he saw this scene, Nikolai reached from behind to cover his wife’s eyes.
His large hand completely covered Katya’s small face.
As a husband, this was absolutely not something he wanted his wife to see.
It was utterly unpleasant.
What kind of deranged bastard would dare wiggle his not-even-pretty flat bottom seductively in front of Tia?
Nikolai’s anger rose from this strange point of focus.
“Don’t look at such things, Tia.”
Though Mikhail succeeded in escaping, he fell forward comically and ran away with all his might at the sound of his brother’s voice.
He needed to get away before his brother recognized him.
Though he knew he would inevitably have to face his brother again someday, not like this.
Getting caught gambling illegally was bad enough, but in this state—with this pants missing after being bested by a girl?
After running far with his weak, unfit body that lacked stamina, Mikhail finally escaped the scene.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had run like this.
When his legs started feeling like they weren’t his own, he stopped, panting heavily with breath caught in his throat.
“Damn it!”
As soon as he confirmed no one was around, Mikhail finally vented his frustration.
It was the worst day ever.
It was his first time showing his underwear to a woman.
And to a woman who seemed somehow connected to his brother, no less.
“Tia!”
The name of that rogue woman seemed to be Tia.
It was clearly an urgent voice calling for her.
Nikolai always addressed women by their surnames, so this was the first time he had heard him call a woman’s name so tenderly.
What kind of relationship did they have? Just a mistress to play with?
That woman couldn’t possibly be a noble.
“What noble lady would be as fierce and brutally strong as a wild beast like her?”
Plus her skill at beating up men.
He had been impressed by her fighting prowess earlier, but now he was criticizing her.
It was fun watching others get beaten by her, but being on the receiving end was incredibly unpleasant and pitiful.
The relative deprivation he felt at being helplessly overpowered by a woman smaller and more delicate than himself.
And on top of that, she was his brother’s woman.
“I’m still going crazy worrying about Brother, while he’s been going around dating?”
Tears welled up from his sorrow.
He still loved his brother and wanted to be a beloved younger brother.
When they first met, his brother held the most noble status in the Grand Duchy.
He was second in line to succeed as Grand Duke after the heir, Ruslan, and the beloved youngest son of the previous Grand Duke Yuri.
His brother always seemed to belong in those heights that he looked up to.
He had felt bad about their growing distance ever since their positions suddenly reversed.
He knew that he and his mother had taken Nikolai’s father away from him.
Like a rolling stone displacing an embedded one, his mother had driven out Nikolai’s mother and taken her place.
Because of that, Tatiana, who had once been Grand Duchess, was expelled from the palace and met a miserable death.
If she had had a lady’s maid with her, she wouldn’t have died trapped in her room on that flood day.
He felt tormented by guilt whenever he saw his brother.
That’s why he wandered more outside the palace. He deliberately acted more like a good-for-nothing.
He wanted to prove to his mother Oksana and the boyars that he was unfit to be a ruler.
‘I didn’t want to fight with Brother.’
He had vowed never to covet his brother’s position.
Even if Nikolai passed away, the next Grand Duke position belonged to Nikolai’s son.
He didn’t want to be an uncle who coveted his nephew’s place.
‘All I wanted was to be Brother’s proud younger sibling, that’s all…..’
Nothing worked out.
Unlike his two siblings who were well-rounded with tall height, healthy bodies, excellent minds, and good character, Mikhail was weak, unintelligent, and quick-tempered with no respect for others.
Because his brother had embraced and cherished even his irritable side, Mikhail had never shown his temper to Nikolai after becoming close.
‘I always wished he was my real brother, and he actually was.’
And he himself was born from adultery.
His mother felt detestable.
He felt sorry for his brother over and over.
But now he felt mortified to death for showing such a pathetic sight to his brother after so long.
Though Nikolai hadn’t recognized him, he wanted to bite his tongue off just for showing his underwear to his brother.
Tears streamed down as his sorrow exploded.
He roughly wiped his wet face with his sleeve.
“I won’t let this go, that wench!”
All these miserable feelings were because of that woman who stripped off his pants.
Tia or whatever, I’ll never forgive her!
He firmly vowed to find and punish that woman when he returned to the capital.
Not knowing she was his sister-in-law and this country’s Grand Duchess, Mikhail made his determination.
***
“Those pale legs keep floating around in front of my eyes.”
Katya said, oblivious to the fact that someone was sharpening their blade of revenge while cursing.
“Should I give you some water to wash your eyes?”
“Would that be enough?”
“Then want to purify yourself by seeing my body?”
As Nikolai seized the opportunity and started loosening his waistband again, Katya slapped his hand in shock.
“Look at this indecent married man! Are you trying to undress at every chance?”
“It’s unfair. At this rate you’ll see every man’s bottom in the country except your husband’s.”
“No, I mean I didn’t want to see any of it! And to be precise, that guy only showed his underwear.”
“That bastard seems to have completely lost his mind. Daring to drop his pants in front of a married woman.”
Nikolai fumed, growing angrier the more he thought about it.
“To be exact, I was the one who pulled his pants off.”
Katya confessed, feeling guilty.
His eyebrow twitched, displeased about something again.
“Are you taking that bastard’s side in front of me? The side of that man with the not-even-pretty skinny bottom?”
“Who’s taking sides? And how did you notice such details?”
“I have a talent for quickly absorbing maximum visual information in a short time.”
“And it’s funny that you’re judging whether it’s pretty or not.”
“Don’t you know? I’m subtly implying that mine is pretty.”
Nikolai bent down and suddenly came close as he spoke.
Katya’s heart started racing madly as he suddenly thrust his handsome face forward.
He was truly a dangerous man.
Especially lethal to the heart.
“That bastard had legs that had never exercised in his life.”
Though he hadn’t realized it was his younger brother, it was an accurate assessment.
“You see, for a man, thigh strength is needed to support—”
Katya covered his mouth as if she couldn’t listen anymore.
“This isn’t the time for this!”
When the two emerged from the bathroom, the situation had already ended.
The bound people were being led away in lines by soldiers.
Just then, a middle-aged gentleman wearing glasses entered the tent with a long yawn.
His hair stuck up in the back as if he had just woken up and come straight here.
“You’ve arrived?”
Pavel spotted him first and greeted him.
“You seem to have slept on the way here.”
“I usually go to bed early so this is my bedtime…… But to think your tip was really true……”
The Chief Justice of the Southern Region muttered in disbelief at the unexpectedly large harvest.
Perhaps because he had just woken up, it still felt like a dream.
He had always struggled with illegal gambling, but arresting so many at the scene was a great achievement for him.
“Thanks to you issuing the search warrant and allowing soldiers despite your doubts, things went smoothly.”
“But coming in, I saw people who weren’t my soldiers or your men turning over suspects. Who do they work for?”
“Well……”
At the Justice’s words, Pavel trailed off and turned around.
Following his gaze down the stone steps, the Justice spotted Nikolai and ran down the stairs in surprise.
“Your Highness!”
Nikolai also knew him.
He had become familiar with his face when he visited the palace with the Supreme Justice for regular trial reports.
“How did Your Highness come to be here……”
The Justice asked, flustered and not knowing what to do.
Even he rarely had chances to meet the monarch except when accompanying the Supreme Justice.
“So you were behind Sir Pavel Petrovsky.”
At Nikolai’s words, Katya standing beside him looked in surprise at the man who had disguised himself as Fulano Mengano.
Pavel Petrovsky was Ivan’s older brother and the jousting champion she had admired all this time.
