IDGM 59

Chapter 59

Kalias raised his hand and ruffled Chloe’s hair.

Chloe, who had been looking away, touched the crown of her head and glared sharply at Kalias.

“Don’t! Why are you doing this?”

“And why are you acting like that, Chloe?”

“Me? What did I do?”

“You’re being unpleasant.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

She smoothed her hair and turned away from Kalias again.

Kalias followed her, ruffling her hair once more.

Chloe turned around, frowning deeply.

“How rude!”

Even as she scolded him, why didn’t he seem scary at all?

In just two steps, Kalias got ahead of Chloe and blocked her path.

“Why are you pushing me away?”

“Me? I—what did I do?”

Chloe’s gaze shifted elsewhere, startled.

‘Can’t even lie properly.’

Overcome by mischief, Kalias ruffled her hair again.

“Hey!”

Chloe, furious to the tips of her hair, seemed to decide words wouldn’t suffice and slapped Kalias’s arm.

“…!”

Then she looked shocked at herself, as if she couldn’t believe she had done that.

Seeing Chloe reveal her emotions so honestly finally put Kalias at ease.

Expressing emotions and speaking still holds a connection, but avoiding and keeping distance severs it. There’s a huge difference in whether there’s a chance to reconcile.

‘Cute.’

Kalias found Chloe’s fierce, determined reactions adorable and reassuring, and deliberately teased her even more childishly.

“That didn’t hurt at all. Is that what you call hitting?”

His desire to misbehave had vanished, yet he didn’t know why he still wanted to tease her.

“What did you say?”

Chloe, anger rising at Kalias’s attitude, clenched her fists tightly, trembling with fury.

Eventually, she couldn’t hold back and started hitting him again.

Her punches were soft, lacking any real strength.

Though it didn’t hurt at all, Kalias pretended to be pushed back, worried he might genuinely upset Chloe.

Still, he teasingly mocked her with his words.

“I didn’t know you were this violent.”

“Who made me like this!”

“Who would that be?”

Kalias glanced around and shrugged playfully.

“Ah, really!”

Chloe, unable to tolerate him, stomped past Kalias.

But no matter how long her strides were, Kalias caught up easily.

Seeing him constantly block her path, Chloe huffed and pushed against his chest.

She didn’t intend to knock him down—just to get him out of the way.

Yet Kalias, who seemed three times her size, wobbled, pretending to stumble.

And of all things, he held onto Chloe while doing so.

“Ah!”

Chloe couldn’t resist at all and collapsed lightly onto him.

“Uh… are you okay?”

As Chloe raised herself, she asked about his condition, despite having just pushed him in anger. Kalias thought she was truly kind-hearted.

Deliberately letting himself fall, he smirked and feigned innocence.

“I could tell from when you peeked at other men’s bodies in the Uthar tribe’s Ker—you’re really shameless. And now, in broad daylight, you even leapt into my arms outdoors.”

Only then did Chloe realize it was another of Kalias’s playful tricks.

“Why are you doing this? Stop joking around!”

She was so flustered that she grabbed the collar of his clothes tightly, shaking it like a child throwing a tantrum.

Kalias laughed heartily and whispered gently to her.

“You look truly beautiful today.”

“W-what did you say?”

Chloe was speechless at the unexpected compliment, fuming.

Even her flustered state looked beautiful.

Her pure white Kuna leather outfit suited her perfectly. She looked like a Snow Queen straight out of a fairy tale.

Kalias gently smoothed her disheveled hair and looked at her seriously.

“I’m sorry for leaving you alone all night.”

He hugged her lightly, soothing her.

At first, Chloe resisted a little, but soon she stopped struggling and rested quietly in his arms.

‘Not that… I was really lonely. Kal was by my side.’

Why did tears suddenly rise?

Despite her thoughts, Chloe tried to swallow back the tears quietly.

Kalias noticed her holding back her crying.

After comforting her for a while, once she had caught her breath, he suggested,

“Shall I show you something to lift your spirits?”

At that time, Andrea, finding it odd that she couldn’t contact Marquis Pelsus, had gone to his mansion to check on the situation and was now returning.

“The Marquis is missing?”

Marquis Pelsus’s mansion was in disarray.

The Marquis had said he needed to go north suddenly, and since then, he hadn’t been heard from.

Despite searching, they couldn’t even find a trace of him. Standing beside the butler was a relative of the Marquis.

The young man, still very green, looked excited at the prospect of taking Pelsus’s place.

It was outrageous.

“Marquis Pelsus said he had a good business plan!”

Normally, by now, Chloe and Marquis Pelsus would have already had their wedding.

After the wedding, he had promised to introduce her to a lucrative business involving mushrooms or something.

But the wedding had been canceled, and that business plan had been indefinitely postponed.

Andrea, though thinking Pelsus a shallow merchant obsessed with money, still respected his business acumen.

Pelsus had risen from nothing, establishing himself in the upper echelons, and now even extended into noble society.

‘Capable, ambitious… used to be easy to handle.’

And now, suddenly, he’s missing.

‘Why the north? Could it…’

Andrea recalled jokingly telling Pelsus he should assassinate Marquis Rodrian.

‘It couldn’t have been Rodrian, right?’

Honestly, she had nudged Pelsus for it. She had intentionally hinted she’d cover for whoever assassinated Rodrian.

“Damn it! I told him to hit someone else, and he got hit himself?”

She hoped it wasn’t true.

If not that, then why was Pelsus suddenly missing?

“Argh!”

Fuming, Andrea stamped and kicked inside the carriage, throwing a tantrum.

The driver, used to such antics, didn’t stop and continued driving.

“My business funds! My business!”

He was furious over the losses caused by handing Chloe to Kalias.

“Argh! Chloe! That damn girl! Useless! Useless!”

After tiring herself out with her tantrum, she gasped and calculated the massive fortune she believed she could have had.

“If I had partnered with Pelsus, in five years I could have had ten trade companies, two per year!”

It drove her crazy thinking about what she had lost.

“In ten, twenty years, I’d be the richest emperor on the continent!”

Of course, it wasn’t precise math—just Andrea’s fantasy calculations.

But she believed it firmly, blaming Chloe for stealing her imaginary fortune.

“Chloe, if only that girl had acted properly! Damn you, Marquis Rodrian! I won’t forgive you!”

In Andrea’s mind, Chloe and Kalias were thieves who stole her wealth.

In reality, she hadn’t lost a thing, yet in her imagination, Chloe and Kalias had taken it all.

Andrea didn’t even want to think about the fact that Cabala had pushed for their marriage.

All she felt was irritation toward Chloe and Kalias.

So, as soon as she reached the imperial palace, Andrea ran to Cabala to complain about the torment caused by Chloe and Kalias.

“Marquis Rodrian must have held a grudge and killed Marquis Pelsus, Mother!”