After the knights had left the parlor, Katya drew her pistol from her hip.

“You’d better not be fooling around. I’m quite confident in my marksmanship.”

“Didn’t bring an empty gun with no gunpowder? You surprised us with a rubber arrowhead twelve years ago.”

No sooner had Ivan said this than Katya pulled the trigger.

BANG!

What whizzed past him slammed into the portrait of Count Petrozsky that hung behind him.

The gunpowder left a scorched mark on the count’s right ear.

“It’s real this time.”

Ivan whistled lazily, as if he could not grasp the situation or he had a corner to believe.

“You think I’m going to let you get away with it again? You’ll be crushed in my hands before the Grand Duke can crack your skull open.”

“I think I’d prefer to die at your hands than at the hands of the Grand Duke. I shudder to think of it.”

“Do you still have any sense left for bullshit?”

“Only because it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. If you hadn’t come to see me today, I would have blown your secret all over Padovangrad as soon as the sun came up tomorrow morning.”

Ivan chuckled and leaned forward.

“Does the Grand Duke know you can’t have children?”

“…….”

“Since you didn’t answer, I’m guessing you’re hiding it from the Grand Duke, too. If he found out, you wouldn’t be able to show your face, and you’d be disowned by the Grand Duke.”

He had been blackmailing her all along, using her infertility as leverage.

He was just actually lucky.

As soon as he landed in the South, he happened to see Katya on the street.

She looked around like she was up to something, and then she went into the doctor’s office.

Instead of following her in, he went into an alleyway and leaned his ear against the curtained office window.

He heard her instructing the doctor to destroy yesterday’s records.

After she left, Ivan went back inside to see the doctor, who had just opened the curtains to reveal the records deep in the bin he had collected for incineration.

Then, while the doctor went to deliver a prescription to the pharmacist on the second floor, he rummaged through the bins and found her medical records.

?The Smirnovs?

As soon as he saw Katya’s surname, Ivan was overjoyed.

He had managed to sneak out the medical records and was wondering how to use them to pick her out when Count Gregory asked him for help.

“Even if you divorce later, I don’t care, as long as you manage to seduce that hot-headed, Katarina and marry her. If you do that for me, I’ll reward you generously.”

Hearing those words, Ivan felt a mixture of excitement and pleasure.

His spirits soared at the thought of finally having Katya.

The fools of the South had been unaware of her true worth and had been reluctant to court her.

Then he thought.

‘I am her savior.’

He realized that he was the only one who could love a woman with a fatal flaw that prevented her from having children.

If she knew his true feelings, she would be moved to tears.

Just when he thought he had her in his grasp, she slipped through his fingers like a minnow.

Then she turned to the Grand Duke.

‘Bad girl. How much I love you. Why can’t you see my love for you?’

He grew resentful.

“Who would marry a woman who cannot bear an heir and make her a Grand Duchess?”

“…….”

“The Grand Duke will abandon you, but not me. My father is planning to pass on the family name and title to my brother, who is out of the house anyway, so I have no responsibility to succeed him. We can live happily ever after.”

“I don’t love you, how can we live a sweet life?”

“So all I need is for you to love me. Isn’t that simple?”

“You’ve been talking about yourself all along, just excreting your feelings, your desires, and what you want to say. Is this a conversation?”

The words enraged Ivan, and he slammed his fist down on the table.

“What’s so different about the Grand Duke? Is he really that great?”

“No, he’s different because he thinks about his listeners’ feelings.”

“Stop comparing me to that bastard! How could you be so snobbish? How could you sell your body and soul for power and money like all the other girls? Shouldn’t you have chosen a man like me who looks at you with sincerity?”

“Do you think power and money are the only things you have less than the Grand Duke? And what, sincerity?”

Katya cringed at the ridiculousness of it all.

Nikolai was a man beyond even simple comparison.

A man like Ivan didn’t even come close.

To put him on a par with Ivan just because he was asking her to marry him was an enormous disservice to Nikolai.

“And have you since forgotten your vow to give me up neatly if you don’t pass my test?”

“You underestimated me. Did you think I would just stay quiet? Did you think I would wish for your happiness while keeping your secrets forever? I can’t do that! If I can’t have you, then I’d rather we both fall into the abyss of despair together a hundred times over.”

“Yes, that’s you.”

This is more like Ivan.

It was out of character for him to be so desperate and profess his love.

Sitting here listening to his ramblings would make my head spin.

I didn’t want to waste any more time.

“What can I do to get you to drop the case? Tell me what you want.”

Katarina Smirnov’s future was in her hands, but Hersan’s law considered unmarried women immature and did not recognize them as full adults.

Therefore, her father was responsible for it.

In other words, the case against her was against her father, Pavtiski Smirnov.

Katya wanted to avoid putting him on trial at all costs.

It would be a stain on the honor of a man who had lived his entire life with integrity.

“What do you want? I’ll give you any amount of money.”

“All I want is…… for you to look back at me.”

Ivan wanted to put an end to this love affair that had been so painful because he couldn’t get her back.

“Katya, I love you, I’ve been in love with you since the first moment I saw you. Can’t you just once look at me with a smile on your face, with warmth in your eyes, like you look at that bastard?”

“Is that all I have to do?”

Katya tried to look as warm as she could, as if she would do anything, but Ivan, who had lost his wish power over nothing, waved his hand away.

“No! I want you to marry me and become the wife of this Ivan Petrozsky.”

“Wife?”

“Of course, I don’t want someone who’s only hanging on to me out of desperation. There are only three things men expect from their wives.”

Katya leaned back against the backrest with a curious expression and sat slightly tilted.

“Even if the husband strays, the wife looks at him with unwavering affection, a face that won’t lose to anyone’s beauty, and being obedient to the husband’s words. That’s all it takes.”

“Ha…….”

“Katya, you’re already beautiful, so you just need to love me and be a little submissive. I don’t expect you to be like other women. I can compromise on that. It’s not difficult, right?”

“This is all so ridiculous. You can cheat on your wife and she can’t?”

Katya considered for a moment whether she should just go ahead and shoot Ivan in the muzzle.

“Men and women are different. Men are naturally designed to be attracted to physical things. Even if they stray, it’s just their bodies that are affected, nothing more. But women, they give away not only their bodies but also their hearts. That’s the problem.”

“Can’t women also have casual affairs without any emotional involvement?”

“That’s even more unacceptable! Where do you see women playing around with their bodies carelessly? A woman’s body belongs to her husband. The husband is the owner of his wife.”

“I see. I see what you mean.”

Katya’s eyes narrowed in anger, then opened and stood up.

Ivan flinched involuntarily at the terrifying momentum, raising his arms in a defensive pose to cover his head.

When nothing happened, he slowly opened his eyes.

“Aren’t you going to shoot? Don’t you want revenge?”

Ivan lowered his arm while observing her.

“I don’t have the strength to fight with you anymore. I’ll do as you wish.”

“What?”

“Let’s get married. It seems impossible to separate from you. I’m exhausted too.”

“Are you really saying you’ll marry me?”

Ivan asked, his voice trembling with anticipation.

They say if you ask for it badly enough, the gods will grant it.

This was Ivan’s dream come true.

“But we have to make sure the Grand Duke doesn’t find out. If he finds out, he’ll kill you. We can’t do it grandly. We have to do it in secret, just the two of us, like a covenant ceremony.”

“I thought weddings were all frugal anyway!”

Actually, Ivan wasn’t frugal, he just couldn’t afford it.

“All we have to do is say our vows in front of a priest and it’s a marriage. That’s all.”

“Two days later, at dawn, we’ll get married in the third chapel of the Padovangrad City Cathedral. It’s a non-service day, so no one will be visiting the temple, and besides, the third chapel is under renovation, so it’ll be safer.”

“Okay, fine, let’s do it.”

“We’ll have the covenant ceremony and then run away and live without the Grand Duke knowing. We’ll register the marriage, send a letter, and my father will send the dowry.”

Katya was saying things that made Ivan wonder if she had plans all along.

Ivan thought he was dreaming and pinched himself hard on the cheek.

“Ouch!”

The tearful pain confirmed that it was real.

Katya was already proving to be an obedient and driven wife.

It had been worth it to tame the tomboy.

Victory had been won in this warlike love affair.

The spoils were the beautiful Katarina.

Soon I could make her my own.

Two days later, Ivan’s legs tingled as he imagined his first night with her.