My husband is the answer

“What are you guys doing tonight?”

Katya asked as they left the restaurant.

“I wanted to invite you to my place if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, sorry, I don’t think that’s possible tonight. There is a joint party with the Academy….”

The noble girls looked embarrassed at her suggestion.

Katya knew as well.

According to Viscountess Borodin’s statement, they were going to make a connection with the Despot Club around this time.

There was a reason she asked even though she knew everything.

“Well, nothing we can do about it. Don’t worry about it.”

Katya waved her hand with an awkward smile.

“I’ve just never been this far away from my family and friends before…. I wanted to spend the first day in a lively way.”

She dropped her head with a disappointed look on her innocent face.

The children didn’t know what to do with their kind and lovely teacher being upset.

“Teacher, would you like to come to the party with us then?”

The innocent fish took the bait.

“Oh no, that’s not necessary. It’ll just be students there, what would I do there?”

“No, graduates are coming too. And there will be many noblemen of your age there.”

“That’s right. Let’s go together, Teacher. It might even trigger jealousy in that man who hurts your heart.”

“Who knows, you might even meet a better man than him there.”

No way.

Katya was sure of it.

There was no man better than Nikolai in this world.

“But I don’t have an invitation….”

“Don’t worry about that! I’ll get one for you.”

“She’s a gatecrasher, so it won’t be difficult to get one more invitation.”

“So let’s go together, Teacher. Okay?”

The students linked arms on either side and pleaded with her, and Katya finally nodded as if she couldn’t resist.

“Okay. I hope I’m not a nuisance to you guys.”

“Of course not! Is there any party venue where a Boyanin can’t enter?”

Baron Lanzkoi was not a first-born, so his rank was low, but he was a boyanin and had been since birth.

The fictional character she created as his cousin, Alyona Lanzkoi, was naturally also a Boyanin.

As planned, Katya got the invitation she wanted.

Even without the help of the children, she could have easily obtained a party invitation using her maiden name, as she was also a Boyanin. But she didn’t prevent any possible tracking in advance.

As she walked through the hallway with the children, she turned her head at the gaze that she felt from afar. The commoner students quickly avoided her gaze and pretended to be busy. They also wanted to be close to the new teacher, but they couldn’t hang out with her outside the classroom. It was an unwritten rule that nobles and commoners stick together during class time.

Just as Katya was about to approach the commoner children, someone else approached them first. It was the leader of the commoner group.

“Hey kids, come with me for a bit.”

“Why?”

“The acting principal is calling for you.”

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you when we get there. Come on.”

She whispered, wary of her surroundings, and then she and her friends headed for the vice principal’s office.

Katya, with her sharp ears, sensed something was amiss when she heard the word ‘acting.’

She sent the noble students off to the staff room first, then stealthily followed the group of commoners.

As the door to the acting principal’s office closed, occasional exclamations of girls could be heard from inside. When the students finally came out, each of them held a package carefully in their arms. Katya hid behind the wall and could guess what kind of conversation had taken place inside.

“Oh my, you dropped this.”

The acting principal handed a flower brooch to the last student.

“You have to wear this. It’s a symbol that only we and they will recognize. If I say outright that you’re the ones I introduced, how jealous will the noble ladies be?”

“Thank you, Acting principal!”

The acting principal laughed and went back into her office as the happy children left.

To the children who were sulking because they were not invited to the party, the acting principal must have looked like a fairy grandmother. But that was not the case. The flower on the brooch was a blue rose. Blue roses were currently impossible to cultivate, so white rose leaves were painted blue.

Hence, its flower language is ‘impossible’, something that could not be achieved.

It was a symbol that clearly intended to ridicule the commoner children who were invited to the party.

Katya clenched her fists in anger towards the heartless people who were hurting the girls’ feelings.

* * *

“No, it’s not possible.”

Nikolai said with a frown as he sat next to her.

When Katya finished work and got on the carriage, he was waiting inside.

Even though it was a short distance, he came out to pick her up because he was worried about his wife.

“Why are you so sure it won’t work without even listening to me?”

“We agreed to lure those who approach the children at the party outside and catch them. We have to stick to the original plan.”

“We’re not sure if all the Despot Club members will come to the party tonight. We have to catch them all at once so they can’t escape. So we have to go inside enemy lines.”

“Okay, fine. But why do you have to be the bait?”

Nikolai’s eyes, which always curved when he looked at Katya, were quite stern today.

But she didn’t seem to be willing to compromise either.

As they faced each other with tense eyes, Katya spoke up.

“Where else can you find a suitable candidate like me? I’m a teacher in training, so it’s easy to deceive people by pretending to be a student, and I’m also pretty, so those club members will be attracted to me.”

“I’m getting angry because I can’t refute your argument. What if there are people among the nobles in the south who recognize you?”

“I rarely cross paths with men who attend social events like this. Most of them are graduates of Archetia Royal Academy, not Hersen Academy.”

Archetia Royal Academy was a place where funding from all over the world flowed in, so its graduates had long been highly regarded in the marriage market.

In addition, because Duke Smirnov was well-connected, his two daughters’ marriages had given her access to information about southern men of marriageable age.

As a result, Katya picked up a few things from her father.

“I hate events like this so much that I rarely attend them, and even when I do go, I leave quickly after a short while.”

“If they see you in that party dress, I want to erase that memory from their heads completely.”

He seemed like he would even rip out his own brain if erasing memories of Katya was impossible.

“What? You suddenly get angry at that point? It hasn’t even been 30 minutes yet.”

“Whether it’s 3 minutes or 30 minutes or 3 hours, my jealousy is the same.”

His blue eyes momentarily flickered with jealousy and madness.

Katya tried to calm her husband, who kept getting distracted, like a child, and began to persuade him again.

“I only have my eyes for the Grand Duke. Anyway! I’m excellent at adapting to situations, and I’ve learned from the Grand Duke, so I can handle dangerous situations if they arise.”

“That’s why I can’t send you into that dangerous situation.”

“That’s why the Grand Duke just needs to keep his eyes on me and follow me wherever I go to protect me.”

Nikolai finally sighed as he looked up at his wife with a fervent gaze full of trust.

“If it’s not possible, we’ll go secretly, okay?”

“Of course you know me too well. I’ll give you a Ph.D. in Katarina Analysis.”

“Sure. If there’s such a thing, of course I’ll get it.”

He laughed at his wife’s joke, feeling a little relieved.

Meanwhile, the carriage in which they were traveling suddenly came to a stop.

Thinking they had arrived, Katya looked out the window and saw that they hadn’t yet reached their destination.

Boris, who had been following with the knights, dismounted, assessed the situation, then returned and knocked on the carriage window.

“What’s going on?”

“There seems to be a rear-end collision ahead. The parties involved seem to be having an argument, so it might take a while.”

Katya interjected.

“Grand Duke, shall we walk there?”

“What?”

“We’ve come almost all the way here. Let’s walk. It’s stuffy being cooped up inside anyway.”

Nikolai, who was hesitant about something, finally came out of the carriage at Katya’s suggestion.

As they walked side by side towards the hotel, he gradually slowed down and watched her back.

His gait was definitely strange.

“Why aren’t you coming, Grand Duke?”

As the distance between them grew wider, Katya finally noticed and turned around to ask.

“I knew this would happen.”

“What do you mean?”

Nikolai silently sat her down on a nearby bench and took off his shoes.

When he grabbed her bare feet wriggling around, a blister was visible on the back of her heel.

“We should capture and kill all those who make trash like this, claiming to be craftsmen but only focusing on beauty.”

“Aw, come on. What can you do, they’re new shoes.”

Katya replied with a smile.

Katya was already tall, and she didn’t usually wear high-heeled shoes, so she bought new ones for this play on purpose.

She tried to hide her bare feet under her skirt, looking embarrassed, but Nikolai grabbed her foot again and took something out of his bag.

It was a low-heeled shoe that she had never seen before, with a smooth front and a curved back.

“Why do the shoes look like this?”

“I asked the cobbler to use a wooden hammer to soften the back until it was pliable.”

Nikolai put a soft cloth on her heel and put on the shoes.

Her feet were definitely more comfortable than before.

“I’ll give you a choice.”

Nikolai said abruptly.

“Either you lift your skirt or you hug me.”

“Can’t we just walk without doing either?”

“You already know the answer.”

He sat down in front of Katya, showing his broad back.

“It’s probably embarrassing to hug, so why don’t I carry you on my back instead?”

The answer was already decided before he asked.