The Villain’S Daughter-In-Law Is Inherently Powerful [EN]: Chapter 143

“I wore it when doing a ‘job’ to see if it really helps. That’s all.”

“……”

“It turned out to be more useful than I thought. Now all the Joker members wear them.”

Ian said something scary so casually.

The moment the word ‘job’ came out, I understood everything and decided not to ask any further.

If he proved that the bulletproof vest helps with his own body… Yeah. Everyone would want to wear it.

The fact that Ian is still alive and unharmed proves the usefulness of the bulletproof vest.

“It’s called a bulletproof vest, but it also prevents bites from swords or sharp teeth to some extent. The purpose is to avoid fatal injuries.”

“It seems like a very useful piece of clothing.”

“Right?”

“Besides, this factory is very clean.”

Everything is well-organized, and there is no dust. The faces of the people working here don’t look strained either.

Is this what the faces of people receiving generous salaries look like?

“The people look good, don’t they?”

“Yeah, everyone looks energetic. Some are even singing. They must enjoy working.”

Ian leaned against the glass window, looked at me, and his eyes crinkled at the corners. Then he reached out and sweetly caressed my lips.

“It’s not much, but there’s also a cafeteria. We provide free breakfast and lunch to the workers. Of course, the people working there are the women from this village.”

“Does Ian pay them?”

“That’s right. As you saw earlier, the children who aren’t adults do farm work. If they wanted to study, they would have stayed in the orphanage, but the kids I brought here all like physical work.”

“What if they want to study later…?”

“There’s a way for that too.”

Ian’s thumb gently stroked my lips. My heart raced again, and I blushed and slightly avoided his gaze.

“By the way, what kind of factories are there in other villages besides this one?”

“Paper mill. They make paper. Some of them are special papers that are useful for the Joker… those are secretly sold to the nobles. At a high price.”

Ian slowly took his hand off my lips as if he was reluctant and took out a rolled-up piece of paper from his jacket.

It was black, unlike ordinary paper.

“If you write on this with black ink, you won’t be able to see anything.”

“Yeah, that’s the purpose.”

Ian chuckled and put the paper back in.

“I’ve saved up some money from selling various things. I’m going to build schools in each village with that.”

“Ah, the method you mentioned earlier…?”

“Money to build schools, money to buy materials, money to bring in good teachers and have them live in the village. I have to do it all with my own money, so it takes a while.”

If it were Dante, he would have gotten the money as soon as he told his family.

But not Ian. He knew it would be difficult to do anything, so he just didn’t bring it up.

Plus, he wouldn’t want them to find out what he was producing in the factory.

This is Ian’s secret weapon.

I bit my lip, feeling like I could grasp Ian’s heart.

‘If Ian were given more power and capital….’

How amazing could Ian be with that?

He’s already made something like this and accomplished something even with little support.

“Oh, are you praising me for doing a good job?”

“……Yeah.”

I hugged Ian and patted his back. It wasn’t something I did after thinking about it, but my body moved naturally.

Ian is older than me, but I still felt he was admirable and wonderful. He is so cool.

“……I like things like this, but I prefer other rewards.”

Ian smiled and looked down at me, gently grabbing my hand and pulling it. Then, he deliberately made a kissing sound on each of my knuckles.

I couldn’t not know what his intention was, and my heart sank.

“Huh? Baby. Adults should receive adult praise.”

Ian coaxed me gently.

He acted seductively as if to blow away any hesitation.

This side of him is so adult-like that I get caught up every time.

‘The biggest problem is that I don’t hate it….’

After hesitating, I finally closed my eyes and lifted my feet slightly. Then slowly… really slowly… I kissed Ian on the cheek.

I still didn’t have the confidence to do it on the lips.

“Oh, my.”

A cheek kiss was so exciting that I immediately moved away from Ian.

Ian, who uttered something that I didn’t know if it was an exclamation or a sigh, just watched me run away, covering his mouth.

“Our baby. I wonder when she’ll grow up.”

“I, I’m all grown up, you know?”

“Then you have to give a kiss on the lips as a compliment.”

“That’s… that’s….”

Has Ian’s golden eyes ever sunk this low?

There were many times when I couldn’t face Ian, but this was the worst.

Ian, who was watching me twist my body around, not knowing where to put my eyes, soon covered his mouth and half collapsed.

His left hand holding the window frame was trembling, as if he was trying hard to hold back a laugh.

“A-Am I funny?!”

I felt like a fool for being so nervous, so I shouted like that, and Ian shook his head with a face that anyone could see was gritting his teeth and holding back a laugh.

“No. Not at all.”

“Fine! I’m not talking to Ian!”

Too much. Teasing people like this.

As I turned around, huffing and puffing, Ian gently grabbed the end of my sleeve. I couldn’t shake it off again and just stood still.

Strangely, my stomach felt tingly.

I wiggled my toes, feeling like the tips of my feet were freezing.

“That’s all I wanted to show you. Shall we go do something fun now?”

“Something fun, like what….”

“Let’s go see the sea, Florin.”

Ah, I can’t beat Ian no matter what.

Ian seemed so relaxed on his own that I felt sulky for no reason, but the truth was that I was relying on his composure.

‘If Ian hadn’t suggested going on a trip, I wouldn’t have moved an inch from where I was.’

Sometimes people need to escape from a painful space.

If you change your environment, all your worries suddenly seem smaller.

But people who are already deeply immersed in suffering find it difficult to escape on their own.

If someone doesn’t hold their hand and pull them out, they will struggle alone like being caught in a spider web and get even more entangled.

I stared blankly at Ian’s back, who was already holding my hand and leading me.

It felt like there was light in the place where Ian was taking me.

The salty smell of the sea and its wide, blue water were already flickering before my eyes.

‘I’m looking forward to it.’

What will Ian look like as the head of the family?

‘So….’

I was planning to find out everything he was planning and hiding on this trip.

* * *

The next day, surprisingly, I arrived at the beach before sunset.

‘Actually, when Ian said let’s go to the beach, I expected it would take a long time just to get there.’

But when I actually arrived, it didn’t take as long as I thought.

That means this is near the capital… I didn’t know there was a sea like this near the capital!

“I didn’t know there was such a good place near the capital!”

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah, a lot!”

The sea here was very calm.

It felt like it would be really nice to watch the sea while listening to piano music.

The sand on the beach wasn’t white, and there was a lot of seaweed washed up here and there, but still, the sea is the sea.

Since it’s near the capital, some of the nobles must have thought about building a villa here… why is there nothing on this beach?

“Actually, this is also my village, Florin. Originally, all kinds of garbage washed up here and formed a mountain of garbage.”

“There was that much garbage on this clean beach?!”

“Yeah. So, no one came here for vacation even though it’s a beach. On the map… it’s here.”

Ian opened a portable map in front of me and pointed out the location.

Not far from the capital, there was a terrain where the sea was deeply recessed into the land.

It was a terrain that was perfect for garbage to wash up on….

“The location is good, but the reason no one touched it was probably because they couldn’t handle cleaning up the garbage.”

“That’s right. This wasn’t something I received from the family exceptionally, but something I bought. It was originally owned by a count, but he was troubled by debts from doing business, so I bought it at a low price.”

Since there is only a clean sea in front of me now, I could only imagine what it looked like before.

But it certainly wouldn’t have been easy.

It was like Ian, who couldn’t get anything easily.

It must be a talent to pick out areas that others don’t touch, polish them until they shine, and make them look plausible.

“There’s a house inside. If you turn here like this….”

I was glad that Ian had prepared low-heeled shoes in the carriage.

No matter how much Ian holds me, I’ve never walked on rocks before, so it’s a bit difficult to balance.

“Here we are.”

After a while.

I was so surprised by the sight in front of me that I opened my mouth.

At the end of what Ian was pointing at was a cape, a protruding terrain. And on top of that… there was a small and pretty house built like a white seashell.

“Wow, what is this?”

“Just, I wanted to live here. Even if it’s just for one day….”

“…….”

“Like an ordinary couple.”