Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 58

Jealous Duke (58/200)

2023.09.27.

Paul and Tom stopped sewing when they saw Terrence suddenly appear.

They stood up awkwardly and bowed politely to Terrence.

“Keep working. I just couldn’t sleep.”

Terrence smiled awkwardly as he came in and sat on the sofa.

“I just came to see if the work is going well.”

That wasn’t it. Leah immediately recognized the barely suppressed annoyance on Terrence’s face.

He should have just gotten some sleep, but Paul and Tom’s flustered and nervous reactions to his arrival were a problem.

“Ahem! I’m tired, so I should go now. Paul and Tom, you should stop here for today too. There’s always tomorrow.”

Leah thought she should wrap up the work for the day.

“Miss, please go ahead. We’ll just clean up and finish.”

“Really? Don’t stay too long.”

“Understood.”

Leah said goodbye to the two men and then spoke kindly to Terrence.

“Terrence, you’re going to stay here, right? I’m tired, so I’ll go first.”

“Huh? I…….”

Before he could answer, Leah left the workshop. Soon after, Terrence said, as if he had been waiting for the opportunity, “Suddenly, I feel exhausted.”

Leah walked briskly to his bedroom, then ran hastily when she heard footsteps chasing her from behind.

Terrence also sped up, and Leah, who entered the bedroom first, quickly got into bed.

Then what… As expected, Terrence came in, breathing heavily, and threw off the blanket roughly, scolding her.

“How could you leave me alone and go out? Shouldn’t you stay with me?”

“I thought you wanted to sleep comfortably.”

“Do you even know how many trivial things I had to fight to get that sewing machine or whatever it is?”

“I know. I appreciate it, Terrence.”

“How can someone who knows that not even bear to stay by my side?”

Terrence wasn’t so much angry as he was overwhelmed with sadness.

When he was young, he would wake up from naps and find no one around him. That silence was frightening and sad to his young heart.

Nannies took good care of him in place of his mother, who had passed away early, but he inevitably felt lonely.

He felt the same way just thirty minutes ago.

When he woke up from a short nap and saw that he was left alone, he was upset and sad.

He even felt resentful towards Leah for leaving him alone.

“Why are you acting like a baby?”

“What…? A baby?”

Terrence asked back, dumbfounded. He just wanted some consideration, but she thought he was whining like a child.

“Did I ask you for milk?”

He said seriously.

‘It would be nice if you did…….’

“Pardon?”

Leah was startled.

“Or did I ask you to change my diaper?”

“No, that’s…….”

“I just wanted you to be by my side. I don’t think I was acting like a baby.”

Only then did Leah realize her mistake.

It was her fault for assuming that he would understand because he was an adult, a man, and more mature than his peers. Especially since Terrence was someone who craved affection.

“I was wrong. Please, forgive me.”

Leah quickly lay down on the bed and patted the spot next to her, inviting him to stop nagging and come to bed.

“I’ll sing a lullaby to our big baby, so hurry up and lie down.”

“This woman, really!”

Terrence was about to get even more angry, but he chuckled at her smiling face and lay down beside her.

As always, he held her in his arms.

Leah sang a lullaby to stop him from nagging any more.

“!?”

Terrence was surprised by Leah’s lullaby. He didn’t know she could sing so well.

Her voice was very clear, like a gentle breeze blowing by the lake on a warm spring day, it tickled people’s hearts.

At first, he listened because he was amazed that she was singing, but soon he became sleepy, as if a fairy had cast a spell.

Leah breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Terrence finally fall asleep.

‘I was too harsh.’

Leah also regretted it. She should have paid more attention to him and stayed by his side.

He, who didn’t express his feelings well, had now changed enough to reveal his inner thoughts to her.

At first, he seemed like an impenetrable fortress. Only now was he showing his human side in front of her.

Leah stroked his face repeatedly and then ran her fingers through his hair so he could sleep deeply.

She remembered how she used to fall asleep when someone stroked her hair like this when she was very young.

* * *

The sewing machine continued to run non-stop the next day.

Leah watched the process of the clothes being made next to Paul and Tom.

“How can the stitches be so evenly spaced?”

The more she looked, the more amazing it was. Leah couldn’t help but admire their sewing skills. No wonder the craftsmen were protesting.

But the change of the times cannot be stopped. Soon, sewing machines will become commonplace.

Just then, Pauline and Chenel came to the workshop.

“Miss, is it going well?”

“Yes. I think we’ll finish everything today.”

“That’s a relief.”

Pauline and Chenel were also very surprised to see the clothes made with the sewing machine.

“We’re going to the workshop. The employees we hired recently will already be there working.”

“You should.”

At Pauline’s words, an idea flashed through Leah’s mind.

She wondered if Paul and Tom could work together at Chenel’s lace workshop.

After all, they would continue to receive orders for riding clothes. Leah told the four people her opinion.

“We’re happy to, Miss.”

Paul and Tom readily agreed.

But Pauline blushed, as if she was embarrassed to work with men.

Chenel, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care much.

“Miss, Sonia and Adolf might not like it.”

Pauline was worried about the two people’s opposition.

“I’ll take care of that.”

Leah had a separate plan.

Soon the two left for the workshop, and Leah accelerated the work of making riding clothes. But the dreaded thing happened.

Terrence appeared in the workshop. Luke was standing next to him with a bundle of documents.

“Terrence, why aren’t you in the office?”

Paul and Tom, who were concentrating on their work, were uncomfortable.

As expected, not only Terrence but also Luke appeared, and the two stopped sewing and stood up with their hands politely clasped.

“I was worried. I can’t concentrate on my work.”

“Yes?”

‘What is this ridiculous nonsense?’

Leah knew Terrence’s obvious intentions too well.

“You guys just focus on your work. I have to work, so you don’t have to worry about me at all.”

“Understood, Duke.”

Paul and Tom started working again, and Terrence took a seat on the sofa.

Luke gave him the documents, and Terrence reviewed and signed them, but even in the process, his eyes were fixed on Leah.

He didn’t plan to work here in the first place. When he sat at his desk in the office, the workshop bothered him.

He knew very well that the three of them were working hard, but he felt somehow alienated.

Besides, the thought of Leah occasionally sticking close to Paul and Tom and smiling at them face to face disturbed his mind.

Of course, he couldn’t reveal these childish feelings, so in the end, he came here with a clumsy excuse.

“Oh my! You can engrave the crest so easily?”

Leah was amazed at how Tom was intricately engraving the imperial crest on the jacket.

“I want to try it too.”

“I’ll teach you next time, Miss.”

The sound of Leah and Tom laughing was followed by a loud bang from the table.

Leah reflexively turned her head.

“Luke, you have to put the documents down gently. You’re disturbing our work.”

“Yes? Me?”

Terrence and Luke bickered, or rather, Terrence was unilaterally annoyed.

Leah immediately sat next to Terrence, and only then did his face brighten.

‘What am I going to do with our jealous Duke?’

She sighed inwardly, but it was also fun in its own way. But when Leah sat next to Terrence, his attitude changed.

“Luke, take care of it yourself.”

Terrence put his hands together with Leah and pushed all the work to Luke. Then Terrence whispered subtly in Leah’s ear.

“You haven’t done it yet, have you?”

“What?”

Terrence beckoned Luke, and he handed over a paper with grapes drawn on it.

“You have to sign it, Leah.”

“Ah……! I forgot.”

Leah was surprised that the grapes were already filled with many signatures. Soon she would be with him… Just imagining it made her embarrassed.

“Should I do ten?”

At her question, Terrence frowned and began to tell a grand story about how hard he had worked to get the sewing machine.

“Then, twelve?”

“Twenty.”

“That’s too many. Terrence is putting me in jail… Mmph!”

Just as Leah was about to retort, his finger pressed down on her lips. Terrence didn’t seem to want the fact that he had imprisoned Leah to be widely known.

“Let’s agree on fifteen.”

Even a truce negotiation wouldn’t be this grand.

Leah signed fifteen grapes, and Terrence had a very satisfied expression. Just then, James came.

“Duke, we have a call from the hospital.”

At James’s report, Terrence, who had been smiling like an innocent boy, quickly returned to reality.

He stood up with a cold face. It seemed that Anna, who had torn the riding clothes and wielded a knife at Leah, had woken up.

“I’ll be back in a bit, Leah.”

“Yes.”

Terrence and Luke followed James out of the workshop.

Leah waited for them to disappear and then followed them after a time lag.

‘Who ordered Anna to damage the riding clothes?’

Leah walked as quietly as possible so that her footsteps would not be heard. Soon, she heard the voices of three men talking at the end of the hallway by the stairs.

“Allen McDowell ordered her to do it.”

“I knew it.”

“Anna is very regretful. She is asking for your mercy, Duke.”

“Mercy? There is no such thing. Leah almost died. Handle it according to the law.”

At Terrence’s words, Luke asked.

“Do we reveal the fact that Allen McDowell is behind it?”

In order to punish Anna, the police will interrogate the whole story of the incident.

“No, it must not be revealed. Not now.”