Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 9

Revenge Has Interest 10 (9/200)

10. How dare you touch my woman?

August 10, 2023

The reactions were as expected. However, Terrence was a bit different. He nodded indifferently, seemingly agreeing with Grace’s answer.

“Not… exactly. I only learned it when I was very young.”

“Wow!”

Pauline put down the teapot and clapped her hands.

‘If Grace improved this much every time she was sick, it wouldn’t be so bad,’ she thought.

“I also need a dictionary. There are many words I don’t know.”

‘I understood almost everything. It’s just that two or three words were difficult,’ Grace mused.

“He sends five camels as a gift.”

Terrence tapped his forehead with his finger, looking troubled.

“Isn’t refusing the Sultan’s gift a great discourtesy?”

James said with concern.

“Yes, in their culture, it’s a very significant gift. If you refuse, they might never see you again.”

It wasn’t good to be on bad terms with Turkiye [modern-day Turkey], and you never knew when or where a war might break out. They had received a lot of help from Turkiye during the war with Wales.

“Can camels even live in Lubeck?”

Pauline tilted her head and asked.

They would complain if they were killed, and Terrence wasn’t sure if camels could be privately owned in Lubeck, which had cold winters.

“I have an idea.”

Leah cautiously spoke up, and all eyes turned to her.

“Write a polite reply.”

“That’s it?”

Pauline looked disappointed with Leah’s ordinary answer. Terrence and James felt the same.

“A polite reply is essential.”

Terrence took another sip of his tea, as if there was nothing more to expect.

“What if we ask them to send camel hair instead of camels?”

The scattered attention refocused on Leah.

“Camel hair? What would we use it for?”

Terrence showed his doubt.

“We can just receive it and throw it away, can’t we?”

James agreed, saying it was a good idea.

Still, Terrence was curious about Grace’s intentions. He wondered what she was thinking and how much more she would surprise people.

“Camel hair is used to make a fabric called camel hair. Soft down is collected from camels that shed in the spring, and it can be blended with wool to make fabric. It’s a very high-end product.”

“Well, Rebon has many textile factories, so it would be easy to use that hair.”

“Good idea, Grace, Pauline.”

Terrence praised the two of them. Leah was amazed by the situation.

In Galdenia, servants couldn’t even speak when nobles were conversing. However, the Duke’s residence seemed to have a more open atmosphere than other noble families.

“Coats or cloaks made from that fabric can be sold at a high price.”

Terrence was surprised by Grace again this time. He was so confused that he wondered if she was the same Grace he knew.

But if it wasn’t Grace, then who else could it be? Denying it was even more far-fetched.

“It would be good to proceed as Grace says.”

Terrence respected her wishes. No, if he could, he would even have her write a reply to the Sultan of Turkiye.

“Duke Courtois, would it be alright if Pauline and I went to the city tomorrow? I need to go to the bookstore and see if they have a Turkish dictionary.”

“You may, but!”

“Yes?”

“Go with me instead of Pauline.”

Everyone was surprised by Terrence’s suggestion. Especially Pauline and James reacted the most. It was astonishing whether he was Terrence, who had never been moved by anything.

‘As the young lady changes, so does the Duke. Why are they both like this?’ James wondered.

To be more frank, it seemed like the situation had reversed.

The Grace who was hung up on Terrence was gone. Instead, Terrence was actively approaching Grace.

‘Wherever you go, however you change, it’s good if you two are doing well,’ Pauline thought.

Pauline smiled contentedly as she watched the two of them.

* * *

Leah came to the bookstore in the city with Terrence the next day.

‘It’s better this way. I need to get closer to the Duke anyway,’ she thought.

Fortunately, the bookstore had a Turkish dictionary, so the purpose of going to the city was quickly resolved. The two of them went to a nearby cafe for coffee with light hearts.

The blue awning, white arched windows, and rustic wooden tables and chairs created a very exotic atmosphere.

Leah was so engrossed in the dictionary that she didn’t even touch the warm coffee in front of her.

Terrence watched her leisurely with his arms propped up.

The sunlight shining through the window touched her blonde hair, making it seem as if she was emitting light from her body.

The stray hairs flowing down her beautiful jawline and her pink lips. Even the small, slender fingers carefully turning the pages. It was like a painting.

Especially the eyes that were glimpsed between her thick eyelashes shone particularly clearly today. A subtle feeling arose when her plump chest heaved with every breath, like a small bird.

Then Leah looked up and saw Terrence.

“Duke Courtois, what should I do?”

Leah’s face was flushed.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“The dictionary isn’t new. Um, I think I brought the wrong one. There was definitely a new one at the bookstore.”

“We should exchange it, then.”

“I’ll go quickly.”

“Just stay here. I’ll go.”

Terrence took the dictionary and left the cafe. Leah watched him disappear through the window before picking up her cold coffee cup.

‘Making such a ridiculous mistake,’ she chided herself.

She had unnecessarily bothered Terrence. Just then, the cafe door opened and customers came in.

Leah raised her head towards the door, thinking Terrence had come back so quickly, but it wasn’t him.

‘It’ll take at least ten minutes to get there,’ she estimated.

‘Then I should think about the contents of the letter until Terrence comes back,’ she decided.

Since it was a letter to the Sultan of Turkiye, she had to be careful to use 고급 [high-class/formal] words to show respect.

However, she soon realized that things in the world don’t always go as she intends.

“Hello?”

A strange man approached Leah and spoke to her. They were two of the customers who had come in a little while ago. They sat across from Leah without permission.

“Who are you?”

“I wanted to say hello because there was a beautiful lady here.”

“We are definitely not suspicious people. We are students at the Imperial University.”

The two men had fallen in love at first sight with Leah as soon as they entered the cafe. Even though they had been to the city countless times, it had been a long time since they had seen a woman beautiful enough to catch their attention at once.

“I’m sorry, I’m waiting for someone.”

Leah refused firmly.

She didn’t want to idly chat with strange men. Furthermore, she realized how beautiful Grace was.

To be honest, she had never experienced this when she was living as Leah Hamilton. It wasn’t that she was dissatisfied with her appearance or lacked confidence.

‘It’s uncomfortable even if you’re pretty,’ she realized.

Come to think of it, Allen, who had looked at her at the funeral, was no different from these men. He showed genuine favor, not the fake praise he had shown to Leah Hamilton.

‘I didn’t even know it was flattery and was fooled like an idiot,’ she thought, a wave of bitterness washing over her.

Leah’s chest swelled with resentment as she thought of Allen.

She usually considered herself to be quite smart. However, she too was eventually blinded by her own emotions and failed to see the truth.

One-sided love can paralyze reason and cloud judgment. Leah realized that truth too late.

“Let’s talk until your companion comes.”

“We’ll make it fun.”

The men clung to her persistently, and Leah stood up.

“Then goodbye.”

It was wise not to engage in such situations. Even giving a little leeway would annoy people.

Leah left the cafe and headed to the bookstore to find Terrence. Even in the midst of all this, she kept vowing to herself.

‘I’ll never love again. There is no love in my life,’ she resolved.

She hurried her steps. But soon, she was blocked from the front and back. The men who had chased her out of the cafe blocked Leah.

“If you’re students at the Imperial University, you should act like gentlemen.”

“We really just want to exchange a few words.”

“What can we do? We fell in love at first sight.”

Leah scoffed at their words.

‘Bullshit!’

She almost cursed because she was disgusted by their ridiculous talk of love.

Leah pretended to go to the right, then quickly moved to the left and ran forward without looking back.

She didn’t want to chat with them about love or anything like that for even a single second.

But she had run too much, and although she had shaken off the men, she had come to an unfamiliar street. To make matters worse, she had left her handbag at the cafe in her haste.

Leah felt lost, with not a single coin in her possession.

It would be dark soon, and it was very dangerous for a woman to walk the streets alone.

‘I can go to the bookstore,’ she told herself.

Leah calmed herself as much as possible, retraced her steps, and fortunately arrived at the bookstore without much difficulty.

However, no matter how much she looked around inside the bookstore, she couldn’t see Terrence. It seemed he had already exchanged the book and gone to the cafe.

‘Should I go back to the cafe?’

But she might meet them again on the way, and all sorts of complicated thoughts tormented her.

* * *

Terrence exchanged the book and hurried back to the cafe. But when he arrived, Grace wasn’t there.

Looking at the coffee cup, she had barely drunk any. Just then, he heard strange words.

“It’s such a waste. To think there’s such a beauty in Rebon.”

“I know, right? We missed her right in front of our eyes.”

“If we were going to regret it this much, we should have just grabbed her and not let her go. I didn’t know she would run away so quickly like a squirrel.”

“I think so too. We should have grabbed her and at least found out her name. Since she refused, I feel more and more desperate.”

“Shall we open her handbag? Let’s see if there’s anything that could be a clue.”

Just as the two men were about to open Grace’s handbag, the bag disappeared before their eyes. Soon, their gazes turned to a man wearing black clothes.

“Did you steal the handbag?”

“No, that’s definitely not it. A young lady left it behind, so we were going to find her….”

They shook their heads, denying Terrence’s question. But Terrence’s face twisted even more severely.

“How dare you touch my woman?”

“Your woman? Uh… That… I’m sorry.”

Only then did they seem to understand the situation and apologize.

“There’s no need to apologize. We can start with hitting you first.”

Terrence said, roughly untying his tie.