Savior’s First Lady

Between Eden and me, there were pieces of pound cake and teacups.

When Eden didn’t eat, I picked up my fork first. I couldn’t resist my curiosity about the taste.

‘Oh my, it’s delicious.’

Although the top of the cake had risen into an unsightly yellow color because I brushed the butter incorrectly at the end, the taste was impeccable. It was just like the ones I made when I was Yun Si-hyun.

After rinsing my mouth with tea and eating again, I felt like I could eat several pieces.

“Lord Eden? Try some, Lord Eden……?”

Eden was silently eating the cake.

He even picked up the last piece with his hand and lightly licked his thumb.

He seemed to be savoring the taste seriously.

At the same time, Eden’s chest rose and fell slightly. This person was enjoying my bread.

I was truly shocked by that fact.

“Lord Eden, do you actually like sweets?”

Eden didn’t answer. I realized that was a ‘yes.’ I felt like sighing.

‘This is it! This is it!’

Who knew winning Eden’s favor could be so easy. This man likes sweets.

“……It was delicious. Very.”

“I’ll bake a new cake tomorrow. I plan to bake diligently for a while.”

Eden gave a faint semblance of a smile.

“But let’s leave it until today. My wife doesn’t need to do housework. We’ll hire a new housekeeper.”

“But……”

“Make sure the new housekeeper works full-time. If necessary, I’ll hire a separate cook.”

My eyebrows lowered.

“But you enjoyed the bread.”

“You said it yourself. Don’t you remember?”

“What……?”

“You promised to help me discover your other strengths.”

Ah, right. I did say that. It was right after the healer visited.

I said I would help him find other strengths besides having a strong skull.

“That’s right……”

“I’ve found it now, and that’s enough. You are versatile and clever.”

“But I like baking. And I want to try doing housework myself.”

“Everyone has their own place, Bryn.”

Eden called my name firmly.

“Your job is to manage this household by overseeing the housekeeper. You don’t need to clean the floors yourself. Supporting you wasn’t meant for such a purpose……”

“I want to be good at housework.”

“Bryn, don’t push yourself to be a good wife. You won’t get any recognition for it.”

My cheeks turned red like a beet. Did Eden think I was forcing myself to do housework to get his attention?

“I have two reasons for saying this, Lord Eden. One is logical, and the other will anger you. Which reason would you like to hear first?”

I raised my head and looked Eden straight in the eyes. He gazed at me expressionlessly, like an ice prince once again.

“Tell me the reason that won’t make me angry first.”

I nodded.

“First, I’m not trying to do housework to show off. I want to do it well now to manage people better later. If the employer is an idiot who can’t even distinguish between sugar and salt, no one will follow them. No matter how much money you throw at people, they will look down on you. You can delegate tasks more effectively when you thoroughly understand the work yourself. If you were a holy knight who couldn’t even hold a sword properly, would the juniors respect you?”

“……”

“You need to be top-notch at anything to lead others well. So I want to do housework myself until I’m good at it.”

“What happened with Mrs. Malta?”

“She thought I was a naive little fool. Don’t worry, I fired her.”

I shrugged.

“Well, up to this point, I find you commendable. Now, what’s the reason that will anger me?”

Oops.

Now I have to talk about my loan shark debt.

‘Did I speak too confidently?’

But it was too late to grovel now.

‘Oh well, let’s just boldly say I’ll pay it back somehow.’

I lifted my chin and said.

“The second reason… the second reason… Please promise not to get too angry. If you can’t help but feel extremely angry, for example, if you feel like throwing something, please promise to throw it towards the door, not at me.”

“What do you take me for? Do I look like such a person?”

Eden looked incredulous.

No, seriously, you’re about to hear something that will make you really angry.

I spoke softly.

“The truth is… all of the living expenses for the year are gone. I barely have any money left now. That’s why I want to save the money for hiring a housekeeper by doing the work myself. I want to repay a little of the debt.”

I felt a pang after saying that. Talking grandly about my ambitions for housework and then saying this makes the earlier talk seem hypocritical.

‘Isn’t he really going to get angry? What if he thinks I’m playing with him?’

That’s not it.

I didn’t want Eden to misunderstand that I was forcing myself to do unpleasant housework to win his favor.

‘What if he becomes as cold as he was in my dream?’

I was bracing myself for Eden to suddenly erupt in anger or to despise me.

However, Eden’s expression barely changed. He looked at me dryly and made a small nod.

“Why, when, and for what reason? Explain everything.”

“So, there was a bit of a loan shark debt in my name. It was a small interest debt my father couldn’t settle before he passed away.”

I explained the situation honestly.

How the loan shark had kidnapped and threatened me in the marketplace. How I was tied to a chair and pressed for answers.

“They did threaten me a bit… but… once I gave them the money, they left unexpectedly quietly. Really, nothing else happened. I swear.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

Alright, now Eden really seemed angry. He was holding back his fury.

“What was the name of that person?”

“A loan shark named Burke.”

“Of all people, it had to be Burke?”

“Have you heard of him?”

“He’s notorious even among the police officers. So, is that the end of the debt? He’s not the kind to just clear a debt so easily.”

“I received a receipt.”

I showed him the receipt I had prepared in advance.

A total of 1600 gold coins.

It was a certificate that I had paid this amount and cleared all the debt and interest.

“Burke doesn’t seem like the type to issue a receipt so easily.”

“Of course, that scoundrel initially refused to give me a receipt. I argued with him until the end, saying I wouldn’t let it go if he didn’t give me one. During the process…”

My voice dwindled.

“I might have used Lord Eden’s name. I said things like, isn’t he afraid of my husband? Just a little… a little bit. I’m sorry about that, too…”

This is bad. Judging by his expression, Eden seemed to have reached the limit of his patience.

“Do you realize what you did wrong?”

Eden spoke in clipped tones.

“Wasting money?”

“That’s not even the issue.”

“Not reporting it to the police…?”

“That was wrong, but it’s not the biggest mistake.”

“What is it… then?”

“You could have faced a bigger problem by provoking and defying them. You could have been killed by those bastards. And you hid that from me?”

“It was such a huge amount of money that it wasn’t easy to talk about. I imagined that I might be kicked out for causing such trouble right after our wedding.”

Moreover, I was ashamed of being dragged by those people. I was worried Eden would misunderstand. That’s how I felt until recently.

“Did you forget that I can’t annul our marriage?”

But we could still divorce someday…

I swallowed those words. Now, I was thinking of suggesting a divorce someday, but I wasn’t when Burke took the money.

At that time, I was only afraid of being kicked out.

“I knew, so I couldn’t say it. I didn’t want to seem like I was exploiting Lord Eden’s situation. I didn’t want to ruin this already rocky marriage any further.”

Eden sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He lowered his hand and just lifted his eyes to look at me.