Flustered with his unresponsiveness, Christina blurted out what she had been trying to say for all this time.

“I am willing to go to any lengths to ensure that my people get trained in this technology. Even if you want some ‘special services’ from me; I am willing…just…just don’t do a half-hearted job with them.”

Zach was annoyed to hear her out this time. Just what kind of impression did this woman have of him? When he thought about it, it was partially his fault for proposing to her in their first meeting but he couldn’t allow such an impression to take root in her mind.

They were going to get married soon and he could not have his wife sell her body to him for every little thing she asked for. Sure this was a business venture in her eyes but that didn’t mean she could belittle the relationship between the two at every turn by pulling off stunts like this.

To nip the evil in the bud, Zach grabbed a hold of Christina’s shoulders in a firm grip that didn’t allow her to resist or move around without his permission.

“Aah~”

Christina got scared and a little yelp of surprise escaped her little mouth. She hadn’t expected Zach to pounce on the chance right there and then.

Unknowingly, disappointment drilled into her heart even though she had expected this to happen. Despite knowing that all of this was a business deal to make her family stronger, she had harbored the hope of finding a decent husband for herself in the deepest reaches of her heart. That hope had now vanished since her fate was already set in stone.

But soon she witnessed the expression on Zach’s face changing into one that gave off the feeling of a lonely and cold iceberg in the middle of the sea that should be avoided at all costs. She became sure that she had offended Zach somehow.

Trying to decipher the meaning behind his current expression, she sifted through a lot of possibilities in her mind but could only think of two. Either he was angry with her over her outrageous demands before the finalization of their relationship or for treating him like a fool as she offered him her body in return for the valuable information. Even she knew how valuable that information she asked for was. Just her body and a share in the property wasn’t enough to cover the gains Elizabeth family would receive through it.

Zach noticed her wandering eyes and shook her body slightly to shift her focus towards him as he said, “Look at me” in a low tone of voice that was strangely melodious to her ears.

Christina’s full attention was on her soon to be husband as he held her shoulders in his iron grip and made her look at him with that charming voice. Even though she was a professional businesswoman, she couldn’t understand the current situation. As such she did what he told her and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Christina” Zach called her name in the same mesmerizing but stern tone.

“Yus…yes” Christina stumbled on her words as she unconsciously replied.

“I want to make something very clear to you before we go forward with this relationship.” 𝒃𝒆𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎

“Mm~” Christina could only make silly sound to answer him as she felt his heavy breath on her face. He was just that close to her which made her feel strange and slightly apprehensive about what he was going to say next. He either wanted to draw a boundary between their relationship or he wanted to graft the terms before they did the deed. It was not that farfetched a theory considering the scenario she had found him in when she came here; him talking to that beautiful girl of the Luther family earlier when he should have been ‘busy’. Depending upon the meaning of that scenario, it was entirely possible that Zach had no interest in her at all and only wanted her body.

“Although the forces that have led us to our current situation where we are about to get married to each other weren’t exactly normal. I don’t intend to disparage the spirit of our relationship in any manner.” Zach couldn’t tell her how irritated he was with her approach towards this matter but he made it clear that he had no intention of defiling her or making their married life into a series of business deals.

Christina who was on the receiving end of it could only be shocked out of her wits. She had always believed that men were the same everywhere. Before she could say her piece in an attempt to extract the truth out of him, Zach began to talk once again.

“Our relationship may have started as a business deal for profit between the Luther family and Elizabeth family. But that is where the business matters will come to a halt. As my future wife, I won’t force you to do things that you don’t want to do. I will give you the respect that you deserve and as your future husband, I expect the same in return from you.”

Christina was in a trance as she heard him say the words that she could not have expected from any man she knew. Therefore, she didn’t know how to answer him and could only stare at him like a lifeless doll as he tried to hold back his anger at being treated in such a way by his future wife.

She finally found the reason why he had been so angry earlier. She had treated him like a pervert who would go after her body at the first chance without even knowing his true self. And to top it all off, as his future wife, she had acted like a cheap slut who could give away her body to anyone for profit. What would a husband feel upon seeing his wife act in such a manner? Of course she would be just as angry as Zach had been; maybe even more than that.

A shame she had never felt before crawled up to her face from who knows where and warmed up her cheeks as a crimson hue covered her already rosy cheeks and stretched down to her long neck.

As she tried to cover up her shame with her hands, she noticed that Zach had already let go of her some time ago. She looked around but couldn’t find him. It seemed that he had left her there to ponder on her own mistakes.

Instead of trying to locate him, Christina turned around on her feet and left. She didn’t know how to face him after showing him such a shameless side of her.

On her way back to the Elizabeth family estate, the servants that accompanied her all felt that their young lady seemed a little distant; even more than usual.

However, in reality, their young lady was in shock. She had never expected that Zach would turn out to be a gentleman in the truest sense. The term seemed to have been coined only for him since all the men she had encountered in her life excluding her brother and her father were the same; without an ounce of shame and had nothing in them that could make her respect them in any manner.

A woman as beautiful as herself was bound to make waves wherever she went so she was quite used to the attention of the men around her; from the lowest to the higher tier and status, all men looked at her with the same dirty gaze and even her parents had never tried to call them out in front of the people. Due to that very reason, Christina had taken it as the norm and had come to hate and ignore all the men in general who were not only incompetent but also incapable of thinking other than with their dicks.

Everything passed by her like a blur as if the world didn’t register with her ever since she had that talk. She didn’t remember how she got home, how she answered all the questions her father asked her or how she got to her room and on her bed for the night because the only thought that occupied all her mental capacity was how to face Zach again in the future after showing such a miserable side of her to him.

She rolled around the bed trying to shake off the discomfort she felt in her entire body but the irritation didn’t subside no matter how many times she rolled or how much she kicked the air with her dainty feet.

In her defense, this isekai took yellow jokes about women as nothing serious. Even her parents despite their all encompassing power tried to avoid magnifying the situation by not making a fuss every time something like this happened. Therefore, she had grown up listening to men making jokes about her beautiful body and how it would feel if they managed to get their hands on it. Even her status as the future heir of the Elizabeth family didn’t deter them from dastardly conversations about her body.

And in the due course of time, she began to assume that all the men were like that and maybe they really were.

But Zach, her future husband turned out to be different from them; different from those hateful beasts who could only think with their little worms.

She wondered just how different he was compared to the men she knew. A desire to venture into those unexplored waters took over her as she thought about Zach until slumber took over her and she proceeded into the land of dreams where she encountered him once again.

…