A Noble Marriage - Chapter 69

Chapter 69 – It’s Inappropriate (1)

After watching Mr. Goldman leave, Prokhov sighed.

Passing through the backyard, Mr. Goldman went directly to his bedroom. His bedroom was not very spacious. Unlike his clothes, Mr. Goldman’s bedroom was very basic. Some people speculated that being a wealthy man, his home would be full of opulence. But there was none. Of course, this indirectly reflected that it was not just a rumor that the new favorite of Petersburg was a little stingy.

Mr. Goldman came to the bedside. If there was anything in this cold room that was rich in color, it was undoubtedly a painting hanging on the wall beside the bed. The woman in the picture had plump cheeks and hazy light gray eyes. Her facial features were not strikingly beautiful, but they were soft, and a pair of gentle hands that seemed to heal any pain. On this cold rainy day, the black-haired man longed to touch his wife again.

*

Annushka opened the carriage door from the inside and shouted, “Miss! Come up quickly.”

The foolish little girl still used honorifics. Although there were not many pedestrians on the street in the rain, there were always one or two curious busybodies who cast a confused glance towards them. Anna hurriedly got into the carriage to avoid being seen. Annushka handed her a handkerchief and put away the hand-carved umbrella.

Anna wiped the rainwater from her face and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Mr. Karenin told me before he left this morning.” Annushka replied.

Despite some dissatisfaction with such behavior, after all, it was likely to expose herself, she couldn’t help but feel relieved after the day she had had.

“He said it was raining too hard.” Annushka added.

“I see.” Anna answered briskly.

She took off her hat and spread her hair to dry it. When she got to the door, she tucked it back into the wet hat. Annushka took Anna back to the bedroom and filled the bath with hot water for her.

“Sir didn’t explain, but I think it’s better to tell you, madam. Mr. Karenin asked me to prepare hot water in advance and asked Sasha to prepare ginger tea before leaving. ”

“I see.”

“I think Mr. Karenin is a very caring husband, madam.” Annushka was talkative today.

“I know.” Anna replied, as all her muscles relaxed in the hot water.

When Karenin came back, Annushka told him that Anna was asleep. He took off his coat, drank a cup of hot tea, and let the cold evaporate. When he came to the bedroom, he saw his wife sleeping soundly in the bed.

‘Guess if she continues to sleep, she may not wake up until evening.’ He thought.

After thinking about it, Karenin gently stirred his wife awake. His voice was gentle, and he called her three times before the sleeping beauty in the bed woke up and turned around. Thick eyelashes like crow wings parted open, revealing the confused grey eyes.

Hands wrapped around his right hand, forcing Karenin to sit on the edge of the bed. Anna rubbed their dry palms together, touched the lines of Karenin’s arms again, felt the slightly frosted texture on her face, and finally sighed softly, like a cat in need of appeasement.

“What’s the matter?” He asked in a low voice.

Although he never advocated lying down or sitting on the bed except at the time of falling asleep, but since there was no choice at the moment, Karenin sat down safely.

“Nothing.” Anna mumbled, not fully awake.

Karenin didn’t speak, let her rub her palm across his arm, and then gently ran his fingertips against her other cheek.

After a while, a smiling voice sounded softly in the air.

“You asked Annushka to take Peter to pick me up.”

“Hmm” He only hummed in response.

“You also asked Annushka and Sasha to prepare hot water and ginger tea for me in advance.”

“Hmm”

At that moment, she suddenly felt that she had been taken good care of by Karenin. No matter what willful decision she made, although she felt sorry for it, compared with what Karenin did and allowed her, it was nothing at all. This was not the age of equality and class was everything. She almost felt this cruelty when she wore it, not to mention that she was still very naive. She had been so comfortable here with Karenin that she had forgotten the cold reception she had received before.

Anna took a shallow breath and got up. She nestled in Karenin’s arms and crumpled his uniform with her embrace. Some cold metal buttons touched her skin and made her shudder. Karenin pulled up the quilt with his spare hand and put it on Anna, then said calmly, “Anna, this is inappropriate.”

“Hmm” She hummed like he had.

It was Karenin’s turn to sigh.

“Tell me what happened today. You know, even if you don’t tell me, I can ask Annushka.”

“Of course, I will tell you. I think it is good to tell you happy things, but sometimes, if I encounter unhappy things, it is also very important to tell you.”

“Good.” Karenin commented.

He was now more or less used to his wife’s distinctive qualities. For the next ten minutes, Anna described what happened in Goldman’s tailor shop. She noticed that Karenin’s relaxed eyebrows were now slightly wrinkled in the middle.

“I don’t think you need to step in.” Anna said.

Karenin picked up his wife’s hand and looked at it carefully.

Anna smiled. “Oh, don’t worry, Alexei. It is not hard to move something. ”

Karenin gently placed down Anna’s hand, and went over the information in his mind. Finally, he lightly pinched Anna’s fingertip and said, “I suggest you don’t go there anymore, Anna.”

“Why?” Anna was a little surprised. “You gave your word you wouldn’t stop me.”

“What I said to you will always be valid.” Karenin said and stared at her with his blue eyes. “But now the situation is different.”

“What’s different?”

“If my guess is correct, then Mr. Goldman already knows about you.”