The Duke's Masked Wife 2: The Prince's Outcast Bride
Chapter 226: A good friend (3)

Chapter 226: A good friend (3)

"You must promise me that you won’t tell anyone I mentioned Ally’s feelings for my brother. It isn’t something to be shared, but my tongue slipped and told you," said Penelope.

"We aren’t to have secrets, and I do not care about who Ally loves. It is not worth my informing others about," Tyrion said, uninterested in Ally.

"But you are interested in why your brother was glaring at my brother," Penelope pointed out.

"Certainly. I can’t have my brother doing something foolish to ruin the close ties we have with your brother. I would like to see them fight, but I don’t care about anything else. It’s not worth my attention," Tyrion said, only caring about who he loved.

"Could it be that Teo has feelings for Rue? I thought we were all friends," Penelope said, puzzled by these revelations.

"We were friends," Tyrion reminded Penelope.

"Yes, but it was quite evident that we cared for each other more than friends. I only found out today that Ally has loved my brother all along, and now it’s possible that Teo loves Rue. You said he has found who his future queen will be," Penelope remembered.

Penelope also knew that Rue didn’t want to live in the palace, so it couldn’t be that Rue was the woman Teo planned to marry.

"If Teo has picked another lady and he suspects that my brother might have feelings for Rue, then he doesn’t have any place to be jealous. And I don’t say this because Elijah is my brother. I adore Teo as well, but he cannot be that way," Penelope said, looking in Teo’s direction once more.

Teo couldn’t marry and expect that Rue wouldn’t go with someone else. Or, would it only be an issue since Rue might be with someone who was close and would keep her in this town?

Penelope felt Tyrion’s warm hand on her face, and she was soon staring at her husband.

"Aren’t I more interesting than all of them? You should focus on me more. If you hadn’t said yes to my proposal and married someone else, I would have still kept an eye on you. Luckily, that did not happen," said Tyrion.

"Thankfully, I said yes," Penelope said.

Tyrion smiled. It was devious and filled with mischief. "I meant it was lucky for anyone you could have married. They wouldn’t have lasted the next day."

Penelope stopped walking. "Would you have gotten rid of anyone else I chose to marry if you couldn’t have me?"

"To be more specific, I would have killed them. Again, it was lucky we didn’t have to come to that," Tyrion said, smiling despite how Penelope stared at him in wonder.

"And what if I loved this other man?" Penelope asked, getting upset over an imaginary person.

"Penelope, we should end this talk," Tyrion said, knowing he was coming close to being kicked out of bed tonight. "We found our way to each other. That is all that matters."

"No, I am starting to realise what happened to many of the boys who confessed their feelings to me. I thought it was my brother and father’s doing that they wouldn’t approach me anymore, but some of it had to be your doing," Penelope realised.

"I didn’t realise how possessive you are. Is there a reason for me to be concerned?" Penelope asked.

"No, there’s no need for me to harm anyone around you. You are my wife," said Tyrion.

Penelope decided to test Tyrion. She placed her hands behind her back and drew closer to Tyrion. "And if I wanted a friendship with a man who once had feelings for me?"

"Go on," Tyrion encouraged Penelope. "Have a friendship."

Tyrion looked down after Penelope almost tripped on flat land. He held her hand so she wouldn’t slip again.

"You would let me have a friendship with a man who holds feelings for me? Why?" Penelope asked.

"I don’t intend on telling you what to do," Tyrion replied.

Penelope didn’t believe Tyrion. His jealousy wouldn’t stop now that he had a ring on her finger. Tyrion had quickly disliked men like Zane.

"What are you doing?" Penelope asked, suspecting he was plotting something else.

"I am not doing anything. My wife can do as she pleases," said Tyrion.

"Tyrion," Penelope said, squinting her eyes.

"Yes, love?"

"What are you doing? You are not being honest with me," Penelope said, her right hand poking at his chest.

"I am being honest. I don’t see my wife, who hated it when men would court her to form a friendship with anyone. Just as I hid at balls, you were near hiding from men who held some interest in you," Tyrion said, not the least bit worried.

Penelope creating friendships with men who liked her would only be torture for herself, and between them, Penelope cared far more about rumours, so she wouldn’t meet with other men.

"Penelope, you did not want to stay the night at your parents’ home without me present. When you can’t do that, you won’t create friendships with other men. Fear not, since I don’t need any other ladies as friends. Are you satisfied with my answer?" Tyrion asked.

Penelope pouted, disliking that he saw through her plans. "I do not enjoy that you know me so well. I would hate to be friends with those men. I won’t stay angry because in the end, I married you, but don’t let your possessiveness get out of control."

"It hasn’t. I only go after the fools who fail to realise that you are married. Enough about them," Tyrion said, lifting Penelope.

Penelope gasped, startled by how easy it was for him to lift him. "Tyrion," she said, patting his back. Penelope looked around to see who would be watching them.

The duchess wasn’t anywhere in sight, and the duke had taken the men for a drink, but Penelope’s siblings and the guards were around.

"We are where our parents can see us," Penelope reminded Tyrion.

Tyrion shifted Penelope so he could hold her in his arms. "Certainly you know by now that you will not become a child simply from me holding you in my arms. In my eyes, there is nothing wrong with me holding my wife in my arms."

Penelope was worried one moment, but she laughed as Tyrion acted like he was running away with her again.

"It is the men who cannot lift their wives, and the women who wish to be held who will be angry to see us, Penelope. Since you are worried, then we shall go out of sight," Tyrion said, taking Penelope further into the garden.