The Duke's Masked Wife 2: The Prince's Outcast Bride - Chapter 473

Chapter 473: Husband (2)
“No, Tyrion. Chris has work to do. You shouldn’t bother him with your games, and I don’t want any part of it. Can’t we just enjoy the cake? I won’t forgive you if you ruin my time in the bakery. This is a special place for me,” Penelope tried to reason with Tyrion.

“Very well. I won’t,” Tyrion promised.

“Good. Now eat your cake. You mustn’t forget that I am still a little upset with the stunt you pulled earlier,” said Penelope.

“You are not going to let me forget it, are you?”

“No. I have something to tell your mother whenever I want to see you be scolded,” Penelope said, then took a bite of the cake.

“Have I ever told your father of having to kill the men you gambled against? I thought so,” Tyrion added after Penelope started to choke on her food. “Here.”

“Miss Penelope!”

Tyrion watched as Chris rushed to the table with a glass of water.

“You must be careful,” Chris said.

Penelope accepted the water and drank some of it whilst glaring at Tyrion.

Chris noticed the interaction and glanced at the gentleman.

Tyrion met Chris’s gaze and did not break away from it. “What?”

Chris bit his tongue.

It wasn’t his place to speak, but he couldn’t grasp the kind of man Penelope picked to be her husband.

“When a lady is choking, it is the gentlemanly thing to do to help her. Not sit around,” Chris scolded Tyrion.

“You,” Tyrion pointed at Chris. “Are you telling me what to do about my wife?” He pointed at Penelope. “I was going to help her, but you swooped in like it would improve your chances.”

“My chances? What do you speak of?” Chris asked, his face showing his dismay with the arrogance of the man before him.

Who did he think he was?

“Your chances with my wife. You cannot dislike me for marrying her. If you’re going to judge everything I do, I suggest you stop. You never had a chance with her,” said Tyrion.

Chris was flustered. His cheeks felt warm, and it had nothing to do with being close to a fire all morning. He never told anyone of liking the young miss.

“You look down on me because I am a baker?” Chris asked, close to throwing the man out.

“No,” Tyrion shook his head. “It is good work. Your issue lies with the fact that I have always wanted her hand for a long time. You never had a chance because I was courting her.”

‘It took you many years to succeed,’ Penelope thought.

Penelope sighed. All she wanted was to enjoy her pastries with her husband and then go for a long walk to show him around.

It turned out that the danger wasn’t on the outside, but rather on the inside.

“What makes you so special? The lady can’t share your name,” Chris pointed out.

Penelope didn’t like the smile Tyrion displayed now. It was full of mischief, and she knew that Tyrion was now delighted that she hadn’t shared his name.

“Well, you see,” Penelope wanted to explain, but Tyrion’s expression stopped her. “I will simply eat cake.”

Penelope decided to let the two men sort it out amongst themselves. She was confident that when this misunderstanding was all over, Tyrion and Chris would be the best of friends.

They needed to be since Penelope wasn’t willing to have to go to another baker, all because of Tyrion and Chris’s feelings.

“Oh, I think I am quite special, but I do agree that I don’t measure up to the beautiful woman sitting before me. I have to be a special man for the duke to let me marry his daughter. You have met Edgar Collins, haven’t you?” Tyrion asked.

“I have spoken to the duke on many occasions. I know the duke would do anything for his daughters. You are lucky to sit here only because of your ties to Miss Penelope. Any other day, I would have thrown you out. Excuse me,” Chris said, removing himself from the table.

“It must be eating you away inside that you do not know who she has married. Did she marry a nobleman or a commoner? I know the latter would shatter your heart because it could have been you, but it isn’t so,” Tyrion said, enjoying getting under Chris’s skin.

Penelope slipped Tyrion’s plate from before him.

Chris stopped before he could get back to work and turned around to approach the table.

“I don’t know who you are, but you are wrong about me. Do not think you can come in here and do as you please because my family likes the Collins. We like them, not you,” Chris clarified.

Chris thought Penelope could do better.

Chris looked down at Penelope. “I did have feelings for you, but they long passed. If you may, please come without your husband next time.”

“I just might,” Penelope said, glaring at Tyrion. “You’ll have to excuse him, Chris. My husband likes to toy with others’ feelings at times, but he is a good man. Once you get to know him, you will like him.”

“I will be done with wrapping your pastries soon. You are always welcome here, but not your husband.”

Tyrion pulled his plate back from Penelope’s side and said, “I will go where I please.”

“You may, but it will result in the town guards coming for you,” Chris responded.

“If you do that, you will only place the town guards in an awkward position. There’s no need for that,” Tyrion said as he lifted his fork to help himself to another bite.

Chris was a bit annoying, but Tyrion had to admit he could bake.

“You are right. We would have had him back at our wedding,” Tyrion agreed with Penelope.

Chris set the knife in his hand down and looked from a distance at the bastard in his bakery.

“I advise you not to come here using the Collins name and piss off the men here. They’ll fight you, then apologise to the duke. We like to keep this town peaceful, so don’t bring your ways from Lockwood. You are from Lockwood, right? You aren’t dressed like it,” Chris noticed.

Penelope only now realised that since she had dragged Tyrion from home after he was working on the roof, he wasn’t dressed in his finest attire.

“I don’t plan to use the Collins name since I like my own. The Castro name carries a bit of weight all over the kingdom,” said Tyrion.

“What?” Chris looked to Penelope for an explanation. “Castro?”

“Well,” Penelope tried to smile to make the revelation better. “You see, I married a prince. The first prince, Tyrion Castro. Him,” she shyly pointed to her husband.