The Grand Warlord’s Accidental Marriage

Chapter 002 – Who’s This Beauty?

*****

At the same time, Nicholas sat in the back seat of the moving vehicle, neither speaking nor reacting right away.

He quietly watched the scenery pass by outside the window, his expression hidden behind a mask, his demeanor relaxed and unreadable.

Then…

"Huff…" He released a small sigh.

“Ironstone City has changed significantly,” he muttered softly to himself, and with that, he turned slightly, his gaze landing on Jason in the passenger’s seat.

“You should drop me at City Hall first,” he said casually, yawning lazily as he did. “I need to handle my identity paperwork first.”

Jason immediately glanced at Nicholas through the rearview mirror.

“Alright, sir,” he responded, asking no question and showing no hesitation.

Without delay, he picked up the intercom and issued the new destination. Instantly, the convoy adjusted its course accordingly.

Before long, they reached the City Hall.

Once there, Jason hurried out and, before any guard could react, respectfully opened the rear door, his actions swift and overly attentive.

Seeing this, Nicholas couldn’t help but feel a faint sense of speechlessness, yet he didn’t have the energy to argue.

So, he unhurriedly picked up his backpack and stepped out of the vehicle, and then he turned toward the middle-aged man.

“You don’t need to wait for me,” he said unceremoniously, his tone somewhat laid-back, and then he turned around to leave.

But…

“Sir,” Jason called out hurriedly before Nicholas could take more than a single step.

“Please have this,” the middle-aged man said respectfully.

Nicholas turned slightly, only to see the middle-aged man respectfully presenting both a sleek black card and an elegant key.

“This is a black card from Stellar Bank with unlimited spending authority,” the middle-aged man explained carefully before Nicholas could speak, “as well as the key to Villa No. 001 at Wellington Manor.”

His tone carried both caution and sincerity.

Yet Nicholas gave no response nor showed the slightest tinge of reaction. If anything, he accepted the two items and turned away.

But just as he moved to take another step…

“Sir…”

Jason’s voice echoed again. But this time, it lacked its previous confidence.

Nicholas’s brow furrowed slightly.

“What now?” he asked, impatience slipping into his voice as he glanced back.

“I…”

Jason, one of Ironstone’s most feared and respected figures, suddenly fidgeted awkwardly, a sight that instantly made Nicholas raise a brow.

But he remained silent and merely watched.

Under that unreadable gaze, Jason finally gritted his teeth and, after a moment of internal war, stepped forward and bowed deeply at a near-perfect ninety degrees.

‘This…’

The sight was so shocking that even the guards and drivers couldn’t fully conceal their reactions.

At that very instant, their pupils constricted, their expressions shifting, but none of them dared utter a word.

Nicholas, on the other hand, merely raised an eyebrow slightly higher. But he still said nothing, and finally…

“Sir, please…” Jason’s voice trembled.

“My father is currently on his deathbed,” he said, his voice shaking with suppressed fear and desperation. “We’ve tried everything we possibly could. We invited the best doctors in the country and sought every treatment available, but nothing works.”

His fists clenched tightly. “His condition only worsens with each passing day.”

The middle-aged man’s eyes turned crimson, his face twisted with crushing despair.

“Please…” His voice almost broke. “I will do anything as long as you check on him. I will…”

“Tomorrow morning, then,” Nicholas said, his tone relaxed and even somewhat drowsy, as though he was talking about something trivial. “Send me the address.”

That was all he said. Yet the moment Jason heard those simple words, it was as if he had been frozen in time and space.

‘That…’ His mind grew chaotic.

He had prepared a range of promises and was ready to pay any price, yet…

Meanwhile, Nicholas didn’t even wait for Jason’s response.

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and strode toward City Hall, his pace steady and completely unbothered.

…

At the same time.

Not far from the City Hall’s main building, a woman stood quietly.

Her presence alone was enough to draw attention, yet strangely enough, it also kept people away.

She carried herself with effortless elegance, dressed in refined formal office attire that perfectly matched the authority in her posture.

Every detail about this woman’s appearance was polished, graceful, and composed.

At first glance, her expression seemed detached and unreadable, her gaze steady, and her demeanor cold.

She appeared so distant and imposing that, despite her striking beauty, most passersby instinctively kept their distance.

She was the kind of woman who looked like she could reject someone’s existence with a single glance.

Yet beneath that icy exterior, subtle signs revealed her true state… a faint frown and a slight tension in her grip.

At this moment, a cell phone was pressed to her ear as her gaze swept across the area with increasing urgency.

“Are you sure the person introduced to me is reliable?” she asked.

Her voice was melodious but unmistakably cold, and beneath that chill, a hint of anxiety lingered… still noticeable despite her efforts to hide it.

“When will he arrive?” she continued. “And what is he wearing?”

After asking, she fell silent and listened carefully to the response on the other end, before ultimately…

“Black trench coat…” she muttered softly.

With that, her searching became far more focused.

This time, her gaze no longer wandered aimlessly.

Instead, she carefully examined the clothing of every passerby and pedestrian, her eyes sharpened as she searched specifically for one thing…

A black trench coat.

Yet no matter how carefully she searched, she found nothing that matched.

Ultimately, her frown deepened, her dissatisfaction becoming more apparent with each passing second.

“He is not…”

She began, her voice carrying enough icy frustration to make the poor soul on the other end audibly swallow.

But before she could finish… from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the black color.

Her gaze snapped sideways almost instantly, and in the following second…

Her eyes lit up.

But just as quickly, her expression cooled once more, returning to its natural frosty state.

“I think I just saw him,” she said emotionlessly to the cellphone, and without waiting for a response, she hung up the call.

At that exact moment, the man in the black trench coat finished climbing the steps and reached her position.

Without hesitation, the woman stepped forward and grabbed him.

“Why are you late?” she demanded coldly, her voice sharp with dissatisfaction.

“Huh…?”

The man… tall, about 6'7", no older than twenty-six, wearing a black trench coat, a mask, and a hat, with a backpack nonchalantly slung over his shoulder, turned at once, visibly bewildered.

“Who?” he demanded, clearly dissatisfied by this abrupt and deeply confusing assault on his personal freedom.

But rather than answering, the woman simply yanked him forward, not even sparing him the slightest glance. Then she began to drag him directly toward the City Hall building.

And this… it instantly caught Nicholas off guard, his usually composed and nonchalant mind blanking for perhaps the first time in a long while, then, almost immediately…

‘Since when… have I, Nicholas Wellesley, ever been treated like this?’

For a brief moment, he genuinely felt disoriented.

He, someone who had always been respected for as long as he could remember, was currently being handled like an intern.

Looking up properly, Nicholas finally got a clearer look at the culprit… a beautiful, yet frantic woman, her presence sharp, distant, and imposing.

Seeing this, his brows knitted slightly.

‘Who’s this beauty… and why exactly is she dragging me away?’

He tried to understand what was happening, but no matter how much he thought about it, it still didn’t make sense… so he eventually stopped trying.

Instead of stopping or questioning her, a sudden mischievous curiosity surfaced within him, and in the following second, his lips nearly twitched.

‘This is going to be interesting.’

And just like that, rather than resisting, Nicholas decided to remain silent, follow, and watch.

After all…

It wasn’t every day someone had the courage to drag him around without explanation.