Page 66 of In Love with a Ruthless Man

Igor raised a brow.

Her voice trailed off as she realized she had still ended up admitting to talking to herself.

“It’s alright, miss,” Igor reassured her. “It is not my position to comment.”

“But I really wasn’t talking to myself.”Much.

“If you say so, miss.”

Fawn cringed. “And that. I was hoping I misheard, but can you please stop calling me ‘miss?’”

“I cannot, miss.”

“Igor!”

“I am unfortunately inflexible on this, miss.”

She gnawed on her lip, thinking hard, and then an idea came to her, and she asked, “Are you Russian, Igor?”

Igor allowed himself a smile. “No, miss. I know my name is misleading, but I’m actually a full-blooded Sicilian.”

“Oh.”

Seeing her bemusement, the older man tried to explain tactfully, “It’s...tradition.”

“In your family?”

“Yes, miss.”Mafiawas more or less family, wasn’t it?

“And the tradition is that you...get to be called Igor?”

“The firstborns are, yes, because we’ve the privilege of serving as guardians. As the firstborn, I was chosen to serve as the master’s guardian, the same way my father served his father, and so forth.”

“Guardian. Right.” Fawn tried to think of what that meant but couldn’t. “What exactly does a guardian do? I mean, I know you handle the household now, but what about when the prince was young?”

Killed anyone who wanted to kill him,Igor thought. But knowing that would best be kept a secret from Fawn aswell, the older man cleared his throat, saying, “I was the master’s...babysitter.” Igor’s father would roll over in his grave if he had heard of the way his son described their profession, which had always been a source of pride for their family. Mentally crossing himself in apology for such blasphemy, Igor asked Fawn, “May I ask what my supposedly being Russian has to do with the way I address you, miss?”

“Well, I was thinking, if you call me ‘miss’ in another language, it wouldn’t sound too formal.”

Ah.The older man nodded understandingly. That did not make sense at all, but that didn’t matter since Fawn was now the prince’s special lady. And when Fawn beamed at Igor, he knew he had made the right decision.

“As the prince is Sicilian and Greek,” Igor began, “how about you choose betweensignorinaandkyria?”

“Good idea.” She thought about it seriously. “Signorinasounds like a nickname, doesn’t it? I think it doesn’t sound too formal.”

Actually, it did. Also, more people would know what ‘signorina’ meant compared to ‘kyria’ but because Fawn was the prince’s special lady—-

“I agree,signorina.A good choice.”

She said hopefully, “But of course, just plain Fawn is always better.”

“Not possible,signorina.You are the prince’s very special lady, after all.”

“Really, Igor? I’m the prince’s special lady?” Despite her confusion and misery, she couldn’t help snorting.

Igor did his best to suppress his smile this time, purely out of respect for his master.

Fawn sighed. “You’re not going to change your mind, are you?”

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