Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1537

Smore nodded like the confused boy he was. “Okay, Mommy... Um, I will listen to everything Mommy says, so please, no more being mad?”

Arianne ruffled Smore’s hair. “Oh, Mommy isn’t mad at you, silly. But! I would love it if you play with Granny and be nice to Granny more often from now on, okay? I know Grandaunt has been treating you very kindly, but it would hurt Granny a lot if you stop hanging out with Granny just because of what happened right before. Granny would feel so hurt and even cry in sadness, you know?”

While they were talking, Mark pushed open the door to their bedroom and greeted, “Hello! Giving Smore the washing, huh?”

Arianne, who was denied the freedom to blow up in Aunt Shelly’s face, instantly decided that Mark was to be the proxy recipient of her fury. She shot him a nasty stink-eye without answering him.

The poor man was perplexed. “What the—? What did I do this time?”

She sneered. “Oh, you didn’t do anything, alright. Your beloved aunt did it for you. I didn’t throw a hissy fit in her face only because I respect her, but all this steam’s gotta’ go somewhere, doesn’t it?”

“Hold on. What happened?” Mark asked, stepping forward.

Arianne gave the man a rundown on the incident downstairs. When it was over, Mark automatically assumed the role of a mediator and gave his commentary. “Ohhh. Gee, I’m not gonna lie; I honestly imagined things to be way worse than this. But I think Aunt Shelly just happens to be a little bit fuddy-duddy. All of her contentions stem from her old-fashioned belief that Smore shouldn’t call a ‘maid’ something as intimate and familial as ‘Granny,’ but ultimately, I see this as a pretty small matter that should barely be an inconvenience. I’ll definitely share our reasoning with her, Arianne. No worries,” he said. “Mary and Henry had done so much for the Tremont family. The depths and lengths they go are beyond what I’ve paid them! They’re so intrinsic to our home that we can’t even draw a line to separate them from us. What I’m saying is that you’re completely in the right here… So please, don’t be mad anymore? The weather’s a bit cold tonight. You should get back to finishing our boy’s shower before he catches a cold.”

Mark could feel the buzzing inside his skull as Shelly’s diatribe went on. Hell, did he just escape Arianne’s tirade only to be the victim of another?

“No, Aunt Shelly, there’s actually a perfectly reasonable reason for this,” he tried. “The context is a bit… atypical from most other families. I respect you a lot, as I do to Mary and Henry too, so to me, you are all my elders. In this sense, it’s not that odd that Smore would call Mary ‘Granny’ and called Henry ‘Grandpa,’ right? It’s just an affectionate way of addressing them. You really shouldn’t be mad over something like this, Aunt Shelly.”

Aunt Shelly suddenly broke out a chuckle. “Alright, consider me convinced. I haven’t come back here for so long that I really am missing out on a lot of contexts, huh? You should have told me earlier, dear. Is Arianne still pissed? I’ll go talk to her and explain myself. Wouldn’t want you two to suffer a schism over a trifle, right? Though… How shall I put it? Well, if Smore could call your butler and housekeeper ‘Grandpa’ and ‘Granny’, then it shouldn’t be a problem for Smore to address me as ‘Granny,’ too, right?”

“Of course, that’s no problem at all!” Mark replied eagerly. “A grandaunt is still, technically, a ‘granny.’ I’m behind whatever you fancy.”