An Ode to Divorce - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#24

But that relief was short-lived, as it wasn’t long before a voice like cold water being poured over me reached my ears.

“Hey, Gert. You two got divorced, right? Isn’t it a bit much to still be hanging around Orphea like she’s your wife?”

“Right. People will think you still have lingering feelings for your ex-wife.”

‘Damn these bastards!’

I glared resentfully at the twins who had suddenly started picking a fight.

It would be troublesome if Gert, hearing their words, said ‘You’re right, should we keep our distance then?’!

Using me as an excuse to provoke Gert.

Just as I was about to hurriedly argue that the relationship between Gert and me was merely friendship and perfectly natural, Gert tilted his head sideways with an expressionless face.

“How strange. You two also hang around with women who aren’t your wives all the time. Yet you ask me why I’m doing the same. Have you no shame?”

“The women we usually went around with were our lovers, but you and Orphea have no relationship now, right?”

Castor, provoked by Gert’s hostile challenge, stepped forward. Gert also closed the distance with a smirk.

“Why would we have no relationship? Just because Orphea and I divorced doesn’t mean our original friendship disappears.”

“Since when were you so close with Orphea…!”

‘…Why are they suddenly fighting?’

Of course, it was better than Gert listening to the twins and distancing himself from me, but…

“You’re the ones who should watch your words. It would be troublesome if people heard you and misunderstood that you and Orphea are ‘very’ close. How annoying would it be for Orphea if she got entangled with trash like you with such terrible reputations.”

While I stood there dazed, a sharp tension flowed between the twins and Gert. It was a volatile situation that seemed ready to explode into fisticuffs at any moment.

‘…During the expedition, they fought constantly using any excuse they could find.’

Three years ago, they fought over even more trivial reasons than this. They even fought over who would get off the ship first.

I was also dragged into it several times. When the twins pestered me for a performance, Gert would scold them, and the twins would get angry and step forward.

At first, I wondered if it was because of me and tried to read the situation, but as it kept happening, I became indifferent.

‘It definitely wasn’t this bad at the beginning of the expedition.’

Since they had to spend a long time together in the confined space of a ship, things that they had previously overlooked must have felt much more intense.

Anyway, by the time the expedition ended, the twins and Gert had become enemies—well, maybe not enemies, but they couldn’t stand seeing each other’s faces without finding fault with everything the other did.

Back then, since we were alone on the ship, whether they fought or not was none of my business.

But now…

“Are the Lübenhartz Duke and the Tindar Marquis’s sons really fighting over that woman right now?”

This is a crowded banquet hall!

Even someone like me, who’s weak with human relationships, could roughly guess how this situation would look to others.

My sensitive ears keenly picked up the sounds of people gossiping about us.

“Having an affair and getting divorced, yet shamelessly showing herself in such a crowded place. How brazen of her.”

“No matter how generous the Lübenhartz Duke is, he’d have to be angry seeing his divorced ex-wife immediately seducing his friends.”

“Are the Tindar Marquis’s sons really bewitched by that woman? It’s probably just for entertainment.”

‘Me? I bewitched them?’

They’re the ones who came to me when I was just standing quietly!

‘I don’t understand why they’re gossiping about me instead of the people who are actually fighting. I’m the easiest target!’

Still, I wasn’t particularly bothered by people making a fuss about me.

In just one year, once my music satisfies the god Mnemiir, I’ll become the only bard chosen by the god.

The people who are badmouthing me behind my back now will completely change their tune and come carrying bags of money, trying to hire me somehow.

Revenge for today’s gossip about me could wait until then.

‘I’ve memorized all the faces of those gossiping over there. I’ll have to ask Linos later to help me make a list.’

Meanwhile, the violent momentum between Gert and the twins continued to grow.

Just having a verbal fight over me was already bringing all sorts of rumors, but if a real brawl broke out, it would become uncontrollable!

‘Ugh…’

If those three were really fighting because of me, I could at least try going out and saying ‘Don’t fight because of me!’… But since they wanted to fight and were just using me as an excuse, such words from me wouldn’t work.

‘Isn’t there anyone who could stop them?’

Earlier, when the expedition members were about to come to blows, the twins came and stopped it.

But if Gert and the twins fight, who could possibly stop them?

Just then, a clear and refreshing voice suddenly heard softened the tense atmosphere.

“Why is the atmosphere so murderous?”

It was a very pleasant voice to hear, like a lark chirping.

‘She’d really sing well.’

I quietly admired it and looked toward where the voice came from.

There stood a dazzlingly beautiful blonde girl with long eyelashes, blinking as she stood there.

***

As soon as the beauty appeared—one who would suit lilies well and was so radiant that even Okrolandi’s golden fleece would lose its luster—the menacing atmosphere that had been piercing our skin was instantly calmed.

Indeed, everyone becomes docile in front of a beauty. Since the worrisome situation was safely resolved, I could let out a small sigh of relief.

Gert, apparently acquainted with her, offered a familiar greeting.

“Your Highness Princess Lairinne.”

‘That person is Lairinne?’

I barely suppressed my surprise. Three years ago, when she attended my wedding, she was just like a little child…

Since I had stayed only at Rübenherts Castle after that, I was startled because I had never seen how the princess had grown, even before the regression.

Lairinne had grown into a radiant beauty in those three years, like a flower in full bloom. Certainly, such a beauty deserved to be called the Lily of Petalien.

As soon as Gert acknowledged her, Princess Lairinne clung to Gert’s sturdy arm and spoke in a spoiled voice.

“Your Highness? You can call me casually. Gert is practically like my cousin brother, isn’t he?”

The King of Petalien had two queens: the former queen and the current stepmother queen.

The former queen, Dietrich’s mother, was the sister of the previous Lübenhartz Duke and Gert’s aunt, while Princess Lairinne’s mother, the current queen, was sisters with the previous Lübenhartz Duchess, making her Gert’s aunt as well.

So the princess’s words about being cousins with Gert weren’t wrong.

‘Does a cousin brother feel different from a real brother?’

Since I had never felt the slightest desire to cling to Linos like that, the princess’s attitude toward Gert seemed curious to me.

Gert carefully detached Princess Lairinne from his arm and added bluntly.

“Now that you’ve had your coming-of-age ceremony, haven’t I told you repeatedly not to act like a child?”

“Hmph, you’re the one who still treats me like a child, Gert.”

‘…They seem quite close.’

The fact that he had said the same thing to the same person multiple times was evidence of how specially Gert regarded Princess Lairinne.

‘While Gert and I were married, it didn’t seem like he had any interaction with the princess.’

I soon shook my head. How much could I know about Gert’s human relationships anyway?

Until now, I had been completely uninterested in who he met in social circles or who he encountered when he went to the royal palace to see the king.

Unless it was about what monsters he had defeated.

“It’s been a while, Your Highness. You came to congratulate Helena on her coming-of-age ceremony.”

The twins also belatedly greeted the princess. Since I wasn’t in a position to offer greetings to the princess, I quietly held my breath.

The princess kept her gaze fixed on Gert while merely nodding to the twins. The twins also seemed accustomed to the princess’s perfunctory attitude and didn’t seem to mind. Rather, as if trying to use this opportunity, they quickly added.

“Then Gert, you should escort Her Highness. We’ll escort Orphea.”

“…Orphea?”

When the twins mentioned me, only then did the princess’s gaze reach me.

Only then could I offer greetings to the princess.

“Bard Orphea greets Your Highness.”

As if the friendly attitude she had shown Gert was a lie, I felt a terrifying sense of intimidation from the princess as she slowly looked me up and down.

I tried not to make eye contact with the princess while secretly observing her. I felt something beneath the princess’s bright blue eyes directed at me.

‘…Huh.’

Clear hostility.

‘Why on earth?’

The princess and I were meeting for the first time since my wedding. There’s no reason for the princess to dislike me…

“So you were Gert’s former wife. Divorcing Gert was a wise choice. One might commit youthful follies for a time, but it seems age does teach one to know their place.”

‘Squeak?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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