An Ode to Divorce - Chapter 50

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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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#50

Did he read my thoughts? As soon as I started fidgeting with my fingers, Gert sprang up from his seat. It was such an agile movement, as if he had been watching only my hands.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“…Yes! See you tomorrow!”

I had no choice but to swallow my disappointment as I saw Gert off. Watching me sigh like that, Berta asked.

“…If he’s coming tomorrow anyway, why don’t you just ask Gert to stay for a while?”

“I was going to do that. But look at him running away with his tail between his legs. As if it would be troublesome if I held onto him even a little longer. He must have noticed that I don’t know my limits and am trying to take advantage of him.”

“I think Gert would be happy to be used by you, Orphea… Maybe it’s for a different reason?”

“Happy, my foot. Even now I can see that he’s regretting agreeing to listen to my requests, and I’m desperately pretending not to notice.”

I grumbled.

When Gert nodded and agreed to my request, he probably never imagined I would call him this often!

But I definitely gave Gert advance notice about that point too.

“I said my singing was good, but it would be troublesome if he didn’t want to hear it that often…”

When I said that, Gert definitely said no. So Gert bears some responsibility for this situation.

‘If he didn’t like it, he should have said at least once every two days would be good!’

Of course, I didn’t plan to keep overworking Gert either.

Anyway, the period was limited until Gert went hunting.

So I had to extract as much as I could during that time!

‘Just bear with it for now, Gert…!’

I knew that this attitude of mine might seem shameless compared to how anxious I was before getting Gert’s permission.

My words about being scared that Gert might get angry weren’t wrong. I just watched his mood ‘only until I got Gert’s permission.’

Given Gert’s personality, he would somehow keep his word once he said it, so once I got permission, everything was okay.

Moreover, there was another good thing about keeping Gert here like this every day. I didn’t have to worry about Gert accidentally meeting Lairinne.

Of course, I had won over Hilias last time.

But there was no comparison between wasting time following around social circles and staying holed up in our house playing music while cultivating inspiration.

‘Hmm, hmm. Keeping Gert and Lairinne apart is for Gert’s sake anyway, so it’s not 100% selfish. This is all good for Gert too.’

I truly believed that. I had to in order to be more shameless.

***

On a day that was flowing just like usual, unexpected guests arrived.

“Tamar and Zyla have come to visit.”

“Really?”

I was playing in the garden and stopped my performance, brightening up as I stood from my seat.

Zyla was the only female colleague in the expedition before Tamar joined.

Zyla, a high priestess of Artemis the hunting god, was the finest archer and one of the most skilled members of the expedition.

On the other hand, I was the weakest member of the expedition and received a lot of help from Zyla.

I had met Tamar recently, but since Zyla had been away hunting in service of Artemis, this was the first time meeting her since my divorce, so I was very happy.

Just as I was about to go greet the two of them, I saw a figure suddenly emerge from behind Berta.

A tall, muscular beauty with short black hair cut just long enough to barely reach her ear tips strode in with big steps and shouted at the top of her voice.

“Orphea! You got divorced…!”

Zyla’s words couldn’t continue.

That was because I wasn’t alone here.

Zyla’s pupils shook mercilessly as she made eye contact with Gert, who had been listening to my song as usual.

“…Ahem. It’s been a while, Zyla.”

Gert also cleared his throat awkwardly and straightened his body that had been leaning back against the chair.

Even Gert would have been a little embarrassed to be caught lounging around as if someone else’s house were his own bedroom.

Zyla looked back and forth between me and Gert with a sour expression and asked.

“…You did get divorced, right? Right?”

“Right.”

“Then why is he here?”

“There are complicated reasons for that…”

I trailed off wistfully. It wasn’t something I couldn’t tell Zyla, but it wasn’t a story worth explaining in detail in front of Gert.

“Anyway, this is a gift.”

What Zyla handed me was a bouquet full of white lilies, the symbol of Artemis, the god of purity.

‘Have I been thinking about Lairinne too much lately?’

In the past, lilies reminded me of Artemis and Zyla, but now Lairinne came to mind first. But the lilies weren’t at fault. I smiled brightly and accepted the flowers.

“Thank you as always.”

I received the bouquet from Zyla, smelled it once, then handed the flowers to Berta.

“Please arrange these in the vase in my bedroom.”

“Yes.”

“…Then I’ll be going now.”

Then Gert stood up from his seat. Although we all knew each other, he wasn’t close enough to Zyla or Tamar to intrude on our reunion after such a long time, so he probably felt awkward.

Honestly, with Tamar it wasn’t that they weren’t close, but that they didn’t get along.

So I didn’t particularly try to stop Gert.

“Yes! Then see you tomorrow! I don’t need to see you out, right?”

“Right.”

Gert nodded as if he didn’t mind and soon left the garden. I just waved casually at Gert’s disappearing back, then turned to my friends I was meeting after so long and smiled brightly.

“By the way, how long has it been? Zyla, I heard you went hunting in service of Artemis, did you just return?”

Zyla, who had been silently watching the interaction between me and Gert, answered a beat late.

“…Yeah. Do you know how shocked I was when I came back from hunting and heard from Tamar that you got divorced?”

Zyla sat down and casually reached for the fruit basket that Gert had barely touched. With both cheeks stuffed full of grapes, Zyla frowned and continued speaking while chewing.

“I came here like that, only to find Gert sitting there bold as brass. No, why is he here? What’s he being so confident about when he’s divorced?”

After pouring out those words, Zyla’s face turned bright red as if she had realized something. Seeing Zyla’s biceps and triceps bulging ominously, something seemed wrong.

“Wait, don’t tell me you didn’t divorce but were dumped? Did Gert kick you out to make you his mistress while he planned to marry some other noble woman…!”

“…How does your imagination even go that far?”

“Isn’t that it?”

“Absolutely not!”

The explosive mood disappeared completely, and I found myself shouting at Zyla who was asking so blankly.

Seeing Zyla’s appearance as if she knew nothing about my situation, I looked toward Tamar.

“Hey, Tamar. Didn’t you tell Zyla anything?”

“Even I can’t just tell someone about your private affairs without permission. Besides, even if I had told her, Zyla would have thought I was lying.”

Tamar shrugged. Of course, Tamar’s words were reasonable.

“Still, you could have given her some hint!”

“Even if Zyla had gotten a hint, she would have been just as flustered by this situation, right? I never thought I’d encounter a scene like this either. I heard you were attending some ridiculous astronomy club with Gert, but how did he end up coming and going from your house?”

Tamar’s eyes, who knew about the events before my regression, narrowed. After all, interfering with Gert’s romance from the outside was different from letting him into the house.

I sighed and briefly explained why Gert was at our house today.

“Strangely, when Gert listens to my songs, my writing motivation springs up. So I asked him to listen to my songs.”

Zyla still looked unconvinced, with an expression full of things she wanted to say. After staying silent for a while, Zyla grabbed her head and said.

“Looking at your mood, you divorced for some purpose, right?”

“That’s right.”

“I… I still don’t really understand. Is it because I serve the god of purity? Are all male-female relationships like this these days? Divorced but still interacting like nothing happened?”

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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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