For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 45
As he accepted the tea, now cooled to a pleasant warmth, his gaze turned forward once more.
He had prepared only his own cup, it seemed.
What did he expect her to do, arriving late?
Perhaps it was the atmosphere—her heart prickled oddly.
The warm liquid traced down her throat, spreading its gentle heat through her chest.
“……You seem fond of the sea?”
“Not really. If anything, I’m closer to disliking it.”
Yet there he sat, eyes fixed on the water as though transfixed—contradicting every word.
She meant to ask why, but his profile looked far darker than usual, so she merely sipped her tea in silence.
“……There was an accident when I was young.”
His voice scattered away with the sound of the waves.
“An accident?”
“You must have heard of it. In the Rechkarthu Waters.”
“Ah.”
At the place name that fell from Ian’s lips, Vanessa exhaled sharply.
Yes, she remembered seeing reports of it.
It had happened when she was so young that she never learned the details.
That accident in those waters had been……
‘That’s right. The sole survivor was…… Ian.’
The capsizing of a luxury superliner constructed by the Anthuella Kingdom.
A vessel designed solely for leisurely sea voyages, struck upon a reef.
All hands lost—save one child.
Most of those aboard had been nobility, making it a scandal that gripped the entire realm.
Not only the western Decart Empire, but the northern Benzenkia Empire and the southern Laventir Empire as well.
It had been a ship where nobles from three nations—all invited as cultural ambassadors—had gathered. All the more tragic for it.
The three nations had held a joint state funeral for those lost.
In its aftermath, the three nations imposed restrictions: no vessel above a certain tonnage could be constructed.
The Anthuella Kingdom paid massive reparations to the three nations and subsequently came under the dominion of the Decart Empire. Thereafter, the Decart Empire forbade the construction of any ship without explicit imperial purpose—save one then in construction: the Emperor’s own vessel.
That single exception.
In losing so many of the nation’s leaders at once, other realms gained unexpected fortune—numerous margrave houses were elevated to duchy in the chaos.
The Decart Empire itself suffered no such instability, as each ducal house had heirs to spare. Yet the Gardelmore Duchy paid dearly: the eldest and second sons perished in the waters, leaving only the third—gravely ill—and the Duke himself.
All the more bitter, given that the rank requirement for boarding had been marquis and above.
Ian, noticing Vanessa’s darkening expression, reclined against his chair.
“The ship swallowed all those people and was sated. But it spat me back out.”
“…….”
“I was fortunate. Just as the maelstrom was about to drag me under, a great swell caught me and hurled me free.”
His tone, delivered with such flatness, carried a terrible weight.
She had been too young at the time; her father had never disclosed the full details to her.
Later, as she grew into adulthood, she had pieced together fragments of the story and understood enough. But the accident had been so shocking to the Decart Empire and to foreign realms alike that it was rarely spoken of.
In her past life, she had drifted from Ian after marrying Carlyle, never offering him comfort for that tragedy. That was an excuse, of course. It was the truth.
Vanessa smiled bitterly.
Still, they had been childhood companions once. She hadn’t known all the grim details of the catastrophe that befell that friend, but she had known something terrible had occurred.
Yet her own future had occupied all her thoughts. Marriage and the storms that followed had left her no room for anything else.
‘……That’s just an excuse too.’
Vanessa gazed quietly at Ian’s profile for a moment, then turned her eyes toward the sea.
The ocean stretched before them, dark as the deepest night sky.
She had to admit it.
She had never truly tried to know Ian.
Or rather, she had never wanted to.
In her past life, she had already been married to Carlyle. In this life, she was again.
‘I married him only for revenge.’
This was the kind of heavy burden one could only bear with someone you loved—the sort of thing one wouldn’t dare comfort without that love. Not when you were merely shells of spouses.
Husband and wife in name alone.
She didn’t know what to say.
She didn’t love him. She had no desire to know him better.
Had she earned the right to hear such words, having chosen this marriage purely for revenge?
The thought weighed on her tongue.
‘……Will I regret this?’
Even if she had plotted to become a saint by forty, wouldn’t it have been better for a woman who harbored affection for him to hear his pain rather than she, who had only ever considered how to offer comfort?
Even now, her purpose in going to the Northern Region differed from his.
“……Ian, is it possible that……”
“Vanessa.”
Just as she was about to voice the question of whether he regretted marrying her, he gently cut her off.
When she turned her head, their eyes met as though he’d been waiting for that moment.
“Do you regret marrying me?”
His question left her speechless.
Why was he the one asking her that?
That was a question she should have asked herself—the one who’d decided on marriage without truly knowing him, who’d casually assigned him a score and proposed with such ease.
Vanessa couldn’t answer readily, biting at her lip instead.
He seemed to be asking if she regretted choosing someone burdened by such a heavy past.
That was how his words had struck her.
“……I don’t know.”
That was a question he should have received, not her.
She couldn’t possibly have an answer to it.
But now, faced with the chance to ask him in return, she found herself tensing at the thought of what answer might come from his lips—whether he truly did regret it.
Caught between two impossibilities, Vanessa gripped the handle of her teacup with force.
“Yes.”
Her tone carried neither disappointment nor bitterness.
Rather, it was almost like an affirmation—the sound of one accepting an inevitable answer.
That very composure ultimately made the silence between them uncomfortable.
‘It was a choice for revenge, after all.’
She still hadn’t heard what he truly wanted, but regardless, a contract was a contract.
They’d simply wrapped their transactional relationship in the beautiful name of marriage.
And so she wanted to avoid any moment when meaning might seep into what she’d thought of as a simple arrangement with him.
Having made her decision, Vanessa set down her teacup.
She needed to leave before things became any more awkward.
They hadn’t married to become something deeper, after all.
“Ian, I……”
“I don’t regret it.”
“……What?”
“Regardless of your intentions, you chose me as your companion.”
“That……? I didn’t know you thought of it that way…….”
His words struck like a heavy blow, forcibly shattering her resolve to leave, and Vanessa’s voice trembled.
Her conscience had been struck without mercy.
And worse still—his usual flat, emotionless tone had softened, which made it cut even deeper.
An awkward laugh escaped her lips.
She’d chosen him simply because his conditions were the most favorable.
He was well-suited for removing Carlyle from the picture.
And above all……the contract marriage terms meant that future independence was assured, so she wouldn’t have to fulfill the duties of a wife.
For the purpose of revenge, he was an excellent husband candidate—so she’d walked straight into marriage without a second thought…….
But what was she supposed to do if he kept ascribing meaning to it like this?
With her chance to escape the moment stolen away, Vanessa clenched her teeth tightly.
No. She had to prevent arriving in the Northern Region in this state.
Maybe she should play oblivious, as if she didn’t even know how to comfort him?
Normally, hearing such words would make someone grow sentimental and let slip something of their true feelings, but for Vanessa, whose priority was revenge, it was simply a situation where she needed to steer the conversation away at all costs.
She had to avoid letting any strange current flow between them.
If she wasn’t careful and actually developed feelings, divorce would become complicated.
Right. There was no image to maintain anyway.
It wasn’t as though she liked him.
And if there was even the slightest hint of affection taking root, it was better to stamp it out without a trace from the very beginning.
For the sake of both their happy post-divorce lives, after all!
“The……the wind seems a bit chilly. Perhaps I dressed too lightly?”
Flap, flap. Vanessa fanned her face with her hand, abruptly changing the subject.
She’d blurted out whatever came to mind, desperate to prevent the mood from becoming serious.
Ian, who had been watching her intently, suddenly rose from his seat…….
“……I just wanted to say thank you.”
Without waiting for her response, he took off his own coat with his own hands and draped it across her shoulders before she could even process what he was doing.
“Well then, I’m tired. I’ll turn in early.”
And with that, he left the room unhurriedly.
Utterly natural.
Without a trace of hesitation.
Vanessa watched Ian’s receding figure with a vacant stare, then let out a hollow laugh.
What’s this about? I braced myself for some awkward atmosphere when he suddenly bared his heart like that.
So all I had to do was listen?
I thought he was utterly inscrutable, but he’s simpler than I gave him credit for.
With her worries lifted, Vanessa could finally sit back and drink in the view with an easy mind.
‘This tea is good.’
When was the last time she’d allowed herself an unrushed moment alone?
In her past life, Carlyle had borrowed her name to conduct his businesses, dragging her into lawsuits and courtroom appearances so often that she scarcely had time to sip tea, let alone relax.
Among his ventures was a shop opened recklessly in a foreign land, and when certain items in its inventory violated that nation’s laws, she’d found herself summoned to testify in their courts as well.
She’d been forced to liquidate that shop—which had only just turned profitable—at a pittance.
At the time, Carlyle was equally ignorant of foreign law, so the whole affair had been desperately confusing.
His nature was to let one ear hear and the other forget when it came to legal matters, so he’d likely repeat such folly again.
In her past life, Mareo had shielded her from all such tedious, mind-numbing troubles, but this time around, that wouldn’t be an option.
So all she had to do was watch for her moment and plant some false information—and he’d engineer his own downfall without her lifting a finger.
Who would have thought that all those times she’d been blindsided in her past life would prove so useful for her revenge?
Vanessa drained the now-cool tea in one gulp and reclined against the chair’s back.
Far across the horizon, the sun was rising slowly into the sky.
Come to think of it, that empire where the trial had been held boasted a famous landmark.
It stood in the heart of the capital and was a symbol of the nation itself—something she’d always wanted to see for herself.
But dragged about for the trial back then, she’d never even set foot near the capital, let alone visited the monument itself.
‘Once my revenge is done, maybe I’ll take a trip.’

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