For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 53

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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 53
A trivial thing had knocked on her heart without warning.
Her surprise at his unexpected skill was brief, but the ease with which he bound her hair—so different from his earlier fumbling—planted doubt in her mind.
It didn’t look like something he’d done only once or twice.
That level of dexterity meant, perhaps, that even now…….
He should have simply said he had a woman he cared for. Then she would have searched for other candidates.
She didn’t understand why she felt this way.
She had chosen him based on conditions too—because he was simply the best fit, nothing more.
There was no rule against it.
Could the woman be of a different station than him?
Was that why he’d agreed to divorce later, to create a flaw in himself?
……Ian Ruscliffe of all people?
‘I don’t understand.’
When she sent the letter proposing a Contractual Marriage, he had given no answer for a week.
Only after she added conditions layer upon layer—no contact, becoming less than strangers—did he consent.
And then, out of nowhere, he suggested a date.
During the date itself, he poured heart and soul into it. There were certainly moments that didn’t seem like Ian.
Back then, she’d thought he was simply shy or reserved, but now, turning it over in her mind, there were definitely differences from the Ian of her past life.
Attitudes, speech, and actions he would never have shown then.
As she fitted each piece together like a puzzle, the picture completed itself.
‘He has a woman he loves, and that’s why his behavior toward me has been so inconsistent!’
Thinking it through this way, everything aligned.
The sudden proposal for dates, the time spent with her, his awkward delivery of romantic words as if he’d hastily crammed them from someone else—it all made sense now.
If it was all practice to draw closer to the woman he loved, then everything clicked into place.
The gentleness in his hands as he carefully bound her hair had been unlike anything before.
As if that gesture alone were the only expression he was permitted to make.
He must have swallowed countless feelings.
Whether it was the difference in their stations, or a love that could never be.
That was why he hadn’t bothered to deny the vile rumors that diminished her.
Because it could never happen, there was no need to correct them.
The feelings he couldn’t bring himself to offer, could only watch from afar—ironically, they had come to touch her heart.
The puzzle was complete.
He’d laden the marriage contract with conditions, yet pursued the wedding preparations as if there were no tomorrow.
He’d prepared a dress glittering with jewels worth a residence itself, yet made no protest when she removed them as she wished.
He’d shown unexpected sides of himself, then, as if suddenly coming to his senses, displayed his cold pride.
It was all…….
Without realizing it, had he been conflating her with the woman in his heart?
And when he occasionally awakened to this, did he speak those cold words to herself?
Of course a date would be his first.
Because the only gesture allowed to him would have been binding her hair!
Her gaze, resting on the table, shifted toward the window.
At that moment, Ian, dressed impeccably, was crossing the Garden toward the Residence.
When he casually lifted his head, their eyes met.
His pupils widened slightly.
Then came a face caught between laughter and tears, his mouth opening as if he had something to say, before he clamped it shut.
That was the face of someone hiding something from her.
The moment Vanessa saw that expression, she let out a soft sigh.
The perfectly completed puzzle was breathing, alive before her.
Yes. She’d found it strange that he hadn’t asked for anything in return when proposing the Contractual Marriage.
Was that all?
He’d even accepted the marriage term—the duration of the contract and the divorce—without resistance.
Now she understood why he hadn’t stated what he wanted from the marriage.
It was why he hadn’t objected when she set the marriage period at one year.
Divorce was the goal.
He was willing to become a Duke with a Flaw for the woman he loved.
If she couldn’t have him because of their difference in station, then a flaw was necessary!
As Ian finally turned away, Vanessa’s eyes gleamed.
Ah! Now it all made sense.
Why he was so set on dates when he seemed to want nothing else.
Why he’d shown unexpected sides of himself, then behaved as if everything would end once they divorced.
That’s right. In my past life, Ian comforted me, so in this life I ought to repay that kindness by helping him.
Vanessa made her resolve and picked up the Hair Pin sitting on the table.
While I’m at revenge anyway, let me help Ian achieve the unrequited love he couldn’t in his past life.
It’s my repayment for him accepting this Contractual Marriage without asking for anything in return, Ian Ruscliffe.
In this life, I won’t let you be called the Duke with a Flaw…….
‘Just trust me.’
I’ll finish my revenge quickly and divorce you so that you can be with the woman you love in this life!
***
His long strides along the corridor of the residence slowed.
Since when had she been watching him? Whenever an unexpected gaze fell upon him, his tongue always froze first.
Words would spill out fragmented, and his heart would race ahead of his mind.
Regretting something after saying it was not something Ian Ruscliffe had ever permitted himself to consider.
Yet it happened only in front of Vanessa.
Watching that single feeling—his affection for her—move uncontrollably like an unsheathed blade maddened him. He couldn’t govern it.
When he’d observed her from a distance, it had never been like this.
No, his control had been flawless then.
Concealing emotion and desire came naturally to Ian, and swallowing his feelings was easier than signing his name to a contract.
Ian Ruscliffe loves Vanessa Sharoze. That sentence had already been signed long ago.
He’d known it for years.
So he’d believed what he held was a dull, blunted blade.
He’d thought even wielded wildly, it could never draw blood from her.
Not until she came to the Ruscliffe Residence and asked him directly to marry her.
Speaking to him from inches away, smiling, moving closer—he finally understood what it meant for one’s mind to break.
It was the first time his tongue had failed him, and now even his thoughts had frozen.
And in the end, it was he who’d looked away.
His clenched jaw hardened further.
In all his years, Ian Ruscliffe had never wielded a blade this difficult to control.
Each time his heart threatened to be swept away entirely, he could only grasp at it feebly.
He had never feared his sword might brush the sleeve of its intended target.
Not for a blade he’d swung hundreds, thousands of times—so often that calluses had set deep and he could no longer remember when they’d first appeared.
It had been dull.
Surely it had.
But the moment he spoke of marriage, the moment the wedding ended and those lips cruelly drove the deadline of their contract into him like a blade—
The moment he confirmed they were still red—
He realized his belief that his heart was a dull blade had been his own delusion.
That realization drove him to madness.
No matter how much he suppressed it with reason, the moment he grew careless, it would surely brush against her sleeve.
“……Ian?”
“Vanessa.”
Their gaze had met and parted too briefly, and he hoped she wouldn’t notice how he kept finding excuses to see her once more.
“Weren’t you heading to prepare for departure? Why…….”
“If I upset you…… I wanted to apologize.”
“……Apologize?”
Her eyes blinked in confusion, focusing on the Hair Pin in his hand.
“Oh. This?”
“……What I said back then—”
“No, it’s fine. Nothing to apologize for really. Actually, would you tie it again? I can’t seem to get it right on my own…… it doesn’t look the same as when you do it.”
The Hair Pin he’d given her swayed gently before his eyes.
From even that faint movement, her scent unfurled delicately.
“Ri…… ght.”
She moved naturally, as if brushing off the apology he’d gathered his courage to offer, nothing different from her usual self.
With a sharp intake of breath, Ian gripped the Hair Pin she’d handed him tightly, his teeth clenching.
‘Merely this much.’
Merely this much was all his place meant to her.
Spreading rage, seething fury—all of it would vanish in a single day.
By tomorrow it would be nothing, relegated to yesterday.
Her red hair rippled down her back.
Like reaching a hand into flames.
After tying her hair as neatly as he had yesterday, Ian fled the space as though escaping.
Watching his departing figure, Vanessa let out a small, regretful click of her tongue.
“What am I supposed to do when she’s so hopelessly dense?”

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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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