For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 67

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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 67
“……Huh? Oh……!”
Vanessa’s eyes cleared suddenly, her expression startled. Then she stared down at the name her own hand had written across the parchment.
There it was, lodged firmly in the middle of the parchment—that name, written while she’d been pouring out her entire memory for revenge alone.
His presence had run deeper than she’d ever realized.
“I’ll have to buy another one…….”
She spoke as though annoyed, yet she didn’t discard the parchment. Instead, her eyes lingered on Ian’s name, plainly inscribed at its center.
Yes.
She had to admit it now.
She could no longer see this man as merely a tool to be used.
It wasn’t about liking or disliking him.
It had happened because he’d shown her something human—something real.
It had nothing to do with attraction or excitement.
It was something deeper than that.
A connection between two people.
And she had the sudden certainty that such a thing could no longer be bound by contract.
Even after the Contract Marriage ended and she divorced him, even then……
‘I want us to be friends. Good friends.’
She didn’t want to become strangers.
They spoke well together, after all.
Even after the divorce, they’d remain connected through the Jeongjeong Flower business, so sometimes they’d meet for a meal, share tea, exchange news about their lives, and…….
At that point, Vanessa lightly tapped her own cheek.
“Enough. Stop.”
It was already past afternoon, edging toward evening.
What was wrong with her?
How many hours had she spent thinking about Ian?
Vanessa pushed her chair back and stood.
Whether intentional or not, he had now made himself visible in her revenge plan.
She could no longer ignore him or look away.
She quickly rolled up the parchment and gathered her things to leave.
She didn’t have to share dinner with him…….
‘But we have been eating together lately.’
Every time she’d stepped into the dining hall at this hour, she’d expected him not to be there—yet Ian Ruscliffe always was.
Six in the morning, seven, half past eight. And six fifty-eight in the evening.
At any hour at all.
She’d even wondered if he waited there until she appeared, but one look at the steaming teacup before him had banished that thought.
He would likely be there again today.
If she was going to run into him anyway, why waste time denying her hunger?
She glanced at the clock on the wall.
Three minutes before six in the evening.
If she bought the parchment and returned, she’d be back by seven at the latest.
Vanessa strode down the manor corridor, then hesitated as Ian’s study came into view.
“……Should I tell him I’m going?”
All their recent shared dinners had been chance meetings piled upon chance meetings, but they’d be eating together anyway…….
Vanessa made up her mind and knocked lightly on Ian’s study door.
The condition he’d set before the marriage—that she inform his butler Denian of her business before entering the study—had long since melted away.
“……Come in.”
He seemed to know who it was from just the knock.
“Ian, I’m going out for a bit.”
At her words, Ian’s gaze gradually lifted from the stack of documents before him.
“……Out? What about Lea?”
“The Knight Order’s been doing joint training for the delegation ceremony lately. The captain said the members lose morale without their leader, so they want me to focus on that for now.”
“…….”
“I need to buy more parchment. I’ve run out.”
Or rather, she’d run through it herself.
“……There should be some left in the warehouse.”
“Really? Can you show me? Oh, but if you’re busy, you can show me later.”
“Wait a moment.”
At her considerate offer, Ian rose from his seat.
“Follow me. ……What about dinner.”
“I need to eat. Should we go now?”
“……If you’re eating now.”
“All right then. If you have parchment, grab it and we’ll head to the dining hall together.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then I’ll have to stop by the shop. We’ll be back around seven.”
“…….”
Ian’s eyes fixed forward once more.
He seemed to be hoping—muttering something to himself—words that brushed past Vanessa’s ears like a whisper.
***
“By the way, are you coming with me to the banquet?”
Vanessa asked between mouthfuls of food spread before her.
Ian’s attention remained fixed on the newspaper.
Lately, every meal looked like this.
Vanessa would eat while Ian read the newspaper or sorted through documents.
It had the appearance of only one person dining, but Vanessa didn’t mind.
“……Yes.”
“Then I can prepare the outfit, can’t I?”
“Fine.”
“Do you have a color preference? If not, I’ll match mine with yours.”
She spoke the suggestion of coordinating outfits as casually as one might discuss the weather.
At those words, Ian faltered.
“……Pink.”
The sound of her spoon against the plate ceased abruptly.
“……What?”
Vanessa stared at Ian blankly.
Pink? The pink she was thinking of?
Ian Ruscliffe was going to wear a pink formal suit?
……A pink formal suit?
“……Are you serious?”
“What do you mean?”
“You just said you’d wear a pink suit…….”
“…….”
The tips of Ian’s ears flushed crimson.
“……Not me. You.”
His lips, which had been loosened, now issued a swift correction.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“You’d like it if I wore pink?”
“Like……! That’s not quite…….”
“Then what?”
Ian stared down at the newspaper with sudden intensity.
“……Do as you wish.”
“Now that I think about it, when I first came to the mansion, you decorated my room entirely in pink…….”
“Vanessa. Are you finished eating?”
He changed the subject.
Even Ian Ruscliffe, caught in his own feelings exposed.
Vanessa blinked rapidly.
“……But I don’t usually wear pink.”
“…….”
“I mean, in all the time we’ve been together, I’ve never…….”
Something flickered through Vanessa’s mind as her words trailed off.
Oh.
There was one time she’d worn it and seen him.
But that was…….
“……When we were children. Before I was even nine.”
“…….”
“You remember that and now you’re…….”
“If you’re finished eating, get up.”
Ian rose abruptly from his seat.
Then he moved briskly away, leaving the dining hall ahead of her.
“……What?”
So she’s saying she’ll wear the pink suit, or she’s saying she won’t……?
No. If she’s in pink, does that mean she’d wear blue instead?
……Blue?
Vanessa tapped her fork against her plate, lost in thought.
Now that she thought about it, there was that deep navy suit she’d worn often in her previous life—the formal wear she’d had on when he celebrated her birthday for her on the Pommeled Street bench.
The color suited her well enough that she remembered it.
‘……Navy.’
But Vanessa’s hair and eye color meant deep navy kept sliding off her—it was a shade that didn’t suit her well.
‘So if I wear a lighter blue, and Ian wears the deep navy…….’
Vanessa’s lips curled upward as the thought took hold.
It might actually work.
***
Duke Sharoze gazed at the gift that had arrived beautifully wrapped alongside a letter.
They say marriage makes one mature, but he never expected it would apply to his daughter.
But really?
His daughter, who decided even on marriage on a whim?
Growing sense and responsibility?
……Truly?
Duke Sharoze examined the letter with a suspicious eye, then slowly unwrapped the gilt paper.
Inside was a round, golden medicinal ingredient nestled in a nine-compartment box.
The letter spoke of his health and how wrinkles were forming on her brow since her marriage—patently false, no matter how he considered it.
There was something scheming afoot.
Following the postscript’s instructions, Duke Sharoze carefully removed the gilt wrapper and placed the contents in his mouth, chewing.
“……Blech!”
Bitter.
Terribly bitter.
A pill made from the Jeongjeong Flower, they said—his tongue nearly gagged at the first contact.
But it was a gift from his daughter (one bordering on a bribe, perhaps), so he couldn’t spit it out.
Gulp.
Duke Sharoze’s throat worked hard against the swallow.
……?
Nothing particularly noticeable, though.
Feeling no dramatic change, Duke Sharoze thought to himself, ‘Just as I suspected,’ and set about his duties as usual.

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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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