For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 76

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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 76
Vanessa was sick of it.
At that moment, Ian—who had been maintaining a distance of roughly a fist’s width from her—fixed his gaze on Calail Leonard.
When his expressionless golden eyes settled on him, Calail’s pupils flinched.
“Clarify.”
A heavy voice spilled from Ian’s lips.
“Clarify what.”
Four words cut through the Banquet Hall.
The fuse was lit. He was about to turn this place into a blazing inferno.
Vanessa quickly grabbed Ian’s collar.
“Ian.”
It was a motion to snuff out the burning wick.
“I’m asking you a question.”
But he was already on the brink of ignition.
The expression that had been impassive all this while began to crack.
“Duke, my son has been discourteous. Please forgive his rudeness.”
The Marquise Leonard’s tone shifted to something more direct.
Whether she’d decided it wasn’t yet time to press him, or genuinely felt that Calail had misspoken in this moment, she was wavering—and that much was undeniable.
“Vanessa.”
But an arrow already nocked and drawn doesn’t stop before its mark.
“I don’t think there’s any reason we can’t be friends just because we’ve parted ways.”
Shock.
The hall went rigid.
When she’d tried to smother the fuse about to ignite, the stubborn man had instead lit it himself and detonated.
Vanessa reflexively opened her mouth, then closed it.
Only two people in this room still had their wits: the Marquise Leonard and herself.
A woman trying to stop her son, and a woman trying to keep her husband from exploding.
Their eyes crossed in the void.
Revenge or whatever—if this blew up here, it was a disaster.
“Darling.”
With a sharp exhale, Vanessa clenched her teeth and linked her arm through his.
Ian’s body went rigid all at once.
He looked down at Vanessa, pressed flush against him and linked arm-in-arm, then swept his gaze across the hall.
His eyes were like nails driven deep into wood.
…….
He still had his sanity, it seemed.
Ian regarded Calail and the Marquise once more, then fixed his gaze solely on the Marquise Leonard.
“So this is the lesson you taught him.”
It wasn’t a question.
It was a blade honed sharper than an arrowhead.
And it pierced through the entire hall.
The Marquise Leonard’s face went rigid.
She quickly unfurled her fan and covered her mouth.
“I apologize.”
She immediately lowered her head.
Even her apologies usually came wrapped in thorns, but she seemed genuinely flustered now.
At that sight, Ian’s gaze shifted toward Calail.
“Or maybe your son is simply a colt.”
But the fuse, once lit, would not be extinguished.
Colt. The raw word lashed through the hall, and someone drew a sharp breath.
“Or perhaps it’s neither.”
Ian’s gaze turned toward Vanessa.
“You dare discuss my wife’s worth in this room.”
It was seamless.
An uppercut delivered with perfect fluidity.
What he’d said amounted to: Vanessa was compelling enough that even after parting ways, he couldn’t forget her.
The hall went rigid once more.
That Ian Ruscliffe, who seemed indifferent to everything, had not merely elevated his wife—he had laid bare his affection in front of everyone.
“I think her charm is something only I need to know.”
A second strike.
The dam that had finally burst was flooding across a river that couldn’t be contained.
Vanessa, still linked to Ian’s arm, froze solid.
Was he really forbidding them to comment on, take interest in, or so much as glance at his wife—all of it phrased in such a roundabout way?
Ian Ruscliffe, of all people?
They were no longer in the Banquet Hall.
From somewhere, the soft crunch of cookies being chewed began to echo.
“The eyes watching us are unpleasant,” Ian said.
With that, he released her arm, removed his gloves, and took Vanessa’s hand bare-palm in his own.
A collective gasp.
Someone’s jaw dropped audibly.
……
Three out of four people went rigid.
Calail stiffened sharply; the Marquise Leonard’s eyes widened; and Vanessa……
She was shocked.
She couldn’t hide her expression.
Ian Ruscliffe, who was nothing more than her Contract Marriage partner.
Her husband, who had plastered “no-contact rule” all over their arrangement and would stiffen at the merest brush of fingertips.
Not only did he reach for her hand first, but he openly displayed his displeasure to his wife’s former lover.
“……What did you eat that was bad?” Vanessa whispered, audible only to Ian as he led her away by the hand.
His jaw clenched visibly from the side.
Was there poison in the dessert?
No. All he’d had before they left today was a single cup of tea.
Then had the tea leaves gone bad?
Click-clack, tap-tap. Footsteps rang out in quick succession.
Two people’s steps struck the floor, rapid and urgent—though in truth, one was barely keeping pace with the other.
It was strikingly different from Ian’s usual stride.
To anyone watching, he looked like a man displeased that his wife had drawn another’s interest.
Ian climbed the Spiral Staircase beyond the Banquet Hall at a brisk pace and entered a private Reception Room.
Then he closed the door.
There were only two of them now. The hand he’d been holding slipped away softly.
“…….”
“…….”
Silence. A different silence from that of the Banquet Hall hung between them as they stood side by side.
“……Rest here for a while.”
It seemed his mind had only now returned to him.
His ear tips were flushed with color.
Vanessa glanced around the Reception Room, then cast a sideways look at Ian.
“Why did you say that?”
It was genuine curiosity.
“My wife.”
For a Contract Marriage with a no-contact rule slathered all over it, those words were excessive.
He’d been displaying possessiveness.
Anyone listening would have thought Ian Ruscliffe was in love with Vanessa Sharoz.
“What?”
His expression had gone blank again.
“Just now. All that about my worth, my charm, only you needing to know—why did you say those things? You……”
Vanessa’s words trailed off just as she was about to ask: don’t you have someone else you care for?
She didn’t know why. She simply didn’t want to say it aloud.
At her faltering tone, Ian’s gaze brushed across her lips.
“Didn’t you ask me to appear that way in front of others?”
When he turned his head, his ears were even more flushed than before.
“When did I ever?”
Vanessa countered.
She never said such a thing.
Or rather, she had tried to say it, but stopped herself.
It felt greedy to ask for such things between Contract Marriage partners.
She had swallowed those words on the day she was having the Wedding Dress fitted.
Ian fell silent at her objection. Then he walked to the Reception Room’s sofa and sat.
“That day. Your eyes looked that way.”

That day. The two words sealed Vanessa’s lips.
The fact that they were remembering the same day struck her heart like a small blow.
“…….”
“Sit. There’s tea here—you can stay until the banquet begins, then we’ll go.”
With that, Ian crossed his legs and lifted the teapot, pouring tea into the empty teacup before him.
Exactly two cups.
The scent of mint filled the Reception Room quietly.
Vanessa lingered at the closed doorway, then settled quietly into the seat across from Ian.
Only the sound of tea being sipped echoed through the room.
“……Have you confirmed the banquet schedule?”
Ian nodded at Vanessa’s question.
“Part one is the engagement announcement. Part two is the Jinjeong-hwan.”
“How many in stock?”
“A thousand. I could increase it further.”
“I’d like half distributed within The Empire and the rest abroad.”
The teacup in his hand stopped mid-air.
“Why.”
The single word was not a question. It was a demand for reason.
“If we’re going to export anyway, it would be better to do it not just within The Empire but to more places.”
But that wasn’t the real reason.
If the Jinjeong-hwan made by House Ruscliffe were exported not only throughout The Empire but to foreign lands as well, the Marquise Leonard would surely gnash her teeth—and her insides would boil with fury.
But she couldn’t tell Ian the truth.
Ian watched Vanessa in silence, studying her.
“If it’s a shortage of trade routes……”
“For foreign markets, the Eastern Empire, surely?”
Ian gently cut through Vanessa’s words and posed his own question.
“……Yes. Half of the overseas volume to the Eastern Empire, half between Laventir and the Bzenchia Empire. And…… a small amount to the Hysterion Kingdom.”
In effect, she was saying she’d export to everywhere, including the Descartes Empire in the west.
Ian swallowed his tea slowly.
“I didn’t know you dreamed of being a diplomat.”
His eyes, keen to perceive intent, studied Vanessa carefully.
“Do you want House Ruscliffe to grow larger than it is now?”
“…….”
“Or do you want to gain influence?”
The sharp question was aimed at her.
Both were true.
But to be precise, it was closer to the latter.
The greater Ruscliffe’s influence grew, the more readily the path to revenge against House Leonard would unfold.
She couldn’t say that. Not in front of Ian.
How could she tell him to his face that she intended to run everything as pure business, that she meant to use him?
The very proposal of a Contract Marriage had already implied as much.
As if Vanessa’s silence were answer enough, Ian asked nothing more.
Instead, he set down his teacup.
“Rest. I’ll come collect you before it starts.”

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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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