Hiding My Identity From My Husband - Chapter 9

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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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Episode 9

Tap-tap-tap!
The moment I stepped into the Underpass, I broke into a run.
The conversation with the child had eaten up far more time than I’d anticipated.
By now, I should have had more than enough time to finish the fitting, and Lew would certainly have reason to grow suspicious.
‘Deep breath.’
I pulled air into my lungs and leaped high, grabbing a jutting brick. Using another as a foothold, I pushed off hard and vaulted through the Fitting Room window in one fluid motion.
Whoosh—!
I slid into the Fitting Room and immediately began unbuttoning my Blouse.
“Charlene. Are you finished?”
As expected, Lew was waiting just outside the door.
“Just—just a moment!”
I peeled off my Skirt and grabbed one of the Dresses he’d given me at random.
“Hmm.”
A low hum drifted through from the other side of the door.
Was he growing suspicious?
I thrust both legs into the Dress and hurried to fasten the buttons up the back.
That was when—
“I’m coming in.”
A chair toppled over with a sharp crack, and the door swung open.
With the buttons near my shoulder blades still undone, I simply turned to face him.
“Oh, um.”
I scrambled for an excuse.
“I can’t quite reach them.”
The sight of me contorting my arms to reach the buttons was convincing enough. Hopefully.
“I hadn’t considered that. Turn around, if you would. I’ll fasten them for you.”
Lew approached me with long, measured strides and placed his fingers gently on the buttons I’d left undone.
Whether it was because my body had gone cold or because his hands truly radiated heat, I couldn’t say.
But the warmth of his fingertips made contact with my skin.
My throat felt parched.
Whether I was tense because he might suspect me, or for some other reason entirely, I had no idea.
Either way, I could feel my heart hammering faster than it ever had before.
“The Dress fits you well.”
As Lew fastened the final button, he leaned toward me, and his breath grazed my skin.
Without meaning to, I held my breath.
“Only the waist will need alteration. It’s not uncomfortable, is it?”
“…No. It’s fine.”
“Good to hear.”
Lew gazed at the mirror, where both our reflections were visible.
“Charlene.”
Through the glass, his eyes locked onto mine as he spoke.
“Why did you block the door with a chair?”
I nearly flinched at the question.
But I couldn’t afford to show my hand here. Not a single trace that might make him suspect me.
“Because I thought you might come barging in like that.”
“My, how little faith you have in me.”
“You’re already in the room now, so what does it matter?”
Lew blinked slowly. Then his gaze dropped, settling on my feet.
“Your Shoes are spotless.”
Observant bastard.
Since I’d already anticipated the question, I answered without hesitation.
“I got distracted while changing clothes, so I wiped them off.”
“I’ve never seen your Shoes this clean before.”
“I just wiped them, I’m telling you.”
Lew tilted his head, looking down at me with that peculiar angle.
“And which am I to believe—what you say, or what you don’t?”
It was a low murmur, but spoken so close that I couldn’t possibly miss it.
My eyes stung. It felt as though something foreign had slipped past my lashes and traveled all the way up into my skull.
But I didn’t look away from our reflection in the mirror.
I was afraid of what Ru might do. Afraid he wouldn’t stop at mere suspicion—that he’d arrest me on the spot.
“I think…….”
Ru’s gaze traveled down from my profile to the nape of my neck. Gooseflesh rose across my skin.
“A necklace would suit you better.”
Ru ran his fingertips lightly across the taut tendons of my neck as he spoke, my muscles rigid with tension.
“So you can’t simply run off.”

* * *

I let out a long, shuddering breath the moment I collapsed onto the Bed.
One corner of my room was piled high with clothes I’d bought today, and I’d put off having Mardi organize them until tomorrow.
It would take forever to sort through it all alone.
‘And that’s far from everything,’ I thought.
The custom orders were supposed to arrive next week. I could practically build a house out of dresses.
Ru had purchased dozens of garments at the Fitting Room—everything I’d tried on, plus more.
I’d told him it wasn’t necessary, but Ru wouldn’t hear it.
Something about maintaining his honor, I suppose.
I couldn’t make sense of it.
He suspected me of treachery, and yet here he was, dressing me up as his fiancée while simultaneously protecting his image.

That I’d slipped away from the Clothing Shop and come back on my own.
And yet he still treated me as a Guardian operative.
I couldn’t understand it.
‘Why doesn’t he just confront me directly?’
That would be the natural thing to do.
Despite his suspicions, Ru simply watched. He did nothing else.
‘Why?’
If he’d caught me red-handed, he could have reported me to Guardian, or at the very least dropped a hint to his adoptive father, the High Priest.
Instead, he just observed me this way—methodically, relentlessly.
‘Maybe he lacks concrete proof?’
But he could still have pressed me for answers. Instead, he kept probing, testing me subtly.
‘Like today.’
Without thinking, I touched the nape of my neck where his fingers had brushed me.
His hand had been warm against my skin, and the breath I’d felt while he fastened the button was impossibly gentle.
If it weren’t for the fact that he suspected me, that I was a spy, it would have been perfectly romantic.
Between an ordinary man and woman…… they might have felt shy, or thrilled.
‘I think I was a little embarrassed.’
Ru, though—he’d shown no such reaction.
He’d been perfectly composed.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Ru caught off guard.’
I can’t even imagine it.
The Ru I knew was always composed, analytical, unflappable.
‘Is that why he’s just watching me?’
Perhaps he was content to observe me at leisure until I revealed genuine “proof” of my treachery.
Until he could capture me with certainty…….
“Once this is over, I’ll have to tell Catacl I’m going back to the Empire,” I said aloud.
I had no idea if Catacl would approve, but for my own sanity, it had to be done.
“I’m losing my mind, honestly.”
I pulled myself up, muttering.
Then I retrieved the Shoe Polish Container that the child had handed me when we met after I’d slipped out of the Clothing Shop earlier.

—But I did hear some things about the Sacred Relic.

And with that, I handed over the Shoe Polish Container.
The Vice-Commander, Henry, is surely searching for the Sacred Relic to check the Commander’s power.
That’s why he’s conducting this operation behind the Commander’s back.
‘I can use this however I need to later.’
And the little one I met today as well.
This intelligence that tumbled in wholesale would become invaluable material for someone who’d spent over a decade in the Infiltration Unit like me.
I organized my thoughts and opened the Shoe Polish Container.
It was nearly new—packed full of hardened shoe polish.
I began gently scraping the solidified surface with a teaspoon. Since the container wasn’t very large, it didn’t take long to scrape away all the polish.
“Eureka.”
Once I’d scraped away all the polish, characters carved into the container’s bottom appeared.
A cipher constructed using the code used within Catacl.
“Gold…….”
I deciphered the cipher.
“The one who makes gold seeks to set truth aright.”
The moment I read it, I understood what it meant.
These days, an Alchemist is thought of as someone who makes medicine—a pharmacist’s image—but I’d heard that in the past, they were practitioners whose ultimate goal was to create gold itself.
“The one who makes gold” referred to the Alchemist, Themis, and…….
“The truth must be about the Sacred Relic.”
I didn’t know why they spoke of setting truth aright, but in any case, it had become certain that Themis possessed information about the Sacred Relic.
But then, how exactly?
I wasn’t entirely sure about that part…….
“I absolutely cannot let them meet with Lu.”
I’d already been thinking that, but now I had an even clearer reason to keep them apart.
“The question is how to do it.”
After thinking for a moment, I reached a conclusion.
There were countless ways to prevent Lu from finding out and to keep Themis from telling Lu anything.
So then,
‘I’ll rest today.’
I burned the cipher in the Fireplace and lay back down on the Bed.

-You won’t be able to run away recklessly.

Ignoring Lu’s voice that kept surfacing in my mind, I tried to fall asleep.
Tomorrow was the day of the party at the Marquis Estate.

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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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