I Picked Up My Amnesic Ex-Husband - Chapter 18

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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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I picked up my ex-husband, who had lost his memory.
Chapter 18

It was my first time seeing a man smile so freely in front of me like this. Of course, I didn’t say it aloud, knowing full well he’d never smile again if I did.
“Is that so?”
“Absolutely! Normally you just give short answers and stop. ‘I see. What? Hmm?’ — just those kinds of reactions!”
As I enumerated the speech patterns I’d endured all this time, Kaien raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t see any need to say more than that.”
It was the very statement of a man with absolute power. A man who had lived a life where understanding fell to others’ responsibility once he spoke.
Of course, instead of objecting, Wendy took the straightforward approach.
“Still, when you want to convey your meaning clearly, it’s better to speak with certainty. Especially to someone precious to you.”
After all, the strained relationship between Kaien and the maid throughout the main story had much to do with his miserliness in expression.
That’s why the scene where Kaien got slapped in the later chapters felt so satisfying. Even so, shouldn’t he express himself more to the woman he cares for?
“You might end up regretting it when it matters most, you know?”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
Seeing his indifferent response, I thought love was hopeless for him again, but instead of offering further advice, Wendy just gazed up at the sky once more.
Besides, I’m not the one who’ll be his lover anyway. Let him get his cheek slapped if he wants.
Our murmured conversation scattered the quiet night. Kaien noticed that the headache plaguing him had vanished, but he focused quietly on the conversation with Wendy.
With a premonition that tonight, at least, he wouldn’t suffer any nightmares.

◇◈◇

Chirp, chirp….
The song of birds tapped against the small window of the Cottage. Brilliant white sunlight poured onto the bed, announcing morning vividly.
The eyelids of the man lying like death upon the old wooden bed twitched. He let out a small groan, and through gradually opening eyes, he gazed slowly forward.
And then he encountered a sinister Wooden Mask that filled his entire field of vision.
An ordinary person would have screamed, but the man merely stared blankly at the mask. After a long silence, the one wearing it shuffled backward with a soft scrape.
Flustered, the masked figure retrieved a tray from the table and thrust it hastily toward the man. The tray holding green liquid emitted a bitter smell.
Rather than accept the bowl, the man examined the mask intently. He brushed aside the pain rising from his wounded side with ease.
His sharp blue eyes pierced through the mask as if to see beyond it.
“This is… medicine….”
And the moment a timid voice emerged from behind the mask, the heavy air suddenly dissolved. Sensing the easing atmosphere, the mask chattered softly.
“Your wound had split open, so I treated it. I think the detoxification is mostly done, but just in case.”
After I’d brought him to the Cottage and examined his condition, the blood wouldn’t stop flowing. When I realized it was a wound from Monster Venom, it made sense. The spare medicine I had on hand stopped the bleeding right away.
When I nervously offered the medicine bowl again, the man’s brow furrowed for a moment, then he snatched the bowl roughly and drained the medicine in one go.
Then he reached out, grabbed my slender arm with a sharp pull, and before I could react, he swiftly removed the mask.
“Oh!”
The woman with chestnut hair opened her brown eyes wide. The man studied the lovely woman held in his arms carefully.
Under his persistent gaze, the woman’s cheeks flushed slightly. She stammered out an excuse.
“I, well, I’m just a bit shy about showing my face….”
I was trying to keep up the pretense, but that seemed to have failed entirely.
The woman squeezed her eyes shut. I couldn’t turn away from an injured person, so I treated him, but what if — what if the Grand Duke actually collapsed in front of our house purely by chance? Maybe it was all just coincidence.
No, it’s too soon to give up. The hair color and eye color are different, so maybe he’ll just think I’m someone who resembles his dead wife…!
“And I thought you wouldn’t want to see my face….”
“…….”
“Um, but could you let go? We’re very close right now.”
She kept struggling to escape him, but his thick arm didn’t budge an inch. Damn, how is he so strong?
And why is this man’s embrace so warm?
We were married, but I’d barely even kissed him, let alone embraced him, so everything felt strange. Honestly, it was closer to being flustered.
I thought when he found out I was alive, he’d either demand answers or try to execute me on the spot.
Wait, didn’t Ciel promise not to worry about after? How did he even find out and come all this way? Was there actually a clumsy side I hadn’t seen?
As the woman briefly doubted her absent partner’s competence, the man’s lips began to move slowly.
“Who are you?”
Oh, did it really work?
Though slightly subdued from just waking, his voice was exactly as she remembered it — strikingly resonant. The woman, who had been momentarily dazed, seized the opportunity and answered quickly.
“I’m Lewen! And who might you be?”
“I…”
The man fell silent for a moment, his eyes darkening as he gathered his thoughts.
“I’m afraid I don’t know.”
What?
“I remember nothing. Not who I am, nor where I come from.”
“I’m sorry?”
You’re joking.
The man held the startled woman against him as he pressed on with his questions.
“Was it you who saved me?”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
“I’m grateful. Once I recover my memory, I’ll repay you properly.”
But the way he spoke — he didn’t sound like someone with amnesia at all.
Lewen barely managed to stifle the urge to contradict him. If she did, she’d all but confess that she knew who he was.
Still, one thing caught her attention.
“So you really mean you’ll repay me?”
Which meant he wouldn’t try to slash her throat later when his memory returned, right?
“A man of my word does not speak twice. But then again…”
The man hesitated briefly before continuing quietly.
“Did I not have any belongings on me when you found me?”
“Oh, about that — I’ve kept them safe!”
Lewen slipped free from the man’s embrace and retrieved the Brown Pouch from the drawer, handing it to him. She made sure to point out the sword propped against the wall beside the drawer as well.
As the man silently opened the pouch to examine its contents, Lewen spoke with conviction.
“I only set it aside so the blood wouldn’t stain everything. I promise I didn’t touch anything inside — not a single thing.”
“I had no such worry.”
The man answered quietly, then sealed the pouch carefully before fixing Lewen with an intense gaze that reminded her of a predator. She felt her nerves coil tight.
“Lewen.”
“Yes?”
“As I said, I remember nothing right now. Not even my own name.”
“That does seem to be the case.”
“In my current situation, you are the only person I can trust.”
She had a bad feeling about where this was heading.
The man proved her instinct right, dropping his bombshell in the calmest tone yet.
“So I’d like to ask — would you be willing to let me stay here for a time?”
“Stay? What sort of arrangement are you proposing?”
“Please allow me to remain in this Cottage.”
“Absolutely not!”
Before the man could respond, Lewen rushed ahead.
“Just look at this Cottage!”
She gestured around the modest interior of her cozy dwelling — one table, two chairs, a hearth, a stove, and one bed. That was the sum of it.
“There’s no separate room! If you stayed here, you’d have to see my face every single day until you went mad!”
Kaien had never been fond of being in her presence to begin with. Though, come to think of it, she’d seen his face far more often than expected in those final days before his death.
She’d even hesitated once, considering whether to proceed with her plan, but that doubt had been fleeting. It felt as though this might be the only natural chance she’d get to slip out of the narrative unscathed.
And yet here he was, drawing close to her again. In a form she couldn’t possibly have anticipated.
“But it’s quite pleasant. I find it charming.”
It was so outrageously presumptuous that she wondered if this taciturn Grand Duke was truly the same person she knew.
“That’s not even the real problem. Don’t you understand? If an unmarried man and woman live together, it’s easy to invite all sorts of misunderstandings.”
“Unmarried.”
For a moment, she thought she saw his eyes grow cold, but Lewen didn’t notice. Her mind was too flooded with information to process in the moment.
“Then…”
The man’s words trailed off as a smile lifted the corners of his mouth — a decidedly improper smile that somehow suited him perfectly.
As Lewen found herself absorbed in this strange observation, the man gently caught her hand. He brought it close, pressing a light kiss near her ring finger while gazing up at her.
“Then I need only marry you, is that not so?”

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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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