I Will Become the Ex-Wife of the Beast - Chapter 39

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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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Jerome flushed and dropped his head as though it were his own fault, and Count Starfield gave his shoulder an encouraging pat.
“It’s hardly your doing. Still, better that than bringing in someone whose background we can’t vouch for. There are only men here, and now that the Grand Duchess Consort is no longer around, someone will need to look after Lady Rose at night.”
“Lady Rose?”
“Isn’t that right? That little kitten… that lady shouldn’t be made to sleep apart from her sister, not in a strange place like this. That would be far too cruel.”
“Ah…”
“Of course, if it’s only until she falls asleep, then this old man, with no other pleasures left in life, could manage it. Hmph!”
The Count’s gaze lingered on Rose with a touch of his own greed. Behind her, as she sat surrounded by knights, nibbling at her cotton candy, there seemed to be a halo. Whenever the child giggled shyly and merely shook her head, Lear and the other knights could not contain their overwhelming emotion. When someone playfully pretended to faint, a wave of laughter rippled through the hall.
“…Who’s looking after whom, I wonder.”
“Either way, I’m worried about the Grand Duchess Consort. Our family are warriors, so our grip is strong, and Lady Eliya will find it hard to slip free of it. The two of them have picked up far too many odds and ends.”
“…Too many?”
What comes after that?
Kiers’s eyes, which had been cold and mocking all this while, showed interest for the first time.
“Ah, never mind. I only meant that they might be pouring things onto Her Highness that she can’t possibly bear. Their minds have only ever opened up in the strangest directions.”
“…”
“Hah, I think it’s better to bring her out now, at least. Wait here for a moment,”
“Wait.”
A sharp voice stopped Jerome as he turned to leave. What on earth was going on? A tension flickered through the air, but Kiers, leaning back at an angle, was both cautious and resolute.
“Leave them be. How could I drive out people who have already come? It’s not as if I don’t know the Starfield Count, her father.”
“But…”
“Jerome, see to your own affairs first. I saw yesterday that everyone’s training is an absolute mess. Must I really have to say such things to you?”
“…I-I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
Jerome, who had been about to climb the second-floor stairs, bowed his head in embarrassment and changed direction. As he hurried across the hall, Kiers watched him with indifference, while behind him the Count hastily composed an awkward expression. Since when had Your Highness become so full of compassion?

“…If you have something to say, Count, then just say it.”
“…If you have something to say, just say it, Count.”
“No, Your Highness. How would I dare say such a thing?”
“…”
So he did have something to say.
Regardless, Kiers raised one eyebrow indifferently and let his fingers drum lightly. Having confirmed that no one else was nearby, the Count lowered his voice carefully.
“But are you truly all right, Your Highness?”
“With what?”
“You know well enough. About Lady Eliya.”
“The Grand Duchess Consort.”
Kiers corrected the form of address with crisp precision, every syllable distinct, and a warning flickered clearly in his eyes. Even that alone was a firm declaration that, whatever the Count might say on this matter, he would not be swayed.
“If you intended to reverse course, you would not have come this far.”
“Your Highness, since this is no trifling matter, perhaps you could ask Heriet to look into it a bit more actively.”
“Enough of that. Withdraw everyone.”
“But if it turns out to be true,”
“Count, I regard you as the most trustworthy of my loyal retainers, and as family, and I rely upon you.”
“…”
“So I’ll ask that you not force me to say anything cruel. Is that too much to ask?”
His crimson eyes, which seemed to see straight through a man, flashed as cold as ice. It was only because this was the Count that he had been put in such roundabout terms; with anyone else, a sword would have done the talking instead of words. Realizing that his remarks had overstepped, the Count lowered his head, and Kiers’s aura eased once more.
“Whether it’s true or not means little to me now, so don’t bother with pointless effort.”
“…Your Highness.”
“Why that face? Wasn’t it you who pushed me to marry, begging me to take a wife?”
“That was merely to serve as a shield to hide the eyes of the Imperial Family,”
“If that shield grows strange and draws my attention day by day, then it is no longer a shield.”
Kiers shook his head and met the Count’s gaze. His dignity and vigor were the same as always, but it was his closest aide who knew best that his eyes had changed at some point.
“I believe that checking and using things at the right time is not only a matter for the battlefield.”
“…”
“Even if it is true, it doesn’t matter. At the very least, it would be better than a woman who abandoned her own child before her eyes just to save her own life.”
His voice was bitter and devoid of feeling. He had no wish to waste any emotion on something no longer worth recalling.
Kiers, who had been looking toward the second-floor stairs, lifted his gaze to a corner of the hall, where the laughter made it noisy.

“Kiers, it has to be this way, so that both of you can live! Let go! Please!”

“…”
The head that had been filled with a woman’s screams and sobbing soon became covered by a child’s laughter. Without realizing it, Kiers’s heavy steps turned toward that spot.
“Lady Rose, do you like cotton candy that much? Then perhaps you’d like to go out to the New City District tomorrow with me, Devon?”
“Oh, but there’s me, isn’t there? I know plenty of better places.”
Having fought through the cutthroat competition to stand closest to Rose, the brothers Aiden and Devon wait eagerly for her choice. Long ago, these brothers had seen every hope and mystery they held about a little sister shattered and trampled, and to them, Rose was nothing less than a miracle and a salvation. Small and soft, ears perked, tail swaying, hands fidgeting, teeth nibbling at everything in sight!
That such a creature could exist, they felt overwhelmed all over again. Hmm, even her coy, pondering pout melted the hearts of these aging big brothers.
Aiden, reading the room, quietly summoned his courage before his brother could steal the lead.
“So then, this Brother Aiden and—”
“No! Whatever anyone says, it was I, Brother Devon, who spoke first!”
“…Hmm-hmm.”
The moment their voices rose, Rose’s face fell at once, and she blinked her puppy-like eyes. Seeing the child look so utterly dejected, the knights glared at one another and blamed each other, grinding their teeth.
“Be quiet! Did you not startle Her Ladyship? Devon, who do you think you are!”
“Sir Lear, that’s hardly fair. You’d like to call her ‘big brother’ too, Sir Lear, but you’re getting on in years, so out of conscience…”
“…Out of conscience? Just who does she think she is, calling herself our Rose’s brother?”
“S-Your Grace!”
Kiers, who had come up without anyone noticing and rested a hand on Rose’s shoulder, ground his teeth with a grinding sound. Because Rose was there, he did not let his aura run wild, but its gloom was already spilling out and rippling behind him. Not that it mattered; as long as Rose didn’t see it, that was all that counted.
“So you’ve acquired a brother I don’t know about. How remarkable. Wouldn’t you agree, Lady Rose?”
“Grand Duke Brother-in-law!”
“Come here.”
Rose held out her hands and crossed over into Kiers’s embrace. As he naturally reached toward a strand of hair clinging to her cheek, envious glances rained down from every direction.
“Mm!”
Perhaps afraid of having the hair peeled away from her cheek, which was sticky with cotton candy, Rose squeezed her eyes shut tightly before his hand even reached her.
Gasp! At the sight, the knights, their hearts wounded, fixed their eyes on Kiers’s hand. In truth, Rose herself was a concern, but they were swept up in confusion and worry over how they ought to take this scene.
“Y-Your Grace! Please, that hand—!”
“Do calm yourselves!”
“…My lady, you may open your eyes now.”
Apart from his calm voice, the sharp glance Kiers cast at them dispelled their anxieties. It was hard to believe that the same hand that, just a year ago, had sliced open enemies’ throats like uncorking wine bottles was now carefully lifting strands of hair one by one, so as not to pull at her.
Worthless things.
Regardless of the knights’ stares, Kiers tidied Rose’s hair with great care. Then he met her bright, wide eyes.
“Rose, what were you doing here?”
“Ah, I was told I’d go outside with Rose tomorrow, but I didn’t know who would be going with me. Brother Devon here, and—”
“No. You have no brothers, as far as I know.”
“…But.”
“And you won’t have any in the future, either.”
Though he answered while looking at Rose, it was easy to guess who the last words were really meant for. Devon, who had been dazed with delight at hearing “brother” from Rose even for a moment, was cowed by the killing intent and shut his mouth. Still not satisfied, Kiers frowned and could not take his eyes off Rose.
“So, Lady Rose, you were agonizing over whether to go outside?”
“Mm-hmm. But my sister says it’s dangerous, so she’ll probably say no. And then again, if I say no, the knights might be sad. Hmm-hmm.”
“In that case, Rose.”
Kiers’s head gradually lowered toward her dainty ear.
“I’m terribly sorry to the knights who have forgotten their place, but if my brother-in-law were to learn of such a thing, he would be in a foul enough mood that I can’t promise what would become of them. Perhaps it would be best not to entertain such notions carelessly.”
“….”
“…That should do, I think.”
The more unusually kind Kiers grew, the more the ashen-faced knights one by one came to their senses. Rose, shivering as her ear tickled, pouted her lips.
“Mm… I don’t really get it.”
“You may simply say, ‘No, you may not.'”
“Ah!”
Rose brightened with a smile, as if she understood now, and looked around. But once the knights had all vanished, she seemed a little flustered and fussed quietly. While there had been so many grown-ups around, she had at least felt safest reaching for Grand Duke Brother-in-law’s hand, but now that no one was there, she seemed to have grown shy.

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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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