I Will Become the Ex-Wife of the Beast - Chapter 48

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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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“……It’s me.”
He had clearly grabbed my arm and met my red eyes. It wasn’t a gaze anyone could easily forget, so that much I was certain of. Whether it was desire, spite, or some other reason I couldn’t fathom, I was simply astonished that he’d go to such lengths for a single moment.
Of course. The male lead.
No matter how much money you have, how can anyone do something like this?
The sheer scale of it, too overwhelming to handle, made his presence as the male lead impossible to ignore. Dizzy from the unavoidable sense of distance, I still couldn’t bring myself to let go of the dress. The way it melted into my hand felt just like touching cotton candy.
Am I really allowed to accept this? All of it?
“….”
The strength drained from my hand as it clutched the dress, and the fabric slipped loose.
Normally I’d have scrambled to grab every last thing I could, but most of the dresses here were wedding gowns. For someone who had married under a false name, they were far too dazzling to accept. I stared at the pristine white gown, a gown bright enough to expose even my nonexistent conscience, and bit my lip hard.

“I hope you’ll wear a pretty dress too, Sis. Like a princess.”

…Still, trying one on briefly should be fine, right?
Besides, if Heroine Cecil didn’t have a dress made for her, she probably wouldn’t be pleased either. No, actually, she might be so irritated she’d toss every one of them out.
“No way! This one’s too pretty.”
I pulled the white gown to my chest as if I might fall apart at any moment. Just as wasting food feels like a sin, I suppose wasting something you could wear would be the same.
It was late at night, and there was no one around to see anyway. I lifted the first dress I’d picked up again and held it against my body.
“….”
The soft texture I’d felt in my palms now wrapped around my entire body, and I felt as though I’d sunk into a cloud. I marveled once more at the intricate lace trim sewn along the cuffs.
Rose, look at me! Sis is wearing a dress!
A giddy smile tugged at my lips on its own. So this is why people love wearing dresses. Each time I moved my feet, the rustling grew louder, and I couldn’t keep still. I spun in circles in front of the mirror, and all my worries melted away.
Who I was, what I was supposed to do here, and even when I’d have to leave him.
“…Hm? Rose, are you awake?
Even when the door creaked, I couldn’t lift my head right away and kept staring at my reflection in the mirror. I looked like a different person from the sexy négligé the twins had dressed me in last night. The bodice pinched a little around my chest and felt stifling, but I didn’t want to take it off so soon.
Who knows when I’ll get to wear it again.
I wanted to savor this dreamlike feeling for as long as I could, all through the night. Standing on my tiptoes, I peered at the hem of the dress and called out to Rose.
“Rose, come over here and take a look at your sister!”
“….”
“Hm? Rose?”
I was sure I’d heard a sound from inside, yet there was no response at all.
Only then did a sudden unease seize me, and I hurried over. Gathering the rustling hem in both hands, I flung open his bedroom door.
“Rose! Your sister’s right here….”
“…Eliya.”
My breath caught at the sight of Kiers, who was leaning against the doorframe. He was fully dressed in his uniform, and his gaze slowly traced over my figure. I was so startled that my chest only heaved, but the movement was laid bare by the strangely open neckline of the dress.
“No, uh, that is… hah, y-you’re training, right?”
“…That’s right.”
His voice, which I heard at the edge of dawn, sounded even lower than before.
“I’m training, and I have to go back soon.”
“Th-then why are you here?”
“I wanted to see whether you were sleeping before I left.”
Kiers’s eyes drifted toward Rose, who was breathing softly in the distant bed, then landed on me. Under that deep, unwavering stare, my heart shriveled up.
“Th-this is just… y-you said I could open them if I got bored last night, so…”
“Were you bored?”
“….”
It’s because you’re not in your room!
I wanted to snap that at him, but a petulant outburst like that wasn’t my place. Flustered and swelling with a feeling I couldn’t name, my lips moved on their own, offering an excuse.
“That’s just how it is. I-it’s not like I was planning to do anything. Anyone would try them on if there were this many boxes just lying around… I only tried a few on, that’s all.”
“You look lovely.”
“….”
“Overflowing with it.”
Ah, what is this man doing.
I’m painstakingly picking words that a supporting character could get away with saying, while he just tosses out lines like these, unannounced, as if they were the male lead’s lines. What am I supposed to do with that?
I don’t know either. As soon as I let out the breath I’d barely been holding in, my complaint spilled out on its own.
“It’s only because I never had the chance, but dresses actually suit my figure quite well, you know?”
“…Do they?”
Why are you even asking.
Now I’d tumbled into a panic where I had no idea what I was saying, just like Rose did the first time she stood before Cotton Candy Hill.
“Honestly, I just tried it on because it was sitting right there. Surely Your Highness would want to touch a sword this fine if it were right in front of you, too.”
“…Let’s say that’s so.”
“I’ll take it off! I’ll put it back right away.”
“Now?”
“N-no!”
Belatedly, I covered my chest with one arm.
Seeing the faintly regretful look on Kiers’s face made my ears burn red to the tips, but as long as I couldn’t see it myself, that was enough.
“And why did you buy so many? Who do you think is going to wear all of these? It’s a waste!”
“I picked them up. From the incinerator.”
“W-who would believe that?!”
“You would.”
His face, which had stayed stiff as he looked at the dresses, finally broke into a brief smile.
“You’d pretend to believe it, wouldn’t you?”
“…”
The low chuckle I had overheard from Kiers on the bed last night drifted down over my head. It was so warm that I felt my face crumple.
“I’m not falling for it. I’m not falling for it at all.”
“Then I’ll throw them out. I’ll have someone clear out Madam’s room on our way down.”
“…Th-throw them out? Do you know how much these cost?!”
“Exactly.”
“…”
“Please, my lady, take them in.”
“Ah…”
That’s cheating. This man always does this.
I covered my chest, and with my free hand I shielded my eyes. When he spoke in that voice, what else could a listener do? It was enough to shake even a spineless Extra like me, with neither blood nor tears nor backbone to speak of.
I looked up at him and lifted my chin as high as I could.
“Hah, well, I suppose there’s no helping it.”
As regally aloof as I could manage.
“Since you’re asking so earnestly.”
Not that I had the slightest intention of doing it, but as if there were really no choice.
“But you should understand this! Asking is one thing, but Your Highness rules the North as its Grand Duke. You’re supposed to set an example for everyone, and if you’ve had this sort of… well, not a ‘child,’ these dresses, made and then simply thrown away, how much resentment do you think the people would feel?”
“You speak truly.”
“And that’s not all, is it? Wasting cloth, wasting thread, wasting manpower, wasting money, it’s practically a sin! On top of that, the smoke from burning all these in the incinerator would be the chief culprit behind fine dust and environmental destruction!”
“Hmm.”
Don’t go along with me! I can barely keep up as it is, so don’t agree with me!
My face flushed crimson, and I clenched my teeth so I wouldn’t waver before Kiers, who nodded along with his arms crossed.
“In any case, I sincerely hope you keep firmly in mind that this is an exception. You must remember what I’ve said.”
“But do you remember what I said, my lady?”
“What?”
“That if it goes beyond this, I will regard it as temptation.”
His left arm seemed to wrap around my waist, and before I knew it his right hand was sweeping along the area near my collarbone. Before I could even scream, I froze, and he bent his head deeply toward my lips.
“Mm.”
As if he had been waiting for this very moment from the start, Kiers closed in without a gap. Pressed back by him, my back met the wall. Trapped without escape within his arms, I felt my breath catch as though my whole body had been bound.
“Hhh—” I twisted as if to release a gasp, and his lips passed over mine and trailed down along the line of my throat. Goosebumps rose at the unfamiliar sensation, yet I felt utterly stripped bare. When Kiers’s lips caught the upper part of my chest and his hands gripped my waist tightly, I felt as though I were standing on clouds once more.
Ah, I can’t feel the floor.
No matter how far I stretched my legs down, all I felt was a dizzying sense of floating. The more I shook my head, the more deeply his lips pressed down on me. As the rustling of the dress below grew louder, Kiers let out a seething groan and stopped moving altogether.
…No, why stop when things were going so well?
Was he wanting more or not? I looked up at him, but by now I couldn’t control my own feelings anymore. My flustered violet eyes trembled endlessly.
But the moment I met that gaze, red and seething like a deep flame, my heart plummeted.
“Today… it would be best to stop here.”
Kiers still seemed to have his reason intact. Even with that burning gaze, his voice was as cold as ice. As if it were the final measure to put out every remaining ember, he turned back to Rose, who had at last dozed off.
“Ah, I only stopped by in the middle of training, so she’s probably waiting for me downstairs.”
“…Is that so?”
“Mm.”
As I smoothed out the hem of my dress, Kiers didn’t move easily in front of me.
Wait. He’s going to scramble my head like this and then just go off to training? Is that allowed just because he’s the male lead?
“Then I’ll come in the morning.”
“…”
And yet he can’t even leave. He just keeps looking at me as though he might burn me alive.
“Training should be over by breakfast.”
“…”
He keeps saying things I never asked about.
“Sit beside Rose until she wakes. Morning drills are about to begin, and you’ll need to observe them.”
“Is that a tradition?”
“…”
Kiers’s black hair swayed as he took one step away. The gaze he turned back on me grew even more intense.
So what are you going to do about it?

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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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