Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 28

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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 28

A short while later.
The table overflowed with desserts that Dillon had ordered.
I’d told him I’d just have one cake, but he’d gone through the whole menu like it was a matter of life and death.
Not as elaborate as what Noah made, but the bright fruit fragrance brushed against my nostrils, and my mouth began to water.
“By the way, did you have a good time at the Guild representatives’ meeting yesterday?”
I was about to pierce the cake I’d split in half with my fork when I looked up.
“Yeah, it was pretty decent. Actually quite fun.”
There had been one waste of space, but it was dealt with quickly, and after that, only good memories remained.
Unlike my expectation that they’d all be the stiff, self-important type, they turned out to be warm-hearted. We even parted ways after promising to help each other no matter which region we found ourselves in.
“You’re really something.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“I haven’t said this until now, but when you suddenly said you were quitting and moving to the countryside, I figured you’d come back before long. You always said you’d never left Elkad before joining the Knight Order.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s true.”
I felt a prick of conscience and stuffed a forkful of cake into my mouth.
“And not only did you succeed in just a year, but you actually put down roots there. Who would’ve thought?”
“When you have no choice, you make it work.”
“That’s not easy at all. Anyway, when are you going to introduce me to your real husband?”
Without realizing it, my hand holding the fork slowed.
“He’s… just really busy.”
“How busy could he be? What kind of person is he, anyway? Now that I think about it, you used your old name when you sent letters.”
Ah, he noticed. Sharp as ever.
The truth was, the day I learned of Kailus’s existence.
When I found those documents and saw that the name carved after “Heizel Love” was Hadid, not Edisi, I nearly fainted.
The documents Noah had first handed me clearly had both our names inscribed as “Heizel Love Edisi” and “Noah Love Edisi.”
Sometimes I used my original name out of habit, but since then, I’d been careful about it, worried someone might recognize something.
“It’s just how it came out when I was writing. I wrote it that way back when I was in the Knight Order anyway. I wrote it so you’d recognize it quickly.”
“Ah, I see. Either way, I’m really curious.”
“I’ll… later! Much later. He’s genuinely swamped. Oh, I’m done eating. Should we go?”
I deliberately hurried to my feet.
“You’re shameless, you know that? Fine, let’s go.”
Dillon laughed in exasperation and handed me a handkerchief.
What did I get on myself?
I took it and wiped my mouth carelessly, and some cream came off.
“I’ll return a clean one to you later.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Dillon smiled and shook his head.
We left the Dessert House right away and rode in Dillon’s carriage toward the Imperial Palace.
Familiar scenery passed by the window.
If I was being honest, I’d spent more time in Ferarium than I ever had in the Capital.
Yet strangely, watching the Capital’s landscape now filled me with a comfortable, homelike feeling.
“You’ve really missed it, haven’t you?”
When I couldn’t tear my eyes from the scenery for a while, Dillon spoke.
“It just… feels like such a long time since I’ve been here.”
“Any thought of moving back to the Capital? Ferarium isn’t inconvenient, is it?”
“Compared to here, yeah, it is. But even though it’s small, everything we need is there. And the people are wonderful.”
“True enough. That place is practically the most peaceful village in Elkiad.”
“Not so much anymore, it seems.”
“Then what about rejoining the Knight Order again—” Dillon stopped himself.
He went quiet after I gave him a sharp look.
The carriage rolled on steadily.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
When I opened the carriage door and stepped down, the entrance to the Knight Order Training Ground came into view.
I’d lived in the Knight Order quarters overlooking the Imperial Palace until I submitted my resignation, so memories from that time came flooding back.
That day when I threw down my resignation letter with such force.

* * *

“Hey, One Against Hundred! What’s with the uniform? Thought you had the day off?”
On my way to the office where Zed—the male protagonist, my superior, and the crown prince—would be waiting.
Dillon wrapped an arm around my shoulder as he spoke.
He was a Knight Order member and a White Dragon Knight Order knight, having joined on the same day as me.
He always wore his bright red hair in a half-ponytail, and a deep scar cut across his black eyes.
How did he say that scar came about? Some injury from the Monster Subjugation Battle, the final graduation exam at the Academy.
Both I—or rather, Heizel Love before I possessed her—had participated in that battle.
When a sudden assault by high-ranking monsters turned the place into chaos, Heizel had prevented great disaster with her Illusion Magic, or so the story went.
If she hadn’t, he wouldn’t have just a scar—he’d have lost the eye entirely.
It was also what had caught the male protagonist’s attention and led him to take the Imperial Palace Knight Order exam.
“It is my day off.”
“Then why are you dressed like that?”
“Oh, this. I’m quitting the Knight Order today.”
I walked along waving the pristine white envelope containing my Resignation Letter, and Dillon burst into cheerful laughter.
“Good thinking. Yeah, since you’re leaving anyway—”
Mid-sentence, the arm wrapped around my shoulder vanished. When I glanced back, he stood frozen, shock written across his face.
“What are you doing? Weren’t you headed to the office?”
“You’re quitting?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“It seemed like the right time, I guess?”
Dillon closed the distance quickly and grabbed both my shoulders.
“What kind of nonsense is that? Quitting? It’s the right time to quit?”
I brushed his hands away with a quiet laugh.
“Why so shocked? If it’s time, it’s time. I’m tired of the subjugations anyway, and I need a break. If I keep going like this, I’ll end up old and unmarried. That’s all there is to it.”
I resumed walking toward the office. Dillon hurried to catch up.
“Don’t joke around. You’re not the type to quit over something like that. You said you’d definitely make it to Knight Commander.”
I faltered for a moment, then pushed forward with renewed determination.
“The crown prince is right there. How could I ever become Knight Commander? I was just talking.”
“You’re really quitting? You didn’t say anything about this yesterday!”
Dillon quickened his pace, cut in front of me, and spread both arms wide to block my path. I stopped and tilted my head slightly to the side.
“Move, would you? I’m busy.”
“I don’t know what changed your mind overnight, but I really can’t understand this. Where could we possibly find another one like you?”
Dillon insisted on understanding the real reason.
I understood why he felt that way.
The Academy we’d both graduated from was so demanding from admission to graduation that bonds between classmates shone with unusual brilliance.
There was even a saying that even in old age, if someone was your classmate, you’d leap to your feet and rush out to help them.
But Heizel Love had struggled throughout her time in the Knight Order.
An invisible wall that those of noble birth would never feel had tried to crush her, a commoner, again and again.
It was because of that endless barrier that her life had ended before she could overcome it.
“I’m a commoner, aren’t I?”
Dillon faltered.
“Hey, what does that matter? You’ve even received a Knight Title by now, and you’re not someone who cares about those things anyway.”
“I did care.”
“…What?”
Dillon stared at me in uncharacteristic shock, his expression blank.
“It bothered me.”
His eyes widened, and then he exploded.
“If anyone’s been saying anything about your background, I’ll beat them to a pulp! Will that help? Will it? Heizel…”
“I’ve thought it through carefully. Leaving the Knight Order doesn’t mean my life is over. At some point, I just stopped wanting to go on subjugations. The mountains of duties that pile up every day—I’m tired of them now. I need to rest.”
Moreover, now was the perfect time.
The few months between spring and summer were a quiet period when no subjugations were mounted.
If I left now, replacement would be manageable; if I waited until the height of summer when things got busy, recruitment would be difficult and messy.
So it had to be now. Today. This very moment.
……
Dillon, who had seemed ready to ransack the entire Knight Order in a fury, suddenly went quiet and calmed down.
I raised my hand and tapped his shoulder lightly.
“I’ll stop by for a visit. That work for you?”
“…At least come to the office first, alright?”
“Suit yourself.”
Fortunately, there was no further quarreling. The real test came next.
When we reached the door where Crown Prince Zed stood, Dillon grasped the handle first and spoke.
“This won’t be easy.”
Then he bent his fingers and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
I nodded, and Dillon turned the handle.
“Your Highness, good day.”
Zed, who had been reviewing a mountain of Official Documents on his work desk, set down his pen and looked up.
“Ah, Heizel. What brings you? Dillon’s here too, I see.”

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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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