Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 53

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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 53

Blood was rushing to his head.
The tightness in his chest—that sense of suffocation—finally eased.
All because of Hazel’s voice.
Hazel’s breathing had become music, melody; the very air he drew into his lungs.
‘This is ridiculous.’
He regretted not taking the Communication Tool’s call earlier.
His mouth had been dry then, anxiety creeping in where it had no business.
So Hazel was the source of all this suffocating emotion.
He had come to regard her as special.
Had he been stained by her constant, birdlike confessions—sung anew each day?
He’d let it continue because his dreary routine had become unexpectedly entertaining.
Watching her grow lovelier in different ways each morning stirred something in him.
Even when she became tiresome, she eased his headaches—so she proved useful enough.
Ah, yes. If he was honest, these were all excuses.
The truth was, he wanted her near.
Because when he reached out, she nestled into his arms without hesitation; because he could breathe in the softness of her scent and hear her heart beating just slightly faster than his own.
Because she looked up at him with eyes that saw no one but him, entirely and wholly.
Because his gaze kept drifting to her restless lips.
Because even when he furrowed his brow in concentration, one call from her and she’d smile at him with such tenderness, as though she’d never known doubt.
“Ha.”
He felt caught in his own trap.
How absurd this was.
To have fallen for this woman.
…To have come to love her.
Kailas laughed at the absurdity of himself, at the realization.
At the same time, he felt the peculiar clarity that comes from finally finding an answer.
Kailas remained caught in that thought, breaking into incredulous laughter at intervals.

* * *

“Try it.”
“Ha, ha, yes! I’ll, I’ll try!”
I stood with my arms crossed, waiting for Fay to deploy her Illusion Magic.
Since the incident yesterday, the knights had been helping repair the Castle Walls instead of training.
I’d arrived at the Imperial Palace early this morning to hasten the work, and was now overseeing Fay’s practice in the Training Grounds separately.
Around midday I’d return to hear Annie’s report, and then search for a way to annul or divorce my marriage.
Annie was likely discovering details on her own, but I didn’t want to waste time.
“…….”
Before dawn, gripped by a sudden violent nightmare, I’d reached for the Communication Tool almost involuntarily.
I’d thought no one would answer at that hour, but the moment Noah’s voice came through the other end, the tension melted from me like frost in sunlight.
Like an instinct seeking comfort, I even listened to his lullaby before falling back asleep.
People with Dark Magic are said to find peace even in nightmares, seeing them as part of their power.
I woke shrieking from nightmares far too often.
It wasn’t as though something terrifying chased me, or that my dreams held anything grotesque.
My nightmares were usually nothing but black smoke, churning endlessly like storm clouds.
Or I found myself alongside two figures whose faces I could never see.
But my entire body felt tangled in spiderwebs—I couldn’t move, couldn’t struggle free.
Breathing became labored, as though I were drowning; a nameless gaze pressed against my back.
Yet when I turned, nothing was there.
Or the ground beneath me would crumble, and I’d feel myself dragged down into some unreachable depth below.
It wasn’t so much a tangible thing as being trapped in some vast, incomprehensible void.
What in the world was this?
Dark Magic coursed through my body, yet why did nightmares torment me so?
Yesterday, the moment I realized I was dreaming, I’d steeled myself for an agonizing night—but thanks to Noah, I’d slept soundly until morning without waking.
I could feel Fay’s Dark Magic growing slightly stronger, her concentration sharpening.
I met Fay’s gaze deliberately, relaxing my guard to make the practice easier for her.
Then my vision narrowed, flickering into absolute black.
“Hmm?”
I’d expected something simpler, but there was nothing—just an impenetrable darkness.
What was she trying to show me?
I’d been teaching combat Illusion Magic, so the sudden silence caught me off guard.
I moved with her vision, taking slow steps through the lightless dark.
Gradually color bled in, and I found a small child crouched just ahead, hunched with their back to me.
“Fay?”
The child lifted their head.
Wait.
It wasn’t Fay.
As color flooded the grayscale, I saw red hair.
The lifted face had golden eyes brimming with tears.
That’s…
“…me.”
More precisely, Hazel Love as a child.
A child neither too young nor too old.
She looked to be around ten years old.
But why was I seeing this vision?
Fay didn’t have this kind of ability.
A man and a woman whose faces I couldn’t see approached.
Young Hazel Love cowered in fear, pulling herself tighter.
‘Squeeze.’
My heart contracted suddenly, and I felt as though I’d swallowed the child’s terror whole.
Without thinking, I curled up, cradling my head in my arms as I sank down.
The man and woman spoke in unintelligible tones.
Young Hazel Love struggled to respond to them.
Or rather, less to persuade them than to plead her own innocence.
What were they even saying?
One of them held out a cup to the child.
The child, backing away, reluctantly accepted it.
Immediately I felt my throat burning, drying up.
On another day, she received new clothes as a gift and was delighted—then found herself alone in a room, curled up in the dark.
What was any of this?
As the visions shifted rapidly before me, I was forced to endure an endless stream of revulsion and terror.
Fragments nagged at my mind—half-remembered, half-understood—tormenting me.
Gripped by the sense that I stood alone against the world, perched on a precipice, I felt my revulsion intensify—and then the vision changed once more.
Someone was calling to the child.
Not one person.
They looked like people draped entirely in robes, hoods pulled down.
A dark mass called to the child, welcoming her.
The child who had resisted, who didn’t want to go—suddenly smiled radiantly and began running toward them.
After that, the child grew rapidly.
She was always with others.
Always looking down at someone.
She got what she wanted and was happy; she felt joy so intense it seemed to rend the world.
Not simple happiness, but something closer to ecstasy.
A sense of dominance, of superiority, as though commanding and looking down on others from on high.
She didn’t understand why she felt this way—bewildered by her own depths—yet the intensifying emotions kept seducing her.
Come here. Come quickly.
This is all yours.
These are the things you must find.
These are the things you deserve to enjoy.
It hurt, didn’t it? Let’s have revenge.
You were sad? Let’s have revenge.
Lonely? We’re here.
Let’s find happiness together.
The whispers in my mind grew more insistent, more seductive.
When I came back to myself, the child was still there before me.
At seventeen, nineteen, twenty, and somewhere near my own age, a Hazel who wore my exact face turned her head toward me.
Her eyes were pitch black as she smiled, lips curving upward in pure delight.
A shudder ran through me.
Faced with that grin stretching impossibly wide, I snapped free from the illusion without thinking.
The moment clarity returned, I saw Fay collapsed before me.
“Fay!”
I called for the other knights without even asking what had happened.
Some time later.
Only after bringing Fay to the Medical Facility could I catch my breath.
The diagnosis came back that she’d collapsed because she couldn’t control her own strength.
A nagging worry gnawed at me—had I somehow forced her power to activate?
Dylan assured me repeatedly that I hadn’t, that Fay had simply lost control, but I couldn’t shake the unease so easily.
After saying goodbye to the knights, I climbed into the carriage, trying to dismiss the lingering discomfort.
As I reached to close the door, someone grabbed it.
“Dylan?”
“I almost missed you.”
Dylan grinned widely.

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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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