Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 71

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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 71

This is infuriating!
What does he even plan to do by keeping me locked up like this?
I turned my back on the food Kailas had prepared, making a show of my defiance.
I couldn’t understand it.
When I’d been caught by him again, terror had consumed me—the certainty that he meant to kill me—until I could barely think straight.
But he insists he has no intention of killing me, and despite everything between us lying bare, he claims he won’t divorce me either.
What on earth was he thinking?
With Annie and Eggmen and Ginger all held captive, I couldn’t flee alone.
If I’d been the sort to slip away and forget about it, I wouldn’t be sitting here like this.
“Sigh…….”
I sank onto the bed, my legs giving way.
Having eaten nothing while maintaining my protest, my stomach roared in revolt, and my energy had completely drained away.
I collapsed onto my side, my face the very picture of defeat.
“I had it arranged quite nicely, too.”
I’d grown fond of the newly rented house.
It was neither too large nor too small—perfect for hosting the three of them for a gathering.
Two or three servants were sufficient to run it, and with a carriage ride when I had a moment to spare, the sea came into view.
It was meant to be temporary, a place to stay until my decision to emigrate solidified, but I’d grown attached to it.
“It was good, truly good!”
It felt like those first days after arriving in Ferrarium.
You know that peculiar feeling, don’t you?
Loneliness gnawing at you, yet not entirely unwelcome.
Company would be reassuring and pleasant, but solitude was freedom.
Though I’d never said it to Annie, his absence—which had loomed large at first—was gradually shrinking.
Food from others’ hands instead of his became familiar again, and missing meals as work piled up ceased to trouble me.
Sleeping alone became routine after the first week, and though I thrashed through nightmares three times, no one was there to witness my shame.
Even those faded quickly once I pulled the blanket over my head and breathed slowly and deliberately until sleep returned.
I’d told myself that enduring loneliness for just a few more months would return me to who I’d been.
I was just beginning to feel that certainty.
And yet, and yet.
He found me anyway.
I thought I’d erased every trace—how did he possibly locate me?
First, I had to get them out safely, all three of them…….
I covered my face with both hands and let out a sound of frustration.

* * *

“Please don’t harm Eggmen, Ginger, or Annie. They were simply following my orders.”
I spoke as I regarded the precisely cut steak before me.
He retrieved my plate as though asking what had happened, had the steak cut into bite-sized pieces, and offered it to me—but I had no intention of touching a single bite.
The only reason I’d come down to the dining room was to negotiate for Annie’s, Ginger’s, and Eggmen’s release.
“As long as you don’t flee, they’ll remain safe.”
“…And don’t send Eggmen back to Colosseo.”
In that instant, Kailas’s eyes turned sharp and penetrating.
“Why did you go to such a dangerous place in the first place? Do you understand what it is? What if something had happened?”
His sinister crimson gaze made me flinch without thinking.
At once, his eyes flicked downward.
I reached for a glass of water to soothe my parched throat.
“I know how to look after myself well enough. In any case, don’t send Eggmen back to Colosseo.”
“Don’t set foot anywhere near Colosseo again.”
The most dangerous place wasn’t Colosseo at all—it was beside this man—though it seemed he alone remained oblivious to this truth.
“As long as you don’t send Eggmen away.”
“I won’t, so don’t go.”
…….
The table was richly laden, yet save for the graceful movements of the knife that had sliced my steak, silence reigned.
The dining hall was so quiet that the servants held even their breath, as though afraid to disturb the silence.
A shallow breath escaped between Kailas’s teeth.
“Have them prepare something else.”
“I don’t really mind.”
“If you wanted to protest, there are plenty of other ways to do it. Why choose something that will only harm your health?”
“It’s my choice.”
“Tell me what you want.”
“Then… a divorce.”
“Not divorce. I told you not to think about leaving me.”
Then what was I supposed to say?
I glared at him with my eyes narrowed to slits, like the numerals on a clock showing ten past ten.
“If you don’t want to dine with me, then I’ll be the one to leave.”
……
With that, Kailas pushed back his chair and stood.
It was the first time he’d left the table mid-meal, but I made myself show no reaction.
“See that my wife is served food she will actually eat. If she doesn’t finish her evening meal, I will hold every person in this room accountable.”
And then—he simply walked out of the dining hall.
“Kailas!”
I shot to my feet and called after him.
But he didn’t so much as glance back, and was gone.
I stood staring at the empty doorway in disbelief when the head cook approached, trembling visibly.
“M-m-madam. If, if His Grace’s d-dish did not suit your p-palate, I will remake it at once. P-please, I beg you…….”
My gaze turned to the cook, then to the servants arrayed behind him—all of them pale as death, waiting for my answer.
This was blackmail.
It was as good as saying that if I didn’t eat, he’d slit all their throats.
How could he?
I swallowed my curses and sank back into my chair.
“…I’ll eat.”
I picked up my fork, speared a piece of meat, and put it in my mouth.
“Truly, how petty…….”
Using this to threaten me?
Infuriating.
In the end, I finished every last bite of the steak.
It saved everyone’s lives in the dining hall, but my mood had plummeted to its absolute worst.
The moment I emptied my plate, I went upstairs to his study and locked myself inside.
I had no desire to negotiate further that day, so I deliberately didn’t go to the bedroom—didn’t go anywhere near him.
It would be useless, I’m sure, but I even turned the key in the study door and locked it tight.
Fine. Let’s see him try.
I’ll come up with my own counter-move.

* * *

That night.
Kailas did not return to the bedroom until very late.
It was Hazel, standing in his study and beating her fists against the wall in a fury, running through every excuse she could muster to pick a fight with him despite her meager strength, that kept him from going to the bedroom more than once.

“My lady retired to the study after dinner.”
“She ordered that no one be admitted, so after we brought her tea following the meal, we did not enter again.”

Kailas sank deep into his chair, pressing his hand to his forehead.
He thought that if he drew long on a cigar, this frustration might finally ease.
The dull ache behind his eyes had bothered him enough before that he’d taken to biting down hard when the headache pressed in.
It had been during their first date—when he’d come to Ferrarium pursuing Hazel.
He’d seen how her brow furrowed slightly when she’d come near his arms, and after that, he’d never touched her with a cigar in his mouth again.
He’d promised not to kill her, sworn not to harm his captive, yet Hazel’s anger showed no sign of relenting.
The tangled knot of this mess had no beginning, no end—it hid itself away so thoroughly that there seemed no way to unravel it.
His gaze drifted to the letters scattered carelessly across the desk.
Among them were imperial letters he’d deliberately brought back to the manor because something weighed on his mind.
“……”
Tap, tap.
Before he knew it, an imperial letter rested in his hands.
The creased corners of the envelope had been worn soft from his prolonged struggle with it.
One in the morning.
Kailas left his study.

Some time later, without even drying his wet hair, Kailas made his way to the bedroom.
He lingered at the door for a moment before entering, only to find it empty.
A hollow laugh escaped him.
Two in the morning.
Evidence that Hazel was still in her study.
Kailas’s brow twitched.
“……”
When he reached her study, the door was locked.
He knocked.
“Hazel.”
No answer came from within.
Was she sleeping?
In that instant, his heart lurched, and his eyes snapped wide.
He held her here as a captive, knowing her nature well enough—but what if she’d decided to give up and run?
Kailas’s jaw clenched. In one motion, he gripped the handle and twisted.
Crack, splinter!
The metal warped, surrounding wood splintered, and the lock fell away with no resistance.
He shoved the door open and stepped urgently inside.
The study lay dark, the lights still off; his gaze went straight to the window.
Closed. The inner latch was secured.
Relief flooded through him the moment he confirmed it, but his eyes swept rapidly across the empty room.
An untouched cup of tea on the table.
His gaze drifted smoothly toward the sofa.
The back of it obscured the interior from view.
Kailas walked forward and found Hazel curled on the sofa, deep in sleep, and only then did he exhale.
“…ah.”
Deprived of proper rest by recent events, she lay with her hands clasped neatly beneath her head, breathing in shallow gasps as though knocked unconscious.
Moonlight through the window caught the pale curve of her cheek.
She hadn’t run. Should that ease his mind?
Kailas raked a hand roughly through his damp hair.

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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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