Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 74

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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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74

Chapter 11. Mr. & Mrs. Kailas, The Prelude to a Marital Quarrel

Another week had passed.
The distance between them only grew colder.
Hazel spoke constantly of divorce and refused to keep him by her side.
His patience was running thin.
“Syde.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Syde followed close behind Kailas, who had left Hazel at the Residence and come up to Elcad.
“Send her everything from the Capital that she might enjoy.”
“To the Residence, my lord?”
“Do I need to spell out the address for you?”
“No, no, of course not.”
He’s grown terribly touchy.
Syde thought this to himself.
Worried that any misstep might invite his wrath, he’d been deliberately maintaining Hazel Love’s proper title, addressing her uniformly as “ma’am.”
He was grateful she’d come back.
Or rather, that his lord had brought her back—but either way, the hellish period seemed as though it would soon end.
Yet it did not come to pass.
Their relationship had fractured as violently as a lightning strike splitting earth, becoming utterly unmanageable.
The change was so sudden that even those who served them found it overwhelming to keep pace.
And that twisted, corkscrew manner of speech that had appeared—it suggested something far more serious than usual.
Yet he was ordering gifts sent to appease her……
“My lord, if I may.”
“What now.”
“It’s just… the lady didn’t seem to care much for such things.”
She did have an eye for luxury and a keen sense for wealth, but in the current situation, even presenting her with a diamond the size of a man’s head seemed unlikely to make much difference.
What truly delighted her seemed to be when his lordship attended to her himself.
When Syde carefully broached this point, Kailas loosened his tie in frustration.
“She won’t even let my touch near her—what use would more gifts be? Just send whatever you can find. Search for anything available.”
Kailas understood it well enough.
How could he not.
He was the man who’d watched her every gesture, every expression, and attended to her every need.
But now that she rejected him.
Now that she’d begun to reject his very existence—his mind had twisted into knots he couldn’t untangle.
Was it mere anger? Had her heart truly wandered?
His mind reeled at the thought—had she, in the span of a month away, given any part of her heart to someone else? The possibility clogged his circuits entirely.
And dwelling on it only fed the terror that Hazel would vanish from him again without warning.
Her escape had struck him that deeply.
He’d believed she saw no one but him.
Even now, he couldn’t convince himself that had changed.
Kailas’s eyes grew dark and hollow.
“Do whatever it takes.”
“Yes, of course. And will you be entering the Imperial Palace tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
Damn imperial obligations.
Kailas’s mood was plummeting just as precipitously as Hazel’s.
What was it about that woman that left him so shattered.
Unlike the awakening of emotion itself, this—this he could not comprehend.

* * *

That evening.
“What?”
I’d worked out what I thought was a solid strategy, but the moment I realized Kailas hadn’t come back, the wind went out of my sails.
My plan had been to tell him I wouldn’t run away, then ask him to release Ginger, the Eggmen, and Annie first.
I’d decided to work through this one step at a time.
The Divorce Ban Decree wasn’t working, and I couldn’t sit idle forever with no answers. So I’d resolved to find another way through.
But Kailas didn’t return. Instead, Syde walked in carrying a rolling rack laden with several dresses fit for the Imperial Palace’s grand galas, and boxes piled high with jewelry.
They gleamed in every color of the rainbow.
“…What is all this?”
“The lord selected these himself, thinking they might please you, madam. Every one of these dresses is a limited seasonal piece—the only one made—from the most renowned designers in Elcad!”
Syde’s face split into a grin so broad it practically lifted him off the ground.
“These are what I’m supposed to like?”
I gestured at the jewelry and dresses that glittered so brilliantly they made my eyes water.
“Ah, well, you see—the lord has been quite concerned that you might be angry. Autumn is coming again soon, isn’t it? What do you think of this dress here? It will suit your red hair beautifully—more radiant than ginkgo leaves in fall, I dare say!”
……
Syde had apparently transformed into a traveling peddler, plucking out dress after dress and lavishing praise upon each one.
I lifted through the dresses hanging on the rack one by one.
So because I’m locked in this house, he’s going to have me waste time on this?
Or is he trying to make me play with dolls?
A bitter laugh escaped my lips without my meaning it to.
“How thoughtful of you, fretting over a prisoner like this. And here I thought you weren’t going to kill me.”
“Ah? I—?”
Syde’s face went pale and blotchy. After that, his visible distress was unmistakable.
“Why? Didn’t he threaten to kill my people if I don’t wear these?”
“No, no—nothing of the sort was ever said. He didn’t… he never uttered such words, not even the concept. He simply said he hoped you would feel better, madam. That’s all. It was never meant as a threat, absolutely not.”
“Fine. Take these to the dressing room.”
I turned and headed straight for the study.
It was the only place in this house where I could go.
“M-madam!”
But Syde caught hold of me again.
I felt a physical pull, and then he’d grabbed my sleeve.
The moment I looked down at his hand, Syde yelped as if burned and stumbled backward.
“I-I apologize! If I’ve upset you, please blame me instead. The truth is, I suggested this to the lord, thinking it might help. But I’ve never been in love before, you understand, so I’m not sure what’s best.”
“I see.”
“As you know, the lord cares for you and holds you dear.”
……
He wasn’t seriously asking me to believe that now, was he?
“I… if I’ve overstepped, I apologize. Then.”
Under my stare, Syde pressed his hands to his sides, bowed stiffly from the waist, and left.
Sigh.
I brushed my hair back irritably.
Regardless of what I thought, Kailas had grown oddly busy.
He’d always been occupied, but while there were traces of him having lain in bed, there were many days he didn’t show his face all day long.
Yet he never forgot to check whether I’d eaten. For me, it was tiresome.
In any case, even after nearly a week, I only heard excuses about how busy he was.
Part of me wondered if he’d decided not to speak to me anymore, so I chose to wait a little longer.
If he was doing this because he resented my running away, time might resolve it.
Maybe then he’d realize he’d been blinded by infatuation and let me go of his own accord.
After all, he said he wouldn’t kill me.
Who knows.
Maybe while we’re apart, he’s reconsidering the whole matter of divorce.
In any case, I’d decided to wait quietly.

* * *

A week of shutting myself away like that passed.
When I opened my eyes that morning, a newspaper lay on the bedside table.
“The village newspaper from Maybland was rather charming.”
I muttered to myself as I skimmed through the newspaper, still half-asleep.
Come to think of it, back when I was the Guild representative, I’d check the newspaper the moment I arrived at the office. Now I didn’t even glance at them. No, there was simply no time.
I stretched and rose, picking up the newspaper.
“…This isn’t a Ferarium newspaper, is it?”
Not a regional Ferarium paper, not a local gazette either.
It was too far away for me to read the text clearly, but looking closer, I realized it was a newspaper published from the Capital, Elcad.
What in the world was this doing here?
Had something important happened?
I rubbed my eyes with one hand and carelessly spread the newspaper across the table, turning through the pages one by one.
“What?”
Then I stopped short, rubbing my eyes with both hands.
What had I just seen?
I opened my eyes as wide as they would go and held the newspaper with both hands, spreading it out before me.
I read it over and over, wondering if my eyes were deceiving me.
“This is… what… exactly.”
Impossible….
I brought the newspaper right up to my eyes.
I couldn’t believe the reality staring back at me.
“…A Divorce Ban Decree?”

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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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