Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 76

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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 76

That evening.
I had agreed to have dinner with Kailas, as promised.
He’d prepared it with a cheerful expression I hadn’t seen in ages, which somehow put me in an even worse mood.
It seemed his good mood stemmed entirely from the Divorce Ban, and that realization soured everything.
I’d resigned myself to the dinner we’d already arranged, but what came next was the real problem.
“…You’re going up to the Capital?”
“At this time of year, I always do. It’s how things have been until winter comes and I head down to the Fiefdom. I need to inspect the Town House as well.”
Suddenly?
“You didn’t do that last year.”
“That was because you dislike the bustle.”
“Then why are you going this time?”
Kailas reached into his inner pocket and produced something, holding it out to me.
It was a stiff letter envelope.
The moment I saw the Imperial Seal, a chill of foreboding swept through me.
I fixed him with a suspicious glare and tore it open.
Inside was an invitation to an autumn gala, expressing hopes for substantial support and willing participation in the increasingly frequent Beast Hunting.
I blinked, then checked the envelope again to be sure.
It was indeed an Imperial Invitation, and it had definitely come addressed to House of Hadid.
It seemed the same letter had been sent to all the nobility, including the great houses, but what astonished me was that House of Hadid had received one at all.
Could the Original Work really change like this?
The novel wasn’t even called “Our Hidden Mastermind Has Changed”—how could this possibly happen?
Did he seriously think the Original Work’s protagonist befriending the Hidden Mastermind made sense right now?
“Decline it. You always have, haven’t you?”
I set the envelope down with a decisive thud.
“Impossible.”
“Does that make sense?”
“On what grounds? If I’m to maintain my standing among the nobles, I need to show some cooperation.”
“You’ve been without grounds for—”
I couldn’t finish the sentence. I only huffed in frustration.
A man who makes money hand over fist simply by breathing.
I knew full well he breaks countless laws expanding his enterprises!
Grounds? Kailas Hadid operating on “grounds” was laughable, preposterous even.
My morning suspicions deepened further still.
“Hmm? You have to tell me if I’m to know.”
“That’s fine. Just go alone, then.”
“Did you read it properly? It says couples are expected.”
“I’ll go alone. Is that really the sort of thing I’d care about?”
“You don’t know your husband very well. I care about such things. So we’ll go together.”
I cursed him with eyes blazing with fury.
He shrugged at me as if to say: see?
“I have my own circumstances to consider. Besides, whether it’s the Emperor or anyone else—they don’t even know you’re married to me. In the first place, ‘couples expected’ doesn’t apply. I’ll go alone and come back.”
…….
Even if I bent over backward, I wouldn’t tag along like some fool.
The moment I set foot in that place, it would be the same as announcing to the protagonist: “I’m the Hidden Mastermind’s wife.”
And once the Emperor learned that, he wouldn’t just strip away the jewels he’d given me—he might toss me in prison on sheer principle.
What absolute nonsense. It was nothing but him picking a fight.
I drained my tea in one go, set the cup down firmly, and rose without hesitation.
“Two hours have passed, so I’m leaving. Don’t bother trying to convince me. I’ve made my position clear.”
No matter how much I was being coerced, this I absolutely could not do.
No, I would not.
There was no reason to. None whatsoever.

* * *

I thought that would be the end of it.
“…….”
I said I absolutely cannot go…….
Didn’t I?!
Four days passed, and I thought the conversation had ended there for good.
In the meantime, every time I saw him, I simply looked past him, and I’d convinced myself he’d finally given up.
But this morning, I was shocked to find a newspaper lying carelessly on the table.
I must have known about this already.
I definitely knew yesterday… there’s no way I wouldn’t have known.
I skimmed the article with my eyes moving as if sliding, muttering under my breath.
“Shocking breaking news: Duke Kailas of House of Hadid weds in secret. Already marking one year of marriage, the Duke of House of Hadid…….”
Am I losing my mind?
“A woman of considerable beauty… the radiant young lady of… from the Knight Order… graduated top of her Academy class…….”
No, am I really losing my mind?
“The Duke of House of Hadid will henceforth… exert considerable influence… this news arose from a statement made during… when marriage was being encouraged… and upon rejection…….”
I’ve lost it.
“It is reported that he is deeply in love with his current wife, which came as a shock, and… his future actions… are expected to draw considerable attention…….”
Could I have truly lost my mind?
And he said that in front of His Majesty?
He said such a thing when His Majesty suggested marriage?
I opened my eyes wider.
“A journalist who happened to visit the Imperial Palace… displayed courage… showing shyness for the first time, presenting a portrait in which… a beautiful pair…….”
A portrait?
The moment I looked below, I gasped.
The portrait painted when we married… the one of us with arms linked, beaming with a bright smile…….
It was displayed prominently across the page.
“This is…….”
It was a painting we’d commissioned after the wedding ceremony, summoning a painter specially.
One drawn small, and one drawn large.
The large one hangs in the Edisi Estate here, so why on earth is the other one appearing here?
Deeply in love?
“…….”
My husband’s existence had become gossip throughout the entire empire.
I’d worked so hard to keep it hidden when I visited the Imperial Palace…….
This was undoubtedly Kailas’s doing.
Publishing clear images or illustrations in the empire’s newspapers requires magic, and the cost of production is astronomical.
So unless there’s an important Imperial matter, the empire’s newspaper is text-only as standard.
Otherwise, a sculptor would carve an illustration and stamp it out one by one, like stamping seals.
But to have such a large illustration splashed across a newspaper page?
The newspaper company would have to have lost its mind.
To reveal it so blatantly?
But why?
I stepped into the hallway still clutching the newspaper, not even bothering to change out of my nightclothes.
A maid I encountered in the hallway jumped at the sight of me.
She hadn’t pulled the bell rope, so she hadn’t realized I’d woken. It wasn’t the maid’s fault.
“M-Madam. Is there something you require? I-I shall bring your bath at once!”
“Never mind. Where is your master right now?”
My voice came out cold, and the maid bowed deeply at the waist.
“He went out some time ago, madam.”
This was as good as an invitation to a fight.

* * *

Kailas checked the newspaper with a rather satisfied expression.
These days he lived as though consumed by a single thought: how to keep Hazel bound to his side.
The anxiety grew day by day—fear that she might disappear, that she might leave for good.
His mind was full of schemes to find another method before his prisoner’s leverage ran out.
Some time had passed since his return, yet Hazel continued to drift further from him.
So he had no choice but to bind her to him like this.
If you stay by my side long enough, someday you’ll understand what I truly mean.
If you could grant me that, this much loss would be nothing at all. I could do far more.
With that thought, I checked the newspaper, and only when evening fell did I head home.
Just as I’d expected, the moment I arrived, Hazel rushed toward me, her face flushed and burning with fever.
Would she grow even angrier if I said I was pleased she’d looked for me first?
“What on earth is this?”
“It came up in conversation.”
“You sent the Knight Order after me?”
“You seem startled.”
Hazel’s eyes grew sharper still.
“What about the portrait?”
“You said it was hard to believe, so I showed you.”
“You’re calling that an excuse right now?”
“I have no reason to hide anything. Our marriage isn’t a lie, so why would I conceal it?”
“It may not be a lie, but it’s close to a fraud. You know better than anyone why we married.”
Hazel’s throat worked, her teeth grinding audibly.
Kailas clamped his mouth shut.
He swallowed past the sudden dryness in his throat and spoke again.
“…Yes. That’s why I regret it.”
…….
“So if you hate this, then you tell me, Hazel. What do I need to do for you to give me a chance?”
…….
Hazel’s small mouth fell open in shock.
Yes, she’d be shocked.
I’m shocked myself—I can’t imagine how she feels.
If all you do is push me away, what am I supposed to do?
The Hazel who once accepted every word from my lips as truth had now become nothing but distrust.
Day after day, building walls brick by brick, watching her look through me—my patience was finally running dry.
It could be called stubbornness, maybe.
I was someone who’d grasped everything I wanted, and I wondered if there was anything of yours I couldn’t seize.
“What do I have to do to make you stop talking about divorce? You won’t even listen to me. What will it take? I can do more.”
Hazel’s eyes narrowed in disbelief.
Unable to contain his anger, his voice trembled as he stepped closer, muttering under his breath.
“…I really do seem insane.”
“Yes. I am.”

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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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