Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 77

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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 77

Kailas felt the tightness in his chest too.
Hazel stood frozen, her fist clenched around the dress so tightly her knuckles had gone white, as if the words had caught in her throat. Then she simply turned and walked away.
The sharp, deliberate pivot of her shoulders made even Kailas let her go without reaching for her.
Anger, irritation, bewilderment, shock—and finally, in her expression, something undeniably wounded.
Kailas felt the uncomfortable tightness in his throat and tore his cravat loose with rough fingers.
The next day brought no change.
Hazel continued to feign indifference, while Kailas used the hostage as a means to force her to see him.
She grew colder with each passing moment; he, by contrast, seethed beneath the surface.
So their relationship persisted—gossamer-thin, shallower than a spider’s web, with no end in sight.
That evening.
Kailas entered the estate still searching for an answer, frustration coiled tight in his chest.
He’d made a hurried trip to his fiefdom and returned later than usual.
Syde, who had begun to open the door ahead of him, inhaled sharply in shock.
Every servant in the Central Hall lay sprawled unconscious on the floor like corpses.
“What—what in the…! My lord!”
“What is this?”
Syde threw the door open wide.
Kailas took in the state of the estate at a glance.
His crimson eyes darted swiftly upward.
He moved up the stairs in quick, urgent strides, while Syde remained behind below, frantically patting the servants’ faces to rouse them.
The upper floor was the same.
Everyone lay collapsed as if by prior arrangement.
As if someone had passed through and left their mark.
Kailas hurried toward the bedroom, seized by a mounting dread.
A single chambermaid lay collapsed in the open doorway.
He frowned down at her, then lifted his gaze.
Inside the room, he saw Hazel seated comfortably between the curtains, where the evening breeze drifted through the open window.
To any observer, it would have seemed perfectly peaceful—nothing wrong at all, save for the unconscious servants scattered about.
“Oh, you’re home?”
Her voice held no trace of anger, or anything else particular.
“Syde.”
Damn it.
Kailas clenched his jaw.
“Syde!”
At his shout, he heard Syde scramble up the stairs in haste.
“Yes, my lord!”
But the moment Syde burst through and came face to face with Hazel, Kailas’s suspicion proved correct.
“Gah—Ma…!”
Syde gasped in agony and crumpled unconscious to the floor.
Kailas felt nothing at all, but Hazel—she was wringing power out of herself by sheer force of will.
He closed the distance in quick strides and seized her arm, wrenching her toward him.
“Why?”
Rather than resist, Hazel merely smiled faintly and gazed up at him.
Kailas’s eyes narrowed further.
From the strain of whatever she had been channeling, her eyes had shifted to a deep violet, and the skin beneath them had taken on a flushed hue.
Her lips trembled slightly from the sheer magnitude of power she was expending—a sight he had never witnessed before.
A woman with such an ability—one too compassionate to turn it on others, yet so formidable that ordinary defenses were useless against it.
He had heard that those who wielded Black Magic risked madness if they pushed their strength beyond its limit.
In severe cases, it consumed their very life force.
Hazel claimed her body was uniquely attuned to Black Magical Power, such that no matter how much she drew upon it, she would see physical changes but suffer none of the usual side effects—no mind-breaking, no hallucinations.
But how could he know for certain? He felt nothing.
“Stop.”
Kailas ground out the word through clenched teeth, a plea.
“Stop what?”
She must have been running through countless methods, testing them all.
And now she had reached her conclusion.
Hazel’s eyes had turned as red as his own.
pushing himself to the very brink of his limit.
So then.
“Please. Stop.”
He’d discovered the most effective way she could torment him. This woman.
To any observer, Kailas looked ready to weep—yet it was Hazel’s left eye that wept blood, her strength commanding even that.
Kailas contorted his face and wiped away the tears of blood from Hazel’s cheek with one trembling hand.
The blood did not come away easily. It only smeared across her pale skin.
Soon Kailas let his bloodied hand fall slowly to his side.
…….
“All right. I understand. I know what you want, so give me a moment to think. Hazel.”
…….
“Please…….”
He beseeched her, his voice breaking.

* * *

It was hours later when Kailas sought out Hazel again.
The surroundings had been tidied in those intervening hours, and Syde and the servants had all received treatment.
Hazel was in the Study.
“I know you’re here. I’m coming in.”
Though Hazel had heard Kailas knock and enter, she did not turn around.
“Hazel.”
…….
Seeing her ignore him, Kailas released a long breath.
“One year.”
…….
“Cooperate with me for one year. Then I’ll do whatever you wish.”
…….
“Give me one year. Give me… a chance.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m asking you, just as I said. Give me a chance.”
At those words, Hazel’s eyes widened sharply.
“Are you going on about pride again?”
“It’s not that. I’m asking you in all sincerity. Give me time to show you my true heart.”
…….
“I want to prove to you that the year we spent together wasn’t nothing but lies. So give me just one chance.”
…….
The coldness in Hazel’s expression cracked, ever so slightly.
Whether she was shocked or moved to pity, he felt grateful to have bought himself these few moments of hesitation from her.
“Even if you can’t trust me, even if you think I’m beneath your regard, even if you despise me…….”
…….
“I’ll let you go. I’ll set you free, as you wish. So give me one chance. Please.”
Surely he could manage this much.
His heart ached with thirst. He’d never known he could feel such longing.
Pride, dignity—none of it mattered. All that mattered was holding Hazel.
Even as he hoped for her agreement, he dreaded her refusal so intensely that he almost wished he’d never spoken at all.
“You don’t have to answer now. It’s late. Rest first.”
Unable to bear the weight of his own anxiety, he turned and left.
She was too clever; perhaps she’d already seen through him. But it didn’t matter, as long as she accepted the offer.
Even if it was merely a proposal born of desperation, buying time.

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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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