Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 78

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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 78

“I will.”
Hazel had come straight from bed, still in her pajamas.
Watching her rush in like an arrow, the ruffled white fabric fluttering in her wake, Kailas wanted to gather her into his arms the way he once had—but he gave no sign of it.
As always, he’d wanted to be there when she opened her eyes, but instead he’d deliberately come out at dawn.
After yesterday’s incident, Hazel had fallen asleep in the bedroom. Stubborn, lips sealed shut.
He’d left early, afraid of her refusal the moment she woke.
Truth be told, he’d been wrung dry all night.
But had Hazel really just said yes?
He felt unfamiliar in his own chest—swelling with her answer.
Still, he let nothing show.
Instead, he rose and draped the thin coat that hung over his chair around her shoulders.
So absorbed in Hazel’s flight that he’d overlooked the lingering heat, autumn had deepened without his notice—the morning temperature dropping a fraction each day now.
The chill wouldn’t touch her inside the Mansion, but when she caught cold occasionally, she suffered terribly.
“So you’ll grant my request.”
“Yes. One year, as you said. But I have conditions too.”
“Your condition is that you want to leave me after one year.”
……
“…All right. What is it.”
“Release three people. And if after one year I still say I don’t trust you, don’t ask questions—just let me go. That’s all.”
Hazel’s eyes held a certainty that struck him.
She still didn’t believe in his heart. In his confession.
Even if it were true, that conviction—that it would run dry and not last the year—showed plainly in her gaze.
He felt the full weight of her unspoken thought: let’s see if you can.
Kailas found it deeply unfair, but there was nothing to be done. He could only earn her trust.
“Then promise you’ll be with me as you were before.”
“I can’t be the same as before.”
“…Then don’t avoid me. You don’t like that either, do you? I need some way to show you how I feel. Right?”
Wanting to pry open that grudgingly opened heart a fraction wider, Kailas slipped his hand toward hers.
He grazed her fingertips with his own, asking permission without words—fingers curling between hers, barely interlacing, before he bent down to show her his plea.
After a long moment, Hazel pushed weakly against his shoulder and answered.
Even then, her head turned slightly away.
“Fine. I’ll have to play the Duchess anyway, so I suppose we should.”
He’d braced himself for her expression to crumble, but she’d come prepared—and it didn’t.
Harsh as her words were, they meant she was giving him a chance.
He had bought himself a year.
Time equal to what had passed before, but it somehow felt insufficient.
“Win me over. All right?”
A man who had never let opportunity slip through his fingers, he set about dividing his time into fragments—determined not to waste a single moment of this year in seducing her.
He carefully wiped the still-reddened corners of her eyes, yesterday’s aftermath lingering.
Between the dense, coldly lowered lashes, her irises still gleamed red as sunset.
In her ear, he whispered—that he would try to please her, that she should understand his love, that surely they could share a kiss.
Kailas’s hand moved carefully to her chin.
Her sharp, steady gaze faltered—confusion flickering across it.
The sight of it sent a wave of hunger through him.
Reading her intent keenly in that expression, Kailas slowly bent and brought his lips to hers.
His gaze traced her hungrily, unwilling to miss a single detail.
Even in that brief contact, he felt his breath open like a door.
When their lips parted, a hairline fracture appeared in her composure.
Her eyes flushed faintly, Hazel turned her head away with a jerk, avoiding his gaze.
Kailas’s mouth curved softly upward.
Yes, Hazel.
Even as you push me away, you still care for me.
You haven’t let me go entirely.
“We’re finished talking, so I’ll go. Keep your promise.”
Hazel moved quickly toward the door.
Kailas reached out more boldly, threading his hand through hers and holding fast.
“Come have breakfast with me. I’ve prepared something you like.”
“…….”
This time, Hazel didn’t push him away—as though she too had come to see their exchange as part of the contract.
Even a thread-thin hope was an oasis to Kailas.

* * *

One year.
Kailas had imposed a peculiar condition.
It wasn’t unreasonable.
He’d promised to wrap things up cleanly in exchange.
Once that year passed, he’d said he’d let me go—which meant the prohibition against divorce would lift as well.
After a sleepless night of deliberation, I entered into what was less a contract than a bargain with Kailas Hardid.
Truthfully, I had no choice.
I couldn’t fathom his motives, but he was stirring up trouble beyond my comprehension, and I’d come to realize that if things continued as they were, the problems would spiral beyond my ability to contain them.
What I needed, first and foremost, was a brake.
Yes, well—one year. I could endure that much.
In exchange, I could extract Annie, Ginger, and Aegmeon from this mess, and if I could manage to settle everything cleanly, I could bear a year of this.
When that time came, I’d have to leave not Meyblang, but Elkium itself.
What had once been vague deliberation about emigration became, now, a concrete certainty—my true destination.
Beyond the fact that they’d all been captured, I’d never anticipated he would go this far, not even with the Imperial Palace at his back.
There was even a Temple Chance I’d never used, squandered because the three of them were seized first.
I’d planned to use it after the year elapsed, if circumstances demanded it.

That afternoon.
Though I’d made my decision that morning, doubt still gnawed at me—until word came that lifted my spirits.
Annie, Ginger, and Aegmeon had been released.
Relief flooded through me, and I made my way to each of them in turn.
I found Annie first—she’d been kept closest to the Mansion.
“Annie.”
“Hazel, what’s brought on this sudden change of heart?”
Annie, who’d been confined to her room for nearly a month, looked bewildered as she glanced down the corridor.
“I realized we were simply wasting time pointlessly.”
I smiled and spoke calmly, though my insides were churning, my mind in turmoil.
He’d said he wouldn’t kill them, but I couldn’t shake the thought that he could do so at any moment if things went wrong.
The notion that these three might die in an instant because of me—I’d turned it over in my mind again and again, and it was so unbearable that my chest felt as though it were burning from within.
I’d decided to send Annie away before my resolve could waver.
“Go back now, Annie. We have a promise between us, so there’s no danger ahead.”
“What about you, Hazel? And the emigration…….”
I glanced cautiously around before answering.
“…I’ve postponed it for a year. It’s not feasible right now.”
“A year? What exactly are you plotting, Hazel?”
Annie’s voice dropped in turn.
She caught my arm as I tried to hurry her away.
“Tell me. What can I do to help?”

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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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