Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 82

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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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Episode 82

Kailas withdrew his hand belatedly.
“Want to go home? Shall we?”
Where was I supposed to start correcting this?
“Right now? His Majesty hasn’t even arrived yet. Noah, your face right now…….”
“My face?”
Hazel called out his name by habit before catching herself, shaking her head.
“No, I mean—are you really allowed to leave? I’d like to go too, but…….”
Hazel tilted her head, asking.
It seemed she was questioning why he suddenly wanted to leave when he’d insisted attendance was mandatory.
Seized by the sudden feeling of standing at a cliff’s edge, he drew her waist closer still.
He pressed his lips firmly against her temple as though etching himself into her skin, making a deliberate show of possession.
He laid bare his possessiveness for all to see—a cowardice born of anxiety.
“Never mind. I’ll do as you wish.”

* * *

What sudden change of heart was this?
The moment I suggested going home, he agreed to it.
Whether it was a simple shift in feeling or a gesture of effort, I couldn’t quite tell.
I had no reason to refuse, so I agreed.
I’d thought it was just something he was saying off the cuff, but he truly left the banquet without a shred of reluctance.
As we departed, the gazes of the nobility showed no sign of releasing us.
By tomorrow, rumors would certainly be spreading in all directions.
I found myself worrying whether His Majesty the Emperor had noticed his hollowed expression upon arriving at the hall.
More than anything else.
I glanced up at him, stealing furtive looks as he led me away.
That stern expression from moments ago bothered me a little.
I was thinking about how to make time to say something to Dylan, Lux, and Josh when his hand suddenly touched me.
I was startled purely by reflex.
During those first two weeks when we’d just settled in at Maeblang, I’d trembled with anxiety every night.
What if he came looking for me? What if he really did kill me?
Just as my heart was beginning to ease, he found me again, and we returned to Ferarium.
By now I’d chosen to trust his promise not to harm me to some degree, but the fear hadn’t disappeared.
Throughout the banquet, he’d held me half-embraced, so I hadn’t expected to startle at his touch as it approached.
Surely I hadn’t been shocked by that.
No, that couldn’t be it.
Not from the great Kailas Hadid.
The thought made me scoff.
Yet the stern expression that had set on Kailas’s face didn’t shift once during the entire carriage ride home, as he escorted me.
Inside the carriage, something was off.
He’d laced his fingers through mine with deliberate pressure, and when I tried to pull my hand away out of discomfort, he tightened his grip further.
“It hurts.”
I spoke tersely, and he suddenly released the pressure from his hand.
In truth, it didn’t hurt, but I sensed it would if he continued, so I preempted it. His hands were simply enormous.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
He even stroked the back of my hand as though genuinely apologetic, yet made no move to release the interlaced fingers.
But why on earth was he doing this?
He’d always been clingy in the past, but never to this degree.
It was strange—gripping my hand like it was a lifeline while wearing the expression of someone about to kill.
I tried several times to free my hand before I gave up.

The moment I sat down in the chair in the dressing room after returning to the Mansion, the tension dissolved and exhaustion crashed over me.
Having done elaborate dressing twice in a single day when I’d normally do it once every few months, I must have been truly worn out.
Instead of the maid who’d offered to bring warm water and a washcloth, Kailas entered carrying the basin himself.
……
I caught sight of him through the mirror, stealing a glance.
He set the basin down on one side and approached me. His hand reached for the necklace draped around my neck.
He unfastened it smoothly and placed it on the vanity with practiced ease.
I watched only through the mirror, but when he bent forward, our eyes met.
……
He held my gaze deliberately and pressed his lips to my shoulder. Even as he did, I simply stared back.
“Don’t worry about it.”
It seemed he was referring to what I’d seen of Dylan at the banquet.
Oddly enough, after a year spent together, we’d developed the kind of understanding where we knew what the other meant without explanation or context.
“Let me handle this. This is something I need to face and resolve myself. The same with the Crown Prince and the Princess.”
“All right. I understand.”
As I turned to rise, he answered obediently and dropped to one knee.
Then he extended his hand, asking me to lift my foot.
“You should have the maid do it.”
“It’s what I’ve always done.”
……
I reluctantly extended my foot. The moment the warm cloth touched it, the tension drained away completely.
I couldn’t refuse after that.
Fortunately, his gaze was fixed on my foot, so I didn’t have to pull away further.
“It’ll only be busy until we leave for the Estate.”
“Your Majesty doesn’t seem inclined to let you go easily.”
“Unless I decide to guard the North Gate myself, he’ll manage without me soon enough. The other foot.”
As I watched him massage and press with the cloth, drying my foot methodically, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
If Kailas had encountered the Princess today, what kind of face would he have shown her?
Normally, they should have crossed paths three or four times, yet they hadn’t once.
No matter how much he claimed to have followed me, wouldn’t he need to make contact at least once—whether for genuine feeling or practical necessity?
“You know…”
“Hmm?”
“You’ve seen the Princess Lily before, haven’t you?”
“Lily?”
He raised his eyebrows as if asking who that was.
“Dayworth. Princess Lily Dayworth.”
“Ah, that woman. I don’t think I’ve ever met her face-to-face directly. You’re close with her, though.”
He tilted his head as if searching his memory, then firmly stated he’d never encountered her.
He seemed certain that she and I were close.
“Don’t you need her?”
“Need her for what?”
“Never mind. Forget I asked.”
What difference would asking make anyway?
I decided to be grateful that things weren’t getting worse.
“There was something I needed once, and I lost the chance because of that woman.”
I’d just been reassuring myself about my needless worries when I turned sharply to look at him.
“Something you needed?”
“Nothing worth money. I was thinking about acquiring it, but the Crown Prince snatched it first. After that, I didn’t need it anymore.”
“What was it?”
“Just something from the Temple.”
So he’d even kidnapped her over that? In a way, I’d rather that were the case.
What else could come from the Temple besides Purification Stones and Holy Water?
The only remotely rare thing they produced was Divine Purification Stone.
He didn’t have Holy Power, and a man with substantial immunity to Dark Magic Power wouldn’t need such a thing.
I furrowed my brow in thought, and he gazed at me intently while speaking.
“If this troubles you in any way……”
“No! Not at all. The Princess is kind. She’s actually tried to help me. Please don’t touch her.”
“I don’t do things you tell me not to do.”
While not entirely reassuring, hearing his answer still felt better.
I carefully withdrew my foot.
He’d long since set the washcloth aside but continued rubbing steadily.
As if I wouldn’t notice him trying to slide his hand up toward my right thigh.
I’d decided to block that look in advance—the hungry gleam of a predator stalking its prey.
Sure enough, one of his eyebrows arched slightly, then fell. His expression screamed regret.
Hmph.
“What would you like for dinner, my dear?”
“I don’t mind. I could just skip…….”
“Hmm?”
He tilted his head deliberately, presenting that infuriatingly composed face, and I closed my mouth and sighed.
It was more troublesome than scowling. Because that expression meant he’d never give ground on this—not even if the world collapsed.
“…Just whatever you like.”
“I’ll prepare something you enjoy.”
“Do as you wish.”
“I love you.”
Just before he rose, he pressed a kiss to his knee—still bent before me—and whispered the words.
I turned my head away, pretending not to hear.

* * *

The next morning.
The moment I opened my eyes, I reached for the newspaper—the famous gossip sheet published in the Capital.
“…….”
My mouth corner twitched involuntarily.

[The Duchess of Hadid Finally Revealed Herself!]
[The Key to Reconciliation? A Rise in Status?]
[Throughout the entire gala, they couldn’t be separated—leaving the nobility astounded…….]
[As if the world contained only the two of them. Love blooming before our very eyes…….]
[The Duchess of Hadid’s Gown in High Demand—Who Is the Designer?]
[The Duke of Hadid is truly a man head over heels in love…….]

Were they out of their minds?
Didn’t they see me trembling in fear?
They wrote about how it seemed like only the two of us existed in the world, how lovely it was to see us conversing so tenderly.
All sorts of drivel about how a man in love is different. Just pure nonsense.
Fortunately, the other papers focused more heavily on political matters.
Whether the House of Hadid, previously neutral, would finally throw its support behind the Imperial Family, or if it was still too early to say.
That’s what the chatter seemed to revolve around.
“Sigh.”
I’d stepped on my own grave, in a manner of speaking.
I was the one who’d sworn with my own mouth to live as a Duchess for a year, after all.
First, I needed to deal with Jade and Lily today.

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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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