Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 86

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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 86

Always, at the slightest opening.
Still, the fact that he’d caught me before I could hit rock bottom was something I couldn’t ignore.
As I walked with him toward the carriage, I glanced back over my shoulder.
I could still feel their eyes on me—they were clearly still talking about me among themselves—but it wasn’t as relentless as before.
I’d stumbled into Hazel Love’s past entirely by accident, but I found myself thinking it had worked out for the best.
I’d finally learned what accounted for the largest share of the terrible nightmare haunting me.
It had only ever been misfortune; my power bore no fault in this.
I told myself this as if to comfort myself—and to comfort the original Hazel Love as well.

* * *

“And who might this be?”
A chill prickled down my spine without warning.
I turned my head slowly in the direction of that voice.
“Ha—Dylan.”
I offered my most businesslike smile.
In the end, having failed to meet him yesterday, I’d arranged to see Dylan today.
Even if it was only in his office where he conducted his duties.
It happened that I’d arrived a bit early, told the driver to wait, and was pacing in front of the office when Dylan appeared.
And Josh and Lux with him.
I’d made an appointment with Dylan alone, hadn’t I.
“Surely you’re not the Duchess of Hadid?”
“A lady of such standing in this humble place…?”
Josh and Lux joined Dylan in needling me relentlessly.
I supposed it was better than them avoiding me, but still!
“Ah, come on.”
“Come on? Is that really language befitting a duchess…?”
Dylan’s eyes gleamed as though he might devour me on the spot.
“…No, it isn’t.”
I lowered my gaze with a soft whimper at Dylan’s words.
My silence was the crime—all of it.
“Let’s go inside.”
The moment I stepped in with my polite invitation, Josh brought over a chair instead of the sofa.
He dragged it brazenly right in front of the couch and winked at me.
“Why…?”
“The repentance chair.”
I shot Josh a sharp glare.
“You keep that up and you might just disappear one day without anyone knowing—wait, no. You wouldn’t tell anyone about this, would you, Duchess?”
Even Lux, whom I’d thought was trying to stop him, chimed in with his own chaos.
Accepting my role as a criminal, I sat in the chair Josh had offered.
After a moment of silence, Josh moved with exaggerated flair as he spoke.
“Right then. Tea time—”
“Please, no.”
The moment I cried out, Josh’s eyebrows bounced in rhythm with his laughter.
Good grief.
Still, sitting in this chair really did feel like being tried in court.
Was it really a repentance chair?
Part of me wondered if I’d really done something so wrong.
But faced with their expressions—”Please, explain yourself, Duchess”—I found I had nothing to say.
“Well… if I’m being honest, I did intend to hide it.”
“How candid, Duchess.”
Josh spoke again with exaggerated gestures.
“But if I may defend myself, there were circumstances. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the truth back then.”
The three of them looked at me with interest all at once, and then began asking questions as if breaking through a dam—it felt like being a substitute teacher conducting their first class.
Whether it was because I was sitting alone in this elevated chair, or whether their questions—which came like eager students peppering their student teacher—about how we’d ever come to meet, about whether there could be any edge to our relationship, affected the tone, I couldn’t quite say.
It wasn’t just questions.
How could he have done that, couldn’t he have given a hint or two?
Josh asked questions like a girl absorbed in a romance novel—why had Dylan avoided them when they asked, was it fate that they’d met in childhood—while Lux aired every grievance imaginable, claiming he never dreamed Dylan would check the newspapers.
He even expressed his hurt at not being told sooner.
When he asked if someone had leverage over her, she was caught slightly off guard.
“Well then, I’ve heard quite enough. This has been a productive meeting, Duchess.”
“Sigh…….”
After spending an hour dodging questions as best she could, all her energy drained away.
It wasn’t even an interrogation, just over an hour had passed.
If only I hadn’t flipped out so badly when I said I’d create a Guild back then, I wouldn’t be going through all this.
If only I hadn’t stolen five million Gold…….
I can’t even tell anyone about it.
“Now I understand, though it’s really strange. I’d heard you got married, but you never told us who your husband was no matter what, so I did find it suspicious.”
Lux leaned back against the sofa and muttered.
“So calling you Hazel comfortably ends today. Your brother finds that quite sad.”
He was acting so disappointed that she couldn’t help but laugh.
“Anyway, only four of us know about sitting in the reflection chair today.”
It meant things could be different in private.
“Ah, so you mean I can push harder in private too?”
“I’ll call you Duchess in private as well.”
As soon as she answered, Josh giggled.
With the Crown Prince and Lily dealt with, along with this group, the tension suddenly lifted.
She leaned back in her chair with rather poor posture.
“Do uphold your dignity, Duchess.”
At Josh’s words, she immediately furrowed her brow again.

* * *

After the time for excuses had passed, she needed to begin preparing to leave for the Northern Territory.
Not only was she leaving Ferarium, but the thought of traveling all the way to the Capital and then north made her feel slightly dizzy.
She’d always believed she’d never have reason to go there, yet now she was about to walk that path with her own two feet.
The one saving grace was that Kailas had said he would wait long enough for her.
With the Emperor’s attention to consider, it would be difficult to prepare at a truly leisurely pace, but in any case, the sense of oppression that had weighed on her since that day had vanished.
Rather, she found herself restless.
In the meantime, an invitation to tea from an attendant close to the Empress and an invitation from Lily arrived one after another.
Lily’s invitation she’d anticipated and didn’t mind, but the moment she saw the invitation from Weggins, the attendant close to the Empress, her stomach churned so badly she had to wait quite a while before opening it.
It seemed the Empress, having drawn Duke Hadid in once, meant to drive the wedge home now.
Just as the Crown Prince had done, she appeared to want to use her, someone of rather easier disposition, to her advantage. It might even be the Emperor’s scheme.
In any case, the actions were quite overt, which surprised her inwardly.
She’d thought that given their years of antagonism, they might have done things differently.
She could have refused under the pretext of needing to guard the Northern Gate, but finding herself constantly discouraged by Kailas made her feel inexplicably uneasy.
Taking the easier path meant having to use the title of Hadid.
As she pondered this, she suddenly glanced at the clock.
He usually came to her room around this hour lately.
She quickly rose from her seat and headed toward the door.
But she stopped before crossing the threshold.
Kailas entered as though they’d made an appointment, effectively blocking her way.
“Hazel.”
She tried to slip past him, ignoring his slight smile.
If she moved right, he moved right.
If she went left, he shifted left, leaving her stuck.
Good grief.
I should have gotten up earlier.
“Would you move aside? I’m going to the study.”
“At this hour?”
“Something just occurred to me.”
“It wouldn’t be because this is when I usually come?”
As he stepped closer, his scent wrapped around her suddenly.
“No way. It’s just a coincidence. I was leaving and happened to run into you.”
I kept watch for openings, trying to squeeze past Kailas between his shoulders.
“I’m curious what my wife is off to see. Would it be all right if I came along?”
“No, it wouldn’t. I need to see this alone.”
The shamelessness of my reply narrowed Kailas’s eyes to slits.
That was when the corner of his mouth began to curve upward.
“Ah, don’t tell me you’re going to look at the thing you asked to get last time……”
I caught on to what he was saying instantly and clapped my hand over his mouth.
It was obvious what he meant—the suggestive book Annie had asked me to retrieve!
“It’s not that, okay?”
Seeing his sly smile, I hastened to correct him, but Kailas’s eyes only grew heavier.
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
I felt his muffled murmur vibrating against my palm.
Then—Smack!—a sharp sound erupted between my hand and his lips.
Oh no, seriously!

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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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