My Contract Husband Demands a Divorce - Chapter 2

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

As I flopped onto the sofa and gave my legs a quick shake, my shoes slipped off and went flying.
My feet felt so light and refreshed.
“Whew. Now I can finally breathe.”
It was an action a perfect, elegant noblewoman would never dream of doing, but who cared?
There was no one here to see me anyway.
I rested the back of my knees over the sofa’s armrest, dangling my legs, then turned my head to look in the mirror.
Perhaps because it had gotten wet and then dried, the left side of my hair was exceptionally frizzy.
Even when I tugged at it with my fingers, it refused to return to its beautiful, wavy state.
Out of habit, I twirled a strand around my finger, making it twist and curl even more.
“I really don’t want to go back to the ballroom looking like this.”
The imperfect appearance was quite bothersome.
Yet, completely abandoning the party and heading home felt like it would disappoint the Duchess. She had even lent me this dress, so it seemed rather impolite to just vanish.
As I killed time wrestling with my dilemma, a sound like scattering millet pattered against the window.
The noise, which had been barely audible even when straining my ears, gradually grew louder and more intense.
Before long, it filled the entire room.
Whoosh.
I stood up and approached the window. The wind blew so fiercely that the grass was flattened to the ground and the trees shook violently.
The moment lightning flashed across the sky, a brilliant idea struck my mind.
“Well, the weather has suddenly turned dreadful, so it can’t be helped!”
If the rain got any worse and I couldn’t make it back home, it would be a disaster, so I should just excuse myself and leave early!
It wasn’t a cheap excuse just because I absolutely hated being at the ball a moment longer.
Of course not.
* * *
The moment I arrived at the estate and stepped down from the carriage, the butler approached me and asked,
“Welcome back, Baroness. Did you enjoy the ball?”
I had been about to enjoy it before things took a turn, but I simply nodded.
“Yes. It was as delightful as always. But why is the manor so dark?”
“The Master went to sleep early, so we did not light the lamps. If you wish, I can right now…”
The butler turned his body as if he were about to wake the servants this instant.
I quickly stopped him.
“No, please don’t wake anyone! I’m going straight to bed as well. Oh! Instead, could you tell Sindy to prepare a warm bath for me?”
“Understood, Baroness.”
The butler handed me a single lantern and took his leave first.
As the light gradually drifted away, darkness swarmed in from all sides.
Perhaps because the heavy clouds completely blocked out the moonlight, the manor looked exceptionally bleak tonight.
With the rain falling, the atmosphere felt somewhat eerie…
Should I have just asked him to light the lamps? No. I should have asked him to call Sindy down here instead!
But it was already too late.
The maids used a separate passage, so even if I waited for Sindy, our paths wouldn’t cross.
‘Let’s hurry. Sindy will be in my room anyway. I’ll feel less scared once I see her.’
I quickened my pace and stepped onto the second floor.
Swish, rustle, swish, rustle.
The sound of my dress dragging across the floor also struck a sinister note. The hallway felt unusually long tonight.
It happened while I was walking, taking deep breaths to calm myself.
I felt a chilling gaze from somewhere.
Goosebumps broke out across my skin, causing me to halt in my tracks.
I scanned my surroundings, but there was no one there.
Only darkness stretched out endlessly along the corridor.
‘Did I just imagine it?’
Just as I tilted my head and was about to take another step,
Flash!
A brief glimmer revealed a pair of eyes before they vanished.
Someone was watching me through a slightly ajar door.
I froze, so startled that I forgot to breathe.
In that brief interval, the door slammed shut with a loud bang.
I was about to let out a belated scream, but I clamped my mouth shut.
It was because I realized exactly whose room that open door belonged to.
“Scheit?”
On the off chance it was him, I carefully called out my husband’s name.
The closed door slid open once again.
Through the narrow gap, I could see a man standing with a slouched posture.
Due to his stance, he looked much shorter than his actual height, and his dull, ash-gray hair fell messily around him.
Peeking through the strands was a pale, gaunt face.
His glassy, unfocused eyes looked a bit more unsettling than usual tonight.
He also seemed a bit unwell.
“Are you alright? You look quite pale.”
“Ah… Well, that, I mean, it’s not that I’m si— sick, I just, had some work, so a bit of sleep… I’m, I’m fine.”
Scheit babbled incoherently, habitually shifting his gaze to scan my face and body.
It had made me uncomfortable at first, but now I had adapted and felt fine with it. It wasn’t as if he was doing anything bad to me. It just seemed to be his habit to look at people out of the corner of his eye like that.
Instead, it was something else that caught my attention.
“Are you going out?”
He was wearing a cloak—a truly, deeply, profoundly rare occurrence.
He was a man who kept his laboratory hidden inside his quarters and even ate all his meals alone in his room.
Barely anyone ever stepped foot into that room of his.
At most, the butler would occasionally pop in and out to deliver something.
Just seeing him step out into the hallway was a rare sight, so what on earth drove him to put on a cloak and head for the door?
And on a rainy night like this, wearing a traveling cloak, no less!
What could possibly be going on?
Without thinking, I took a step closer, but Scheit retreated as if fleeing from me and slammed the door shut with a resounding bang.
A gust of wind whipped against my face.
My hair fluttered upward before settling back down.
At the same time, a clicking sound echoed from the inside as the door was locked.
I had been shut out right in front of my nose. How terribly cold! Was I going to eat him or something?
My feelings were a bit hurt, but our relationship wasn’t close enough for me to chase after him and voice my grievance.
Besides, I was exhausted.
I should just go to my room and sleep.
Letting out a soft sigh, I walked past Scheit’s room.
The moment I entered my own chamber, my personal maid, Sindy, emerged from the bathroom.
“My lady. Ah, no, right, Baroness, you’re back? Let me help you with your bath.”
Sindy had called me by her old habit from before my marriage before quickly correcting herself.
“Thank you, Sindy.”
As I soaked my body in the warm, fragrant water, my tension melted away.
The unpleasant emotions and my exhaustion quickly dissolved.
After finishing my bath, I threw myself onto the plush bed.
Sindy turned off the lights and left the room.
I felt as though I could fall into a deep sleep just like this…
But a memory from my childhood came back to haunt me as a nightmare.
‘Mother, Father! Have you returned to celebrate my birthday? Today, I happened to make a cake—’
‘We are busy right now, so let us talk later. Arpes.’
‘My name isn’t Arpes, it’s…’
‘Child, is your name more important than the family’s affairs?’
Coldly cutting off my words, my parents slowly turned their heads to meet my eyes.
‘Or do you truly believe a dead person will remember your name?’
‘A name that was never properly spoken even when they were alive?’
‘How utterly ridiculous.’
‘We have never loved you.’
My parents’ perfectly normal faces began to distort hideously, crumbling away. Their bodies twisted and contorted as blood spilled forth.
Just like that very moment when they were crushed to death beneath the overturned carriage.
“Gasp!”
I woke up from my sleep, gasping for air.
My heart pounded furiously.
I swept my hair back with both hands and rubbed my face to calm myself, but it was no use.
I held my trembling body tightly and checked the time.
Four in the morning.
It was still dark outside.
‘I need to get more sleep…’
There was absolutely no way I could fall back asleep.
The more I tossed and turned in bed, the sharper my mind became.
In the end, I sat up.
‘Should I just go for a walk instead?’
Normally, I would have gone for a ride on horseback, but the weather was terrible today, so that wasn’t an option.
I would just wander around the hallway for a bit before trying to sleep again.
I slipped on my silk robe and stepped outside, when suddenly—
Clatter! Thud! Crash!
From Scheit’s room came the heavy thud of something collapsing, followed by a sound like breaking glass.
Had an intruder broken in? Or had something happened to Scheit?
I quietly pressed my ear against his door.
As if the previous commotion had been an illusion, absolute silence reigned beyond the door.
I held my breath and listened for a long while, but there was no sign of life.
Belatedly, Scheit’s pale face flashed through my mind.
‘Did he faint from anemia or something?’
Anxious, I knocked on the door once more.
“Scheit. I heard a loud noise, is everything alright?”
As expected, there was no answer.
He was never one to reply anyway, but this time, I had a bad feeling. My hand moved before I could even think.
I fully expected it to be locked, but the doorknob turned.
Creak.
With a sharp screeching sound, the door yielded backward. Through the gap, a metallic, pungent odor rushed into my nose.
‘The smell of iron? No. It’s closer to the scent of… blood.’
At that exact instant, a bolt of lightning struck down.
Flash!
Revealed beneath that fleeting light was a man collapsed on the floor, drenched in blood.
It was my husband, Scheit Huniswald.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————