My Contract Husband Demands a Divorce - Chapter 54

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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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Yulisian pulled back on the horse’s reins.
If he headed to the Palace and met with Isoldra, Kildian might find out.
Furthermore, Scheit had been a subordinate to a political rival. Even now, his wife was being falsely accused of being a murderer.
They would never permit a meeting.
Amarynthis’s false accusation would provide the perfect excuse to deny his request.
Just then, Amarynthis’s face flashed across his mind.
Her deathly pale skin.
Her trembling, desperate hands gripping his forearm.
It was the reaction of someone gripped by sheer terror.
Perhaps she was in no state to make a rational judgment. It might have been more reasonable to pursue the alternative and go to Arpeggio instead.
Yet, the horse’s head remained pointed toward the Palace.
He wanted to trust her judgment.
Because she was a clever woman.
The moment he arrived at the Palace, he headed straight for the Main Building where Isoldra resided.
As soon as Yulisian stepped inside, wary eyes locked onto him.
“I wish to see Her Highness Isoldra.”
The staff looked reluctant to even report his visit.
However, turning away a visitor who had openly arrived at the door was beyond the servants’ authority.
“Please wait in the Drawing Room for a moment.”
If he were in his original body, he would have just barged into the room. It frustrated him that he could not do so now.
Above all, Isoldra was not an easy woman to deal with.
Leaving him to wait in the drawing room for hours would mean nothing to her.
He could not afford to waste much time here, so he decided to give it exactly five minutes.
He kept his eyes glued to the clock, and the moment he rose from his seat, the drawing room door swung open.
“What a rare surprise. For Kildian’s lackey to come seeking me out.”
The servant quietly closed the door and left.
After confirming that the footsteps had faded into the distance, Yulisian spoke up.
“Today, I came not as the Prince’s lackey, but as my wife’s.”
Isoldra’s eyes swept up and down Yulisian’s figure.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he offered her the note.
Isoldra unfolded the paper.
As she read the message sent by Amarynthis, her face remained entirely unreadable.
Yet, the words that left her mouth carried acceptance.
“I will look into it and deliver the results to you before midnight, whatever they may be.”
Rising from her seat, she tossed the paper into the fireplace.
Yulisian watched his sister’s face.
Since she had immediately granted a request brought by Kildian’s lackey, he could not fathom whether she was being sincere.
“Do you truly intend to help my wife?”
“I owe the Baroness my life, after all.”
Yulisian felt a wave of relief.
Isoldra was not one to take what she received lightly.
Whether it was a grudge or a debt of gratitude.
“Thank you. I shall await your answer.”
* * *
A deep chill seeped into my body.
The bathwater had turned cold long ago.
Yet, I could not bring myself to step out.
I was terrified of the closed door.
What if a maid or a servant walked in while I was still in the bathroom?
What if I stepped out, ran into them, and saw nothing but contempt in their eyes?
If that happened, I felt as though I would completely shatter.
Crouching in the tub like a coward, I buried my face against my knees.
How much time had passed? The sound of footsteps echoed. They were drawing closer to the door.
I pulled my knees in tighter, curling myself into a ball.
Then, Scheit’s voice drifted through the door.
“My lady.”
Air finally filled my lungs.
I had no idea why, but a sudden sense of relief washed over me.
“Are you still bathing?”
I had finished a long time ago. I simply could not bring myself to leave.
I tried to answer, but the words choked in my throat.
When no response came from my end, the sound of the doorknob rattling echoed.
Startled, I flinched, causing the bathwater to slosh loudly against the porcelain walls. The half-turned handle clicked back up.
“I feared you had fainted. Forgive my intrusion.”
The source of his voice dropped lower, suggesting he had sat down right outside the door.
“The water must be freezing by now.”
He was asking why I had not come out yet.
I fell silent for a moment.
I should have just pretended everything was fine, the way I always did with others, and told him that I was finished and on my way out.
But I could not bring myself to feign composure.
“…I can’t go out.”
The voice of the man screaming curses at me and the mocking laughter of the onlookers still echoed vividly in my ears.
I envisioned those sharp, piercing glares scattered all around me like shattered glass shards.
Forget opening the door; even breathing felt suffocating.
Scheit remained silent for a moment before turning the handle once more.
Gasping in surprise, I hid myself deeper inside the tub.
The door swung open by a fraction, revealing the empty bedroom through the gap.
“…Scheit?”
“I am right behind the door. I will stay here until you say it is alright, so please dress comfortably.”
Telling me to get dressed…
I had not brought any clothes with me.
Glancing around, I noticed a pile of garments resting on a stool a short distance from the tub.
Considering the bath had already been prepared for me, it seemed he had set them out before I even woke up.
“Why did you open the door so suddenly…?”
“Did you not say you couldn’t come out? It isn’t that you don’t want to leave. You are frightened, aren’t you?”
He was entirely correct.
“I have locked the bedroom door as well. No one can enter.”
He had realized that I couldn’t even open the door out of fear that I might run into someone else’s gaze.
Once again, he had read my innermost thoughts.
I had spent my entire life hiding behind a flawless mask, yet I kept exposing my bare face whenever I was before him.
It mortified me that I was trembling over a single closed door. I felt utterly pathetic.
At the same time, a sense of relief washed over me knowing the room was empty.
Slowly climbing out of the tub, I dried myself off and slipped into the clothes.
“What did Her Highness Isoldra say?”
“She promised to look into it and contact us before midnight.”
The moment those words reached me, the strength drained from my legs, and I sank heavily to the floor.
Scheit stepped out from behind the door and approached me.
With a brief sigh, he brought over a dry towel and began to gently dry my hair as he spoke.
“Did you order the maid to tail that boy?”
I nodded.
His brow furrowed slightly in confusion as he tilted his head.
“Then why investigate the Palace?”
“Because Sindy is highly likely to be inside the Palace.”
I spend far more time attending social gatherings outside the Palace than within it.
Yet, the attack targeting me took place right near the Palace main gate.
It was not a pre-arranged visit but an impromptu one, and yet they had thrown stones at me.
That meant whoever instigated it could easily monitor and control the events unfolding inside the Palace.
Even so, they likely lacked the status to freely order the palace staff around.
After all, they had resorted to handing money to a boy from the outside to do the dirty work.
If it were someone of high standing, they would have commanded their own subordinates for such a petty threat.
When a commoner attacks a noble, it escalates into a massive ordeal if caught, but if a noble’s underling makes a mistake, it is often swept under the rug out of respect for the master.
Or perhaps it was an instinctive defense mechanism, hiring an outsider to distance their physical location from the crime scene.
Piecing everything together, the culprit was someone residing in the Palace.
Given that they specifically targeted the horses, they most likely knew exactly what had happened to my parents.
A cruel human being who knew everything about me and deliberately recreated the death of my parents.
‘Princess Lucretia.’
The image of that woman laughing as I barely managed to climb into the carriage surfaced in my mind.
Knowing her personality, she would not have harmed Sindy right away.
She would try to use Sindy with the sole malicious intent of breaking me down more wretchedly.
“If I were to hire people to search the Capital, finding a single person wouldn’t be that difficult. The culprit would know that as well. That is why they hid her in the Palace.”
“So you used the excuse of searching for a stolen item to ask Isoldra to search the Palace and find your maid.”
“Exactly.”
“And what if Isoldra had refused?”
“That is why I named Arpeggio as the alternative. He would have found a way, even if it took some time. He treasures Sindy.”
“You managed to think through all of this the moment you regained consciousness?”
Intuition built upon logic flashes faster than lightning.
“I didn’t need verification, only a decision, and decisions do not take long.”
“Impressive.”
His admiration was calm and measured.
Normally, I would have felt a surge of pride, but my mind was completely blank.
His voice merely drifted into one ear and out the other.
Still, speaking aloud had eased a fraction of my tension. Regardless, a persistent chill kept my body shivering.
Whether my deduction was right or wrong meant nothing if Sindy was not safe.
Click, click.
My upper and lower teeth began nervously picking at my fingernails.
If Scheit had not grabbed my wrist to pull my hand away, I would have kept tearing at them until my fingertips bled.
“Let us move to the sofa for now. The marble is too cold.”
He wrapped his coat around my shoulders and helped me to my feet.

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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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