My Contract Husband Demands a Divorce - Chapter 67

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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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“My Lady!”
Sindy greeted me with a bright smile.
Beside her, Arpeggio, who had been busy reviewing documents, looked up as well.
“Lintis!”
He sprang to his feet and spread his arms wide.
After a brief embrace, Arpeggio extended his hand toward Shan.
“Haha. Welcome, brother-in-law!”
His grip was deceptively firm.
Arpeggio held on so tightly that the blood pooled at the tips of Shan’s fingers.
“Arl.”
I called his name in a scolding tone and pulled Shan’s hand free.
“You’re going to crush my husband’s hand.”
I felt three sets of eyes lock onto me at once.
My husband.
It wasn’t inaccurate, but it was a title I had never once uttered aloud before.
“Oh my!”
“Lintis…”
Sindy clamped both hands over her mouth, her eyes sparkling.
Arpeggio looked utterly appalled.
He wore the exact expression of a father hearing for the very first time that his young daughter had a boyfriend.
And Shan…
I was too terrified to check what kind of face he was making.
If he was frowning or looking at me as if I were being ridiculous, it would hurt my feelings.
My ears burned hot.
Fanning away the rising heat, I stepped closer to Sindy.
“Sindy, how are you feeling? I left the desserts you like with the Butler, so eat them whenever you get bored. Alright?”
“Thank you, My Lady.”
Sindy offered a giggling smile.
Seeing her leg bound tightly with splints and bandages made my heart ache all over again.
As I reached down to gently stroke it, Arpeggio caught my hand and pulled it away.
“Lintis, if you wear that kind of face when visiting a patient, it will only make Sindy feel uncomfortable.”
“He’s right, My Lady. You look most beautiful when you smile!”
Beside me, Shan brushed his hand against my shoulder before sliding it down my forearm.
My hand naturally slipped from Arpeggio’s grasp.
Did he do that on purpose?
I looked up at Shan as he patted my arm.
When our eyes met, a soft smile played on his lips.
It didn’t seem intentional. Nor did he seem displeased that I had referred to him as ‘my husband.’
“Ahem…!”
I let out a dry cough for no reason and averted my gaze.
Seeing Sindy sporting her usual mischievous grin finally set my mind at ease.
Her expression was so bright one would think she had merely scraped her knee while playing outside.
Perhaps because Arpeggio had been taking such excellent care of her, a healthy glow radiated from her face.
Most of all, she looked genuinely happy.
Whenever Arpeggio propped a pillow behind Sindy’s back or adjusted the edge of her blanket, her cheeks would flush a deep crimson.
After watching her for a long moment, I spoke up.
“Sindy, even after your leg fully heals, would you prefer to stay at the Rootsild Mansion?”
“Pardon?”
Sindy, who had been smiling shyly at Arpeggio, widened her eyes in surprise.
“Just because. It’s safe here, and Arl is around too.”
Even if she told me she wanted to return to being Arpeggio’s exclusive maid, I was confident I wouldn’t feel resentful.
I was a fearful person, and Sindy was the only one around me capable of handling the gritty work.
Staying with me meant she could inadvertently get swept up in dangerous situations.
Just like this time.
Sindy looked back and forth between Arpeggio and me.
She appeared to be weighing her options.
I expected her to hesitate a bit before offering an apologetic face and choosing Arpeggio, but Sindy pondered far longer than I anticipated.
Unexpectedly, the rejection came from Arpeggio’s mouth.
“No, Lintis. If Sindy isn’t there, who’s going to protect you?”
I thought he would be thrilled to have Sindy back.
As I blinked in surprise, Sindy chimed in from the side.
“He’s right, My Lady! I am your exclusive maid, your bodyguard, and your friend.”
Sensing her deep devotion brought a sudden warmth to my chest.
“Yes. Thank you.”
When I nodded, Arpeggio chuckled lightheartedly and reached out to muss my hair.
Sindy looked more startled than I was and lunged for Arpeggio’s arm.
“No, you’ll ruin My Lady’s hair!”
Yet the moment she locked eyes with Arpeggio, she quickly pulled her hands back and twisted her posture bashfully.
“Now that I’ve seen you’re doing well, I should head out.”
“Are you leaving already?”
“Yes. I’ll come by again, Sindy. Make sure you recover well, okay?”
“Of course, My Lady! Safe travels to you as well, Baron.”
Shan offered a nod and began to walk, his arm still wrapped possessively around my shoulders.
Arpeggio followed us out, seemingly intending to see us off.
“It looks like Princess Lucretia is being extradited back to her homeland. They agreed to return her on the condition that she be confined to a tower for the rest of her life.”
So that was how it ended.
It appeared Princess Isoldra had concluded the negotiations quite successfully.
While it felt like a lenient punishment for taking a human life, there was little else to be done given her royal blood.
“By the way, Lintis.”
“Yes?”
“When did you become so close with Princess Isoldra?”
Arpeggio asked with a pleasant smile.
Yet I felt as though I had been blindsided.
I had completely forgotten that he, too, was one of Kildian’s men.
While he wasn’t a direct subordinate of Kildian, he was intricately tied to him through mutual interests.
“…Arl.”
“Geez. Why are you so tense?”
Arl chuckled softly and vigorously pinched my cheeks.
Shan watched the display in silence.
Confusion swirled within me.
Arpeggio undoubtedly knew Shan as Scheit. Naturally, he also believed him to be Kildian’s subordinate.
And yet, right in front of Kildian’s supposed man, he casually brought up my growing closeness with Princess Isoldra.
If Shan truly were Kildian’s loyal follower, these words would travel straight to Kildian’s ears, wouldn’t they?
While I yielded my cheeks to his pinching and blinked, I noticed Arl’s eyes covertly analyzing Shan’s expression, his posture, the tension in his fingers, his lips, and his jaw.
Arpeggio casually slung an arm over my shoulder.
“Did my brother-in-law betray Prince Kildian?”
“Arl!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. No one is around. It’s not like I’m shouting.”
He directed his usual easygoing grin toward Shan.
Then, keeping his arm around my shoulder, he began guiding me toward his private study.
Shan seemed to debate whether to pull me back or simply follow, but ultimately walked right behind us.
Once inside the room, the door clicked shut, and Arl collapsed heavily onto the sofa.
Opening a box of chocolates sitting on the table, he pressed one into my hand and one into Shan’s before popping one into his own mouth.
“Lintis, in your opinion, who has a higher chance of becoming the Emperor, Princess Isoldra or Prince Kildian?”
“I didn’t lend my aid to the Princess for political alignment. I was simply the one who informed her that she was consuming Arsenic.”
“So the Princess owes you a debt, and you merely capitalized on it?”
“Exactly. Furthermore, their respective factions possess comparable strength right now, and Prince Kildian is lunging like a rabid dog, so calculating probabilities is meaningless. Destiny isn’t something that can be measured in precise figures.”
As I spoke while popping the chocolate into my mouth, Arpeggio let out a booming laugh.
“As expected. My little sister truly is brilliant.”
He handed me another chocolate as a reward.
Shan hadn’t eaten his chocolate; he merely held it in his palm.
Noticing this, Arpeggio swiftly snatched it back.
“Don’t care for sweets, I take it?”
With that, he tossed it into his own mouth.
As he chewed, his expression shifted into something remarkably solemn. The stark contrast between the playful air above his nose and the gravity below it was almost comical, but the words that followed stripped away any urge to laugh.
“Don’t get caught.”
“……”
“I aligned myself with the Prince solely for profit, not out of loyalty or friendship. But you are different, brother-in-law. The moment your defection is exposed, my sister will be in grave danger as well.”
“Arl, that’s because we…”
“We?”
Realizing my slip of the tongue, I instantly clamped my mouth shut.
Arpeggio pressed a hand to his forehead.
He seemed to have realized that I was far more deeply entangled than he had initially assumed.
When Shan, his expression turning unreadable, took hold of my hand, Arpgeggio snapped his head up.
There was that look again.
Like a father staring down the boyfriend his daughter brought home for the very first time.
The man who had done nothing but smirk when we announced our marriage was now glaring with fiery intensity.
Eventually, he massaged his temples.
“It was my mistake. When I first met my brother-in-law, I approved because I thought you would never lose your heart to that kind of man. Who could have guessed he would transform into an entirely different person like this?”
He hadn’t transformed into an entirely different person; he literally was an entirely different person.
Despite the comment striking dead center, Shan’s expression remained perfectly impassive.
I, too, found myself at a loss for words, fully agreeing with Arl’s assessment.
After all, I knew all too well what Scheit had been like before Shan occupied his body.
He had certainly been a man to whom it was virtually impossible to give one’s heart.
“Is that why you permitted the marriage back then? Fearing that if he were too decent a man, I would lose my heart to him, get dragged around, and put myself in danger?”
“Precisely. You have a soft heart, Lintis.”
He fell silent for a brief moment, stroking his jawline.
The face that usually wandered around wearing an easygoing smile grew cold and sharp. His expression was that of a man calculating variables.
“First, let’s clean up the Huniswald Mansion.”

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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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