My Ex-Husband Came Back Crazy - Chapter 17

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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 17
Chapter 2. The Incident (7)
Amilda’s face flushed crimson as she hastily retreated from the room.
Those who remained exchanged glances with Lucius, swiftly burying her absence beneath fresh conversation—as though nothing had occurred at all.
‘I understand that a late-night celebration fueled by wine can hardly remain decorous, but… is it normal for a woman to approach a married man like that?’
Stepping back from the crowd, Lucius searched for Celia, his thoughts turning quietly inward.
Since earlier, an inexplicable unease had refused to lift.
The soaring ceiling, the golden light of the chandelier spreading in all directions, the circular pathway flowing with architectural grace—within it all, the people themselves moved like components of some greater structure.
Among these familiar strangers, Lucius found himself compulsively seeking out Celia alone.
‘Damn it.’
How many times would he regret not following her when she left? Lucius lengthened his stride, his footsteps precise and measured.
‘Where could she have gone?’
Then he noticed it—the gazes of the men around him tilting in unison toward a single point. Their hands stilled mid-drink, their lips pausing mid-sentence.
There stood Celia.
‘I thought she’d stepped outside, but she’s been here all along.’
A wave of profound relief swept through him.
The moment he beheld her bathed in light that fell as radiant as melted gold, the discomfort that had been coiled within him vanished in an instant.
His vision seemed to brighten, and a breath of relief escaped unbidden from his lips. He moved to step toward her—following the current of feeling as it flowed inexorably forward.
But he had scarcely taken a stride when he stopped dead.
‘…Why are they looking at her—another man’s wife—with eyes like that?’
The men’s gazes toward Celia continued unabashedly.
He knew full well that the woman before him was not beautiful in his eyes alone.
Her white hair fell lustrous and noble; beneath long, elegant lashes lay eyes of such blue—deep and still as a tranquil sea. Her slender limbs stretched gracefully, their lines aligning with the refined cut of her dress to underscore her aristocratic bearing.
Unlike the modest simplicity she wore in private chambers or her casual attire for light outings, tonight’s Celia was more resplendent than usual.
Most striking was the deep décolletage below her collarbone and the delicate pleating that descended along the center of her bodice—that soft silhouette revealing her flawless form and drawing the eye of every man present.
Beautiful enough to draw sighs, yet the vulgar hunger in the glances these men cast her way rankled him deeply.
The moment that realization took hold, a new discomfort grew within Lucius into something intolerable.
‘I think… I’m actually irritated.’
Premature anger erodes reason and clouds clear thought.
He drew a deep breath, his eyelids falling half-closed. Beneath the veneer of composure, he meticulously catalogued each man—who was looking, with what intent, with what quality of gaze.
When his gaze finally circled back to Celia, his hands clenched into fists.
Facing some man, Celia had curved her lips into the faintest of smiles.
A smile she had not granted him once since his awakening.
***
An unexpected encounter held Celia’s feet fast.
“I heard you’d gone to study in the Balotan Duchy.”
“Yes, I only just returned. I’ve been wanting to see you, and it seems fortune smiled on me.”
Fahrenheit Lowenz.
He was the direct heir of the Lowenz Marquis House of the Northern Federation Kingdom, a man with whom Celia had once entertained talks of marriage.
“But I think ‘broken engagement’ is an overstatement. We never signed any agreement, after all.”
“Still so thorough, I see. Truth be told, I was making a small jest in poor taste.”
Despite her curt reply, he merely laughed awkwardly. Those eyes, which bore no calculation and no apparent desire, were precisely the reason Celia had retained such a vivid memory of him.
“Have you been well?”
“…That’s what I should be asking. Have you been well?”
“As you can see, I remain much the same.”
Accepting a glass from an attendant, Fahrenheit offered one to her as well. His eyes swept the hall once before he spoke in earnest tones.
“Still the object of such intense attention, I see.”
Celia accepted the drink she had little desire to taste and politely swirled the glass. The crimson liquid slid like silk across the crystal surface.
“For me, it’s merely routine.”
“Ha, is that so? How unnecessary of me to remark upon it.”
He scratched his head and bowed in apparent embarrassment.
“I confess, meeting you after so long has made me nervous—my words keep stumbling.”
Celia tilted her head slightly to regard him.
Though he had been among the marriage candidates, she knew precious little about him.
Two or three meetings were hardly enough to know a person, yet she vividly recalled his love of books and his habit of speaking in measured, deliberate tones.
‘I believe I once thought him unsuited to me.’
Celia let out a soft laugh.
No matter how ill-suited two people might be, after experiencing discord like Lucius, harmony with anyone else seemed a trivial concern.
“Celia.”
Had he caught her in her private thoughts?
The moment she turned, Lucius’s distinctive scent enveloped her.
“I was looking for you. Do you mind if I ask what you’ve been doing here?”
His low voice draped softly around her.
“I went for a walk in the garden and came back. Why were you looking for me?”
“Does my searching for you require a reason?”
The moment Lucius took his place beside Celia, the center of the room’s gravity shifted naturally toward him.
“Weren’t you cold?”
He brushed lightly against her exposed shoulder.
“I was… fine.”
The touch was courteous and careful.
Celia had initially attempted to evade his hand reflexively. There was no emperor present now, and she found no reason to accept such touches anymore.
Yet when she met his eyes—not vain nor obligatory, but etched with an almost fierce concern—she faltered in her resolve to turn away.
As she always had, as she always did, she meant to ignore him and look elsewhere, but the warmth settling over her frost-touched shoulder arrested her in a way she could not quite name.
“And who is this?”
Lucius’s attention had shifted to Fahrenheit before them.
To be forgotten after having met once was a grave insult, and Fahrenheit’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“It appears you don’t recall me, Duke.”
His tone was courteous, though a small pride lay wounded beneath it.
Rather than answer him, Lucius turned lightly back to Celia.
Celia found herself annoyed at being the focus of both men’s attention.
‘It’s natural he wouldn’t remember—he’s lost his memory. He seems to have taken offense, though, and he was behaving just fine before… why must this be complicated?’
With Lucius’s hand resting on her shoulder, Celia hastily introduced the two men, hardly invested in the matter.
Lucius’s response was decidedly lackluster, as though he had never been curious to begin with.
‘Did he act this way before? Has some of his memory returned?’
The fact that Celia had been courted by more than a few marriage candidates was a truth known only to those privy to such matters. And among those, there were few whom Lucius—dissatisfied with both the woman herself and the man who might become her pair—had left entirely unscathed.
‘It’s laughable. He despised with such fury any man who might become my betrothed, and yet the person I actually married was him.’
Then Lucius, as if to demonstrate his claim, wrapped one arm around Celia’s waist and drew her possessively toward him. The delicate fabric of her dress smoothed beneath his palm.
“Lucius, what are you—?”
“Celia, it’s time.”
Lucius lowered himself toward her ear and spoke low. Startled by the warmth and fragrance of him, Celia’s hand reflexively flew to her ear.
“We agreed to leave early tonight, didn’t we?”
His voice was lower than usual, honeyed as if concealing candies beneath his tongue.
“Shall we go?”
He straightened, his whispered words immediately shifting back to their normal register.
Fahrenheit, who had been conversing with Celia moments before, started visibly.
“Wait, please! Are you leaving already?”
But before she could answer, Lucius applied subtle pressure to the arm encircling her waist.
He carefully brushed aside the wisps of her hair that fell across her forehead, the pearl ornament woven through her locks swaying gently with the motion.
Before Celia could even stiffen in surprise, he continued with absolute naturalness.
He pressed his lips precisely against her rounded brow.
“No. We’re going to see the opera.”
Lucius closed his eyes briefly, then slowly lifted his lids as if savoring the lingering warmth of the kiss. He turned toward Fahrenheit with a gentle smile.
“We were told it’s a lovely sight for a married couple, you see.”
At those words—like a thunderbolt from a clear sky—Celia’s mouth fell slightly open.

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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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