My Ex-Husband Came Back Crazy - Chapter 35

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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 35
Chapter 4. Omens (2)
The Hunting Competition was the grandest social event of the summer season.
The Royal Hunting Grounds, opened each year, resembled an enormous garden sculpted from nature itself.
The baying of hunting dogs split through the towering oak and hornbeam forests, while a hard-packed earth path, smooth for horses to traverse, stretched along the forest’s edge.
At the center stood a temporary viewing platform draped with broad canopies and flags, where men gathered to claim the competition’s honor, each inspecting their weapons beneath it.
Lucius was among them.
‘Isn’t it warm?’
Celia, who had endured a long forced convalescence and was venturing out for the first time in ages, watched Lucius communing with his horse.
“Quite right.”
After stroking his horse’s muzzle, he was now fastening the buckles of his leather gloves one by one, checking his readiness.
The thin fabric of his coat only accentuated his broad shoulders and tapered waist.
And his muscular thighs and the smooth line of his arms were apparently not lost on certain other observers in the crowd.
“Oh, if I could only be held in those arms once.”
“If I could rest against those arms, I would think my life’s every wish had been granted.”
Beneath the shade cast by her parasol, Celia’s eyes snapped open, sharp as flint.
She could not fathom the yearning sighs of these flushed-cheeked noblewomen.
‘What on earth are they saying?’
It made no sense to her—speaking such things to a married man without hesitation.
The risk was obvious, the likelihood of success negligible, and the gain utterly worthless. Why engage in such foolishness?
‘Do they love Lucius so much that none of it matters?’
She rested her chin on her clasped hands and studied Lucius intently.
Just then, having finished his final weapon check, Lucius lifted his head and surveyed his surroundings.
Sunlight splintered across his golden hair, and his green eyes moved with that cool, measured focus.
‘Is he really… that handsome?’
Lucius stilled the moment he spotted her.
The noblewomen who had been sighing in front of him swallowed their worthless words in haste the instant his gaze turned toward this corner.
“Celia.”
His expression transformed in a heartbeat. A smile bloomed slowly across his face, so gentle it seemed almost miraculous to witness.
Lucius walked straight toward her.
As he drew near, the clamor around them fell silent, as though it had never existed.
“Made you wait.”
He swept the parasol—slightly shorter than his own height—aside with the back of his hand and stepped naturally into the shade.
“Preparations took longer than I thought.”
When the shade received him, somehow the whole world seemed to glow brighter.
“You weren’t bored?”
Celia glanced up at him briefly.
When her gaze rose to meet his, Lucius bent at the waist to match her line of sight.
“Mm?”
“…Not particularly bored, I—ugh.”
Unable to admit she had been watching him, Celia began to rise, only to brush against her teacup.
The cooled black tea splashed lightly onto the back of her hand.
Lucius made a soft sound and reached back. Taking an extra pair of women’s gloves from the approaching attendant, he spoke.
“Let’s change your gloves.”
Lucius served her without the slightest difficulty.
So accustomed to his attentions had she become that Celia now accepted such gestures naturally.
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“It’s fine.”
But something else was bothering her more.
‘A leaf.’
A single green leaf trembled between his golden strands, swept back to bare his brow.
“Hm? What is it?”
Rather than answer, she reached up.
Rising on her toes and lifting her arm, Lucius blinked for a moment, then quickly bent forward to meet her.
Soft hair slipped through her fingers as the leaf fell away.
“Thank you.”
At his tender murmur, Celia brushed her hand light, feigning indifference.
She recognized the gesture as perhaps overly kind, but she quickly rationalized it away.
‘Well… this much is…’
Hardly unusual, was it?
Merely a matter of consideration and propriety.
“But can you manage the hunting?”
“I practiced a few times with the subordinates. It shouldn’t be very difficult.”
Once she set aside her resistance and accepted Lucius, he no longer unnerved her.
In fact, quite the opposite…
“I should try to make a good showing today.”
“Do you need to?”
“A husband who comes home with not even a single rabbit—well, that would be rather awkward, wouldn’t it?”
An unnamed emotion drifted through her chest.
That nameless thing crept over her quietly, yet with relentless persistence.
“…If you bring back game, I won’t refuse.”
Perhaps it was from his persistent efforts during the weeks she had spent confined to her room under the guise of rest.
Lucius beamed at her answer.
Naturally, the stares from those watching them grew sharp. Far more nobles were present than at the last banquet.
Lucius, heedless of the shocked and astonished gazes, kept his eyes fixed on her and continued speaking.
“Celia, once the hunting ends this afternoon, this evening—”
“Sister!”
At that moment, a rough force crashed into him from behind.
His shoulder was seized, his body shoved hard to the side, and the impact reverberated through his bones.
Lucius lost his balance and instinctively reached out. In the moment he moved to seize his attacker’s wrist and subdue him—
He stopped.
“…”
Lucius’s brow furrowed slightly.
Before him stood a man regarding him with contempt—Evandor, bearing such a striking resemblance to Celia that she was identifiable even had he lost his memory.
Even with his memories gone, Evandor’s appearance was unmistakable.
Evandor swept his gaze over the now-rigid Lucius, let out a scornful laugh, then turned his face directly toward Celia.
“Sister. Come outside a moment. We need to talk.”
Celia, who had not noticed her eyes drifting toward Lucius, turned to face him.
The unexpected interruption drew a clipped edge to her voice.
“What is it?”
“There’s something we need to discuss.”
“I’m busy.”
“Don’t be like that. There’s still time before we start. Don’t be so cold about it.”
Evandor pressed on relentlessly, as though he knew no such thing as giving up.
Had it concerned their father, he would have said so already. Since it hadn’t, she saw no reason to indulge him. Unwilling to become further entangled in pointless matters, Celia was about to refuse once more when—
She caught sight of a group of noblewomen laughing in the distance.
And at the center of that group stood, impossibly—Diana.
“…What?”
What was she doing there?
Celia froze like a statue, and Evandor naturally settled his hands onto her shoulders, leaning close to her ear.
Pressed fully against her back, Evandor narrowed his eyes and whispered as though it were obvious, while Lucius watched in silence.
Evandor drew up his lips in a smile, savoring Lucius’s gaze.
“Now do you feel like talking to me?”
Celia’s pupils turned cold and hard.
She gritted her teeth and spoke.
“Explain. From beginning to end. Everything.”
***
Celia stepped into a forest some distance away with Evandor.
He explained with cynical amusement, treading on dry branches.
“Father summoned Diana. Since you’re making no progress despite the time given to you.”
“…So he’s actually going through with that plan to use Diana to seduce Lucius after all.”
Celia swept her neatly braided hair aside roughly, uncaring. Her furrowed brow laid bare her irritation.
Watching her from above, Evandor’s fists clenched tight.
“You’re going to let her run wild like that?”
Frustrated, he unfastened the button at his neck, loosening it as he spoke.
“I have to watch that bastard girl prance around the house because you can’t do your job properly?”
His voice held an edge of irritation.
Normally she would have snapped back immediately, but now she chose her words carefully.
“It wasn’t that I wouldn’t. I was simply being cautious.”
There had been the matter of Dunlow Hollow, and besides, Lucius had come to visit her room every day. Celia swallowed those explanations.
“From now on, I’ll look into those things Father wanted. Tell him that.”
Evandor threw his head back and laughed sharply.
“As if. Sister, isn’t your excuse running a bit long?”
“It’s not an excuse—”
“Never mind.”
He cut her off coldly.
“Get your head straight now and do this properly. Understand how precarious things are.”
Evandor tilted his head at an angle. His sharp gaze swept across her like a warning.
“Shall I paint you a picture of the future if Diana succeeds?”
Celia stepped back, but Evandor immediately closed the distance.
“Brickwell’s only daughter’s position—the seat of Windmere’s Young Duchess—both will slip away to Diana.”
His cutting words jolted her from her complacency.
As she imagined the bleak future that poured from his mouth, her insides twisted.
Celia’s eyelids trembled faintly.
Rare disturbance flickered across her eyes.
“I don’t wish to see my precious sister in such a position.”
Having done nothing but lash out until now, Evandor hesitated at last, then added in a voice feigning affection.
“Don’t forget what matters.”
He attempted a belated smile, but it came far too late.
Neither he nor she could turn back the sinking mood that had settled between them.

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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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