My Ex-Husband Came Back Crazy - Chapter 39

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

Episode 39
Chapter 4. Omens (6)
The Hunting Competition drew to a brilliant close.
The Crown of Glory, placed upon her head by the Emperor himself, went to Celia.
It was because Lucius and Evandor had presented their quarry to her.
The matter entangling Diana dispersed without ever becoming a scandal, and so the long-awaited Hunting Competition ended. Yet Celia and Lucius could not leave the Capital at once.
Word had come from the Empress that she wished them to attend a Fundraiser Event to be held in the near future, and Lucius seized upon the opportunity to make Celia a proposal.
“Belmonte Street?”
“A new shop opened there recently. How about we stop by for a moment?”
Lucius, who had arrived with breakfast as he did every morning for the lazily waking Celia, produced words he had prepared in advance.
Celia, who had taken only the tiniest bite from the end of a piece of bread, rolled her eyes.
‘How tedious……’
When she, who held no great interest in dull shopping, delayed her response, Lucius approached her with cunning intent.
“We ought to start preparing autumn clothes soon. They say there are many new jewels on display, so a visit to the jeweler would be enjoyable.”
“…….”
“If you’d like, we could also go to the opera or gardens, as we did before, wouldn’t we?”
Celia’s inclination began to shift.
‘He’s right—I do need new clothes. And jewels… fashions are already changing, after all.’
Not realizing that everything was merely a pretext for giving her answer of “very well,” Celia nudged his foot with the tip of her own.
“If there’s a necklace I found decent and you’d buy it for me……”
Lucius’s lips curved up in a gentle arc.
***
Belmonte Street fell into a stir.
In the afternoon, as the sun sliced obliquely across the street.
Various shops where nobles of high rank walked with their entourages. A single carriage rolled onto the street where those shops stood.
Those who turned to wonder what it was recognized the crest of Windmere and looked away, while the shopkeepers, as if they had been waiting, began to bring forth their finest wares and display them.
“Today there’s a high probability she’s coming to the jeweler!”
“The Lady hasn’t had any new accessories made recently, after all.”
Many nobles frequented this street, but those worthy of being called big spenders were few indeed.
Among them, there was not a merchant who did not welcome Celia and Lucius—for whenever they came, sales would rise steeply.
“So then, who do you think is riding in the carriage today?”
The shop attendants exchanged glances and speculated.
When the single carriage came to a halt.
Those who had been tense wondering whether it would be the Lord or the Lady suddenly widened their eyes, their pupils trembling with surprise.
Lucius Windmere descended first, leisurely extending his hand back toward the carriage.
A moment later, a slender and elegant hand emerged from within and grasped his. Snow-white hair rippled as Celia revealed herself.
While merchants for whom no rumor had yet reached stood frozen at this sight beyond their wildest expectations, Celia, holding Lucius’s hand, stepped lightly to the ground and with a light gesture pointed toward somewhere.
It was the jeweler.
***
Cold sweat beaded on Madam Adora’s brow.
Right beside Celia, who glanced nonchalantly at rare jewels as though they were gravel, Lucius was recommending this and that.
“Don’t you think this Sapphire would suit your eyes?”
“This is lovely too. The nobility of the Pearl is a symbol of an unchanging beauty.”
“Celia, look at the Ruby here. It would suit your snow-white hair beautifully.”
Having received these unexpected customers, Adora came to her senses at the sound of money flowing.
‘Bring out all the finest pieces!’
Her customer was that Lucius Windmere, known never to spare expense when he desired something.
With nimble fingers, she brought forth and arranged the most costly and exquisite jewels and ornaments.
“Ah, the necklace.”
Lucius showed interest in one of them.
“My Lord recognizes the true value of this necklace! This Diamond Necklace has a main stone cut in a ten-carat round, known for its exceptional brilliance. It is the very dream necklace that noble ladies long for!”
She answered with an affectionate smile, then gazed down at the necklace.
He made his decision swiftly.
The valuable Diamond Necklace, kept without a single flaw, revealed itself to the world at a mere gesture from Lucius.
It was as good as saying he would buy it.
“Celia, come here.”
Meanwhile, Celia, who was beginning to tire of the glittering jewels, dragged her feet toward him at his call. Adora discreetly withdrew.
“Why are you calling me?”
“Try putting this on for a moment.”
In Lucius’s hands, clad in black gloves, the diamond sparkled all the more brilliantly.
“The necklace I promised to buy you was already sold. Not quite a replacement, but I thought it would suit you well.”
He swept her hair gracefully to one side, caressed her slender neck, and fastened the necklace about it with earnest, slightly awkward movements.
“……Well, you picked something decent. You do know how to judge jewels?”
“To be honest, I’m not very good at it. Everything looks beautiful to my eyes. Even if there are flaws, even if the shape is somewhat distorted, the value those things hold seems unchanged.”
Pretty is pretty, and ugly is ugly.
At his profound answer, Celia fluttered her eyelashes.
“But if it’s possible, I prefer that those dear to me use precious things.”
Click.
“Aren’t you fortunate? That I possess the means to satisfy my wife.”
Lucius, having successfully fastened the necklace, withdrew his hand with satisfaction.
The cold jewel, accepting her choice, now gleamed with life. Across the gentle curve of her neck, the diamond trembled, casting fragments of white light.
Celia, feigning indifference, gazed at her reflection in the mirror.
“What would I be doing now if I weren’t the heir to Windmere?”
Madam Adora, who had just sold this necklace to Lucius, would be bathing in gold tonight, Celia was thinking, when the sudden question made her tilt her head.
“A farmer or a carpenter……or perhaps a hunter? I’m rather curious what I might have been doing.”
“That’s a strange supposition. Why imagine being born as someone else? There’s no productivity in it.”
“No productivity, you say? Yet here I am having conversations with you on diverse topics. Imagine me in another life, doing something else. It might be quite amusing. Something like me chopping wood all day long with an axe.”
At his vivid description, Celia’s mind already pictured Lucius in a carpenter’s garb, hammer and plane in hand.
That image was far more absurd than imagining the bald Emperor begging on the street in rags.
“You’d need to earn a lot of money. I can’t let you starve me, after all.”
He carelessly picked up another Brooch with a composed expression, murmuring idly.
It was then that Celia realized something remarkable. In his story, Celia was woven in so naturally.
She, with bowed head, watched the trembling necklace, but now only her eyes moved, stealing glances at Lucius.
“……I could work too.”
“What? Ha ha!”
He laughed heartily.
His furrowed brow eased smoothly, and his lips curved in a way that momentarily softened his features.
“What would you do?”
From that moment, Celia began to ponder an answer to this meaningless question.
Needlework was out of the question—she usually abandoned embroidery halfway through. And laundry, which she had no idea how to do, she didn’t even dare consider.
“……I’ll be a carpenter too.”
Her imagination was truly impoverished.
After laughing for a long while, Lucius brushed his cheek against Celia’s forehead.
“Why would you worry about such things when I’m here?”
The natural and familiar gesture gradually tamed her. His close body trembled as if wishing to share the emotion with her as well.
Along with the Diamond Necklace, Celia gained new knowledge for the first time: that meaningless conversation, too, held worth.
***
“Lady Celia.”
The footsteps of Celia and Lucius, who had been moving through the shops, came to a halt.
The one who had called them, emerging from a perfume workshop, was a man with kind, drooping eyes.
“Ah, well… hello. I never expected to meet you in a place like this. Have you come out to look at merchandise?”
Unlike Celia, who gave a light nod upon recognizing him, Lucius wore a subtle smile on his lips.
It was a face he had encountered once before.
Fahrenheit Lowendz.
One of the men who had been named as a Marriage Candidate for Celia.
“I happened to step out as I had some business to attend to.”
“Ah…… I see. I myself came out for an appointment.”
Lucius smiled softly and turned the question directed at Celia toward himself. Fahrenheit awkwardly cleared his throat and added to his words.
“I saw your performance at this Hunting Competition. The bear you brought back was truly impressive.”
“It was thanks to my subordinates who hunted alongside me.”
As the two men conversed, Celia, showing little interest, turned her gaze toward the direction from which Fahrenheit had come. The alley-connected path was unusually remote for a shopping district.
‘Is there a shop over there too?’
As Celia showed interest, Fahrenheit’s expression brightened, as if he had been watching for just such an opportunity.
“Have you never ventured down that path?”
“It’s not a common route. Are there shops there too?”
“There are indeed. Those in the know frequent them.”
With the sunset at his back, he spoke quietly on.
“Meeting like this by chance is surely fate. Wouldn’t the two of you care to visit as well?”
It was a gentle smile. The tone, the pace, the courtesy—all were beyond reproach. Yet somehow, his voice left a thin thorn lodged in Lucius’s ear.
“I assure you, you would be satisfied.”
A shadow crossed Fahrenheit’s face as his lips moved slowly.

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