My Ex-Husband Came Back Crazy - Chapter 43

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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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Chapter 43
Chapter 4. A Lull (10)
“It’s been a long time, Lucius.”
Lucius smiled faintly at Rowald’s greeting from across the table.
Rowald tilted his teacup repeatedly as if uncertain, though he showed no sign of genuine discomfort—merely fishing for conversation to gauge how he ought to conduct himself.
“Is it strange to call you that? Hmm… Minor Duke of Windmere? Your Highness?”
“Feel free to call me whatever is comfortable.”
“Ha, sorry. This isn’t as easy as I thought.”
The unexpected visitor was none other than Rowald.
Toward this “past connection” with whom he had recently become acquainted, Lucius maintained a gentle demeanor. Only then did Rowald breathe a sigh of relief.
“I still can’t believe you’re the Minor Duke of Windmere.”
Lucius sat with his back to the study windows.
The low afternoon light couldn’t penetrate deeply into the structure, lending the already antiquated room a settled quietness. Seated amid this atmosphere, Lucius tilted his teacup with unwavering composure, and to Rowald he seemed like a person from an entirely different world—one he couldn’t easily relax around.
Meanwhile, Lucius had already made his assessment. He couldn’t let it slip that he’d lost his memory, so he planned to end this meeting with adequate courtesy and minimal conversation.
“Is the tea to your taste?”
“Of course! So you remembered my preferences?”
“…Well, naturally. Thank you for accepting such a sudden invitation, Rowald.”
“The thanks are all mine. You had me called up when I mentioned being in the Capital—I came to find you since there was no other way to reach you… I’m relieved you were home. I nearly embarrassed myself; I was about to be regarded with suspicious eyes as someone who might not even be your real friend.”
He poured fresh tea into the cup Rowald had emptied, his manner courteous.
Originally, he was a man toward whom one couldn’t dare cast even a careless glance. Yet Lucius treated Rowald with the same regard he had shown before revealing his station.
It suggested that the ease with which he had once mingled without pretense among those far beneath his rank was no affectation.
‘I couldn’t sleep properly for days after finding out.’
Rowald recalled that day. Then, belatedly, he asked about Celia’s well-being.
“Your lady at the time… or rather, your wife—was she all right?”
“Fortunately, yes. She seemed a bit startled, but being the strong woman she is, she acts as though she’s completely forgotten that whole affair. Though I confess, I’m still frightened when she goes out at night.”
His tone was impossible to read as either jest or earnest.
Unable to judge whether to continue the subject, Rowald reached into his pocket and drew out a cigar.
Cigars were practically a mandatory accomplishment among the upper nobility. But Lucius held no preference for them, so naturally the study contained no cigar cutter or ashtray.
“Oh, I’m afraid I haven’t prepared anything for that. Let me have someone bring you what you need.”
“No, never mind. You didn’t call me here just for idle talk anyway. May I ask what this is about?”
His smile deepened.
To avoid revealing that he’d been waiting for precisely this question, Lucius spoke with measured deliberation.
“There’s something I wanted to ask of you.”
“There’s nothing difficult between us. As long as it’s not an unreasonable request, go ahead and tell me.”
Rowald trusted his friend Lucius.
“Say what you need.”
Lucius felt sorry for Rowald, yet he intended to turn this relationship to his advantage.
Using a person as a means was no simple matter, but he steeled himself against the guilt and opened his mouth.
Greater guilt would follow in the requests to come, after all.
“I wonder if you might investigate someone for me.”
“Someone?”
“Yes.”
After deciding not to pursue his lost memories, Lucius had instead become more aggressive in examining the actions of his former self. To fill the gaps in his recollection.
Through this process, he had happened upon learning of Rowald.
“It may be an imposition, but it shouldn’t be difficult for you.”
His family was a typical rural gentry house.
Orchards and farmland passed down through generations, several warehouses along the riverbank. They produced apples and fruit liquor, distributed them to nearby cities, and maintained a reputation for sound stewardship in regional security and parish management.
Yet their influence was disproportionately strong for their standing, and through this, Lucius had come to know their secret.
“Hmm… I suppose you’re about to tell me this isn’t exactly a legal matter?”
Their farmland along the river held control of a transport route’s entry point, and occasionally cargo passing through bore suspicious origins mixed among legitimate goods.
In short, they were involved in smuggling.
Yet Lucius turned a blind eye to the matter.
Through it, Rowald had built a network connecting customs officials, transporters, minor bureaucrats, and… back-alley merchants.
Lucius needed that vast network now.
“In the South, the Marquess Larendel Family has a young noblewoman named Chloe.”
Lucius’s voice continued quietly.
Rowald, who had been chewing the end of his unlit cigar, focused on his words.
“Could you conduct an investigation into this young lady’s background?”
Lucius made his request in a measured tone.
If he asked his family, records would be kept. Moreover, the results would inevitably pass through multiple hands. He wanted to avoid that.
Rowald scratched his temple with a bent finger.
“It’s startling, I admit, but not difficult. With enough money, I know men who could tell you how many roses bloom in her family’s courtyard.”
Lucius readily produced the money he’d prepared.
Rowald, loosening the knot, caught sight of the contents and sucked in a breath of disbelief.
“With this much, I really will have to bring back the rose count.”
Rowald accepted his request without further hesitation.
Based on the business from the “estate” matter, he’d suspected as much, but it seemed Lucius and Rowald had conducted transactions like this before.
“But I can ask why, can’t I?”
“There’s something I need to settle with certainty.”
At Lucius’s vague answer, Rowald pressed no further.
He wanted to discreetly and thoroughly assess anything relating to the Young Noblewoman of the Marquess Larendel Family, then deal with it accordingly.
So thoroughly that Celia would never have reason to be hurt by it.
***
“Hmm…”
Black tea with thinly sliced lemon was, regrettably, one of Celia’s tastes that didn’t quite suit him.
Even after afternoon tea time had ended and he’d stepped out for a brief while, the sharp, heavy flavor lingered on his tongue.
“Your Highness, the next workshop is quite a distance away—shall we take horses?”
“How long would it take on foot?”
He withdrew his hand from his mouth and asked.
Recently, whenever time permitted, Lucius had been visiting the Capital’s renowned workshops. He was making preparations for the custom ring he and Celia had commissioned.
“A good half hour to reach it, sir.”
“The streets are too narrow and crowded for riding. I think walking would be better.”
“As you wish, sir.”
The weather was fine.
Lucius resumed his pace.
His purposeful steps felt light and brisk.
In truth, his mood had been good of late. The things he desired were being fulfilled one by one—what reason could he have for unhappiness?
‘Perhaps I could proceed with whatever the original Lucius was working on, and use that as pretext to move my residence closer to the Capital.’
Just then, a breeze swept down the street.
As the light summer wind brushed past the leaves and wove through the crowds, a small commotion followed in its wake. A young noblewoman’s hat was lifted into the air.
The brim tumbled, losing its way in the void, spinning before sailing far. He noticed the hat and easily reached out his hand.
The flying hat wavered in midair before settling obediently into his grasp.
The hat was promptly returned to its owner.
“Thank you.”
“It was nothing.”
With brief courtesies exchanged, the street found its rhythm once more.
Lucius turned and resumed the walk he’d paused.
***
The woman who received the hat remained rooted to the spot.
The wind passed again, and her lovely golden hair stirred gently.
The woman, cradling the hat Lucius had recovered against her chest, finally showed movement some time later. She tilted her head slowly.
Across her emotionless face, only bewilderment—born from an incomprehensible moment—bloomed with clarity.
“That’s strange…?”
It was a quiet murmur to herself.
“How could he not recognize me?”
Chloe quietly etched the image of Lucius’s retreating figure into her memory.

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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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