My Ex-Husband Came Back Crazy - Chapter 75

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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 75
Chapter 8. Awakening (5)
Around the time news of Evandor and Chloe’s engagement swept through society like a tempest.
Celia found herself burdened with an entirely different problem not long after.
‘What infuriating business is this now.’
At first, it seemed trivial enough.
A mysterious bouquet had simply been delivered to her—nothing more. Since she received gifts so frequently that she’d grown tired of them, she dismissed the flowers as a mere gesture of goodwill or courtesy and thought little of it.
But when the bouquets arrived daily, she could no longer overlook the matter so easily.
And that was only the beginning.
Strange incidents had begun occurring during her rare ventures outside.
At a shop where she’d stopped to dine, someone had already paid the bill; when she returned from her walk, she found confections suited to her tastes arranged on the bench where she’d sat. One day, a generous armful of pristine, hardy lilies lay at the corner of her usual path, and on another, the handkerchief she hadn’t even known she’d lost hung from the carriage door handle.
By then, Celia had no choice but to admit the truth.
‘Some strange man seems to have attached himself to me.’
And as she fumed, yet another bouquet arrived without fail that very day.
“They’ve come again, my lady.”
Anne presented the flowers with a weary sigh.
“What does the note say this time?”
“There doesn’t appear to be a card or letter enclosed.”
The flowers in Anne’s hands were excessively lush, and equally meticulous in their arrangement. In a word, they reflected Celia’s taste precisely. That was what truly infuriated her.
“Who on earth is this bastard…!”
She shot up from the sofa and snatched the bouquet. Without hesitation, she hurled it against the far wall.
Crash! The flowers struck the wall and burst apart in a spray of petals.
Stems and ribbons scattered separately, and something small rolled out from among the fractured blooms.
“…?”
Celia’s eyebrow twitched as she stepped closer.
It was a small earring.
To be precise, the very earring she’d deliberated over purchasing before and ultimately declined to buy. When Celia’s head whipped around, the guards standing at the doorway flinched.
“Do you still not know who’s behind this?”
“I apologize…”
“If you could give us just a bit more time, we shall certainly apprehend the culprit.”
Whoever it was, they were extraordinarily meticulous.
The person clearly lurked about her surroundings and left traces, yet her capable knights hadn’t managed to catch even a whisper of their identity. The same held true for the bouquets—each day they came from a different florist, apparently ordered by an ordinary-looking maid.
“These petty annoyances are wearing thin.”
Celia nudged the earring lying on the floor with her toe. The sight of the expensive jewel disgusted her as much as an insect would.
Anne hadn’t the audacity to contradict her mistress’s fury. Instead, after hesitating for some time, she finally spoke.
“My lady.”
Anne offered a suggestion haltingly.
“Perhaps the Young Duke might assist us if—”
Yet proposals made on her behalf did not always yield favorable responses.
“Absolutely not.”
If Lucius found out, he would certainly insist on handling it himself.
Of course, he would likely identify the culprit far more easily than she could manage alone. But the odds that she would be satisfied with his methods were very slim indeed.
‘The fool’s softer than the face he shows me. It would be too predictable.’
So it was out of the question.
Whoever had set their sights on her would be caught by her own hands. And she would make sure they could never function as a human being again. Celia showed mercy to no one, regardless of whom they were.
To this end, she had warned her servants once more.
“As I’ve said before, you must take care that this business never reaches Lucius’s ears.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“We shall ensure no such thing occurs.”
Still, curiosity was unavoidable.
She briefly imagined what reaction Lucius might have if she told him, ‘It seems I’m being stalked by some mysterious man.’ Just the thought made her shake her head.
“Burn those flowers.”
But her efforts proved futile—the story reached Lucius’s ears regardless.
For in any noble household, ears dwelled in curtains and stair corners alike, even in the silver trays carried by servants. And such tales, oddly enough, found their way to their masters with remarkable diligence.
In the end, upon hearing the report, Lucius set down the glass he’d been holding.
***
The study was silent.
Outside the window, darkness had already fallen, and only a late lantern glowed softly upon the desk. Lucius rested his hand upon the open documents as he listened to the report.
“The results of the investigation you previously requested from Rowald regarding the Marquess Larrendel’s daughter, Chloe, have come in.”
Kavel set down the sealed folder with care.
Lucius opened the seal without a word. His hand turned the pages deliberately, but his gaze was sharper than ever.
“…….”
Kavel held his breath silently until Lucius turned the final page.
Lucius was not a man who aired private matters.
Even Kavel, who had stood by his side since childhood, knew almost nothing of his romantic entanglements. So he could only hope that what was written on these pages would prove one thing: that there was nothing between Chloe Larrendel and Lucius Windmere.
‘Honestly, more than that mad woman… at least Celia Brickwell—’
Kavel caught himself mid-thought and inwardly blanched.
Good heavens! Have I, too, fallen under her spell—the woman who turns docile at the mere sight of the Young Duke?
It was then that Lucius spoke.
“I had suspected that I shared some relationship with Chloe.”
He had suspected they were lovers. There was precedent—rumors circulated if one dug into past records, and witness accounts were plentiful. There were even records of him meeting with her regularly before his marriage.
But there was an inconsistency.
“However, the timeline didn’t align.”
To avoid letting his lost memories be discovered, Lucius had scrutinized his own past records obsessively.
And from that effort came a single revelation.
On the day he and Chloe were supposedly to have met, he was in an entirely different region.
In short, the rumors of their romantic involvement were likely false. And now, on this document, lay the source of that falsehood.
“The rumors appear to have been spread through the lady herself, her close servants, her attendants, and merchants who dealt with the Larrendel Family.”
Kavel quickly scanned the papers Lucius handed him and summarized the contents. Midway through, his eyes halted.
“And… the newspaper that slandered Celia was the same publication that had been amplifying rumors about you and the Marquess’s daughter.”
“…….”
Lucius pressed his temple.
What was he to do now?
What was the paragon of gentlemen, ‘Lucius Windmere,’ to do?
“And, Your Grace.”
Kavel hesitated briefly before presenting another pending report.
“Regarding the investigation you had commissioned before. On the day of Marquess Wexley’s wife’s wine party, the person who put something in the Young Lady’s drink has been identified.”
His eyes, which had been like a cool forest, became frost-white, sending a chill through Kavel.
“Who?”
“Lord Farenheit.”
“…….”
“And based on his recent movements, he appears to be secretly following the Young Lady.”
A brief, chilling silence descended.
The lantern flame danced and flickered. Kavel could not bring himself to meet Lucius’s gaze and lowered his eyes. Yet he caught, as if in passing, the sight of his master’s reflection in the window—and it was disturbingly still.
That stillness was different from calm.
Lucius rolled his tongue once as the weight of circumstance pressed down upon him all at once.
Chloe, and now Farenheit.
He decided to address the one who had presumed to cross the line first.
“Celia, for all her appearance, has a weak heart.”
Kavel’s gaze quietly rose.
Lucius folded the documents and set them alight. The crimson flames cast a scarlet glow across his eyes.
“Leak the information to Celia. Once she learns that her stalker is Farenheit, she’ll find her own way to resolve it.”
The document’s edges curled black as the fire consumed it, and it collapsed in an instant.
“In the meantime, we shall attend to other matters.”
The flame swallowed the final sentence as the paper crumbled to ash.
“Kavel. By tomorrow, bring me every recent transaction of the Farenheit Family—every one. Proxy names, relatives, promissory notes left at gambling houses, all of it. And any connections to the Marquess Larrendel household.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And one more thing.”
Lucius tapped the edge of a silver plate lightly with his finger.
“The cellar beneath the manor. It’s been unused so long it’s become worthless.”
Kavel’s eyelids closed slowly, then opened. Lucius spoke the final words in a dry tone, his gaze still fixed upon the ash that had been paper.
“Have it cleaned out.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”

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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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