My Ex-Husband Came Back Crazy - Chapter 79

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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 79
Chapter 8. Unraveling (9)
The night had grown late.
Lucius moved with deliberate slowness.
The moment he emerged from the basement door—one that had long served as mere decoration—a acrid, caustic odor assaulted his nostrils, drawing the faintest furrow to his brow.
Beyond the cigar smoke, a familiar face appeared.
Rowald Hawthorne.
“Lu.”
Rowald leaned against the stone wall at an angle, cigar smoldering between his fingers. Smoke curled from its glowing tip, blurring the moonlight above.
“All finished?”
Rowald lifted a hand casually.
Through the haze of smoke, his expression seemed satisfied. Lucius, having removed his gloves, nodded lightly.
“I’ll need you to handle the aftermath.”
“Easy enough. People will assume he’s gone into hiding, overwhelmed by scandal.”
“Thank you.”
Rowald shifted the cigar from his lips to the space between his fingers, letting out a soft laugh.
“Between us, it’s nothing.”
He stepped closer to Lucius, tilting his head with a more relaxed expression.
“But are you all right?”
He knew what the question meant.
What had transpired in the basement just moments ago was undoubtedly not an easy affair—one that ran counter to his nature. And yet Lucius found himself oddly unmoved.
Perhaps something in him had broken along with something else.
“He tried to steal my wife’s undergarments and even bribed a servant to help. There is no mercy due to such a man.”
He was, in fact, pleased to have been able to do something for her.
Rowald shrugged and extended the cigar.
“Still, I doubt you’re feeling particularly pleased about it. Here—one of these helps clear a troubled mind better than anything.”
Lucius regarded the smoldering cigar for a moment, then declined with a silent shake of his head.
Rowald clicked his tongue at the pristine, almost fastidious way Lucius carried himself. It was clear he considered the blood on Lucius’s gloves merely an accessory.
“My mind is indeed complicated, but Celia dislikes the smell.”
“These days even the ladies claim it’s all respectable. They say there’s no harm in following what everyone else does once in a while. Will I be arrested for treason if I say that?”
“No.”
“I know.”
Rowald tossed out a frivolous jest and chuckled.
Lucius cast his gaze into the darkness of the night. Rowald drew the smoke in deeply, released it in a thin stream, and studied Lucius’s profile.
Beneath the shadow cast by thick lashes, his eyes were almost unnaturally clear—stripped of emotion. Well, having just caught a man who did nothing but stalk his own wife, it would be strange for anyone short of a saint to be in a foul mood.
“So. It seems catching that sniveling wretch wasn’t the only reason you called me. What else is there?”
……
Lucius cleaned his hands with a handkerchief as he spoke.
“The woman I asked you to investigate before. Do you remember?”
“Chloe Larendel?”
He nodded.
“I want to commission an additional investigation into her.”
Rowald pushed himself off from the wall. The cold stone slipped away from his back. He lifted the eyelids he’d been keeping lowered.
“I thought I already sent you everything available last time. The fact that you’re requesting further investigation suggests you found something lacking?”
“The previous information was limited to domestic sources only. If possible, I’d like you to investigate the Larendel marquis’s daughter in relation to foreign matters—particularly the Kingdom of Sonata.”
“I can try. It’ll cost more than last time, but it shouldn’t take long. Though I’m curious—what raised a red flag about Sonata?”
Lucius tilted his head back, gazing into the darkness of the night sky. His emotionless eyes gleamed with cold clarity.
“Large sums of money have been leaving the young lady’s accounts on a regular basis—to Sonata. But there’s no trace of her purchasing anything.”
“In cases like that, they’re usually involved in something illegal. All right, I’ll look into it.”
When Lucius turned around, Cabel, who had been standing quietly, approached.
Rowald accepted the money from his servant’s hands and couldn’t help but click his tongue. It was excellent in every way, but the sum Lucius pressed upon him was so substantial it felt like the consequences of failure would be dire.
“This is too much.”
“That includes payment for your silence. Make sure word of today’s business doesn’t reach Celia’s ears.”
Rowald glanced back toward the basement mansion, from which no further sound now emanated.
“If I were loose-lipped, I wouldn’t have made it this far. Don’t worry. But… you really do care for your wife.”
Lucius met Rowald’s gaze.
In that same instant, the sharp edge vanished from his expression, replaced by a brilliant smile at his lips.
“That’s hardly a new question.”
“Was it difficult to answer?”
“No. It’s a question that requires no answer at all.”
He exhaled softly.
“How could I not love her?”
Where memory had shattered into fragments and disappeared, what remained was not rational judgment but something closer to instinct—an irresistible thirst.
Peculiar tranquility. Familiar warmth.
The satisfaction of obtaining what he desired was an inescapable pull.
Rowald let out a hollow laugh.
“Well, I don’t care what you’re like. Just pray she never finds out.”
He added the words in deliberately casual jest.
“Women usually want a tender prince who will give them everything, but when that love becomes too thick and heavy, they grow afraid.”
“There’s nothing to find out.”
He turned his tilted head to look back at Rowald.
The words “What?” had started to form on his lips before they scattered in flight. The eyes of Lucius, murmuring so calmly, widened, and the shadows reflected within them stirred as if alive.
“To Celia, I am a gentle and tender husband.”
Ash fell from Rowald’s shoe at the conviction in his words.
Lucius smiled boldly. In the same motion, he took the cigar from Rowald’s hand and pinched out its ember.
“Hm.”
To bring this affair to its most perfect conclusion, Lucius dangled the extinguished cigar before Rowald like bait.
“Rowald. I’ve taken on an important task that I wanted to discuss with you.”
It was a signal of sorts.
Rowald, familiar with such moments, opened his mouth at once.
“The Albion Bridge construction?”
“You knew.”
“Of course. Everyone’s been talking about what glory House of Windmere will enjoy once that bridge is properly completed.”
“I’m going to offer you a position of responsibility on the project. Not only will you break into aristocratic society, but you’ll also have my name backing you.”
He was a man who understood value.
Rowald’s throat tightened. He had already received help from many quarters even before learning Lucius’s real name.
He finally let out a whistle as he weighed the significance of the offer.
“Information on Chloe Larendel—I’ll bring it as quickly as I can. Of course, without your wife knowing.”
***
Celia felt refreshed now that Fahrenheit was gone.
‘I should have kicked him out sooner.’
Since the Night of Revelation, Fahrenheit had vanished. If he had lingered about or ignored her warnings, Celia had planned to mobilize even the Brickwell Secret Knight Order. So his departure was fortunate.
‘At least he has some shame.’
Celia draped herself over the sofa’s back, shoulders in reverse, one leg splayed carelessly across an armrest.
Had Anne been present, she would have gasped. But Celia’s most favored lady’s maid was nowhere to be found.
Celia shifted, searching for a more comfortable position.
“Ah. It’ll be lunchtime soon.”
Having spent the entire day like this, she felt a little hungry.
Yet instead of fetching food, she lay there smacking her lips, absently gazing at the ornate frescoes adorning the ceiling.
Watching dust particles glimmer in the sunlight, she found her thoughts turning to Lucius.
“……Golden.”
Since when had it become natural to recall his blonde head whenever she caught the warm glow of sunlight?
She no longer checked the calendar each morning. She no longer took joy at fading flowers as markers of passing years, nor did she anticipate seasonal change by observing the barren trees.
‘Perhaps I should be the one to bring out Lucius’s Divorce Documents.’
Nearly half a year had passed since he lost his memory.
Lucius still hadn’t grasped even a thread of recollection, and Celia had come to regard the strange days as perfectly ordinary.
‘If Lucius truly never regains his memory……’
And if she doesn’t bring the hidden Divorce Documents out into the world.
What becomes of them?
“We’d just… continue living together?”
As if we were truly husband and wife?
The thought suddenly spilling forth made Celia tilt her head back.
Clear light streamed in through the window. Sunlight that lifted her spirits. Not even the sparse, withering leaves outside could dampen her strange anticipation.
Yes. What could she hide now, at this point?
Celia felt joy whenever he revealed his heart—each time he approached without hesitation, gazing at her with quiet pleading.
A feeling of possessing all of Lucius Windmere.
“…Enough. There’s still time. I’ll stop worrying about such annoying things.”
She nuzzled her face into the plush cushions and began flipping through the stack of invitation cards, though she shot upright just seconds later.
“Anne.”
Anne, who had just entered the room, responded at once.
“Yes, madam.”
“Isn’t the Foundation Day Festival coming up soon?”
“Yes, it is… Oh!!”
“How could we have forgotten this?!”
Celia and Anne stared at each other with ashen faces.
“I’ll contact His Grace at once.”
“……And the dressmaker, too.”
The most resplendent and magnificent event of the entire year.
The Foundation Day Festival had arrived at their doorstep.

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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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