My Ex-Husband Came Back Crazy - Chapter 87
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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 87
Chapter 9. Remnants (7)
Celia sat in the innermost corner of the Solay Salon.
Pale sunlight filtered through the glass windows and fell upon the floor like a faint stain.
‘Look at me—I actually came to this place willingly.’
A salon was the pinnacle of society. Naturally, it was a place quite removed from Celia’s world.
The velvet-wrapped chairs were excessively plush, and the gilded mirrors adorning the walls gleamed bright enough to hurt the eyes. But what bothered her most was the white lilies arranged in a vase on the table.
Their cloyingly sweet fragrance brushed against her nostrils without pause.
Everything about the space had been prepared to welcome its guests warmly, yet unfortunately, Celia could not enjoy such hospitality.
‘Perhaps it’s just my mood that’s foul.’
She lifted the teacup.
The black tea had already gone cold, feeling like icy water. Celia swallowed a mouthful to cool herself, then finally wrinkled her brow.
“Why do I have to come see that woman.”
The more she thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.
Chloe Larendel.
That name grated against the inside of her mouth.
As though she’d swallowed sand, her tongue felt rough, and now even her head throbbed with irritation.
…….
All because of a single woman like that.
“This is all Lucius’s fault.”
Had that man not entangled himself with Chloe in the past, there would have been no reason for her to take on such tedious business. A former lover, a Remarriage prospect. Now even her own brother’s betrothed—the more she thought about it, the messier the connections became.
Of course, her reason for summoning Chloe today was entirely practical.
‘The Remarriage matter.’
It was something she had to verify, at least once.
A verbal agreement was one thing.
But if documents remained, that changed everything. A signed contract, records concerning a betrothal, any of that sort—such things became troublesome embers later.
‘Since Lucius remembers nothing, I’ll have to handle it myself.’
And here she was, cleaning up after her husband’s past misdeeds.
At this point, wasn’t she acting like a true wife? The thought nearly made her laugh bitterly.
The salon door opened with a soft click.
Perfume wafted in first, followed by the graceful figure of Chloe Larendel, her golden hair cascading in lustrous waves.
“You arrived early.”
Chloe stood with the elegance of someone entering a grand ballroom, her smile radiant.
***
The interior of the Solay Salon fell quiet.
Outside, tables filled with the clink of teacups and soft laughter, but within their private space, only silence reigned.
That cold silence broke when Chloe spoke.
“Thank you for inviting me.”
She sat across from Celia without the slightest hesitation, as though this meeting had been arranged long ago, and smiled.
“Invite… invite, you say.”
With her chin resting in her hand, Celia murmured softly.
Even as she spoke, Chloe maintained that same gentle smile, watching her steadily.
Whatever Celia’s reaction, Chloe was always consistent.
It was unsettling. Chloe’s face only changed in Lucius’s presence.
“You called me because you wished to discuss further the words I shared that day, yes?”
As Celia sat lost in thought, Chloe began to produce something from her possessions.
“I’ve brought this as evidence to substantiate my words for you.”
Chloe laid a piece of paper before her, inviting her to look. But when Celia reached for it, Chloe shook her head—she mustn’t touch—so Celia’s eyes alone moved to examine it.
On the carefully pressed paper lay a contract of a familiar form.
“This is… surely not?”
The precise lines, the order of information, the arrangement of clauses.
It resembled something she’d seen before. From somewhere very close. From the Divorce Contract she herself had once held.
Yet there was one difference.
‘Remarriage.’
Celia’s document bore the word Divorce, but this paper held the word Remarriage.
“What?”
To be certain, she checked the characters one last time, and there was no denying it—Lucius’s handwriting.
“What in the—!”
That damnable bastard.
Curse Lucius Windmere to hell!
Not only did he seal a document to divorce her, but he also left behind a promise to remarry this woman?
Though she kept her eyes downcast and her breathing steady, her mind was already tearing itself apart in a dozen directions.
“Insane!”
He had seemed uncomfortable with this woman too!
Had they been so intimately acquainted that the moment he divorced her, he promised to remarry Chloe? Or was he simply so indifferent to the other party that he merely wished never to entangle himself with Celia again?
Or perhaps… had Lucius’s apparent dislike of Chloe merely been her own misunderstanding?
Were they lovers all along?
“Lady Celia.”
Having seized the advantage, Chloe called to her quietly.
“Please remain seated.”
“You sound as though you’re issuing an order.”
Though her tone was measured, Celia’s words carried an undertone of reproach, and Chloe’s smile deepened.
“Well, that’s because I possess a great many things, don’t I?”
Chloe tilted her head slightly, her manner seeming purely curious. Yet the emotion kindling in her eyes was far from innocent.
“This Remarriage contract.”
She lifted the paper lightly.
“If I were to share it with everyone, it would certainly be worth seeing.”
How was she supposed to handle this woman?
Each word Chloe spoke dragged across Celia’s nerves like a thin needle.
“I doubt it. Neither Windmere nor Brickwell would welcome such gossip. Could you really press on with the claim that the document is authentic? Suppressing that sort of scandal is nothing.”
Nothing, indeed.
It was all bluff.
The moment rumors of that sort escaped into the open, they spread faster than light. But Celia gambled on the assumption that Chloe would not wish to damage Lucius’s reputation.
“If you meddle rashly, you’ll only incur Lucius’s displeasure.”
Sure enough, Chloe hesitated, her eyes shifting.
“You’re right? It would be grave, certainly, but at this level it would merely be whispered about behind closed doors. A man momentarily blinded by an affair, betraying his wife—it might become mockery, but it hardly ranks as an affair weighty enough to upset the world.”
Only then did Celia exhale, however slightly.
Disagreeable, but within expectations.
So long as Chloe could not ruin Lucius entirely, there would be nothing to truly worry about. She was thinking just that when—
“But what of this?”
Chloe’s voice lowered. At that subtle shift, Celia’s fingertips stilled.
“That Lord Lucius has lost his memory.”
…….
All sound drained away from Celia’s surroundings. Instead, something heavy seemed to drop within her chest, clear and present.
“This does seem like it will become a rather serious problem.”
Damn it—curse Lucius Windmere!
Celia wanted nothing more than to crack that infernal skull again, if only to restore his memory for mere moments. She wanted to demand why he showed such weakness before that woman, why he left her to clean up after him.
“Have you finally found the will to hear what I’m saying?”
How she wanted to tear that bewitching mouth apart.
“Even if you were drawn to him, you know he isn’t the true Lord Lucius, don’t you?”
Chloe had not missed the hairline fracture in Celia’s composure. Like one who had identified an old wound precisely, she drove her words deeper.
“All of this is merely a brief theatrical act that will end the moment his memory returns.”
…….
“You know it as well. That when his memory returns, things will never be the same as before.”
So don’t cling too heavily to this, and simply do what you originally intended.
Divorce.
At those words that followed, Celia’s hands clenched into fists.
***
By the time she left the salon and headed back, dusk had settled into darkness.
Their conversation had gone in circles, and Chloe had interpreted Celia’s silence as a positive sign, taking pleasure in it.
Celia walked past her and stepped before the carriage. Just as she began to mount the footplate, someone approached cautiously.
“Madam Windmere, if you don’t mind, would it be acceptable for our young mistress to ride along with you?”
Chloe’s attendant stood with perspiration beading her brow, hands clasped before her.
When Celia’s brow furrowed, the woman gestured as if she’d been waiting for this, pointing to a carriage set aside in a corner.
“The wheel broke suddenly, and there are no other carriages nearby to hire in haste… if you could show us even a little mercy….”
A broken wheel at a moment like this.
“Lady Celia. I’d be much obliged if you’d consider my request as well.”
What a convenient coincidence.
Chloe brandished that cursed thing holding the Remarriage contract, making her plea. Yet what Celia noticed in that moment was something else.
‘That contract. It looks like there’s more on the back.’
Of course, she did not voice this observation.
Instead, she turned her head slowly. The light of dusk slid across those lustrous white locks. She flicked her hand to her attendants, telling them to take the rear carriage.
“Get in.”
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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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