My Husband Lives in a Painting - Chapter 33

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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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My Husband Lives in a Painting 033
In the moment my mind went white with panic, Camille’s voice echoed back to me.
“If you’re really scared, just stomp your foot and run. Don’t think about what comes after.”
I asked him back—yes, running might mean success, but what if it failed?
After brooding over it for days, Camille pressed a Pencil into my hand.
“Then draw pictures anywhere you need to with this. I’ll come get you.”
Pagoda’s hand settled on my shoulder with a weight that seemed to demand an answer.
I sidestepped his gaze and slipped my hand deep into my pocket.
‘Found it!’
A very small stick, completely hidden in my palm.
But the moment I gripped it, my racing heart settled with surprising calm.
“What, what are you trying to do?”
“Truth is, I hadn’t planned to show you this room today. I wanted to savor the tension between us a while longer.”
……
“But the more we talked, the more impatient I became. I was afraid someone else might steal you away, and I couldn’t bear that.”
His pupils gleamed.
“Beautiful and young, a widow no one will search for even if she vanishes—where else could I find a more perfect existence?”
Led by his hand, I passed gramophones scattered at my feet and moved toward the back corner, where a narrow doorway appeared so cramped I’d have to bend nearly double to pass through.
“Ah, forgive me. Just a moment. I don’t usually keep this locked…….”
Pagoda twisted the padlock hanging from the doorknob roughly, his grip on my arm tightening even further.
Meanwhile, my trapped arm began to turn pale as blood stopped flowing.
‘It hurts. But I can bear it.’
Under normal circumstances, my body would have gone rigid and I’d have fainted—it wouldn’t have been strange.
That I could maintain such composure was thanks to that small Pencil pressing into my palm.
Stunned by the peace I could hardly believe was real, I caught sight of a scrap of cloth protruding from the gap in the doorway.
A sky-blue dress with pale pink flowers drawn on it.
‘……Could it be?’
The instant my eyes fixed on that barely visible hem beyond Pagoda’s back, a dull collision sound struck my eardrums.
“Ugh!”
“Who—who are you?”
Thwack, thwack—!
The sound of fists landing rang out sharply. I flinched and turned around, then my eyes widened at the sight of a man standing tall amid fallen servants.
“……What, what is this?”
It was Claude.
His gleaming golden eyes turned toward me, and Pagoda made a choking sound.
“H-hiiek!”
Claude tossed aside the last servant he’d been holding and strode toward me.
“You…….”
His golden gaze, stopping inches from my face, raked over me from head to toe.
“H-how did you get all the way here…….”
“That’s not important,”
Claude’s brow furrowed viciously when he spotted Pagoda’s hand still gripping my arm.
Without hesitation, he struck Pagoda’s arm with a knife-hand strike.
“Ahhh!”
“I couldn’t understand why you’d crawl into a snake’s den alone, so I followed you.”
……
“Am I wrong about that?”
Claude seemed angry for reasons I couldn’t fathom.
Only after hearing him rebuke me did I understand the intention behind that raking gaze—he’d been trying to check for injuries.
He couldn’t possibly have known what plan I’d made or what insurance I’d brought, so his worry was inevitable.
“Claude, I—”
But my apology was cut off entirely by the furious voice that followed.
“So, you……. Claude Ortega?”
……
“I wasn’t sure when I saw your face at the Exhibition, but my instincts don’t lie!”
With his hand clenched into a reddened fist, Pagoda’s mouth twisted up.
“Looks like the role of house dog suits you just fine? Playing substitute husband to the Ortega lady and all. Doesn’t it?”
“……What?”
“But you should have some Common Decency! How dare you lay hands on my fish?!”
As crude and cutting accusations spilled out, Claude’s gaze shifted away.
Pagoda clearly knew he was at a disadvantage in a fight, yet the momentum of his rage at having bungled the job seemed to have stripped away his self-control.
Claude swept back the hair that fell across his forehead, his eyes glinting with savage light.
“You people… this is what I hate about your temperament.”
“What?”
“Listen here, Pagoda.”
He stepped between us, wedging himself between Pagoda and me, and looked down coolly at Pagoda as he spewed invective with enough venom to make one retch.
His gaze was glacial, the way one might regard an insect.
“So that perverted taste of yours is still intact, I see.”
“W-what did you just—?”
“Should’ve crushed both of them instead of just slapping your cheek back then. That way you wouldn’t be able to play a man at all, would you?”
“Y-you… you’re younger than me—!!”
The two of them wielded their words like blades, each cut sharper than the last, a pair who clearly knew one another well.
Meanwhile, my gaze—which had been fixed on Claude’s broad back filling my entire field of vision—suddenly drifted downward.
In that instant, a hem of cloth that had been protruding from the crack in the door vanished with a swift rustle.
As if someone inside had yanked it back.
“……!”
In that moment, without thinking, I grabbed Claude’s sleeve just as he was about to throw a punch at Pagoda.
“Claude.”
“Yes? We were just getting started.”
“Stop. This is hardly proper behavior in someone else’s home, is it?”
“……What did you say?”
“M-madam!”
Silence fell in an instant. Pagoda’s face bloomed with relief at this unexpected aid, while Claude’s gaze suggested I’d gone mad—both converging on me at once.
I deliberately turned away from Claude’s smoldering eyes and offered Pagoda a radiant smile.
“I am deeply sorry, Marquis Bouterrier. It seems the Acting Head of Household has misunderstood something. I’m not certain how he learned of our whereabouts, but we have committed a grave breach of etiquette, and I apologize sincerely.”
“C-cough… Yes. It was indeed a grave breach.”
“Since he is not yet accustomed to the discipline of Ortega, I humbly request your generous understanding. I assure you this matter will not be overlooked—we shall ensure proper instruction on this.”
“What exactly are you doing right now…….”
I reached out quietly toward Claude, who stood blocking the way as if to remonstrate, and pressed a finger to his lips.
His flaring momentum evaporated; he stared at the pale finger resting on his lips, his eyes widening in confusion.
“You asked to be included in the plan, didn’t you.”
“…….”
I sent him a signal with my eyes, then completed my farewell to Pagoda, who stood baffled and unable to comprehend the situation.
“Well then, we shall take our leave now.”
“Pardon? Surely you need only send him away—why would the lady have to go as well…….”
“I have not so little shame as to commit such a grave breach and simply depart. Besides, those injured persons will need treatment, won’t they?”
Ah. With but a single word from Pagoda, his gaze finally turned to the servants sprawled before the door.
He had clearly never considered that they might need his attention. Once I had gone, they would likely receive neither treatment nor mercy—only perhaps the whip.
‘I cannot help it. They too must pay for their crimes.’
From the way they’d tried to block my path, there was no doubt they were Pagoda’s accomplices.
I withdrew my cheap sympathy and gave Claude a nod. It was a signal to escape this place before Pagoda changed his mind.
I turned my back and made for the exit of the Appreciation Room when Claude, who had been following, suddenly stopped.
“Listen here, Pagoda Echirozza.”
And into that daze—that whirlwind of events that had consumed him mere minutes before—he cast cold water.
“Clean yourself up and live properly. Women won’t fancy you if you’re this filthy.”
“……What?”
“And be careful not to die young. You’ll never make it to heaven, so you’d better live long.”
“Y-you bastard!”
Leaving Pagoda seething in his belated rage, hopping with fury as heat rose in his face, Claude followed after me.

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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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