My Husband Lives in a Painting - Chapter 4

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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 Inside the Painting, Episode 4
“……What did you say?”
Clang—
The tangled thread unwound, and only then did I recognize the source of this familiarity that had gnawed at me from the start.
‘I’ve entered inside the painting.’
Yet reality still eluded me.
“It can’t be. Something so impossible couldn’t actually happen…….”
Over the back of my hand, as I murmured, Kamiyou’s large palm settled.
Drawn by that touch, I snapped to attention as if tumbling back into the waking world, and found his eyes—familiar yet tender—fixed entirely upon me.
“Your longing created a miracle.”
“A miracle?”
“Does it matter why? Regardless of the reason, I’m here now, alive before you.”
And then he gave me the words I most needed to hear.
“You. You are my savior.”
“……I’m your savior?”
“Yes.”
His voice filtered through my ears slowly, seeping deep into me.
“So don’t think about anything else. Just stay here and play with me.”
When I came to my senses moments later, he had already wrapped his arms around my shoulders from behind.
Just as I was about to sharpen my guard, his lips pressed close to my ear released a low whisper.
“Forget the outside world. Focus only on us.”
His sweet words made my head swim again.
“There’s still so much we haven’t tried together.”
“Ah…….”
Kamiyou rose from my seat and, still holding my hand, led me outside.
A vast Flower Field spread before us. A cool breeze scattered my hair, and Kamiyou’s back—his hand clasping mine as he led the way—filled my entire vision.
“You like flowers, don’t you?”
He suddenly turned to face me, his eyes crinkling with sweetness as he continued.
“In our own Greenhouse, we’ll be together for a lifetime.”
“Our own Greenhouse, together…….”
To someone who had never once imagined a future with another, those words were like sugar on my tongue.
No. There was no need to hesitate at all.
‘Who in the real world needs me, anyway?’
If not Kamiyou, then who?
Yes. There was no reason to go back.
‘I don’t need to think of anything else. I can just stay here as Kamiyou says.’
I followed him through the Flower Field. The landscape was so beautiful I couldn’t believe I had painted it.
“Much better than reality, isn’t it?”
“……Yes. It feels like a dream.”
“Enjoy it as much as you like. Everything here exists for you.”
Kamiyou approached with a radiant smile, as bright as a flower.
He plucked a small Wildflower and carefully tucked it into my hair.
“You’re beautiful.”
‘But……had he always spoken to me this way?’
“Come over here.”
The flicker of doubt was swiftly washed away.
Bewitched, I willingly followed where Kamiyou led.
* * *
The previous Lord of Ortega had two sons.
Kamiyou, the eldest, born of his Legitimate Wife, Belladonna.
And Claude, an Illegitimate Son, born through a maidservant.
The age difference between them was merely two years. So it was plain to see how furiously Belladonna had raged when she learned of Claude’s existence.
Naturally, Claude became the object of Belladonna’s hatred, and at the age of eight, he was sent to the Western Territory.
Growing up there, Claude held no expectations of ever returning to his family home.
……Not until his older brother, Kamiyou Ortega, died on the day of his Coming of Age Ceremony.
“Do not think you will ever inherit this house.”
The mother he faced after all these years stood as parched as a desiccated tree.
Yet her eyes still held a cold, venomous glint.
“I called you here only because we needed insurance to weather this turbulent time. Your sole duty is this: cause no trouble and live as if you were dead.”
“I…….”
“Otherwise, I’ll cast you back to the Western Territory. Do you understand?”
Claude exhaled a sigh, raking his black hair back roughly before slumping against the chair’s backrest.
“Yes.”
The answer was thrown out carelessly.
He said nothing more, turning his gaze to the window as though bored.
‘I never expected anything to begin with, yet she’s shameless to this degree.’
His eyes were far sharper than Kamiyou’s—dark pupils that reminded one of a closed golden rose, now gone cold and distant.
Claude’s life in the Western Territory had not been so bad.
At first, he’d endured contempt for being an illegitimate son, but before long he’d established himself firmly as a young lord, spending his days in endless labor.
‘Of all times, she summons me during the busiest season…… telling me to do nothing and simply stay put.’
Irritation boiled inside him.
The fields had to be plowed before spring arrived.
After tilling the frozen earth again through winter, soon it would be time to sow seeds. And yet she drags him here at such a crucial moment, to use him like a dog guarding the mansion!
‘These city folk. All the same, every single one.’
Claude wanted to overturn everything and leave, but he couldn’t.
Belladonna had made it clear: defy her orders and she’d cut off the funding to the Western Territory.
‘Brother’s death was certainly that woman’s doing.’
Claude glared openly, making no effort to mask his expression.
The icy standoff between mother and son, rekindled after so long, was interrupted by a thunderous crash from outside.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“I-I’m terribly sorry. One of the maids has suddenly caused a disturbance…….”
“I need to tell Belladonna urgently! It’ll only take a moment!”
“I-I’m telling you, that’s not allowed!”
“Move aside, move aside! Belladonna! Belladonna!”
A maid with disheveled hair burst through the line of servants blocking her path.
Looking closely, she was missing one shoe.
“Who is this?”
Displeased at the interruption, Belladonna narrowed her brows.
Yet the maid paid no heed to that cold gaze and dropped to her knees with a thud.
And with all her strength, she cried out:
“T-The lady has disappeared!”
‘The lady?’
Claude’s eyebrows lifted as he watched the situation unfold with interest.
‘Now that I think of it, didn’t he mention that he’d taken a wife?’
He’d once thought that despite bearing the name Ortega, the man would never get a single marriage proposal and would spend his life beneath Belladonna’s skirts, so when he suddenly heard news of a marriage, he’d found it curious.
“Sh-She was always in the Art Studio, but when I checked this morning, she wasn’t there……!”
Seeing the maid look as though she might burst into tears at any moment, Claude’s brow furrowed.
His brother was dead, and now his wife had vanished.
“How convenient. I was wondering what to do with something so useless.”
Belladonna, as expected, didn’t spare her a glance. A perfect harmony of cruelty.
‘This household never changes.’
Claude swallowed a curse.
“……Excuse me?”
The maid’s eyes widened in shock at the cold response.
“If she doesn’t return within a week, clear out her room.”
“W-wait. How could you……!”
“Evelyn. Take her out.”
At the sound of her name, the woman standing behind Belladonna bowed her head quietly.
“Belladonna!”
The maid was dragged away screaming by the hands of others.
Despite that frigid response, watching her cry out until the very end suggested that, young as she was, she had some merit to her.
Meanwhile, Belladonna, who had taken a sip of tea, spoke again.
“I’ve had a room prepared for you in the Separate Mansion. The place where you stayed as a child should be more comfortable, don’t you think?”
……Ah, right. We were still on that subject. A faint, involuntary smile escaped him at how she treated the maid as though she never existed.
“Ah, that cramped little room.”
At his defiant remark, Belladonna’s fingers paused for a moment.
“……I had thought that at eighteen, you might have matured somewhat. It seems I was mistaken.”
“I grew up without parents. You know that, don’t you?”
“It’s best if we see as little of each other as possible. Take your meals in your room separately.”
“I was planning to do that anyway. I have a weak constitution.”
The distance between the two of them was too vast to ever be closed.
Claude rose from his seat with a bitter smile, looking down at his mother without bowing his head.
“You’re remarkable, Mother. Your skill at discarding people hasn’t changed one bit over the years.”
……
“I’ll be watching to see how much longer you can live like this.”
He left those cold words hanging like a declaration of war, and Belladonna never once glanced at his retreating figure.
* * *
I began to live with Kamiyou inside the painting.
‘How many days has it been now?’
The thought crossed my mind, but it hardly seemed worth counting.
The real world no longer mattered to me.
“Oh! Look at this. Flowers are blooming on the trees too!”
“They’re lovely.”
“Should we try going all the way to the far end today?”
“I’d like that.”
Kamiyou was at my side.
It was enough that he smiled for me, spoke to me, and reached out his hand.
As if that alone were the reason I existed.
‘I’m happy. I wish this moment could last forever.’
I made that wish, forgetting even the truth that my desperate hopes had always betrayed 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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