My Husband Lives in a Painting - Chapter 45

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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 — Episode 45
“C-Camille!”
I called his name urgently, but the hand gripping mine did not pause.
My fingertips, regardless of my will, were drawn slowly downward by his hand.
Even though he wore a shirt with an apron draped over it, I could feel the sculpted definition of muscle with no trace of softness, and beads of sweat began to seep across my palm.
“If you want, I don’t mind you exploring further. You were curious, weren’t you?”
“Th-that’s not—”
“Actually, I’m asking because I’d like you to. How about it?”
Gulp.
The sound of me swallowing seemed unnaturally loud.
Unable to hide my flushed face, I parted my lips to warn him against crossing the line.
But the moment I realized that Camille’s expression, which I’d thought was teasing, was just as flustered as mine, I found myself at a loss for words once more.
“So… what do you think?”
……
Our joined hands moved upward again, attempting to slip past the hollow of his throat.
But what lay beyond never came to be explored.
“My lady!”
As cold water dashed upon the sweetness of the moment, Camille’s displeasure became nakedly apparent.
“Ugh, what is it?”
“From the sound of his voice, I believe it’s Romaine—”
“Can’t we just ignore him?”
But another knock on the studio door was followed by Romaine’s voice echoing through the space.
“My lady! You have a visitor! They’re asking for you!”
“A visitor?”
Since there had been no arranged appointment, I turned to Camille with a puzzled expression. He gave a shrug as if to say he knew no more than I did.
‘Who could it be?’
For reasons I couldn’t name, an ominous unease was creeping up my legs like a chill.
* * *
I stepped out of Canvas and followed Romaine’s guidance toward the Reception Room in the Annex.
Before the reception room door, a man stood with his back against the frame, waiting for me.
“Hey, it’s been a while.”
‘Damn.’
Why had my bad premonitions never once proven wrong?
“Romaine, go on inside first.”
“B-but my lady—”
“It’s fine. Go.”
After sending the hesitant Romaine away, I walked slowly toward the man who bore a resemblance to myself.
A man in a white uniform with a Long Sword at his waist greeted me, one corner of his mouth quirking upward.
“You left home and never sent a word, so I figured you were doing well, but why have you gotten uglier?”
A biting tone that rang familiar, habitual mockery.
“Did you skip meals after your husband died or something?”
Louis. He was my younger brother, three years my junior.
“What brings you all the way out here?”
Words passed between us that were hardly fitting for blood relatives meeting after months apart.
Louis scrunched his eyebrows and waved a hand dismissively at his ear.
“Just curious how you were doing. Didn’t get a chance to say hello at the funeral, after all.”
The funeral. Now that he mentioned it, I recalled passing by him while he stood with our father.
Meanwhile, Louis looked me up and down in my dress.
“The rumors said you lived like some tragic heroine in nothing but drab clothes every day, but it doesn’t seem to be quite true, does it?”
“Yeah, everything you said is right. Satisfied?”
“What?”
I cut the conversation short and moved to walk past him without hesitation, but Louis’s eyes twitched.
He grabbed my shoulder firmly and growled low.
“Are you ignoring me right now?”
“I’d say I’ve given you enough attention.”
“Ha, what? I thought you’d become more gentle after marriage, but I guess it was stupid of me to expect that.”
Louis looked at me with a vicious gaze as I turned my head away.
But when I met his eyes head-on without flinching as I usually would, his eyebrows trembled slightly.
“Never mind. Since you don’t seem willing to cooperate, I’ll speak first. I’m mature enough to do that much.”
Louis began to elaborate on his own affairs, as though they held any interest whatsoever.
“I’ve officially become a Holy Knight now.”
A cross-shaped brooch gleamed gold at his chest, catching my eye.
Louis straightened his posture with unmistakable pride, displaying himself to full advantage.
“It’s extraordinarily rare for an apprentice knight to be promoted in just one year.”
“…….”
“At this rate, I might even claim the Knight Commander’s seat before I turn thirty. Isn’t that remarkable?”
‘I didn’t ask.’
Looking back, Louis had always been exactly the same.
He was forever proclaiming his own magnificence, firmly convinced that he could achieve anything if he set his mind to it.
I, with my sharp and exclusive nature, had served as the perfect counterweight, monopolizing Father’s expectations and affection—so it’s hardly surprising he grew up that way.
But now I was done with it.
“Oh, you mean that Holy Knight rank you seized with a letter of recommendation you got by selling me off to Ortega?”
If I didn’t wring that smug expression off his face right then, I’d burst—so I laid it bare.
Silence fell between us.
“……What did you just say?”
Louis’s expression suggested he hadn’t quite grasped what he’d heard.
I spelled it out for him carefully.
“Why are you so shocked? Weren’t you the one who was delighted that I could get a Holy Knight recommendation letter once I married Ortega?”
“…….”
“Lucky you. Thanks to me.”
Honestly, this much was nothing compared to the barbs he’d usually leveled at me.
Yet for someone who’d spent his entire life wrapped in arrogance, even such a small comment seemed to grate terribly.
“Are you…… done talking?”
“Yes. I’m done.”
“I could have reached this position without any help from you!”
“Well, if you need to believe that, I won’t stop you. You’ve always excelled at baseless confidence since childhood, at least.”
“Ha! Changing your fortunes with one marriage, and now you think you’re something special? Is that it?”
“At least I became a Duchess.”
When I didn’t yield an inch and stood my ground, Louis’s face lost all pretense of composure.
His features twisted with shame and fury, trembling, he finally spat out words he should never have spoken.
“Widow who ate her own husband—that’s what you are!”
“What?”
Louis, caught up in his outpouring of emotion, seemed to realize his mistake and fell silent.
Eyes the same deep crimson as mine wavered.
“So that’s what you really thought.”
“I, that is—”
“…….”
Yes, I acknowledged that I bore some responsibility for stripping Louis bare like this.
But it was almost a relief—my mind had gone cold and clear in its place.
“I’m not even surprised. You’ve always been like that.”
“……What are you saying?”
“You were always saying it like a habit—that I should be careful not to pass my misfortune on to you.”
Even when he merely stumbled in academy exams or lost a sparring match, he’d blamed me for it.
Would he think any differently about Camille’s death?
“But at least I’m better than you. I don’t have such a vulgar habit of clawing into others’ weaknesses just to stand above them.”
I roughly shoved away the hand Louis had been pressing against my shoulder.
Then I fixed him with a gaze so cold it held no warmth at all.
“……!”
With only a door between us, Louis staggered backward helplessly.
The shock in his expression was plain to see—he’d never imagined I would push him away first.
“You…… are you really Obe?”
After hesitating for so long, that was all he could manage. I found myself letting out a short, bitter laugh.
“What, you think I’m someone else because I won’t play along with your whims anymore?”
“…….”
I discovered, for the first time, that spewing venom brought no relief—only an unpleasant aftertaste remained.
So I decided to stop wasting emotion there and then.
“I have nothing more to say. Go.”
But as I turned away, a desperate hand snatched at the hem of my dress, and I grimaced, turning back.
“…….”
Should I be grateful he’d seized the hem and not my shoulder?
“Is there something else you need to say?”
Yet Louis did not flare up as expected. Instead, his face tightened as though he were holding something back, and he shook his head.
“……The truth is, I came today on business. I brought the High Priest with me, and he’s waiting for you in the Reception Room right now.”
“What?”
“I didn’t want things to come to this between us, either!”
This was absolutely mad.
He’d omitted the most crucial detail entirely, and only now did he get around to mentioning it. The sheer absurdity left me speechless.
And now he stood there stammering, at a loss for words.
“But the thing is…… ah, damn it.”
‘I should just hit him. Seriously.’
But his clumsy attempt to push through and continue despite swallowing his pride was so unlike him that I decided to wait a moment longer.
“When you go in, don’t be shocked. I was trying to warn you about that…… originally.”

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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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