My Husband Lives in a Painting - Chapter 59

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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 059
“If I may, I intend to tour the Territory and conduct an inspection today. Will you remain at the Mansion while I’m away?”
“Hmm…….”
What was I to do?
I’d originally planned to spend the day resting as I had been, but with everyone working so diligently, it felt wrong to be the only one lounging about.
Claude seemed to sense my hesitation, for he offered a careful suggestion.
“Or perhaps you’d like to come along. You could see the villages and get some fresh air.”
“Wouldn’t my presence be in the way?”
At my question, he shrugged with an air of indifference.
“If I thought you’d be a hindrance, I wouldn’t have suggested it in the first place. You know how I am.”
“That’s true enough.”
“Go change into comfortable clothes, then.”
With his business concluded, Claude turned without hesitation and made his way back toward the waiting administrators.
‘A Territory Inspection,’ I mused.
There could be no better way to shake off idle thoughts than this.
Some time later.
The conversation between Claude and his administrators was still ongoing when I returned, dressed in fresh clothes.
“The embankment maintenance is running behind schedule. We’ll need to increase labor allocation urgently.”
“I’ll draft the necessary plan before we leave. See that you oversee its implementation.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Though Claude appeared absorbed in his work, the moment I entered, he sensed my presence as if by instinct and turned to face me.
Then he spoke to me with perfect casualness.
“You’ve tied your hair back.”
At his offhand remark, every eye in the room suddenly fixed upon me.
I felt myself grow self-conscious and reached up to touch the nape of my neck.
“Is it strange?”
He’d asked for something comfortable, so I’d simply chosen a ponytail to match the lighter dress.
With my nape exposed in an unfamiliar way, I felt an odd sense of vulnerability as the cool air touched my skin.
“No, it suits you perfectly.”
But the moment his words left his lips, the atmosphere around us seemed to freeze.
The reactions that followed were nothing short of astonished.
“D-d-did the lord just… smile?”
“I’m not hearing things, am I? I didn’t imagine that, did I?”
“Oh my goodness.”
Their excessive enthusiasm left me just as flustered as they were.
Yet Claude himself seemed unmoved by it all, and he simply proceeded toward the prepared horses with calm, measured steps.
“Have you any experience with Horsemanship?”
He asked this while running his hand along the Black Horse’s neck.
Tearing my attention away from the distant murmuring, I gave a slow nod.
“I learned the basics as part of my education, yes.”
“That’s fortunate. I’d been planning to travel by horse, and I was concerned about whether you might lack experience.”
“Though I can’t claim to be skilled at it. I haven’t ridden since my marriage.”
As I approached and began gently stroking the neck of the White Horse beside Claude, he let out a low chuckle.
“These are well-trained animals. They shouldn’t be difficult to manage.”
“Well, then…….”
Emboldened by his assurance, I hoisted myself onto the saddle.
Though I swayed slightly at first, the unfamiliar sensation soon faded as I grew accustomed to holding the reins.
“Then, let us depart.”
* * *
The Territory folk working the fields showed Claude the same warmth and favor as the household staff.
Like some pied piper, his popularity here seemed boundless—almost celestial in its reach.
That a boy once cast aside by his own family had achieved such a sight on his own seemed as impossibly romantic as something from a novel.
By the time we’d finished inspecting all the remaining farmland, the sun had already climbed to its zenith.
“We’ve seen everything now, haven’t we?”
Continuing to fan myself against the growing heat, I turned to look back at Claude.
“It’s nearly lunchtime. Shall we head back?”
“Hmm…….”
Yet he hesitated before answering. Then, suddenly, he posed a question to me.
“Are you terribly hungry?”
“Pardon?”
I regarded Claude with puzzled eyes as he answered my question with another question.
Sensing he wanted a different answer, I simply nodded.
“Well… I’m fine with it.”
“I too have no objection. Then it’s decided.”
I had no chance to ask what exactly had been decided.
“Wait, where are you going?!”
In a flash, Claude wheeled his horse around and began galloping away from the mansion, forcing me to hastily pull my reins and follow.
‘I don’t even know the way back without you!’
Clip-clop, clip-clop—
After several minutes of riding, we arrived at a hillside.
Claude dismounted without further explanation and began climbing ahead, and I followed with widened eyes full of bewilderment.
‘What on earth does he want to show me?’
The slope was so steep that I couldn’t see beyond it at all, so I had no idea what Claude meant to reveal.
After a moment, Claude reached the summit first and spoke quietly, gazing over the far side of the hill.
“We’re here.”
Still catching my breath, I wiped the sweat trickling down my cheeks and bit my lip.
“Huff, huff… what on earth could be worth all this—”
But the moment I crested the hill, I fell silent.
Before me lay a meadow abloom with flowers of every color, with a hillside visible in the distance and a lake so transparent it seemed to dissolve into light.
“……….”
This place, so like the landscape I had painted.
I knew at once where I was.
“When spring comes, shall we view the flowers together?”
One day, Camille had said so. A memory from the depths of a biting season.
“View the flowers?”
“They say there’s a hillside full of blossoms in the Western Territory, with White Magnolia trees as well, and a beautiful lake too.”
“……White Magnolias are lovely, I suppose.”
“……….”
As I leaned forward carelessly with my hand pressed against the ground, I realized the large tree I was bracing myself against was the source of my support.
I gazed up with a vacant expression at the white blossoms in full bloom on the branches and thought back.
‘What else did I say back then?’
……Ah. Yes.
I had shown some reluctance.
Because Camille, no matter how many times I pushed her away, kept drawing near—and it annoyed me so.
“I don’t really care for flowers, truth be told.”
“Ah… is that so?”
“Yes. So forgive me, but I would prefer to go alone.”
Camille’s face bore a rare expression of disappointment.
But as always, like a roly-poly doll, she straightened herself and offered her hand to me once more.
“Still, I would so like to visit that place with you once.”
“Sigh… Camille, I—”
“Perhaps in time, those memories might bring you some small comfort.”
“…….What?”
And as always, she smiled tenderly.
“Besides, I believe that if we water the bud, one day the flower will bloom.”
The claim that this place matched the landscape in my painting wasn’t true after all.
This place breathes with life. A vitality entirely different from the false, motionless world of the painted canvas, devoid of any living thing or passage of time.
“Chirp!”
A sudden cry startled me, and I found myself turning toward Claude.
Now that I thought of it, I’d been hearing that voice for some time. But the expression on his face crumpled all at once.
“What on earth—!”
“Why are you looking at me that way?”
When I asked in confusion, his expression only twisted further. What could be bothering him so?
As I stood in bewilderment, I felt a blur crossing my vision and reflexively blinked my eyes. Then I understood.
‘Wait—?’
When I wiped my eyes with my hand, moisture came away.
The weather was clear, so there was no excuse to be made.
“When did I start…?”
“……….”
I could only watch as tears fell endlessly to the ground.
Unable to stop myself, not knowing how to bring myself to a halt.
“Oh, you really are something, Camille.”
With a deep sigh, Claude’s hand reached out instinctively, but before he could grasp my arm without thinking, he stopped himself.
“Claude?”
“Hell.”
His hovering hand withdrew. Instead, he offered me a handkerchief.
“Use this for now.”
I took it without thinking and looked down at it with a vacant expression.
A long silence followed.
“Ah…….”
A sharp wind swept in, carrying the scent of flowers and dampening my body, and I turned my gaze back to the flower field.
And I took in everything my late husband had so desperately wanted to show me, like a duty I could not shirk.
‘Why am I crying? I wasn’t even thinking of sad memories.’
It took an unbearably long time before I understood that it was regret.
One who pledged their soul to a demon could never be reborn twice.
That phrase I had heard from somewhere meant simply this:
……that I would never again, for all eternity, see this landscape together with Camille.

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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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