Standard Contract Guidelines for a Fraudulent Marriage - Chapter 75

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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 75

The two of them returned to the villa first, washed, and changed into fresh clothes.

The breeze from a fan suspended by pulleys and swinging gently side to side from the ceiling felt refreshing. A pie awaited them, topped with bright yellow plums and wild raspberries that gave off a fresh, sweet fragrance.

Adelia settled into an egg-shaped wicker chair and gazed blankly out through the wide glass window.

The view beyond the terrace showed nothing but sea, as befitted a resort villa. Beneath an enormous rock formation that resembled a bridge, jade-green waves glinted like jewels as they ebbed and flowed—the sight filled her with a sense of having entered paradise.

The sound of the waves lapping at her ears drew her deeper into a drowsy stupor.

“Junior? Adelia?”

Loerston’s voice drifted down from the second floor.

Adelia, half-dozing with her body sunk into the chair’s rounded back, found his voice remarkably sweet.

Like calling out to a long-lost lover, or tenderly summoning a wife newly embarked on married life…….

“I’m here.”

Perhaps for that reason, Adelia’s own voice carried that same honeyed warmth.

It was a voice with subtle salt-tinged notes intertwined with the fragrance of plums—soft yet somehow strangely arresting.

But that was Adelia’s misperception; in truth, her lips had merely trembled slightly.

“Adelia.”

Which is why Adelia could not help but startle when Loerston’s voice came suddenly close to her ear.

The moment her eyes opened, she saw his smiling face. Fresh from the shower, his already pale skin glowed with an easy, carefree radiance.

“Are you tired from wandering about all morning?”

Loerston’s voice seemed to hum inside her head. Was she tired as he suggested? It appeared so.

Adelia laughed with a sound like a soft exhalation and made no protest as he reached out his hand to her.

The sensation of surrendering to the heavy, languid weight of her eyelids was delicious.

“Senior…….”
“Mm, what is it?”

Adelia’s hand drifted up and grasped the hem of Loerston’s sleeve.

He alternated his gaze between her pale fingers and Adelia’s already half-slumbering face, then bit his lip at what came next.

“When the contract with you ends…… I suppose I won’t be able to visit places like this anymore……?”

Loerston’s throat tightened. For a moment, his breath caught as though something were lodged there.

“……Then we simply don’t end the contract.”
“That won’t work…….”
“Why?”

Loerston asked, his voice urgent as though he’d forgotten she was barely conscious.

“Why won’t it work, Adelia?”
“Because you’re…… too…….”

Too what?

But with that, Adelia slipped into drowsy sleep. Loerston could have shaken her awake, but he held himself firmly back.

Loerston let out a deep sigh, one hand braced against the back of the wicker chair.

“Is this really happening?”

He muttered reproachfully, but the only answer was the soft, shallow sound of her breathing.

Loerston smiled, his brow furrowed, and gazed intently at the sleeping Adelia.

He wanted her so badly that his fingertips ached. It was a sensation entirely new to him.

Yet despite being new, it felt neither foreign nor unpleasant. Rather, his heart raced.

At every word she spoke, every smile, every lingering trace of her scent, his mood swung wildly—and even that brought him joy.

“So…….”

Another thin sigh wove through his softly murmured words.

“I wish you felt the same way. For a long time to come.”
“…….”
“Is that asking too much at this stage?”

Loerston pressed his lips gently to Adelia’s ear, then drew back. He closed his eyes, his face flushed.

***

That evening.

After finishing dinner early, Loerston and Adelia set out to see a performance by the Circus Troupe, armed with an invitation ticket Clucker had given them.

“It’s bound to be tedious stuff.”

Inside the carriage, Loerston grumbled under his breath. His displeasure stemmed, of course, from Clucker’s subtle flirtation with Adelia.

But unaware of this, Adelia assumed Loerston simply had no interest in circuses and grew increasingly anxious.

“Actually, I’m perfectly fine going alone.”

At Adelia’s timid words, Loerston’s eyes widened sharply.

“What are you talking about? Absolutely not.”
“I’m not a child…….”
“Precisely why you can’t go alone.”

What was he even saying?

Adelia found herself at a loss, completely in the dark about Loerston’s true meaning.

The truth was, when Clucker had crept close to her, Adelia had felt absolutely nothing—no awareness whatsoever.

Had it been Loerston, her face would have flushed crimson with embarrassment. But another man lay entirely outside her notice.

“Oh, look there!”

Adelia pointed excitedly out the gleaming window.

Even Loerston, turning his head absently, felt a genuine start at the sight: the Circus Tent, ornate and dazzling in its decorations.

The moment they descended from the carriage, Adelia seemed poised to be entirely enchanted by the spectacle before her.

Multicolored bulbs flickered with dizzying brilliance, and grotesquely painted clowns rolled balls and wandered past, drawing the eyes of onlookers.

The savory aroma of popcorn mingled with fruity candy and caramel, the sweet smell of sugar, and tinny music that sounded like a broken trumpet—all conspired to draw the crowds into another world entirely.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

As Adelia spoke as though in a dream, Loerston finally abandoned his sullen demeanor and took her hand.

“Look to your heart’s content. Shall we get some popcorn?”
“Popcorn! Yes, please! It’s been ages!”
“You’ve had it before?”
“A very long time ago. Maybe in second or third grade. We were cleaning up the classroom after school when the teacher came and handed out popcorn. I can’t tell you how delicious it was.”
“You remember something from so long ago?”
“Of course. It was a special memory.”

At Adelia’s answer, Loerston’s expression shifted to something between a smile and a grimace.

He wanted to give her a life where such small moments need not remain special.

No matter how fine the food, no matter how beautiful the view, no matter how precious the jewels she wore…….

He wanted to make each day of Adelia’s life so filled with such things that they became second nature.

“Then shall we cover over that old memory with some fresh popcorn today?”
“I’d like that.”

Adelia laughed and pulled Loerston’s hand toward the entrance.

They purchased a bag of popcorn with its salty, buttery aroma and a handful of Chocolate Caramel—Adelia’s favorite—and stepped inside the tent. The moment they did, Clucker strode toward them as if he’d been waiting for their arrival.

“Welcome! Oh, you bought popcorn? I told you I’d prepare some for you.”
“It smelled so delicious we couldn’t resist.”

Clucker narrowed his eyes and smiled knowingly.

“Good thing you didn’t buy drinks—I’ve prepared a Lemonade you won’t find anywhere else. My younger sister made it. It’s incredibly good. Not too sweet, not too tart, and with ice it’s wonderfully refreshing.”

Loerston spoke.

“You’d be better off opening a lemonade stand. Your sales pitch is wasted here.”
“Ha! I’ve thought about it, but I find the circus far more entertaining. Come, let me show you to your seats. We’ve prepared a special box just for the two of you.”

Adelia and Loerston looked up simultaneously at the tiered seating arranged before them.

Loerston, a hint of laughter in his eyes, gestured with one finger.

“That’s what you call a special box?”

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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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