The Returned Husband Refuses to Divorce - Chapter 12

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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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Meanwhile, Ines sought out Leo.
The child was sniffling, wiping tears away with his sleeve.
His bitten lip seemed to be holding back tears by sheer force of will.
“You’re all right.”
At her gentle voice, Leo lifted his head.
“Hans has been taken by the knights. He’ll be punished according to the law. And we’ll investigate the former head maid who ordered you to do this too.”
Ines added as a final reassurance.
“You’re safe.”
Only then did Leo, his mind put at ease, burst into tears.
“Waaaahhh!”
Clearly the strain had weighed heavily on him, and the child wept bitterly.
Rather than add words, Ines simply patted his back gently, soothing him without speech.
“Sniff, hic…… wahhh!”
Only after crying for a long while did Leo finally compose himself.
“Here.”
Ines handed Leo a handkerchief.
He hesitated, then used it to wipe his face.
“You won’t be punished for what happened today. But from now on, you can’t do things like that either.”
“But I had no choice…….”
“I know. That’s why it ended at this today.”
Ines spoke in a serious tone.
“This time there was someone willing to hear your side of things, but there’s no guarantee that will happen next time. So don’t do dangerous things. Do you understand?”
Leo dropped his head dejectedly.
“Don’t worry too much. I didn’t come here to scold you.”
Ines produced chocolate she had been keeping.
“This is a gift.”
“Wow……!”
Leo brightened and accepted the chocolate eagerly.
“Really? Am I allowed to eat something this precious?”
“Of course.”
Leo, his tears now dried, bit into the chocolate with shining eyes.
“It’s delicious…….”
His face brightened as the sweetness lifted his spirits.
Once Ines confirmed the atmosphere had relaxed considerably, she broached the main topic.
“Do you come here often?”
Leo, distracted by the chocolate’s sweetness, nodded.
“Yes. Four times a week.”
“Is that so? What about the other three days?”
“I look after my younger siblings at home, or do cleaning and laundry…….”
“I see.”
Leo chattered on.
A life busy from morning until night.
Ines listened quietly to the child’s words, trying to sketch the everyday lives of commoners in her mind.
‘I should ask him more.’
Using Leo to make contact with the outside world was a good plan, but without knowing exactly what life beyond the castle walls was like, her imagination had its limits.
‘Perhaps I should go out and see for myself.’
But would she be able to get permission?
Then Ines noticed that Leo had stopped eating the chocolate.
From the way he worked his lips and fidgeted with his fingers, it didn’t seem he wanted to stop.
“Does it not suit your taste?”
“Yes, yes?”
Leo started with surprise.
“The chocolate. It looked like you stopped eating.”
“Ah…….”
Leo hesitated before speaking timidly.
“I want to take it home to my younger siblings.”
Younger siblings…….
Suddenly Ines found herself thinking of her own sister.
In the distant past, when she knew nothing, there had been a time like that for her too.
Times when they delighted together in small things, and carefully set aside treasures to share the moment good fortune came…….
‘Elise.’
Now the distance between them had grown as vast as heaven and earth, and there would be no occasion for their faces to meet again.
With a slight, wry smile, she spoke to Leo.
“You needn’t worry about that. I’ll prepare fresh chocolate for you to take home.”
“Really, truly?”
“But I do need you to do something for me in return.”
“A favor……?”
Leo blinked.
“Yes. There’s no one in the castle who’ll listen to me, and I get lonely. Would you visit often and keep me company?”
“I beg your pardon?”
Taken entirely by surprise, Leo stood there blinking like a fool.
Ines waved her hand hurriedly.
“Oh, I’m not trying to steal your time. I’ll pay you for the conversation.”
Then she hastily pulled a coin from her pocket.
“It won’t cause you any hardship. I won’t interfere with your work. It’s just…… I’m always alone, and it’s rather dreary.”
But Leo actually cried out in protest.
“No, I couldn’t!”
“Hmm?”
“I couldn’t possibly accept money from someone of your station!”
Ines burst into laughter despite herself.
“Someone of my station?”
She shook her head and continued.
“I’m nothing of the sort. And this is fair compensation for your labor. If you accept it, then I can ask comfortably.”
Leo hesitated, his face troubled in thought for a long moment.
Then he spoke with effort.
“……It’s all right. I’d rather not take it.”
Ines, finding his answer quite unexpected, tilted her head.
‘Well…… then I’ll simply prepare something else as a gift.’
He’d mentioned having a large family at home, so necessities and food would do well enough.
Ines smiled.
“Very well. Next time you visit the castle, come find me. I’ll be waiting.”
Leo gripped the chocolate in his palm and nodded.
* * *
“Wow, Leo! What’s this?”
Leo’s younger brother Yan cried out.
“Is this…… chocolate?”
“Huh?”
His siblings came running in a flood.
“Where on earth did you get something so precious?”
“It looks delicious. Me too, me too!”
“You brats, stop squabbling!”
Leo distributed the chocolate fairly among his siblings, then heaved a sigh.
“Mmm, it’s good.”
His younger siblings’ mouths were smeared with chocolate.
When Leo wiped their faces clean with a handkerchief, the children laughed brightly.
‘Goodness, what a ruckus.’
Having just come from seeing such a refined noblewoman, his siblings seemed all the more mischievous by comparison.
Yet seeing them so delighted, Leo’s own heart grew warm with satisfaction.
“Say, did you hear? There’s a plague going around these days.”
“What? Where?”
“In Mountain Village, I heard. You know, that place much farther away than here.”
“Oh, so it’s not our village then.”
His siblings savored the chocolate they’d tasted for the first time in their lives, conversing peacefully.
It was a rare day when everyone was happy.
Evening fell at last.
Among his sleeping siblings, only Leo lay awake, his eyes wide and bright.
Leo stared blankly at the ceiling.
‘Today felt like a dream.’
He’d nearly been forced into theft and was rescued against the odds.
And the person who’d helped him was none other than the Duchess herself!
‘She’s definitely a good person.’
Leo had known it for a long time already.
How could someone so beautiful and kind possibly be wicked?
Others spread rumors about her, but Leo paid them no mind.
People like the former head housekeeper and the Countess who looked down on poor commoners like him as insects—those were the truly wicked ones.
And today had proven her good heart beyond doubt!
And yet……
‘Why did she say that?’
Leo recalled the ‘favor’ Ines had asked of him at the end.
In truth, he’d been ready to grant whatever she asked of him, whenever she asked.
‘I didn’t answer right away only because…… I was taken aback.’
A noblewoman asking him to be her companion in conversation.
He’d simply been shocked that such an enormous task would be entrusted to him—a worthless commoner child.
‘I was planning to come even if she told me not to!’
But instead, Ines had tried to give him money.
As if she believed he wouldn’t come otherwise.
That…… somehow bothered him.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but it seemed she didn’t think she was simply paying for a service—rather, she believed that without payment, Leo wouldn’t listen to her words.
‘I could do it for just a favor alone.’
No, a favor? She should have commanded him.
He was a commoner, and she was a duchess!
The sorrowful, lonely face of Ines that he’d often glimpsed before overlapped in his mind.
Clearly she was far superior to him.
She was meant to live in abundance and happiness far beyond his comparison.
He couldn’t understand why pity for her kept welling up inside him.
〈There’s no one in the castle who will listen to me…… I’m so lonely. Won’t you come visit me often and be my companion in conversation?〉
‘I’ll gather plenty of things to talk about.’
So that I can make her smile.
Leo made a firm resolve and closed his eyes.
Tomorrow, it was time to sleep so he could meet the duchess again.
* * *
At that same moment, in Evanhardt Castle.
“Did everyone hear the news?”
Among the servants gathered together, one maidservant spoke up.
“They say Hans was arrested because of ‘that woman.'”
At those words, everyone’s eyes turned cold and vicious.

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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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