The Returned Husband Refuses to Divorce - Chapter 33

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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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She hated this season.
Spring wind drifted through the open window, brushing her cheek with a gentle touch.
Soft branches swaying in the breeze, tender leaves tinged with fresh green, the occasional sound of people’s laughter drifting in—and petals scattering as if to provoke her. All of it.
Everything was dazzlingly beautiful.
Which is precisely why she despised it.
Because none of it would ever be hers.
Ines.
At the sound of her name, the woman merely gazed out the window endlessly, never turning her head.
Ines.
This time his voice carried more weight.
Soon the sharp tap of formal footsteps drew closer.
The man came to a halt beside the bed.
Answer me.
Still, the woman did not turn.
Finally, a large hand seized her chin and forced her head around.
A familiar face appeared before her eyes.
That look again.
Emotion rose sharply in his chest, and he gritted his teeth.
The woman said nothing.
It had been three years now. Three years of confinement under the guise of protection.
Though the door was always locked, she could obtain whatever she needed within these walls.
Expensive clothes, medicine, books.
Jewels, if she wished for them.
During her time here, he had ensured she lacked for nothing.
But there was one thing he would not give her.
Freedom.
Let me leave.
His eyebrows twitched.
Ines.
The woman was utterly done.
I am a criminal. I accept all my guilt. So please, exile me instead.
For a defenseless woman to be cast out beyond the Territory with nothing was tantamount to death.
She didn’t care.
She would waste away here regardless.
You…
His voice dropped low, as though suppressing rage.
The woman turned her gaze back to the window without listening further.
The sky was so blindingly blue that it hurt to look at. That cloudless expanse seemed to mock her.
A laugh escaped her suddenly.
Why must it be this way for us?
I wish you had died on the battlefield instead and never come back.
He was silent for a long moment.
She hoped she’d hurt him.
After a time, the man spoke again.
Nothing will change.
His words were murmured in a dark tone.
Even if I were to die, your place is here.
* * *
Why had sleep been so restless lately?
The certainty that she’d had a bad dream was clear enough, but when she tried to recall what she’d seen, nothing would come to mind.
Could I have been contaminated by Demonic Energy?
Of course, she immediately denied it. If such a thing had attached itself to her body, she would have noticed.
So it must simply be a nightmare, then.
I wish you had died on the battlefield instead and never come back.
Ines’s hand went still.
…
That sentence alone remained oddly vivid.
Whose words were these?
An image hovered at the edge of her mind, almost forming.
Dark hair and large hands, a low voice.
At the familiar sensation, her heart sank uncomfortably.
‘No… it was just a nightmare.’
It hadn’t actually happened, so there was no reason to dwell on it.
Ines forced her gaze back to the Ledger.
These days she was quite busy reviewing what Enrique had taught her.
At first, the numbers alone gave her a headache, but once she began to understand them one by one, it proved surprisingly engaging.
‘If I spend more money here, I have to cut it from somewhere else.’
Until now, most of the subjects Ines had studied—history, theology, even etiquette—had definite answers built in.
But the Ledger was different.
Numbers don’t end with numbers. Behind them are people.
Even the price of bread she’d heard from Leo yesterday looked different now.
A few Silver coins seemed like a small figure in the Ledger, but for someone, it meant the difference between eating that day or going hungry.
‘It’ll be useful to learn this well.’
Even if she lived alone someday, there was no harm in knowing how to manage money.
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock.
“My lady.”
It was Mey.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Mey stepped inside, approaching Ines.
“The master has returned.”
Ines’s quill pen stopped.
“Now?”
“Yes. He arrived with the Knight Order just a moment ago.”
Lately, Zecado had been leaving the castle frequently.
It was because of the Subjugations.
Magical Beasts appeared periodically in the Northern Region.
It wasn’t a land like Terminus where Demons seethed endlessly, but if their numbers weren’t culled in time, they would venture down near the villages.
So the Knight Order conducted regular Subjugations each year.
However, the season for full-scale Subjugation hadn’t truly begun, and what Zecado was doing lately was closer to reconnaissance, surveying the surrounding conditions.
‘Ah.’
Suddenly, the conversation she’d heard from Leo yesterday came to mind.
‘The Spring Festival.’
She’d meant to bring it up with Zecado but hadn’t found the opportunity yet.
“Where is he now?”
“He should be in the Administrative Office. Though…”
Mey hesitated slightly.
“Fin said he looked quite exhausted today.”
“Is that so?”
In that case, it would be better to go check on Zecado’s condition first. If the situation wasn’t right for conversation, she could simply return.
Ines closed the Ledger.
“I’ll be back shortly.”
* * *
The Administrative Office was quiet.
Knock, knock.
“Zecado?”
There was no answer.
‘Is he not here?’
As Ines turned to leave, she noticed the door wasn’t fully closed.
She hesitated briefly, then pushed it open a little further.
Then she understood why.
“Ah…”
Zecado was there.
But he was asleep, his body resting against the long sofa on one side of the office.
Given how keen his senses were, the fact that he hadn’t opened his eyes even as an outsider like her entered suggested he truly was exhausted.
‘I should come back later.’
Yet despite thinking so, Ines didn’t immediately turn to leave.
In fact, this was the first time she’d seen Zecado asleep.
Moreover, for the past few days, he had kept a slight distance from her.
Strictly speaking, they didn’t spend less time together—they still ate meals as usual, and he often saw to her needs even before she could ask—
Yet unlike before, Zecado did not approach her so carelessly.
‘As if deliberately keeping his distance.’
Perhaps that was why seeing him sleep so unguarded felt strange to her.
Ines drew carefully closer to him.
The dark hair that normally lay neatly combed back had fallen slightly askew, drifting down across his forehead.
With his eyes closed, the usual oppressive weight of his presence seemed gentler somehow.
‘……He really is handsome.’
Sharp cheekbones and lips of pale shade. His dark lashes cast a shadow beneath his eyes.
Lying still like this, he looked less like a man than like a sculpture carved with exquisite precision.
Yet upon closer inspection, exhaustion was plainly etched across his face.
‘He has been running himself ragged lately.’
The Purge within the city walls was far from finished, and from what she’d heard, the Knight Order faced some trouble of its own.
On top of that, he had to manage the Territory’s problems—five years’ worth of wreckage that Selena had left behind.
And yet, he had seen to every single thing Ines needed, without fail.
Suddenly, guilt washed over her.
‘He shouldn’t have to worry about clothes or shoes at a time like this.’
Ines hesitated for a moment, then reached out to smooth back the disheveled hair from his face. She meant to leave now, letting him rest in peace.
But in that very instant.
Snap.
Her wrist was seized, and the world spun before her eyes.
“Zeca—!”
Before she could finish his name, her body was pulled forward by a powerful grip.
When her mind caught up, a firm arm was already wrapped around her waist.
“…….”
Ines’s thoughts turned to blank white.
A large body pressed against her from behind, flush against her back.
Even through fabric, she felt the heat of his skin keenly. A slow, measured breath stirred against the nape of her neck.
“Z-Zecado?”
He did not seem to have fully woken, for no answer came.
But when Ines carefully tried to move, the arm around her waist only tightened further.
As if holding onto someone he could not bear to lose.
“Wait—”
Ines, who had begun to lift her hands in alarm, went still.
Zecado’s forehead came to rest near the nape of her neck.
Then a very low voice emerged.
Thicker than usual, and somehow fragile.
“……Don’t go.”
Ines’s every muscle froze.

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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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