Thought It Was ‘The End’, Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 108

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Epilogue 1. My Obsessive Husband Follows Me Around (1)

It was right after Edelaine had confessed her secret.

Shane called Lucian and entrusted him with a commission. There was a man who needed to be found.

“Edelaine said to spare him, but… you don’t leave future troubles behind.”

“Who are you planning to kill?”

Shane only smiled coldly.

“Find him and just keep watch, Lucian. I’ll cut off his breath myself, so don’t touch him.”

“What a boring job.”

“Edelaine might notice something unnecessary, so don’t even come near.”

“I may not look it, but I strictly observe client confidentiality clauses.”

“Do you think I don’t know that you make an exception only for Edelaine?”

“…”

“Stay far away and just watch. Like you always do.”

Edelaine thought everything had ended safely, so he didn’t want to make her anxious unnecessarily.

The cleanup was something he could handle alone.

‘Well, people don’t change easily.’

Edelaine, who loved such a person, was definitely crazy too. He had brought her himself, but he’d given warnings and opportunities, yet she kicked them all away to stay next to those insane eyes – she had to be crazy.

Lucian clicked his tongue and left Delmez.

Several months passed like that.

*

For several months, Edelaine wandered like a teenager experiencing belated adolescence.

This isn’t it.

This isn’t it either!

Finding something she wanted to do was harder than expected. Like a craftsman breaking completed pottery, she tried various hobbies and quit dozens of times.

“What exactly do you want to do?”

Even when Lloyd asked as if exasperated, Edelaine couldn’t give up.

This life she’d finally found!

She couldn’t live so bleakly without a single hobby!

“I don’t know what I want to do either.”

Even playing around requires practice to do well. For Edelaine, who had spent her life planning survival strategies to avoid the world’s murderous intent, leisure was a luxury she’d never experienced.

During her reclusive period, she had no energy to do anything.

She tried learning musical instruments.

She tried learning various instruments from piano and violin to flute and harp, but couldn’t find enjoyment in any of them.

Shane bought the most expensive and finest version of every instrument Edelaine attempted to learn and presented them to her. Receiving a grand piano when she couldn’t even play Bayer exercises, Edelaine was overwhelmed before even starting.

“Isn’t this too extravagant for me?”

“There’s no such thing as something too extravagant for you, Edelaine.”

“No, this seems too extravagant?”

“If you don’t use it, it’s just a wooden board that makes sounds, isn’t it?”

“…”

At least there could be no greater misfortune for the person who crafted the instrument.

The violin, whose sound was said to be as deep as its history, would surely cost hundreds of millions by her previous life’s standards. Making screeching noises with such a thing made her feel like she was committing a sin.

I’m sorry, violin…

Couldn’t a violin as old as history curse people?

Edelaine decided to enjoy music only with her ears.

She decided to donate the expensive instruments Shane had bought to talented but poor musicians.

Besides that, she tried cooking, baking, cross-stitch, watercolor painting, oil painting, wood carving, knitting, embroidery, and even bead crafts, but none of them clicked perfectly.

Edelaine had to finally admit it.

‘My manual dexterity is terrible…!’

The fact that she had a terrible lack of talent for any work involving creating something with her hands.

Even without talent, if she could enjoy it, it would be worth trying as a hobby, but unfortunately, Edelaine felt no interest in any indoor activities.

You should lie down when you’re inside, so why do something?

When there’s nothing to do anyway, why leave the bed?

Since she was questioning from that point, there was no way she could excel at productive activities.

Moreover, for indoor activities, there were always experts around even if Edelaine didn’t step forward. The Blancarde Estate had several skilled chefs in residence, and craftsmen who could create works of art with just a touch of their hands worked as servants.

Edelaine turned her attention to outdoor activities.

Physical training with Shane every morning had now completely become part of her daily routine. Now Edelaine could run for about 15 minutes without rest. But since it wasn’t enjoyable at all, she couldn’t make it a hobby.

Horseback riding was the same.

Eventually, the hobby Edelaine settled on was landscaping.

More precisely, tending a vegetable garden.

It happened to be spring when flowers bloomed, and when Edelaine discovered that the Blancarde Estate’s landscaper had left part of the garden empty to renovate it, she recalled her time living alone with Lloyd.

From the third year, Edelaine had planted and tended vegetables in a small garden plot. Potatoes grew well, and the vegetables and herbs she grew herself were a considerable help to their household finances.

Edelaine personally sowed various seeds including potatoes.

Seeing the sprouts emerge, Edelaine made a decision.

I will!

Become the king of vegetable gardens!

*

Emma and Empress Viola didn’t leave Edelaine to rest quietly.

As soon as the weather warmed and the season began, she had to attend many parties with Emma. Even to support Saint Genevieve, who had become Pope, both materially and spiritually, she couldn’t just sit idle.

Starting to take care of acquaintances she met through Emma and Rachel’s introductions one by one, she had several appointments each day. Together with them, she also began discovering young artists throughout the cultural and artistic world.

Spending money lavishly was enjoyable.

So to enjoy hobbies, she had to squeeze and use even more of her nonexistent time. Edelaine diligently tended to her small, precious vegetable garden sprouts so they wouldn’t wither.

Caring for the growing green leaves felt like her life as ‘Edelaine,’ which she had lost when she started having nightmares, was being richly nourished.

This sense of accomplishment, fulfillment, temperature and humidity…

“It’s good that you have a hobby, but Edelaine. You should play with me too.”

Shane said sulkily while creating shade above Edelaine’s head.

“You’re neglecting your husband while staring at those little plants.”

“You should have said something when you arrived.”

When she spread her arms to embrace him, she felt his thick chest swell and contract. The breath he exhaled contentedly sounded like purring.

‘Am I living with a person or a fox?’

He gets more mischievous by the day.

Is this what they call cute writing?

Edelaine giggled and rubbed her cheek against Shane’s chest. His sulky face had already melted away like snow.

“You came early.”

“Because I missed you.”

“If I’d known you’d come early, we could have had dinner outside together before coming in.”

Originally, she was supposed to meet a young sculptor with Emma this evening. However, when he suddenly got injured, the appointment was canceled, so she had been tending to her vegetable garden.

“Right. That’s too bad.”

Too bad, my foot. He knew everything already.

Shane acted coquettishly and pressed his nose firmly against Edelaine’s nose bridge.

Then, as if he couldn’t hold back, he showered kisses on her cheeks and lips.

Edelaine let him kiss her entire face and neck while taking off her dirt-stained gloves.

Shane generally gave Edelaine pecks regardless of time and place whenever she was in sight, so she was used to this much.

When she begged him not to do it in front of others, he at least restrained himself in front of adults.

But in front of Patrick, Jeff, Edwin, or Saint Genevieve, he kissed constantly.

Edelaine, who still had some shame left, would offer one hand as a last resort at such times. If she offered it for him to kiss, she could preserve her dignity with the sacrifice of one hand.

Edelaine grabbed Shane’s face with both hands and asked.

“Shane, you did take care of your work before coming, right?”

“Hmm….”

Shane didn’t answer immediately and smiled with his eyes crinkled. It was a ploy to get out of the situation with a smile.

“It wasn’t urgent business.”

It wasn’t urgent business, but it was true that he had abandoned his work to come here. Edwin was probably throwing a fit right about now.

How long are you two going to keep acting like newlyweds?

There was no need to ask how he knew the appointment had been canceled. He must have found out through some means or another. Edelaine wasn’t even surprised that Shane would naturally know where she was and show up wherever she went.

Wherever she went, Shane would appear.

Like a mole in a whack-a-mole game.

When it was time to leave after having tea with Genevieve, he would come to pick her up, and at the end of any gathering he didn’t accompany her to, he would be there.

‘He does… do his work… right…?’

Honestly, he seemed so idle that she was worried about this Empire’s future.

Lucian had said that the earrings, ring, and bracelet Edelaine was wearing were all extraordinary items.

‘No wonder he gave them to me with such a suspicious smile.’

Once, she tried muttering to herself and then loudly said, “I feel like having wine tonight!” Lloyd looked at her like she was crazy, but Shane came to the bedroom that night with a bottle of wine.

He didn’t even seem to have any intention of hiding it. Edelaine just found it amusing.

“You live so well with that kind of person. Wouldn’t it be better to run away?”

“If I run away again, I think at least my ankles will be cut off.”

If he was going to visit this often, she didn’t understand why the organization had moved their base.

“That’s not my concern.”

“You’re really rotten to the core. Do you think I’ll die alone? I’ll only get my ankles cut off, but you’ll get your neck cut.”

“….”

Lucian said that knowing that and still smiling, she wasn’t quite sane either.

Since everyone, whether family or friends, were kidnappers, it seemed wrong to live under the delusion that she alone was normal.

Edelaine humbly admitted that she was abnormal.

“My love, my color, my angel.”

“Don’t call me that in front of other people… Lloyd looked so distressed…”

She was worried that Lloyd might say he wanted to move out soon.

“Should we go out to eat even now?”

“Yes, if that’s what you want.”

However, contrary to his words, Shane kissed Edelaine’s palm and gently nibbled on her wrist bone. He didn’t look like he had any intention of going out.

Well, if he had wanted to eat out, he would have taken Edelaine to a restaurant before she came home. His intention in deliberately returning home to match the time she came back was obvious.

‘The sun is still high in the sky.’

Edelaine looked back and forth between the bright sky and her husband clinging to her, then let out a deep sigh.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————