Why Is My Husband the Villainous Schemer! - Chapter 38

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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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Episode 38
The land itself was unsuitable for cultivating grain or raising livestock, so few people lived in the surrounding area.
Carsel offered his impressions first.
“It’s peaceful.”
“Is it? I was thinking that you could bury someone here and nobody would ever know.”
“Is that why you bought this land?”
Carsel posed the question with a tone that could have been joke or earnest.
I laughed softly.
“Don’t say scary things like that.”
“If it ever became truly necessary, I would have helped.”
“Stop now—you say things like that with that face and it’s far too convincing.”
I shot him a suspicious glance, and only then did Carsel break into laughter.
“Your reaction is amusing, Asha.”
“In any case, there’s a reason I came here with you today. It’s not just because I wanted to help.”
“I intend to connect you with all the personnel and resources you’ll need.”
I pointed to the mountain with my fingertip.
“Do you see that mountain?”
“Yes.”
“There’s an enormous deposit of Magical Stone buried there.”
“I see.”
Carsel’s reaction was utterly unmoved.
I whipped my head toward him and demanded, “Aren’t you surprised?”
“Not even a little?”
“Well… I know your character, so I assumed you’d have some plan of this magnitude. I simply didn’t know what kind of ore it was.”
“I didn’t think you’d be building a ranch.”
“I warned you from the start that the Delmore name carries poor reputation.”
Carsel’s lips curved into a meaningful smile.
“A ranch’s daily revenue would likely make it difficult to repay the thousand Gold you spent on this property in the short term.”
“How did you know I borrowed money?!”
“Well… it was an educated guess.”
Carsel smiled with his eyes.
I shook my head at him.
“True… my family sold me off for money, and I didn’t inherit my husband’s fortune separately.”
“It seemed likely that the only thing you could do was borrow a substantial sum against collateral.”
“Exactly. I borrowed the money through personal channels, and I already knew there was a Magical Stone mine here.”
I decided to be honest with Carsel now.
“So I need to develop the mine quickly, but the problem is I don’t have the workforce for it. I’m not sure who to trust.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Carsel spoke gently, looking down at me.
“I’ll hand-select the empire’s finest talent and give them the honor of working with you.”
“Don’t say ‘honor’—that’s not how this works.”
“I’ll begin preparations the moment we return home today.”
With those words, Carsel looked as though he were already mapping out a careful plan in his mind.
I wondered if I’d overstepped, but at the same time I felt I could trust his connections more than what I might learn through the Information Guild’s master, so I accepted his help.
“If you help me, I’ll compensate you later—perhaps by giving you a stake in the mine or something.”
I had no intention of taking advantage without offering payment in return.
But Carsel shook his head.
“It’s fine. All I have is money anyway.”
“Even if you have plenty of money, I should still pay you for what you do. The amount I’d earn wouldn’t be insignificant.”
Ten years from now, Atilini would have his mines valued at three million Gold in assets alone, with annual cash flows from this site reaching four hundred thousand Gold.
In Korean terms, annual net profits around four billion won.
In short, I was about to realize a rich man’s dream in a romantic fantasy.
‘If we can just mine it properly and refine it!’
Then Carsel opened his mouth slowly, a faint smile crossing his face.
“In that case…”
“Yes?”
“You could repay me by granting me one favor later, something I request.”
“Isn’t that phrasing even more ambiguous and subject to misinterpretation?”
At my words, he let out a low chuckle.
“Exactly. An unfair Verbal Contract. What do you think—are you willing to try it?”
I glared at him, then ultimately nodded.
“Fine, let’s do it. Since it’s just a Verbal Contract, if you ask me to do something unreasonable, I’ll refuse.”
“That’s acceptable.”
Just then, Linea called to me from a distance.
“Mother! Come look! There’s something amazing here!”
Linea’s expression as she called out was bright and delighted.
“What did she find?”
“Shall we go see?”
At the same time, Carsel extended his hand toward me.
I stared at his firm hand for a moment.
Then, with a slightly embarrassed expression, Carsel offered an explanation.
“The grass is growing so thick I was worried you might fall.”
I eventually took his hand.
Even as I thought that once caught, it would be difficult to escape.
I found it hard to resist the desire to hold Carsel’s hand.
And indeed, without holding it, I would have struggled.
The weeds, having gone untended for so long, were sharp as blade edges.
If I hadn’t followed the path Carsel had already trampled down ahead of me, my legs would surely have been covered in cuts.
“Wow, we’ll need to clear a path here quickly. I’m glad I wore boots instead of shoes today.”
“When we return home, your clothes will likely be covered in dirt.”
“That’s why I’ll just throw Linea’s outfit away.”
I made a pragmatic comment and approached Linea.
Near the carriage, servants could be seen cutting grass and setting up a tent.
‘This would have been impossible without Carsel.’
A picnic would have been unthinkable without clearing the grass first.
Finally reaching Linea, the child stood up and held something out for me to see.
“Mother, look at this! It’s beautiful!”
“It really is—I’ve never seen flowers like these before.”
The mysterious, luminous blue flower was so striking that I opened my eyes wide.
Carsel asked me, “May I take a look?”
“Of course.”
I readily handed him the flower, and Carsel examined it carefully.
“This is Lavender.”
“Lavender should be purple, shouldn’t it? This is some kind of clear blue color that’s hard to describe.”
“…I’ve received a report about this phenomenon before.”
Having said that, he asked for my permission.
“Could I possibly take some samples of these flowers with me before we leave?”
“Of course, take as many as you’d like.”
“Thank you.”
Carsel handed the flower back to Linea.
Linea smiled brightly and accepted it.
I asked the child, “Linea, aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m starving!”
Carsel also checked his watch and nodded.
“It’s already past two o’clock, so you should be hungry.”
“Then shall we eat? The food might spoil if we wait much longer.”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
Carsel released my hand for a moment.
I blinked in surprise, and he immediately approached Linea, lowering himself down.
He crouched on one knee before her, compressing his large frame as much as possible, and asked the child, “The grass is so overgrown that I’m worried you might get hurt. Would it be alright if I carried you to the table?”
Linea squirmed a little shyly.
But once I nodded, the child opened both her arms.
Seeing that, Carsel smiled softly and carefully lifted Linea with one arm.
Then he approached me and, as naturally as though it were the most ordinary thing, took my hand again.
As if, as he had once said, we were family.
I bit my lip.
‘Embarrassing… but I like it.’
Carsel trampled the grass ahead of me first, clearing a path, and led me forward.
I followed silently in his wake.
A back and a hand I could depend on.
* * *
Linea played joyfully in the field.
She made flower crowns and placed one each on Carsel’s head and mine.
Since it took four hours just to travel, we had to depart by four o’clock.
On the way back, Linea, exhausted from playing, grew tired before we did.
By now Linea was so accustomed to being held by Carsel that she fell asleep in his arms this time without protest.
Carsel seemed unbothered by holding a ten-year-old child.
“Isn’t she heavy? You could give her to me.”
“You must be tired too. Lean back and rest. This is nothing for me.”
He spoke matter-of-factly.
“The whole day has passed already.”
The actual picnic had ended in just an hour.
But thanks to Carsel’s preparations, it had felt more like a garden party than a picnic.
I spoke to him with gratitude in my voice.
“Thank you for today. Lately I’ve had so much to be grateful to you for.”
At those words, Carsel’s expression softened.
“Just being by your side is… I’m the one who should be grateful.”
“When you say things like that, it feels strange!”
“How else should I put a sincere feeling into words?”
Now I had nothing to say.
“I don’t know!”
My face flushed, and I let out an exclamation.
We still had hours to travel together like this.
Every time our feet accidentally brushed, my toes curled involuntarily.
Then the swaying carriage caused me to brush against Carsel once more.

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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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