Why Is My Husband the Villainous Schemer! - Chapter 41

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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 41
“Linea?”
Startled by her sudden behavior, I called the child’s name.
But oddly, Linea remained still, her face buried in the pillow.
“Are you all right? What’s wrong? Hmm?”
As I asked in bewilderment, I could see her small shoulders trembling faintly.
“Baby, are you crying?”
As if stifling her sobs so no one could hear, Linea cried silently—a habit worn into her bones.
Watching her shoulders shake without a sound, my heart felt crushed.
‘Did she receive such a terrible shock because of Mother today?’
I had never seen Linea cry before in all this time.
So for once, flustered and at a loss, I finally reached out and gently stroked the child’s shoulder.
For now, I’d let her cry as much as she needed.
“Are you feeling a little better now?”
As I was still brushing her shoulder, Linea turned her head again.
“Sniff.”
She was clearly distressed, but with her round eyes glistening with tears and her nose running, she looked unbearably cute.
The child kept her lips pressed firmly together, trying hard to hold back her tears.
On the pillow where Linea had buried her face, the honest marks of her weeping were laid bare.
“Why did you cry? Was my poor baby sad?”
When I coaxed her in a softer tone, she hiccupped and babbled something unintelligible.
“……because……”
“Hmm? What did you say?”
“……I had nightmares every night, and—sniff—Mother was driven away.”
Linea whimpered through her stuffed nose, her words slurred.
“I was the only one left in this house alone, sob, alone with Grandmother and Uncle.”
“In a dream? You were here without me, just with Grandmother and your uncle?”
“Yes. When I asked Mother where she’d gone, they said she never existed. ‘Who are you looking for?’ they said, and—whimper.”
I felt a pang watching Linea on the verge of breaking into tears again.
Her tearful eyes held unmistakable sorrow.
‘She was afraid I would disappear.’
I rose slightly, pulled back the quilt, and lifted the child’s warm body into my arms.
“Hic.”
She was so grief-stricken that she even hiccupped.
With her expression still teary and sorrowful, I held her soft little body and patted her back.
Pressed against me, her pale rose-tinged cheeks grew even more endearing.
“I see. You must have been so scared.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m not even a child anymore, but I cried over something like this.”
“You’re the child—who else would be? You’re my baby, Linea.”
I carefully wiped her flushed eyes and nose with my pajama sleeve.
She’d cried so hard that her eyes were swollen; tomorrow they’d be puffy as clouds.
I spoke to Linea calmly.
“I will never abandon you and leave. Do you understand?”
“I’m afraid I might become a burden to you. If I really do become a burden……, you can leave.”
Downcast but utterly sincere, those words came from Linea’s heart.
Her face—the one that had learned to accept that adults would find her a burden—was resignation worn smooth by a lifetime of lessons.
Suddenly, I saw myself reflected in Linea.
‘My mother left so many times because she couldn’t bear the painful marriage, and she’d come back only because of me.’
Back then, I’d clung to her skirts and begged her not to go.
Seeing me like that, Mother had suffered, but in the end she left anyway.
I pulled Linea close into my arms and patted her back.
“If you’re a burden, I’d carry you a hundred times over, and then some.”
“…….”
“And whenever anyone leaves, they carry their burdens with them. Who travels empty-handed?”
As Linea listened quietly to my words, her grip on my pajama sleeve tightened.
In that moment when the child’s weak yet desperate hand—so frail it could be shaken off at any moment—held onto me, I felt as though I were embracing my younger self.
“So I will never leave you alone in this house. Do you understand?”
The tear-stains on the child’s pale cheeks looked so pitiful.
The grip of the hand that had clung to me so desperately began to relax as my patting grew gentler and more rhythmic.
‘She’s falling asleep.’
Exhausted from crying, she was drifting off quickly.
Once reassured, Linea dozed off softly in my embrace.
I lay back on the bed with extreme care so as not to wake her.
Like a bird cradling its egg with wings, I wrapped the child carefully in quilts and my arms.
From now on, no one would take Linea from me, nor would they harm her.
‘I’ll have to leave sooner than I’d planned.’
That night had set my resolve.
* * *
The next day, ten in the morning. Carcel received a message from Asha.
[Carcel, I think we need to leave even sooner than planned……. I’m really sorry, but can you connect us with some contacts?]
At Asha’s question, Carcel fixed his gaze on the man sitting across from him.
“I was actually just discussing that.”
[Already?]
“How could I delay something involving Asha?”
Speaking warmly with a subtle smile, he watched the man opposite darken.
Carcel continued, still holding the receiver.
“How about Asha comes to the Marquis Residence today so we can discuss it? This side is willing.”
“When did I ever say I’d——”
“Shh.”
Carcel held up his index finger to his lips in a clear signal to be quiet.
The man on the other side fell silent with a displeased expression.
At the same time, Asha’s voice came through the receiver.
[So should I bring Linea with me today?]
“How soon can you arrive? I’m a busy man, but I’ll make sure to be here then.”
[I’m out right now, so if we leave immediately, it’ll take about an hour.]
“Shall I send a carriage?”
[No, no! We’ll just come ourselves. We’re always indebted to you, Carcel.]
I could almost picture the flustered expression on Asha’s face as she replied.
So he answered with a soft laugh.
“I wouldn’t mind accumulating this kind of debt, even in the future.”
[Oh! That would be too much of a burden on my conscience! Anyway, we’re heading out right now, okay?]
At her bright tone, Carcel nodded while cradling his forehead with his hand.
“Come quickly.”
The call ended shortly after.
Immediately, the man across from him spoke up, his tone exasperated.
“When did I ever say I would?”
“The day the noble Mage Tower Lord owed me a life debt. When you said you’d grant me any favor I asked, I clearly remember that.”
“I never imagined you’d actually use me like this just to win the heart of some woman you fancy.”
The man speaking was Isaur, the Mage Tower Lord whom even emperors rarely laid eyes upon.
He and Carcel had been acquainted since childhood.
Two comrades who had once commanded the battlefield together in a war against a dragon were meeting again.
Carcel had fought there alongside his father, and the Mage Tower Lord, looking unchanged then as now, had been present as well.
The beautiful man with long pearl-colored hair and emerald eyes was ageless.
He rested his chin on his hand with a bored expression and asked.
“Have you finally opened your eyes to love? Or did that woman ask you to do this?”
“I’d rather you didn’t speak carelessly about Asha, Isaur.”
At those words, life finally flickered in those jade-green eyes.
“People say love changes a person. You’ve changed too.”
Isaur studied Carcel’s flushed face belatedly.
Catching sight of something that stirred a sense of déjà vu, he continued in a lowered voice.
“Not even a lovesick adolescent, yet your ears are red. How pathetic.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m going to be sick.”
Having maintained their connection for so long, Isaur made no effort to hide his grimace.
The Carcel he’d known had worn either a blank expression or a faint frown—one or the other.
A smiling face? He’d never seen one.
Flushed ears in such an unseemly manner? Impossible.
Carcel then pointed at Isaur with his index finger in unmistakable warning.
“Don’t say anything unnecessary in front of Asha.”
“What, that you’re putting on airs? Or that you have that suffocating expression on your face?”
Isaur teased him with a slight smirk.
“I’m curious who the woman is that’s made you this way.”
“You’d do well to just do as I said.”
“Well…….”
Isaur averted Carcel’s gaze and held an inexplicable smile at the corner of his lips.
“I’ll consider it.”

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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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