Why Is My Husband the Villainous Schemer! - Chapter 53

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

Chapter 53
“You’re… here?”
I shuffled toward him like a rusty, unlubricated ball joint, stiff and creaking.
“Your hair doesn’t seem fully dry yet. Would you permit me to dry it for you?”
Carcel, speaking those words, cast an unreadable gaze my way.
I shook my head.
“No! There’s just a little moisture left, it’s practically dry already!”
Dry my hair? How scandalous!
Mini Mi, who had taken up residence in my chest, drew the cap strings tight and shouted “Men and Women Should Not Sit Together After Age Seven” over and over.
Even though drying hair seemed like such a simple thing, there was a very high chance his fingertips would brush my scalp, and his hand would trail across the nape of my neck.
But this was all new to me.
‘Though I suppose it’s new for Carcel too.’
I wanted to take things slowly, one step at a time.
I stood before Carcel in faltering hesitation, at a loss.
My limbs had gone limp as a jellyfish’s tentacles, and I could only steal glances at his expression.
Honestly, I’d never been alone in a room with a man after bathing, so I had no sense of what would feel natural or how to behave.
So I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Um… well, that restaurant you took me to today was delicious.”
“We can go whenever Asha wishes.”
“Th-thank you.”
“And wouldn’t you feel more comfortable sitting beside me? Your legs seem to be trembling.”
At that, I let out a startled squeak.
“N-no, they’re not!”
Just moments ago, I’d thought I wasn’t particularly nervous.
Then reality hit me like a sudden punch to the gut.
My heart began to race wildly, and my mind felt like it was churning into mush.
My cheeks flushed deeper as my heartbeat climbed higher and higher.
With the sensation of heat rising all the way to my hairline, I felt my eyelids flutter.
Because of my taut nerves, my head seemed to hum and ring with a strange numbness.
“S-so, um, are we sleeping together tonight?”
“Does Asha not wish to sleep with me?”
“That’s not it… I mean, I’m not sure how to say this, but I…”
I chewed my lips nervously, unable to meet Carcel’s eyes.
“It’s just that I’m still…”
Seeing my lips grow red and swollen, Carcel spoke first.
“Asha.”
“Yes?!”
“Asha, there’s no need to be anxious. We will sleep together, but not in that sense.”
“Eek!”
He’d known all along!
I flushed crimson, my embarrassment spreading all the way down to my nape like a ripe peach, and I nodded.
Reassured, I sat down tentatively beside him.
“Well, that’s a relief!”
“Didn’t I tell you we’d begin cleanly from the start?”
He released a low, quiet laugh.
“I will do nothing that Asha dislikes.”
“Th-thank you!”
“It’s not something to thank me for—it’s only natural. We are husband and wife now. We must respect and consider each other.”
The slow, measured tone of Carcel’s voice carried something strangely intimate.
“And… shouldn’t we love each other?”
“Y-yes, of course! …Wait?”
The word ‘love’ swept past before I could fully process it, and Carcel smoothly changed the subject.
“Now then, Asha, the reason I’m sleeping in this room tonight is because there’s something important I need to tell you.”
Something important?
I swallowed hard.
Perhaps because I’d been so tense moments before, my knees suddenly felt weak, as though my body might collapse.
So before he could continue, I exhaled a small sigh and flopped down beside Carcel.
“Tell me. I just hope it’s not something unpleasant.”
My mind immediately jumped to thoughts of my mother-in-law and the mines.
There was nothing else I had reason to worry about right now, after all.
Yet Carcel’s gaze had taken on a look of quiet determination as he studied me, and anxiety began to creep in.
“Why is that?”
“Asha, the truth is…”
He let his words trail off languidly before continuing in a drowsy tone.
“Now that we are married, I’m telling you this, but…”
“Yes.”
The truth that Carcel uttered fell far outside anything I could have anticipated.
“I am the Duke of House Rakan.”
His shocking confession left my mind reeling.
Moreover, the deep-rooted obsession he’d been concealing all this while seemed to cling to me like lips pressing against the back of my hand.
“Asha, we are now a couple even God has sanctioned, so you can never escape me.”
The expression on his face as he curved his lips into a smile was breathtakingly decadent.
And in that same moment, the other side of Carcel—the Duke of House Rakan who had been holding his breath and bowing his head—finally revealed his true identity.
‘I’m ruined.’
Now my mind reeled for entirely different reasons, as though I’d been struck.
Though Carcel released my hand gently, the sensation remained on my palm like a brand.
‘Not all the fates in the novel play out exactly as written, it seems.’
I’d had no intention of bringing Linea and Lucian together, yet the children had happened to meet by chance all the same.
‘And now I’m in this kind of relationship with him—someone I was supposed to have a doomed connection with?’
At least the one fortunate thing was that the abuse Carcel had inflicted on Linea—the reason he was supposed to kill me—had never happened in the first place.
Since the trigger for my death had never occurred, there was no reason to be wary!
I asked him haltingly.
“But the Duke of House Rakan is said to always wear a Silver Mask…”
“Would you like to see it?”
“N-no! I don’t want to see it!”
“If Asha wishes, I can prove it however you like.”
I questioned Carcel, who hadn’t explained why he lived a double life.
“Then why do you pretend to be the Marquis of House Rivandel? When you’re a duke?”
“Ah… it’s family business.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“For a married couple, there should be no secrets, so I’ll explain everything to Asha.”
Then Carcel briefly explained the history of his family to me.
“…So, in other words, House Rakan is an auditor and the Empire’s sword, so they can’t reveal their true identity. But since they need to participate in social life and marriage, they’re given the identity of the Marquis of House Rivandel?”
“Precisely.”
“Good heavens.”
Still bewildering, but beginning to make a little sense.
“I should have realized when we had the same name from the start…”
Carcel seemed to have caught my quiet murmur.
“Did Asha already know the Duke of House Rakan’s name?”
“No, not that. It’s just that it was the same as someone I knew. Haha.”
I frantically shook my head in denial.
“An acquaintance, then… a man. Well, that’s possible.”
“Right. That’s possible.”
Noting the subtle, strange twist forming at Carcel’s lips, I hastily added more.
“By the way, he was a fictional character. This is actually my first time meeting someone in real life named Carcel.”
Which was true, after all.
Hearing my words, Carcel’s expression seemed to relax considerably.
But I had been slowly inching away from him at a snail’s pace ever since earlier.
I understood the situation well enough, and I knew Carcel had no reason to kill me.
But the fact remained that he wasn’t the man I’d known—that much was certain.
Finally putting enough distance between us, I yanked back the blanket and hastily burrowed beneath it.
In that instant, I caught Carcel’s eyes crinkling with amusement, as if asking ‘let’s see how far you’ll go.’
‘Ugh, forget it. I’ll just pretend to sleep.’
The Carcel I’d known until now was someone who would graciously withdraw if I wanted to be alone.
“Asha?”
“I’m… so tired. Sleep well.”
I yawned deliberately a few times before, like a frightened rabbit hiding its head in its burrow, I buried my face beneath the blanket.
‘Please, just let me think this through alone tonight.’
This was cheating.
Even if I had told him that I found the Duke of House Rakan frightening and absolutely disliked that part of him!
It was inevitable that my guard would go back up.
“Asha, may I say one last thing?”
I curled my body tighter and squeezed my eyes shut.
‘I can’t hear you, I can’t hear. I’m asleep.’
With that attitude, I produced a fake snore.
“Sn… snore.”
“Even your snoring is adorable.”
At that, I finally whipped back the blanket and shot him a wary look.
“What is it?”
“Did you know that all of a person’s emotions show in their eyes? Even if the mouth lies, only the eyes tell the truth.”
“…I should have just been staring at Carcel’s eyes instead of looking anywhere else.”
“I’m a deceiver just as you said, so I’m good enough at lying that I don’t get caught.”
He even remembered what I’d said earlier!
“So?”
“Because right now, Asha’s eyes show more confusion and curiosity than fear.”
I clamped my mouth shut.
When he first said he was the Duke of House Rakan, I was indeed shocked and wary, but I wasn’t truly frightened.
‘Just then I was a bit frightened. The fact that he was looking right into my eyes and reading all my emotions!’
The Carcel Rakan from the original novel was certainly capable of doing exactly that and more.
Carcel looked down at me carefully and asked.
“I will never lie to Asha again.”
“How am I supposed to know that? You said you’re good at lying.”
“Honestly, it’s fortunate that you haven’t seen through me, because I’m not actually good at lying at all. It’s only because you trusted me so much.”
“I know.”
At that, I let out a small, quiet laugh through my nose.
Carcel soothed me gently, his face growing more desperate than before.
“I know that breaking that trust with my own hands is something no words can ever apologize for.”
“So?”
“I won’t lie again, so… would you trust me once more?”

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