Chapter 43
“Are you sulking because I spent time with Miss Plum?”
“…What did you just say?”
“So in the end, that’s what this is, isn’t it? Why are you with another woman, pay attention to me too. A childish tantrum.”
“…….”
“This is driving me crazy. If you’re going to sulk, at least pick the time and place properly—”
“…….”
The wife opened her mouth.
So did I.
Wow.
That man doesn’t have even the slightest intention of respecting the person he’s talking to.
Even if it weren’t his wife—if it were a complete stranger, even a dog on the street—if someone exploded like that and poured their heart out, you’d at least listen once and ask what was wrong.
But what that husband was doing right now—
He simply didn’t consider his wife’s words worth listening to.
Honestly, it would’ve been better if he’d shouted back nonsense in rebuttal.
But coming at her like that?
Flat-out ignoring her?
I couldn’t live with someone like that for even a single day.
And it seemed the wife felt the same way.
Her skin flushed red all the way up her neck as rage boiled over, and she shouted:
“Fine! Then yes! I’m a person who can’t tell time or place and just throws tantrums! So let’s get divorced! Please—just separate from me!”
“Lower your voice—!”
“If I lower my voice, will you listen to me then?! Do I have to scream and shout and act like a crazy woman before you even pretend that my words are entering your ears?!”
Her voice cracked.
“After all the years I’ve lived with you, trying to solve things calmly through conversation—what did I ever get out of it?!”
“I don’t care if you go to Plum or Drum or whoever! I don’t care! I have no interest! Just sign the papers and leave!”
“Hah, honestly…”
Even with his wife like this, the husband kept glancing around, more concerned about whether anyone was watching.
Only when it looked like she might chase after him did he finally pretend to look over the documents.
“Huh.”
The husband skimmed the divorce papers—clearly visible even from where I was—and sneered.
“You’ve prepared quite thoroughly, for you. You’ve worked hard.”
“…….”
“But you’ve forgotten one very important thing.”
What?!
“If I don’t sign this to the very end, you’ll have to complete the paperwork and submit it to the court yourself. Only then will a divorce trial be opened. You do know that much, right?”
Speaking as though teaching a child, the husband continued:
“But how exactly do you plan to complete and submit these documents? When I have the ring engraved with your seal.”
As if to show it off, the man opened his left hand.
Now that I looked closely, his fingers were short for the size of his hand.
On his short fourth finger was the wedding ring, and beside it—on an even shorter pinky—was a thick ring.
“This is your seal ring, which you personally gave me. Without a stamp made with this ring, your documents have no legal effect.”
“There’s no way to prove you authored them,” he added.
“That was something your family forced on me!” the wife shouted. “They said it would be better for the husband to hold onto the ring in case an urgent decision had to be made!”
“On our wedding day, your entire family, the butler, and the head maid surrounded me and pressured me! I had no choice but to hand it over!”
“You said, ‘You don’t have to give it, but then we’ll have no choice but to believe you don’t intend to get along with our family.’ And when I refused, everyone stopped speaking to me! Until I finally said I’d entrust you with the ring!”
“Regardless, handing over the ring was your choice,” the husband said coolly. “If you didn’t want to, you should’ve refused to the end.”
“Then give it back now!”
“Why should I?”
The wife was left speechless as the husband glanced at his watch.
“We should’ve gotten to this point sooner. What a waste of time.”
“…….”
“As long as this ring remains with me, you have no way of submitting the divorce papers. I won’t permit it.”
“…….”
“Calm down and go home for now. Reflect on what you did wrong. I’ll be late, so don’t wait up.”
With that, the husband left first, abandoning his wife as tears pooled in her eyes.
The wife stood there alone for a moment, dazed and silent.
Then she wiped her tears away with the back of her hand.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if someone had committed murder at that point.
But the moment she showed emotion was brief.
As if she’d never cried at all, she brushed off her dress and walked—not toward me, nor toward where her husband had gone, but in a third direction entirely.
“Haa…”
Only then did I step out from behind the dolphin statue where I’d been hiding.
I’d been so absorbed in watching that my hands were damp. The dolphin’s body, which I’d been clutching, was shiny with my handprints.
“……”
Let’s整理 this.
So even if the wife submits the divorce papers to the court, the divorce isn’t guaranteed to go through.
It would only open a trial to determine whether the divorce is valid.
But that husband isn’t even letting the trial happen.
And he’s doing it through the despicable method of holding onto his wife’s seal ring.
No matter how it happened, shouldn’t he return it if she asks for it back?
“…I really don’t like that husband.”
I don’t know who the at-fault party is. I don’t know if the wife’s claims about being mistreated by his family are true.
But at the very least, when someone speaks, you should listen.
That husband is outright dismissing everything she says.
Ignoring her completely.
As if she’s a child throwing nonsense, or someone mentally deficient.
I almost want to steal that ring and give it back to her—
“No. This isn’t the time for that.”
The direction the husband headed in was probably where the men of the social club gathered to play poker. I needed to follow him quickly.
I hurried along on my short legs after the husband, who had already gone far ahead.
A room furnished with war-era brown furniture and burgundy velvet sofas, its door left half-open so anyone could come and go freely.
“Hey!”
The men lounging inside greeted the husband as he entered with a scowl.
“You’re late. What happened?”
As their attention focused on him, I hid behind the half-open door.
“Something came up on the way.”
“What kind of thing?”
“Don’t tell me you were glued to Miss Plum again?”
“Your wife really is kind. Most women wouldn’t stay quiet about their husband spending time with an unmarried lady.”
“She wasn’t exactly quiet.”
“Oh? Did she finally say something?”
“I knew it!”
A man sitting at the table tossed a card at the husband, snickering.
The husband grumbled, pulling a cigarette case from beside a chessboard.
“So, what’d she say?” the men asked, laughing.
The husband tossed it out casually.
“She asked for a divorce.”
“Whoa!”
“I knew it!”
“Looks like the madam finally drew her sword!”
The men burst into laughter, tossing pipes and chess pieces around.
Not a single one of them took their friend’s divorce seriously.
Their reaction was about the same as hearing, ‘I scolded my dog and it peed on my clothes.’
The man who’d been leading the conversation chuckled and asked:
“So? You going to give it to her?”
“Of course not.”
“Well, yeah. It’d be inconvenient right now. You’d have to give her money.”
What money?
Before I could speculate, the friend answered for me.
“Why not be honest? Say you’ve invested all of your wife’s share of the savings too, so divorce would be troublesome.”
“Tell her to wait three months. Say you’ll divorce her and give her the property then,” he sneered.
“Who knows? She might agree. She’s kind, after all—kind enough to tolerate you laughing it up with Miss Plum every day.”
“Stop bringing up Miss Plum.”
The husband, who’d said nothing when his wife was mocked, snapped sharply when Plum was mentioned.
“She’s not a lady you can casually talk about. And besides—”
“And besides?”
“There won’t be a divorce in three months either.”
“Oh?”
“Why, then? Still in love?” the friend asked.
The husband shook his head.
“After seeing her today, she’s clearly unstable. I can’t allow her to wander around damaging my reputation. She’ll be sent to a convent.”
“Whoa!”
“You bastard!”
The men roared with laughter.
Sending her to a convent.
Which, as anyone could tell, meant having her declared insane and locked away.
That remark poured gasoline onto the fire already burning in my head.
“I’ll let her out once she’s reflected enough—around the time I find a new marriage partner.”
I didn’t need to hear any more.
I briskly stood up and scanned the inside of the room once.
Social club or not—I’m enforcing justice right here, right now.
“I hate to say it, but my wife seems to rely heavily on Lord Chase. For his sake as well, I think she needs to be restrained—”
BANG!
“What the—?!”
“What was that?!”
The men scrambled to their feet in shock.
Ignoring them completely, I tossed aside the doorknob I’d just ripped off with my own strength and left.
Arden, I’m sorry.
It’s your appointment ceremony today.
But I think I need to transform.
I’ll make sure no one even knows I was here!
