CHAPTER 18…………………………………….
“More than anything, why ex-husband? I’m Edel’s husband.”
“Oh—my apologies. Since you’ll be divorced soon, I spoke ahead of time.”
“You bastard…!”
The atmosphere turned hostile.
“Tay, don’t pick a fight.”
If this dragged on, I’d be the only one getting tired.
Halfheartedly stopping Terence, I faced Leandro.
“If you have something to say, say it quickly and leave.”
Leandro glared at Terence and asked me,
“By ‘escort,’ do you mean that man stays by your side at all times?”
“When I go out, yes.”
Otherwise, how would he be an escort?
“How can that be!”
Shock rippled across Leandro’s face.
“No matter how much you want to divorce me, until the divorce is finalized, you are a married woman.”
“I know. So what?”
“How can a married woman spend long periods of time attached to another man? What if people misunderstand?”
Right. I knew this was coming.
“What misunderstanding?”
“…Do I really have to say something so vulgar out loud?”
“You have to say it for me to know.”
Though he was the one who brought it up, Leandro stammered as he answered.
“Well… people might doubt your chastity, or something like that…”
As if the thought itself disgusted him.
“Oh, that I’m cheating on my husband with another man?”
“Madam…!”
“That’s what you mean. Don’t pretend otherwise. Honestly, aren’t you the one thinking that more than anyone else?”
Leandro hurriedly denied it.
“No. I trust you. It’s just that other people—”
Trust, my foot.
If he openly accused me, I’d explode in anger and never withdraw my demand for divorce, so he was hiding behind ‘other people.’
“As long as my husband trusts me, that’s enough. I don’t care about other people’s gazes.”
“What if your reputation falls into the mud?”
“I’ll take care of my own reputation.”
And then—
“Leandro, you’ve never been suspected either, so why would I be suspected over something this trivial?”
Leandro didn’t immediately understand.
“What do you mean? I’ve never done anything suspicious.”
Instead of answering, I glanced around.
“Come to think of it, didn’t Chris come with you?”
Chris was Leandro’s secretary.
As acting lord burdened with relentless work, Leandro always traveled with Chris even when coming to the capital to see his family.
“Chris is handling work at the estate. But why are you suddenly bringing up Chris…?”
“What’s Chris’s gender?”
“…?”
Leandro answered as if wondering why that even mattered.
“She’s a woman.”
“Right. A woman.”
That’s right. Although ‘Chris’ was usually a man’s name, Leandro’s secretary was a woman.
Chris—the woman who stayed constantly at his side and spent far more time with him than I, his wife, ever did.
A beat late, Leandro realized what I meant and jumped in place.
“Are you suggesting something improper between me and Chris?!”
“No. I’m not suspecting anything. It’s just…”
I lifted one corner of my mouth in a faint smirk.
“If you and Chris don’t get misunderstood as having ‘that kind of relationship,’ why would I?”
“How can you compare your case to mine?”
“What’s the difference?”
“Chris and I are strictly professional.”
“So are we. His job is to escort me.”
At that moment, for some reason, Terence’s shoulder twitched beside me.
But Leandro kept arguing, leaving me no room to notice.
“We only work!”
“I’m just doing my job, and he’s just following me!”
In truth, I knew better than anyone that there was nothing between Leandro and Chris. The novel said so.
Still, that didn’t mean I could welcome their closeness with open arms.
Honestly, it made me uncomfortable.
I barely saw my own husband for even ten minutes a day, while another woman spent all day with him.
Setting aside suspicions of infidelity—what wife would like that?
Once, when I cautiously asked him to spend just a little more time with me—half of half the time he spent with Chris—his response had been unbelievable.
“Can’t you at least understand that much for someone who works outside and comes home exhausted?”
After that, I never made such a request again.
The sadness, humiliation, and loneliness I’d felt back then surged inside me like a storm.
“I told you before. To give me even a quarter of the time you spend with Chris.”
My breathing grew rough as emotion welled up.
I consciously tried to anchor myself in the present, not the past.
“You said, ‘Can’t you understand that much for someone who works outside and comes home?’”
“Th-that time, I was too tired and misspoke…!”
Leandro tried to make excuses—
Wearing a desperation on his face I’d never seen until I asked for a divorce.
So different from the stiff expression or weary face he used to show me.
The past was the past. The present was the present.
Things had changed—because I had changed.
I took a slow, deep breath. The emotional whirlpool lost its force and subsided.
It’s not like before.
There was no reason to drown in old feelings anymore, no reason to sink into apathy disguised as resignation.
Now, nothing Leandro or his family said or did could hurt me.
“Yes.”
At last, my heart returned to a calm stillness.
“I really can’t understand even that much. So let’s end this.”
Leandro shouted,
“I’ll change!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“What do I have to do for you to believe me?”
“No matter what you do.”
“What if I give up the mine?”
I didn’t show it, but I was slightly startled.
He’d even give up the mine?
Then what on earth is driving him this far? If not the mine, then what?
But my surprise didn’t last long, because of what he said next.
“If you want, I’ll swear to never touch the mine again. On Riena’s name.”
My heart went cold.
Damn it—can’t you even swear without dragging Riena into it?
Still, among the Cassius family and her followers, that was the highest level of oath imaginable.
In the Empire, when making an important vow, people swore on the name of a great being to signify they would never break it.
Usually the Emperor or a goddess—but for them, Riena stood above even those.
“Even if you swear to give up Riena for life, it wouldn’t be enough.”
When I dismissed him, he looked dumbfounded.
“…Give up Riena? You mean live without interacting with her? That’s a tasteless joke.”
He clearly didn’t believe I was serious.
“Enough. I’m sick of even talking to you.”
And honestly—
“Even if by some miracle you truly gave up the mine and were reborn as the perfect man, my feelings wouldn’t change. I’ve completely fallen out of love with you.”
I sincerely wished it.
“So stop clinging to me pathetically, and go live clinging to the little sister you love so much. And don’t go around marrying again and ruining some innocent woman’s life.”
I turned my back on Leandro.
“Madam…”
He looked pitiful now, unlike when he first arrived.
It wasn’t just the abandoned bouquet, the disheveled hair, or the dirt on his knees from falling.
The hope that once made Leandro shine was gone.
The hope that I would return.
Why he’d been so full of hope after offering such a shabby public apology as a ‘solution,’ I couldn’t even guess.
“Let’s go, Tay.”
I wasn’t curious. I didn’t want to know. Not even the true meaning behind his claim that he’d give up the mine for me.
So what?
Terence picked up the tray he’d set on the floor and gestured gracefully, as if escorting me.
“Of course. This way.”
I would go my own way.
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like having tea at a hotel where Leandro still hadn’t left.
We abandoned our original plan and went to our usual teahouse instead.
My thoughts were complicated.
Leandro had seen Terence. Naturally, word would reach Riena’s ears as well.
It would be nice if they thought he was just an ordinary escort, but there was also the possibility they’d sense something and try to uncover his identity.
It was to my advantage if they remained careless, believing divorce to be absolutely impossible.
Only then could I land a blow on an opponent who hadn’t properly prepared.
I should contact Tara and get a sense of what’s happening on their side.
If necessary, I’d even need to spread misinformation.
After roughly organizing my thoughts, I turned my gaze to Terence. But for some reason, he looked just as troubled.
A flicker of fear ran through me. It didn’t seem like a headache.
Is he upset because of Leandro?
Maybe he was thinking that because of me, he’d gotten entangled with the Cassius family and things had become bothersome.
Carefully, I brought up what had just happened.
“I’m sorry. My husband was a bit… like that, right? Someone you don’t even want to deal with…”
A shadow crossed Terence’s face.
“Ex-husband.”
But then, as if nothing had happened, he put on a polite smile.
“You should call him your ex-husband.”
Huh? Is that really the issue? Technically, since we weren’t divorced yet, he was my husband.
Without voicing my doubt, I readily accepted his request.
“Alright, ex-husband. I was worried that my ex-husband picking a fight with you might have upset you. And also, um…”
This part was extremely embarrassing.
“I’ll apologize on his behalf for suspecting us of having an improper relationship. I’m truly sorry.”
Turning an innocent person into someone’s illicit lover—how rude that must have felt for Terence.
Leandro was the one who caused it, so why was I the one cleaning it up?
As I silently resented this unfair reality, a smile like a ray of light returned to me.
“It’s alright. I wasn’t offended at all.”
For a moment, it looked as if a halo were glowing behind him.
This man…
Isn’t his personality too good? I was told he was the final villain.
Because of how kind he looked—and my lingering guilt—I made a somewhat hasty judgment.
Right. His nature is kind.
Any twisted parts must have come from an unfortunate upbringing. Before he turned dark, he must have been a good person like this.
From what I’d seen so far, aside from assassins who tried to kill him or Tara who followed us, he’d never been hostile toward others.
That’s how scary corruption is.
