Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 20

Don’t Get Caught by Your Husband! Episode 20. 76 Rue Ypres (3)

#Episode 20. 76 Rue Ypres (3)

2024.03.20.

Hazel stood before the door.

Staring at the firmly closed door, he was sweating profusely.

Hazel couldn’t bring himself to grab the doorknob and paced the hallway, constantly circling around.

“Sir Hazel, what on earth is the matter?”

Wolf, unable to watch him acting like that all morning, approached him and asked.

Hazel, startled like a child caught doing something wrong, turned his head.

It was hard to believe that the massive knight was in such a ridiculous state.

“I… Is, is the Commander inside?”

“He hasn’t come out all morning, so he probably is.”

“I, I see!”

Hazel nodded, wiped his sweaty hands on his pants, and, as if making a big decision, took a breath and placed his hand on the doorknob.

But before he could turn the doorknob, the door opened on its own, and a massive figure appeared.

“Eek!”

Hazel, startled, stepped back and shouted.

Escalion, who had come out of the drawing-room, frowned and looked at the foolish-looking subordinate before him.

“C, Commander.”

“What is it?”

“I, I have something to tell you…”

“I was heading to the training grounds anyway. Tell me on the way.”

“N, no!”

Hazel shouted.

He looked up at Escalion with anxious eyes.

“Not the training grounds, but, inside, I have something urgent to tell you…”

Escalion looked Hazel up and down, then entered the room with a reluctant expression.

“Then come in.”

Hazel, who entered the drawing-room, still couldn’t regain his composure.

He couldn’t sit down and kept glancing at Escalion, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Unable to bear it any longer, Escalion frowned and spoke.

“What are you doing, pacing like a dog that needs to pee? If you have something to say, say it quickly and disappear.”

“Y, yes, yes… I understand. W, well, it’s not that, but I, I was in charge of guarding the Madam yesterday, wasn’t I?”

Escalion recalled the events of yesterday.

He remembered her eyes, looking regretful when he said it was time to return, and he didn’t feel good about it.

“And?”

“I… I drank some alcohol…”

“Alcohol?”

A crack appeared on Escalion’s face.

Hazel was known as the weakest drinker in the entire knight order.

He knew that his fellow knights teased him because his face turned red and he started spouting nonsense after just one drink, but alcohol while guarding Belladona?

Seeing the Commander’s face, Hazel shrank back even more.

“N, nothing happened…”

“Why did you drink?”

“W, well, the, the Madam seemed too sad that she was returning to the estate so soon… I was just trying to stay with her a little longer, and then…”

“Speak properly. Was Bella hurt?”

“Absolutely not! The Madam didn’t get a scratch!”

Only then did Escalion feel a little relieved and sighed.

“Then what is it? How long do I have to keep asking these frustrating questions?”

“Just before returning to the estate, the, the Madam… suddenly seemed to want to go somewhere, so I went with her.”

“Good job. Where was it?”

At Escalion’s question, Hazel swallowed hard.

He couldn’t easily open his mouth.

Unable to bear it any longer, Escalion frowned and snapped.

“Where was it? Why are you acting like such an idiot today?”

If he knew where Belladona wanted to visit, he might know what she wanted to buy.

If he bought her what she wanted, wouldn’t her anger subside a little? Escalion wanted to find out what it was quickly.

But the words that came from his subordinate’s slowly opening mouth were something completely different.

“…76, Rue Ypres…”

Escalion, hearing Hazel’s barely audible voice, closed his mouth.

The speed at which the words he heard were traveling to his brain was slow.

“What did you say?”

“…135…”

“How does Bella know that place?”

Escalion asked, his darkly sunken golden eyes flashing.

At the same time, Hazel squeezed his eyes shut as he saw his massive fist clench fiercely.

“I, I don’t know either! I just… I just misspoke that I had often visited 76 Rue Ypres…!”

Escalion, staring at his foolish subordinate, pulled at the tie that felt like it was tightening around his neck.

She wasn’t the type of woman to follow someone who was just bragging about visiting a place often to a place she didn’t even know well.

‘She must have known from before.’

He couldn’t grasp how much she knew or from where.

And how she knew it.

“So, it was you hiding in the bushes.”

“Ugh…!”

It wasn’t that he hadn’t noticed those suspiciously hiding.

It was just that there was no sense of danger, and he had already hidden some guards near Scarlett’s house, so he thought nothing major would happen.

But that it was Bella.

A bitter taste welled up in his mouth without him realizing it.

And at the same time, her unusually cold reaction yesterday struck his head like a blow to the back of the head.

“…Damn it.”

He raised his hand to cover his eyes and muttered quietly.

* * *

“…This is an earring made of magnificent emeralds! What do you think?”

The jeweler said enthusiastically, flipping through the sketchbook.

Belladona stared at the pictures in the sketchbook with a blank face.

After briefly observing Belladona’s reaction, he quickly moved and took out a luxurious box from the bag he had brought.

“Ah, I guess you don’t know! The real thing is much better than a picture that doesn’t give you any feeling, right? I even brought this myself! Take a look!”

As if trying to make up for his mistake last time, he made a fuss and carefully opened the square box.

Inside the box, sparkling emerald earrings shone with a heavy presence.

“This was meticulously crafted by one of the best jewelers in the Elinus Empire. It took nearly five years just to craft it, so need I say more?”

“Oh my!”

Cindy, who was sitting next to her, exclaimed on Belladona’s behalf, covering her mouth with her hand.

‘It is pretty…’

Belladona looked down at the earrings with an indifferent face.

‘But since I can’t even see them when they’re on my ears anyway. What’s so great about something like that…’

“Ah… D, do you not like it? Then, how about this sapphire necklace I brought…?”

Clack.

At that moment, the door of the drawing-room opened, and Escalion strode in with an anxious look.

The jeweler and Cindy, who recognized the person who had entered, stood up from their seats at the same time and bowed their heads.

“Lord! Greetings!”

Escalion gave a perfunctory greeting, barely glancing at the jeweler, then stared intently at Belladona, who was sitting upright in her chair.

He couldn’t tell what emotions were in her blue eyes that met his gaze and quickly turned away.

‘Damn it…’

He stuck out his tongue and licked his lower lip, then asked cautiously.

“…Did you see anything you liked?”

“I was showing her various items! The Madam is so outstanding in appearance that she will look beautiful no matter what she wears, so it’s actually hard to choose, hahaha!”

The jeweler answered with a slick smile, speaking on Belladona’s behalf.

There was no way she could resolve her anger with something like this. It wasn’t that she was upset about returning early from the year-end festival.

Escalion awkwardly sat across from Belladona, still watching her, unable to figure out what she was thinking.

“Can you show me what you brought too?”

“Ah, of course!”

As if happy that someone who could communicate had appeared, the jeweler began to explain, pointing to each of the boxes he had taken out.

Rubies, sapphires, emeralds… Luxury goods made of gems that were enormous just to hear about.

Escalion listened to the jeweler’s explanation until the end and then opened his mouth.

“I’ll buy everything you brought today.”

“Yes? Ah, my goodness! Thank you, Lord! I’ll prepare it right away!”

The jeweler, startled, couldn’t hide his happy expression and bowed deeply.

He almost pulled the corners of his mouth up to the sky as he began to organize the boxes with trembling hands.

“Oh my, Madam…! The Lord is going to buy everything here for you! Oh my! How generous!”

“…”

Belladona frowned and looked at him.

‘No, it’s not like I have ten necks or twenty ears, so what am I going to do with so many?’

Unable to bear it, she reached out and stopped the jeweler.

“…Yes?”

She picked up the pen in front of her and wrote.

[I don’t need it, so take it all back. I haven’t even properly worn the ones I bought last time.]

The jeweler, reading her words, turned to Escalion with a troubled face.

Escalion, who had also confirmed the contents, had a stiff expression on his face.

Soon, he raised one corner of his mouth and slowly spoke.

“Just prepare it. It’s a gift for my wife.”

Belladona moved her hand again and quickly wrote.

[I said I don’t need it.]

He clasped his plump hands together and looked back and forth between Escalion and Belladona, not knowing what to do.

“Haa…”

Soon, Escalion sighed and swept the hair that had fallen over his forehead back.

“I’ll call you again, so go back today. Sorry for making you come all this way.”

“Ah, no! Then I’ll visit you next time…!”

The jeweler quickly moved his arms and put each of the boxes that filled the table into his bag.

Cindy, who was quick-witted, helped him organize the jewelry and, under the pretext of guiding him, left the drawing-room with him.

Drawing-room with only two people left.

Belladona and Escalion looked into each other’s eyes and engaged in a subtle war of nerves.

It was he who broke the suffocating silence first.

“I didn’t know you didn’t like jewelry. Usually, women like shiny things…”

He realized he had made a mistake when he uttered the last sentence.

Escalion couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence and mumbled.

Belladona’s blue eyes were filled with coldness as she stared at him.

Escalion felt a chill down his spine and swallowed.

Damn it.