Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 26

#26. Southern Townhouse

March 26, 2024

“Can’t sleep?”

Escalion asked in a low voice.

The way his voice reached her ear, like a gentle breeze, felt strangely ticklish.

When Belladonna didn’t answer, he brought his lips to her exposed neckline and kissed it lightly.

‘I see,’ Belladonna realized, feeling Escalion’s warm lips on her neck.

‘A kiss between a couple, especially a newlywed couple, can’t simply be forbidden.’

And that the two of them could only grow closer, never further apart.

‘I need to reduce the time we spend together first…’

Belladonna thought, shrinking her shoulders.

But Escalion came to her room every night to sleep with her, so she couldn’t refuse him without a valid reason.

‘Then what should I do…?’

As she worried, the arm around her waist grew heavier, and she began to hear his steady breathing from behind.

After having dinner together, he had gone straight to the training grounds to train the young trainee knights, and it seemed he was exhausted from the intense training.

And as she listened to his breathing…

“…….”

‘Ah, I’m sleepy too.’

Belladonna blinked slowly and soon drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Cindy came early in the morning to help Belladonna dress.

She held Belladonna’s long silver hair in one hand and began to brush it slowly.

“Madam, your hair is truly beautiful no matter how many times I see it. It’s like touching an expensive fabric, not hair.”

“…….”

“And it’s so soft, it shines without applying any hair oil!”

Cindy, who usually chattered to herself while brushing her hair, tilted her head slightly to the side and began to choose an accessory to put in her hair today.

“Hmm… Is there any particular accessory you would like, Madam?”

Belladonna shook her head.

Belladonna, who was waiting for her to choose an accessory, unknowingly flinched and raised both hands to wrap around her shoulders.

‘Is it because it’s morning? I feel chilly…’

Startled by her gesture, Cindy scurried back and returned with a thick blanket.

She placed it on Belladonna’s shoulders and opened her mouth with a worried expression.

“As expected, this place is too different from Astanya, where you used to live, Madam? No matter how strong we set the heating, it’s still this cold…”

“…….”

“I’ll change your pajamas to much thicker ones starting tomorrow! I’m so sorry for not paying attention.”

Belladonna gave Cindy a bright smile to express her gratitude.

Cindy, who had been staring at her face as if possessed for a moment, suddenly clapped her hands and exclaimed.

“Ah! Instead of that, why don’t you ask the Lord to go to the southern townhouse?”

Southern townhouse?

If it was that place, it was the place Cindy had mentioned in passing last time.

“For the next two months, this stronger cold will continue without fail, and it’s such a harsh season for you, Madam, who is more sensitive to the cold than others.”

A stronger cold than this?

Belladonna glanced sideways at the large window.

Frost was forming on the glass, and she couldn’t see outside properly. It was because of the cold blizzard that had been raging for the past few days.

‘It’s this cold now, but it can get colder?’

Cindy raised her hand again and began to brush her hair.

“The Lord is probably very busy, so he won’t be able to leave Griblatta… but I hope that at least you, Madam, can go to the south and stay warm!”

Hmm? Escalion might not be able to go with me…?

Belladonna’s blue eyes sparkled as she pondered something.

‘This is it!’

* * *

“What brings my wife here?”

Escalion, who opened the door to his office and saw Belladonna standing in the hallway, smiled.

He brought her inside and offered her a comfortable chair, then spoke.

“It’s a pleasant surprise to see you in my space during the day, not just at night in the bedroom.”

Instead of answering, Belladonna turned her head this way and that, looking around his private office.

‘It certainly looks wider and more luxurious than Volf’s office.’

She looked at the tall bookshelf that filled the right wall, then naturally turned her gaze to the portrait hanging on the opposite side.

‘Oh…’

Belladonna’s mouth opened slightly as she stared, lost in thought.

‘That is…’

“Does it suit me?”

Escalion, who followed her gaze, asked with amusement.

The portrait hanging in the center of his office wall was the very one that had been drawn of her sitting on his lap during the year-end festival.

“I was going to hang it in the lobby or reception room so that anyone who came to my castle could see it, but I changed my mind. It’s a particularly favorite painting, so I wanted to see it every day.”

Belladonna stared at Escalion in the portrait.

The warm winter sunlight was naturally captured in his black hair and attractive golden eyes.

The artist’s delicate brushstrokes had perfectly depicted the unique, confident smile on the corner of his lips.

‘It’s well drawn, but is it *that* good?’

Belladonna looked back and forth between his real self and him in the painting.

No matter how she looked at it, his real self was much more handsome and cooler…

“But what brings you to my office at this hour? Seeing you come so suddenly, it seems like you have a rather impromptu request or suggestion.”

‘Wow, he’s a mind reader.’

Belladonna fiddled with the hair that had fallen in front of her chest to hide her slight embarrassment.

“You’re the easiest person to read I’ve ever seen.”

“…….”

“What is it? Tell me, or you can write it down.”

Escalion leaned back in his chair and asked.

After thinking for a moment, Belladonna got up from her seat and approached his side.

She took his hand, which was resting on his thigh, and brought it in front of her, then wrote as large and clearly as possible.

‘C. O. L. D.’

She should have continued writing that she was reminded of the warm south because it was cold, but she couldn’t bring herself to finish.

Because Escalion, who had been frowning and focusing on her palm, raised both arms and hugged her waist tightly.

W-what!

Belladonna, who had been suddenly pulled and made to sit on Escalion’s firm thigh, blinked her eyes, trying to understand the situation.

He was hugging her tightly with his thick arms.

“Were you very cold? You should have said so.”

Escalion, who had buried his face in her neck, said in a playful tone.

A low chuckle resonated just below her ear.

‘Ugh, he’s teasing me?’

Belladonna raised one arm and pushed his shoulder firmly.

But his solid, rock-like shoulder didn’t budge at all.

“You must have missed your warm husband’s embrace?”

Escalion mumbled.

Belladonna was dumbfounded and opened her mouth slightly, letting out a hollow laugh. ‘That’s not it!’

She pushed Escalion’s shoulder away again with force, then brought the hand that was wrapped around her waist in front of her eyes.

He had been resisting and not budging so much earlier, but now he seemed to have lost his strength, and she was able to push him away easily.

‘W. A. N. T. T. O. G. O. T. O. T. H. E. W. A. R. M. S. O. U. T. H.’

“The South?”

Escalion asked, raising one eyebrow.

He asked Belladonna, who was nodding, once more.

“Where in the South? Do you want to go back to Astanya?”

Shake, shake! Astanya is out of the question!

“Then where… Ah, that, what was it. I think there’s a mansion that Griblatta and I received as a gift from His Majesty the Emperor. Was that in the South?”

Escalion scratched his raised eyebrow and muttered.

‘That’s right! That’s it!’

Belladonna looked at him with sparkling eyes.

Escalion, who received her expectant gaze, soon had a troubled expression.

“A southern townhouse… With the start of full-fledged winter, there are many things to take care of, so I can’t readily leave Griblatta.”

‘Right? You’re busy, right?’

He was a more responsible lord than she thought.

“…But I can’t let my wife, who has just started to adapt to Griblatta, spend a harsh winter from the beginning.”

‘Right? You should send at least me to the South, right?’

It seemed to be flowing in the direction she had been hoping for.

Belladonna’s new goal was to spend time alone in the South for the remaining two months of her married life, and then get divorced.

If that happened, there would be no need for a first night, and the awkward and strangely flowing atmosphere would disappear.

Then she could divorce him as the Pope saw fit after two months and return to Astanya.

‘I don’t want to go back to Astanya, but…’

If she had to get a divorce anyway, it would be better than staying here with him and getting caught up in unfamiliar emotions that she kept feeling for the first time.

“Can you be alone?”

Escalion turned his head and asked.

Belladonna was about to nod immediately, but she changed her mind and quickly put on a pitiful expression.

‘Should I at least pretend to be sad?’

She looked at him, blinking her eyes with the most innocent face possible.

Escalion, who had been staring at Belladonna, raised his head and let out a deep sigh.

“I’ll look into it first. Since I haven’t managed the mansion separately after receiving it, I don’t know if it’s even suitable for someone to live in. I don’t know if there are any suitable butlers or maids either.”

‘Yes, do that!’

Belladonna nodded.

To drive the final nail in the coffin, she subtly pressed her body against Escalion’s broad chest.

It was a gesture full of meaning: ‘I’m so cold… You know? I really want to go to the South!’

“Ah.”

His body immediately stiffened, as if he had understood it somehow.

‘What, you were even playfully hugging me earlier, why are you like this now?’

She was puzzled, but it was none of her business.

* * *

“Madam! Do you have a moment right now?”

It was a few days later that Volf stopped Belladonna as she was passing by.

Belladonna, who had finished a slightly late breakfast and was coming out of the dining room, nodded and followed him.

He entered his office and handed her a piece of paper filled with writing.

‘What is this again…’

With half anxiety and half expectation, she took the paper he handed her and slowly read the letters.

“Have you heard of Shirenia?”

‘Shirenia? It sounds like I’ve heard it somewhere…’

When Belladonna made a puzzled expression, Volf continued his explanation.

“It is a small city in the south where the Lord’s townhouse is located. The Lord has expressed his intention to have you stay there for the time being because the season in Griblatta is too harsh.”