Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 36

#36. Shirenia City (1)

2024.04.05.

“Where are you rushing off to?”

Escalion moved with his long strides and quickly intercepted Belladonna.

With just a few steps, he was standing close in front of her.

Belladonna flinched and lowered her head, feeling uncomfortable making eye contact with him.

“Why can’t my wife look me in the eye? Trying to sneak around behind my back, are we?”

Escalion leaned down, meeting her lowered gaze with a playful glint in his golden eyes.

Belladonna bit her lower lip, trying to suppress her emotions.

“Not feeling well?” Escalion asked, still leaning close.

Belladonna stepped back, a slightly awkward expression on her face.

“……”

Somewhat taken aback, Escalion looked down at her silently.

“Where is Bella going?” After a moment, Escalion turned his head sharply and asked the maid, Cindy, who had been following him.

Cindy, caught off guard, glanced at Belladonna.

“W-Well, that’s……”

Escalion’s eyebrow quirked up at her hesitant tone.

Just as the atmosphere was about to turn tense, Cindy, blinking rapidly, blurted out, “S-She was going out to buy letter envelopes!”

“Letter envelopes?”

“Yes…! A letter arrived from Astanya [a neighboring region or country] this morning. Madam wanted to buy new stationery to send to the Pope, so I was thinking of going to the market with her.”

*Cindy, thank you for the excuse…!*

Belladonna slightly raised her head, listening to Cindy’s improvised story.

“The market?” Escalion frowned, slowly scanning Cindy’s face.

Feeling his subtly threatening gaze, both Cindy and Belladonna swallowed hard, feeling extremely nervous.

“Yes, she seemed curious about the city of Shirenia… so I was going to escort her. I’m very curious too.”

Belladonna nodded slightly, agreeing with Cindy’s suggestion.

Actually, she had wanted to send Cindy away and go out alone, but now that she had been caught, she thought she should definitely visit the market, even if it was with Cindy.

At Cindy’s desperate excuse, Escalion slowly turned his head and looked at Belladonna again.

After staring at his wife with an unreadable expression, he finally spoke. “Shall I come along?”

“Pardon?”

“I was just wondering what Shirenia is like.” Escalion, who had been staring intently at Belladonna, replied to Cindy, who had asked back in surprise.

Belladonna stiffened, facing the dangerous, predatory look she hadn’t seen in a long time.

He looked as if he could see right through her mind.

Belladonna, who had been making eye contact with him, shook her head firmly.

“You don’t want to?”

Nod, nod.

At her definite expression, Escalion wore a shocked expression. It was only natural for him to be confused by the sudden rejection that he couldn’t understand.

*Ah, was this a bit too much…?*

After looking up at Escalion for a moment, Belladonna grabbed his hand and hesitated, writing on his palm: ‘I. A.M. B.U.S.Y.’

“I’m not busy. Let’s go right away. Shall I have the carriage prepared?” Escalion grabbed Belladonna’s hand, which was moving on his palm, and turned around.

W-Wait a minute…!

Belladonna, inadvertently caught by Escalion, hurried down the stairs to keep up with his pace, grabbing the handrail tightly to slow herself.

Feeling her steps getting heavier, Escalion turned to look at her.

Belladonna once again wrote on his palm: ‘T.O.D.A.Y. I. J.U.S.T. W.A.N.T. T.O. G.O. O.U.T. A.L.O.N.E.’

Escalion, who lowered his head and carefully read her sentence, slowly raised his gaze.

“……”

After watching Belladonna quietly, he let out a low sigh and released her hand, which he had been holding tightly.

As the warm palm moved away, Belladonna blinked, feeling both relief and regret at the same time.

Escalion gave her a small smile and said, “Alright, I understand. You look like you need a change of pace, so have a good time. I hope you’ll show me a smiling face later.”

* * *

Inside the swaying carriage, Cindy, who had been watching Belladonna, spoke first. “Um, Madam……”

Belladonna, who had been looking out the window, turned her gaze as Cindy carefully spoke. “I know this is presumptuous, but… did you two have a fight? You don’t seem to be in a very good mood.”

Shake, shake. At Cindy’s words, Belladonna forced a smile and shook her head.

Belladonna replied that she was fine, but Cindy continued to look at her with an uneasy gaze.

After watching her for a long time, she finally took a deep breath and said resolutely, “Then let’s have a proper change of pace today! Let’s eat delicious food, look at pretty things, and buy everything you like before we go back!”

*Yes, let’s do that!* When Belladonna nodded with a bigger smile than before, Cindy’s face finally relaxed a little.

She was grateful that Cindy was trying so hard for her, even though she hadn’t given her a clear answer about anything.

The carriage carrying the two continued along the quiet country road.

The muffled sound of hooves hitting the soft dirt floor rang regularly in their ears.

“Wow, the scenery is peaceful and quiet,” Cindy, who had been looking out the window, blurted out.

Instead of answering, Belladonna brought her face close to the window next to the carriage.

The empty land was dyed a deep brown, revealing its appearance.

Even though it was much warmer than Gribalta [likely a colder region], it was still winter, so Shirenia had already harvested most of its crops.

*Perhaps this scenery is more familiar to me than the complicated city.*

Belladonna thought quietly.

It was fascinating and interesting that the scenery outside the window was similar to the rural village of Astanya where she had lived in her previous life, yet subtly different.

Feeling like she had returned to her hometown, which she hadn’t been able to visit for a long time, Belladonna quietly blinked her eyes.

Cindy, who had been looking outside with Belladonna, who was diligently looking around, blurted out, “Hmm? But what are those people making?”

The farmers of Shirenia were sitting on the empty land after the harvest, diligently making something.

Looking at them, Belladonna unknowingly smiled faintly.

Every winter, she herself in her previous life would sit on the ground like that and make something.

“It doesn’t really look like they’re farming,” Cindy continued to mutter from the front.

Belladonna suppressed the urge to turn her head towards her and tell her that they were making fodder for the livestock.

*Because there isn’t enough grass to feed the animals in winter, they dry the leftover grass in advance after the harvest!*

Belladonna, who shouted instead in her mind, sat quietly and recalled her previous life.

Every year around this time, she, like the farmers in front of her, would trim the dry grass and store it in a corner of the warehouse.

It was quite tiring because she had to touch and trim the rough grass with her bare hands, but it was also a subtly rewarding and worthwhile task once she had neatly trimmed and piled it up.

She really didn’t want to do it back then, but looking back on it now, it seems like it was quite fun?

*Besides, whenever I do such simple tasks…….*

Before she could finish her thought, one of the farmers sitting on the ground began to sing, a familiar melody flowing out.

*That’s right! You have to sing a work song when you work!*

“In the sky…….”

A smile appeared on Belladonna’s lips as she listened to the farmer’s voice coming through the window.

The song, which started with the man’s lead, had become a chorus that everyone was singing along to, and it rang out loudly.

“……I wi-ish for…… A bountiful year…….”

Belladonna carefully raised the corners of her mouth and listened to their lyrics.

The lyrics were similar to the work song she used to sing, but the rhythm and pitch were completely different.

Shirenia and Astanya were quite close, so the lyrics were similar, but it seemed that some kind of variation had occurred.

*The work songs of the Elinus Empire [the name of the kingdom or empire] are said to have very diverse variations in each city…….*

Belladonna slightly moved her body, swaying slowly to the right and left.

The melody she hadn’t heard in a long time made her body move on its own.

“Wow, the work song is nice to listen to.” Cindy also seemed to have heard the song somewhere, and she moved her body with a small smile.

“A beautiful…… migratory bird…….”

“Hope dwells…… on your…… large wings…….”

*That’s right, those were the lyrics.*

Belladonna somehow became immersed in memories and savored the lyrics.

The familiar and friendly song seemed to make her feel a little better from her depressed mood.

They sat quietly in the slowly passing carriage, listening to the farmers’ work song for a long time.

* * *

“Um……? Where is this? Is the city of Shirenia originally such a complicated place?” Cindy, who was walking ahead, turned to look at Belladonna with a troubled face.

W-Well, I don’t know……?

Belladonna blinked her eyes, looking at the somehow familiar street. It wasn’t just her imagination.

It seemed like they had been going around and around in the same place for the past few times.

“Isn’t it strange? Didn’t we come this way a little while ago?”

*I think so too!*

“I definitely went to the right here earlier……. Hmm, then shall we go to the left this time?”

When Belladonna nodded, Cindy took a step and turned to the left.

*I hope this is the right way to go?* Belladonna, who was diligently following behind her, moved her head for a moment and looked back at the road. At that moment, a carriage full of milk bottles passed slowly between her and Cindy.

“Excuse me for a moment!”

*Oops?*

Thanks to that, Belladonna, who was blocked, widened her eyes as she looked at the back of Cindy’s head, who was moving away without looking back.

W-Wait a minute……!

“We’re going to pass by too! Be careful not to get your clothes wet as the water is overflowing.”

To make matters worse, as the carriage full of milk bottles passed by, men carrying heavy water jugs on both sides blocked her path once again.

Belladonna stamped her feet in place and looked at the alley where the quick-footed Cindy had disappeared.

*Why is she walking so fast! At this rate, I’m really going to miss her……!*

She wanted to shout and grab her right away, but she couldn’t, which made her frustrated.

Hurry, hurry……!

Finally, when all the men in line had crossed the road and disappeared, Belladonna quickly moved her steps and turned to the left.

“……”