Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 46

#46. The Revealed Past (2)

2024.04.15.

“…She looked so pitiful. Her arms and legs were abnormally thin, and her sunken cheeks were heartbreaking. I couldn’t just leave her, so I took her with me and spent the most money I ever had in my life to buy her a ton of food.”

*Pitiful*, he said…

So, Escalión felt pity for Scarlet the moment he saw her, and that feeling deepened to the point where it is now?

As she listened to his story, strangely, her heart ached.

“At first, I just wanted to save someone. She would shake her head, saying she didn’t need food, but as soon as I put something to eat in her hands, her eyes would light up and she would gobble it down. It was funny to watch.”

“……”

“That’s how I started taking care of her. She started to gain weight, her hair became shiny, and it felt good to buy her new clothes as she grew.”

Escalión’s expression softened.

Unlike him, who looked so at ease, Belladonna felt a sharp pain in her chest and a suffocating sensation.

She didn’t want to hear any more stories.

Hearing the story of how Escalión developed feelings for Scarlet Layton was uncomfortable and difficult.

She felt like she shouldn’t have started this, but Escalión didn’t stop talking.

“Since I was living as a mercenary, wandering from place to place, I couldn’t stay by Scarlet’s side all the time. But when I came back after a few months, she had grown so much and become a proper young lady, and it wasn’t bad to be greeted by her.”

“……”

“But I don’t know who she takes after, being so prickly and sensitive. I try to be good to her, but she gets angry and irritable, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to handle women, so I’ve given up a lot now.”

Listening to him, something felt strange.

*She gets angry and irritable?* Then Scarlet doesn’t have feelings for Escalión?

So what exactly *is* their relationship?

Is Escalión unilaterally in love…?

Belladonna looked up at him with a puzzled expression. Escalión shrugged and opened his mouth.

“But what can I do? She’s my only blood relative, so I have to take care of her until the end.”

Blood relative…?

Belladonna blinked blankly at the word.

*Wait a minute, he takes care of his blood relative…?*

“She’s not my biological sister, but we share half the same blood, so I can’t just ignore her and live my life.”

“W-wait a minute.”

“Huh?”

Escalión stopped talking when Belladonna spoke.

She opened her mouth, stammering as she tried to sort out her confused thoughts.

“Blood relative? Half… you said you share the same blood?”

“Ah, didn’t I mention it? Scarlet Layton is my half-sister.”

“You didn’t!”

*When did you say that! Such an important detail!*

Belladonna looked up at him, feeling unfairly wronged. *So now…*

Escalión spoke with a look of genuine confusion.

“I told you before, I’m not good with words. It seems I left out the most important part of the story.”

“Huh……”

“Scarlet is my half-sister from a different mother. Because her biological mother was a single mother, she took the surname Layton from her mother, not her father.”

“……”

“Strictly speaking, even my father wouldn’t have known. He passed away before he even knew of her existence.”

Belladonna, who was listening intently, shook her head, trying to process everything, and held out her palm to him.

“Wait a minute. S-so you’re saying Scarlet Layton is your family? Your sister?”

“Yes.”

“How many people know that fact?”

“Almost no one. The long-time servants in Volf or Griblatta would know, because I periodically send Scarlet pocket money and necessities.”

Belladonna recalled Scarlet’s name written in the thick ledger managing the firewood.

*Ah, so that’s why her name was there…*

“Before you came, Scarlet stayed at Griblatta Castle for a while. She complained about a water leak in her house, so she stayed there until the repairs were finished. Even then, we didn’t become close.”

Belladonna also recalled the unclaimed necklace she had found in the drawer on her first day in Griblatta.

*So that was Scarlet’s too?*

“Why are you hiding that fact? It would be easier if you revealed that Scarlet is your sister. You wouldn’t receive unnecessary misunderstandings. Many of the servants in Griblatta Castle are probably misunderstanding Scarlet.”

“She doesn’t want to.”

Escalión added immediately.

“I don’t know if it’s because she doesn’t want to be associated with someone like me… Besides, I didn’t want to create a family and have weaknesses that could be taken advantage of. At the time, I didn’t have as much power as I do now, so I didn’t think I could properly protect even one sister. I had too many unnecessary enemies.”

“……”

“But it’s different now, Bella.”

Escalión said gently to Belladonna, who had fallen silent.

He reached into the blanket and pulled her closer to him.

“Now I have a lot of power to protect you. I have a safe and sturdy castle, and I have a large knighthood. I also have a lot of money. So I hope you don’t worry about unnecessary things.”

“……I don’t worry about that.”

Belladonna said, pressing her body against Escalión.

Belladonna, who was leaning her forehead against his chest, muttered in a sulky voice.

“Until now, I worried a lot about unnecessary things *because* of Scarlet Layton.”

“Did you?”

Escalión, hearing Belladonna’s tone, chuckled softly.

“I had unnecessary misunderstandings because you didn’t tell me those things.”

“What misunderstandings did you have? Did you think Scarlet was a woman I was hiding?”

Escalión asked, lowering his head to see Belladonna’s face.

Belladonna burrowed further into his arms to avoid revealing her expression.

*Ugh…….*

“Huh? What misunderstandings did you have? Did you think of me as such a low-quality man?”

Escalión kept teasing, but Belladonna stubbornly didn’t answer.

*Anyway, Scarlet is Escalión’s half-sister…*

To be honest, she felt good. She felt relieved, and everything felt more comfortable.

The fact that Scarlet Layton, who had tormented her so much in her thoughts, was not her husband’s mistress but family, was such good news that she could shake off all the worries and concerns she had been holding onto.

‘I don’t have to go back to Astanya.’

Belladonna thought with a much lighter heart.

‘I can stay by Escalión’s side, not the Pope’s… I can keep living here.’

“Bella.”

Then, Escalión called her name in a low, deep voice.

Sensing the change in atmosphere, Belladonna slowly raised her head.

“If you keep pressing your body so close and breathing hot breaths…”

“……?”

“I’ll have other thoughts again. I really wanted to let you sleep this time.”

“What……”

The question was cut short.

There were many things she wanted to ask about Scarlet, but he didn’t seem to have the mind or time to answer.

Belladonna had to stifle her words as his thick lips covered hers, trapped under him as he began to wrap his thick arms around her waist.

* * *

“Bella.”

“……”

“Wake up for a second, Bella.”

*Ah, sleepy…….*

Belladonna frowned and opened her eyes.

Through the hazy dawn light, she saw Escalión looking down at her.

*Let me sleep, okay?* Escalión, confirming her dissatisfied expression, laughed softly and said,

“You’ve become a sulky baby bird again. Sorry for waking you up, but I have to leave soon, and I can’t put it off any longer.”

“……”

Belladonna looked at Escalión, who was sitting in front of her, with a frown.

Escalión carefully sat her up and wrapped her whole body tightly in the blanket.

*What is he trying to do…?* Belladonna sat still and watched him.

Escalión, who had wrapped her tightly, put his hand through the gap and pulled out only Belladonna’s arm, which was now encased in the blanket.

“Sorry I’m late.”

Holding Belladonna’s hand, he took out something sparkling from his arms and slipped it onto her ring finger.

A thick and heavy feeling settled on her ring finger. *This is…….*

“It’s a ring. I should have put it on yesterday, but I was too… distracted.”

Belladonna silently looked down at the ring shining on her finger.

Three sparkling diamonds were set in the very center of the ring, which fit her finger perfectly.

The round diamond in the center and the two diamonds decorating either side of it looked as pretty as a ribbon.

‘Wow, pretty…….’

When she glanced over, she saw a ring with a similar design on his finger.

There were no diamonds, but it was a simple ring made of the same material.

Belladonna blinked, feeling a warmth in her heart for some reason.

Her heart was beating pleasantly. Only now that they had exchanged rings did she feel like they had become a true couple.

“I’m done here, so go back to sleep. I’ll be a little late today. I have knight training and a lot of pending work.”

Escalión lightly kissed her cheek and gently pushed her back.

Belladonna was pushed by him and flopped down on the bed.

Belladonna, who was lying on her back looking at the ceiling, nodded to Escalión, who was about to leave, and he lowered his face to her.

“My wife is really taciturn. It seems like she only says what she has to say, and that’s it.”

“……”

“Except at night.”

*Ugh, really…….* Belladonna narrowed her eyes and glared at him playfully.

She resolved to remain as silent as possible in the future, fearing that bad habits could develop and lead to mistakes outside.

She had explained all those circumstances… Escalión tilted his head to the right and asked with playful eyes.

“So you’re really not going to say goodbye?”

“……See you later.”

Escalión, with a satisfied smile, touched Belladonna’s cheek with his finger, which made her utter the words in a very small voice.

“A farewell kiss?”

“Th-that’s……”

“Hurry.”

Escalión bent down and brought his cheek close to her lips.

Belladonna closed her eyes tightly and put her lips on his cheek.

“Th-that’s it, right?”

“Ah……. I really don’t want to go.”

He lowered his head deeply onto the blanket and muttered.

“I wonder if my wife’s stamina will hold up?”

“Wh-what are you talking about! Be careful on your way!”

Belladonna blushed and then hid in the blanket.