Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 67

#67. Because I’m Stupid

2024.05.06.

The voice, which had been crushed and faint, as if squeezed through a tiny crack, gradually strengthened.

The more she spoke, the more she felt her stubbornly closed throat slowly opening.

Escalion, who watched Belladonna’s face flush with effort, quickly turned and went to the bedside table.

With hasty hands, he grabbed the pitcher, poured water into a glass, and returned to her, offering it with quick steps.

“Stop talking for now and drink this.”

“…….”

She took the glass and swallowed the lukewarm water, feeling her throat, which had been blocked as if forcibly sealed, ease slightly.

Escalion, seeing that Belladonna was breathing more easily, sighed in relief and looked at her.

At that moment, a chilling premonition washed over Belladonna, telling her this might be her last chance.

Without delay, she raised her head, looked straight at Escalion, and began to speak.

“For a while… my voice… it didn’t come out, that’s true. I don’t know when it will… when it won’t.”

Although it was easier to speak than before, she hadn’t fully recovered.

Belladonna still spoke haltingly, in a hoarse, thin voice.

“What are you talking about?”

“Like this, to… tomorrow, uh, ugh… I… I might lose my voice again.”

“Stop.”

Escalion raised a hand and covered his eyes.

“It looks like it’s hard for you to talk. You don’t have to speak; don’t push yourself. I understand that you didn’t intentionally keep things from me all this time…”

“I don’t… want to leave…”

At Belladonna’s words, Escalion stopped speaking.

He stood there for a moment, frozen, then lowered his hand.

The deep golden eyes hidden within turned to her.

Escalion sighed softly, looking as if he didn’t know what to say, or as if he had already decided but couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Impatient with his silence, Belladonna spoke again.

“Can’t we… go to Astanya… together?”

Belladonna asked impulsively.

Even if Astanya was stifling and unpleasant, she felt it would be bearable if Escalion was with her.

Wait, why hadn’t she thought of this sooner?

If he went to Astanya with her, she could buy time before the divorce, and the Pope wouldn’t be able to treat her carelessly.

She could also use the excuse of spending time with her husband to reduce the time in the confessional…!

“I’m not going to Astanya.”

However, as if dashing Belladonna’s growing expectations, Escalion replied immediately.

“I can’t leave Griblatta for long.”

“…….”

“Yes. Actually, that’s an excuse. To be honest, I want to settle things with you here. I don’t want to drag out a stagnant, meaningless relationship.”

Settle things……?

Faced with his more resolute will than she had expected, Belladonna was speechless and looked at Escalion.

“Bella, you don’t know how much willpower it takes for me to let you go. I regret my decision several times a day, and then I reaffirm it.”

“…….”

“My resolve, which I build up firmly all day while enduring a day without you, crumbles so easily when I see you, like a sandcastle collapsing in a gentle wave. And you probably don’t know how miserable that makes me.”

Belladonna lowered her head.

She could understand how betrayed he must have felt, and how painful it must be for the marriage they had started with such high hopes to fall apart so quickly.

“But you’re toying with me as if you’re mocking me. Because of you, my mood goes up and down several times a day.”

“…….”

“Thanks to you, stupid me doesn’t know what to do, but even in the midst of all that, the only thing I’m sure of is that you have to leave Griblatta.”

Escalion said, gazing intently at Belladonna.

“For your sake, and for mine.”

Belladonna bit her lower lip and clenched her fists.

The only thing that was certain for her was that leaving Griblatta was definitely not for her sake.

At that moment, she felt the throat that had been able to produce a little voice gradually constricting again.

Ah, no……!

Anxious, Belladonna raised her head and forced out her voice.

“I… I can explain everything. Even if I can’t… right now…”

Escalion was still looking at her with his darkly sunken golden eyes.

“I will definitely come back. I won’t… sign the divorce papers you sent through… Volf. If I can just finish the birthday… celebration safely, I will somehow… cough!… return to Griblatta… again!”

The more she spoke, the smaller her voice became.

Belladonna looked at him with pleading eyes.

Finally, Escalion said in a low voice.

“Cardinal Nicholas and the Pope will be waiting.”

“I know.”

A sound close to a whisper escaped.

Belladonna guessed that would be her last words.

Belladonna wasn’t the only one who thought so.

Escalion stared silently at Belladonna, who had lost her voice again.

A heavy silence fell between them.

Belladonna bit her lower lip. In that miraculous moment, she could only hope that her sincerity had reached him, at least.

“……If you keep coming at me like this, I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know what else you want from me.”

Finally, Escalion, who had been silent, spoke with a confused expression.

He lowered his head and sighed.

“Okay, you said you’d come back, so come back.”

“…….”

“I’m stupid, so I might have to give my wife one more chance.”

In his golden eyes, an unknown emotion flickered.

Belladonna stared at him silently for a long time.

* * *

“Madam, are you sure you’ll be alright without me? The Vatican said they would help with everything, so there’s nothing for me to do even if I go with you…”

Nod, nod.

Belladonna turned to look at Cindy, who was carrying a lot of luggage, and nodded.

Cindy was already glancing nervously at Cardinal Nicholas, who was sitting inside the carriage.

Even if she tried to force Cindy to come with her, it was clear Nicholas wouldn’t allow it.

“Give me the Saintess’s luggage.”

At that moment, one of the priests standing behind the carriage stepped forward and held out his hand to Cindy.

Cindy blinked, handing him the luggage bag in a daze.

The priest effortlessly lifted the luggage and loaded it into the carriage.

“Is, is that person a priest too?”

At Cindy’s whispered question, Belladonna turned to look at him, who was wearing a white priestly robe.

The tall priest with very short hair looked familiar, but she didn’t know his name.

Perhaps he was one of the people she often encountered at the Vatican or one of those who attended to her.

Or maybe they were in the same class together.

“He’s handsome…….”

Cindy’s eyes sparkled as she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

Is he? Belladonna glanced at the priest, who had already finished loading the luggage and turned to head towards the carriage behind, then quickly averted her gaze.

“Saintess, come here quickly!”

At that moment, Cardinal Nicholas reached out the window and spoke to her.

Belladonna forced a smile and moved towards him.

“Madam, have a safe trip! I’m glad Astanya is much warmer than here. You should go there, catch up with people you haven’t seen in a long time, and come back after eating lots of delicious things, okay?”

Volf, who looked somewhat uncomfortable and awkward, bowed his head next to Cindy, who was smiling brightly and waving.

“Madam, please be careful on your way.”

Belladonna nodded to them and got into the carriage.

As the carriage door closed and they were alone, Nicholas’s expression changed completely. He frowned and began to speak.

“Is Duke Diete so busy that he can’t even properly see her off? To come to the breakfast table, exchange formal greetings, and then disappear so quickly…”

“…….”

“Just because he mingled with me for a while at the banquet, does he think he’s really built a friendship between us…….”

Belladonna coldly stared at Nicholas, moving only her blue eyes.

It was funny how he couldn’t say anything in front of Escalion and was at a loss, but he was pretending to be strong when he wasn’t there.

‘……And that’s how it must have started.’

The fact that they easily said things to her that they could never say in front of other people.

People who thought of her as an emotional trash can and showed their dirty inner thoughts without considering the feelings of the listener at all…….

Belladonna looked at Nicholas, who was leaning back in the carriage seat and closing his eyes, with tired eyes, then turned her gaze away.

“Madam! You might get dizzy, so take a nap!”

Cindy, who had already approached the carriage, kept talking to her, sticking her face out the window.

Belladonna reached out her hand to her, smiled, and nodded.

Cindy grabbed her outstretched hand tightly and smiled brightly.

“Please come back safely! I’m going to be so bored without you, Madam.”

That’s right, I’m coming back.

I’m coming back to Griblatta.

Belladonna smiled at Cindy and looked up at the large Griblatta Castle visible behind her.

Even if he didn’t come out to see her off, it seemed like Escalion would be listening to the sound of the carriage preparing.

Belladonna recalled him and reaffirmed her will.

‘When I return to Astanya, I will definitely find a way to fully recover my voice.’

“Then, let’s depart!”

Starting with someone’s voice, the carriage slowly moved its wheels and moved forward.

Belladonna took a comfortable position, preparing for the dizziness that would begin as soon as the carriage passed through the portal [a magical gate for transportation].

‘Astanya…….’

Astanya, which she would be visiting in about three months, felt completely unfamiliar.

It seemed that Griblatta felt much closer than that.