Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 85

Don’t Get Caught by Your Husband! Episode 85. Truth (1)

#Episode 85. Truth (1)

May 24, 2024

“Umm……”

Belladonna stirred, making a small sound.

Escalion, who had been sitting by the bed with his arms crossed, leaned forward from the back of the chair.

“Ugh, cough, hack……!”

As she burst into a small cough, Escalion immediately rose from his seat.

He turned and picked up the water bottle on the bedside table, pouring it into a small glass.

“Bella, drink this.”

As he sat Belladonna up, who was still coughing, she struggled to lift her eyelids and looked at him.

“Huh…? Escalion…?”

At the sound of his voice after so long, not only Escalion but also Belladonna, who had uttered the words, widened her eyes in surprise.

“Your, your voice……”

“Oh, um…… My voice……”

“Drink this first.”

As Escalion offered the glass of water again, Belladonna took it and wet her lips.

The lukewarm water felt rough as it passed down her esophagus.

“Cough…… Oh, what happened……”

“The physician said you drank poison. What happened to you?”

Escalion glanced outside and lowered his voice.

Although there were only two of them in the dark room, priests were guarding her room in shifts.

Belladonna placed her hand on her throat, from which her voice was flowing without any difficulty.

It felt as if it had all been a lie that her voice had been blocked all this time; it felt perfectly fine.

“I don’t know either. I just drank the Holy Woman’s tonic… They say it was poison?”

“The Holy Woman’s tonic?”

Ah!

Belladonna flinched, surprised that she had unknowingly referred to the Holy Woman as if she were a stranger.

“Th-the one I often drank.”

“So, someone deliberately put poison in the medicine you were taking?”

Escalion asked, clenching his jaw.

*Is that how it is? But it seemed like the Holy Woman had hidden it herself…*

“I have one more question to ask.”

After speaking, Escalion placed his hand on her back. At the stinging pain, she immediately frowned.

“This. Who did this?”

“……”

“Tell me who dared to lay a hand on you.”

“Escalion……”

Belladonna looked up at him with a troubled expression.

Judging by how he accurately pinpointed the painful area, he must have seen the wounds all over her body when she was unconscious.

“If you don’t want to see me go crazy and turn the Papal Palace upside down, tell me quickly.”

Instead of answering, Belladonna bit her lower lip.

She couldn’t recklessly reveal that the one who had committed the violence was none other than the Pope. The aftermath would be too complicated, and the repercussions would be enormous.

“Are you going to clam up again? Are you going to pretend your voice is gone again because it’s inconvenient?”

Escalion reached out and grabbed her cheeks. With her cheeks pressed, Belladonna shook her head.

“It’s not that……”

“Fortunately, you’re still okay. Why does my wife hide so much from me? Was I such an unreliable husband?”

The resentment in Escalion’s voice was so clear that Belladonna felt a pang of guilt and lowered her gaze.

“I’m sorry……”

“Forget it. Now that you’re awake, just take the medicine the physician gave you and go back to sleep.”

Escalion let go of her and snatched the potion bottle from the bedside table.

Belladonna stared blankly at the medicine he offered before opening her mouth.

“Feed me.”

“……What?”

“Can’t you feed me?”

“What kind of joke is this?”

Escalion asked, tilting his head.

Belladonna’s cheeks flushed at his colder-than-expected reaction.

She had been slightly dazed from waking up, and her heart seemed to flutter at the fact that her voice was back to normal and that she was alone in the room with him, whom she had missed so much.

“Okay. I’ll take it myself.”

As she reached out, Escalion pulled the potion he was holding back.

When she raised her head, she saw golden eyes filled with an unreadable emotion looking at her.

“Give it to me.”

“I’ll feed you. Open your mouth.”

“I was just kidding. I can take it myself……”

Before she could finish speaking, Escalion opened the bottle and poured the medicine into her mouth.

*What? Why are you doing that…?*

Belladonna, startled, stared at the empty bottle with a bewildered expression. *My medicine……*

And before she could even figure out what was happening, he came closer, and her vision was obscured. Soon, something hot touched her lips.

“Mmph……”

Belladonna reflexively shut her mouth, and Escalion moved his fingers to pull down her lip.

Liquid flowed in through her helplessly parted lips.

*Ugh……*

As she inadvertently swallowed it, Escalion nonchalantly detached his lips.

He wiped the liquid that had dripped beside Belladonna’s lips with his thumb and said,

“Such a waste.”

“……”

“Should I get more medicine?”

Belladonna felt her face heating up and lowered her gaze.

*Wh-what is this……*

“You’ve taken your medicine, so go to sleep now.”

“Thanks to you, I’m wide awake.”

“You’ve regained your voice, and you’re already talking back?”

Belladonna pouted at Escalion’s blunt words.

“It’s not that……”

“It’s not that?”

“It’s because I missed you.”

Belladonna squeezed her eyes shut and blurted out.

She had longed for Escalion throughout her time in Astanya, and now that he was in front of her, she felt so happy that she seemed to be blurting out whatever came to mind.

“……”

At her words, Escalion stared at Belladonna without any response.

*Ugh, was that too direct?* Belladonna felt embarrassed and awkward and shifted her body.

“I’m just going to sleep, then.”

She rustled the white blanket and curled up as much as possible, turning her back to him.

*But there’s really no answer? I’m so embarrassed……*

“Bella.”

At the moment when her embarrassment reached its peak, a cold, subdued voice came from behind.

Belladonna stopped fidgeting and listened to his voice.

The voice that came was so blunt and unfamiliar that she felt a stinging sensation in her nose.

“Haa……”

His sigh from behind swept past her chest, chilling her to the bone.

Belladonna quietly lowered her head.

“You’ve never been easy since I met you, but it’s even more so now. I really don’t know what you want. It’s too difficult.”

“……”

“Weren’t you better off in Astanya? But what you’re doing to me now…… This is like……”

The moment she heard those words, something welled up inside her.

She felt wronged that he wouldn’t listen no matter how much she spoke and wouldn’t try to understand no matter how much she expressed.

The resentment and regret towards him, who was still on guard against her, and the loneliness, isolation, and silence she had built up alone in Astanya, all came together to create sharp thorns.

Belladonna, who had been biting her lower lip painfully, opened her mouth.

“……I’ve told you so many times.”

“What?”

“I liked Gribalta. I liked Escalion too. But seeing that you can’t accept that fact even now, isn’t it you who wants to break up with me in the end?”

“What?”

Escalion frowned immediately. Belladonna turned her head and sat facing him squarely.

“You said you had a contract marriage with me for a purpose, right? So now, have you achieved everything you wanted? So you don’t need a wife like me anymore, and I’m just a nuisance? Is that why you want a divorce so badly?”

Her voice trembled, perhaps because she was angry. It was as if the dam that had been precariously holding on inside her had burst, and she couldn’t stop the sharp words.

Escalion stared at her with a bewildered expression.

“Bella.”

“You came all the way here to give me the divorce papers, right? Give them to me, then. I’ll sign them right away.”

Belladonna got up completely. She reached out to him with a stiff face.

“Give them to me. Where are they?”

“Bella.”

Escalion stopped her from getting up from the bed. Belladonna shook off his hand and spat out again.

“Hurry up and give me the divorce papers. My father keeps looking for them anyway, so I can just sign them and bring them to him.”

“Don’t get angry and calm down first. Lower your voice too.”

At his words, Belladonna stopped speaking. She pressed her lips tightly and turned her gaze to the opposite wall.

She was already extremely stressed from staying in Astanya, and recently, physical violence had been added to the mix, making her sensitive.

Moreover, she had taken strong medicine for detoxification, so she was on edge, having just woken up.

She was vulnerable to stress, so much so that she would quickly become sharp at the slightest stimulation.

And Escalion knew very well that Belladonna was in a very fragile state right now.

He stared at her, who was breathing heavily as if exhausted, and slowly opened his mouth.

“Bella, I waited for you.”

“……”

“Even though I thought you might lie again, even though I thought you might be preparing to stab me in the back again, I waited for you.”

Belladonna swallowed hard.

“At first, it was nothing, but as time passed, I became anxious. I kept telling myself it wasn’t true, and then I gave up. After that, I got angrier and angrier, and then I couldn’t see anything. As more time passed, I couldn’t do anything but think about you, and I was just filled with the determination to get you back……”

“……”

“When I came to Astanya and met you, I was going to get angry like before. I was going to glare at you sharply and push you away, saying, ‘Is this the price for giving you a chance?’ And then I was going to hate you without reservation. I arrived in Astanya with that determination, but do you know what I felt as soon as I arrived?”

Belladonna turned her head and looked at Escalion.

Escalion stared at her for a long time before saying in a very small voice, unlike him,

“I felt that this was the place for you.”

“……”

“I felt that this was the place you loved, that this was the place you should be, Bella. I realized how awful and difficult it was for you to be by my side, I did.”

After speaking, Escalion raised both hands and covered his face.

Between his palms, he let out a trembling breath.

“I thought you were lying because you were scared. I thought you hated Gribalta so much, that this place was much better for you than Gribalta, but if you react like that, I really…… I really don’t know what’s what.”

“Escalion.”

Belladonna opened her mouth quietly.

She felt that now was the right time.

She slowly spoke to Escalion, who looked to be in pain.

“I am not the Belladonna Holy Woman you think I am.”