Episode 23 : My heart flutters
“lady!”
“…….”
“lady! Are you okay?”
Cindy spread her palms out in front of a blank-faced Belladonna and waved them up and down.
Nevertheless, Bella blinked her eyes slowly and could not easily come to her senses.
“lady! Why are you doing this? What on earth are you thinking?”
Cindy put her hands on her hips and tilted her head.
She has been in that state ever since he returned from going out with the lord today.
When she came back from a horseback ride, when I brought her to her room and washed her in a warm bathtub, when I dried her hair and prepared dinner in her room.
“…….”
“Ma’am, shall I just leave now? Call me anytime you need, okay?”
Belladonna nodded at her with still unfocused faces.
Cindy kept looking back at her, then closed the door and went out into the hallway.
Even though Bella was left alone, she buried her face in her bed, struggling as if she had finally come to her senses.
Ugh……!
I couldn’t believe it.
Belladonna lifted her face for a moment and carefully traced her red lips with her fingers.
His increasingly excited breathing and his violent lips that seemed impatient….
Bella’s thoughts naturally continued from before, and she blushed again and began to struggle.
‘Nonsense! I kissed him!’
It was purely because she had lost her temper.
The gaze distance has become much closer. The hot heat flowing from his body contrasted with the cold air. Eyes that looked down with deep desire…
All of that…..
‘……I don’t know! I don’t know!’
Belladonna hugged the pillow and let out a silent cry.
Besides, it was certain that soon, night would come and Escalion would come into her room as usual.
i have to sleep with him like this?
It was clear that she would spend the night wide awake.
Click.
As if to interrupt her imagination, she heard the doorknob on the door turning.
Bella quickly stopped what she was doing and sat down calmly.
The person who opened her door and entered was Escalion, who was feeling moist as if he had just washed up.
“……”
As he entered the room, he paused and made eye contact with her.
They stared at each other with calm expressions without saying anything.
Ugh, awkward……!
Eventually, Escalion, who had dimmed the lighting, approached the bed with his signature mischievous and sly smile.
“I thought it would be stretched out perfectly, but it looks better than I thought?”
He carefully lifted the blanket and came in to Belladonna’s side.
After tossing and turning his large body into a comfortable position, he lifted her arm and pulled Bella into his arms.
It was the same facial expression as usual, the same tone of voice as usual, and the same posture as usual.
Belladonna blinked her eyes in his arms, feeling somewhat confused.
“You might catch a cold if you stay in a cold place for a long time. If that happens, you probably forgot what I said about not going out, right?”
what? But the lakeside was where you took me!
Belladonna looked up at him with a look of protest in her eyes.
He chuckled lowly and carefully rubbed the back of her head.
“Go to sleep so you don’t get sick. Wolf promised to tell you more starting tomorrow. It looks like he’s dissatisfied that I took my wife away without telling him.”
“…….”
“I have to go out early tomorrow morning. There are many merchants wishing to trade through the port of Griblata. I decided to meet them.”
Escalion, who had a habit of telling me what to do tomorrow, was really no different from usual.
It seemed like i was the only one who was overly concerned and confused by the kiss earlier.
And that fact was enough to make Belladonna feel bad.
‘He’s the biggest libertine in the world, so a kiss like that isn’t a big deal, right?’
Still, it was a kiss that was like a first kiss for me…
Belladonna pouted her lips, feeling that she was being treated unfairly.
After finishing his words, Escalion seemed to have fallen asleep without any worries. Her chest came into view, moving up and down regularly.
‘It seems like I was the only one who cared, this is ridiculous…….’
Belladonna let out a small sigh and closed her eyes.
She felt very confused and dizzy in her mind, which didn’t go away easily.
At that time, a familiar and regular sound reached her ears.
Thump, thump, thump.
The sound was so small that I could hardly feel it at first, but once I recognized it, it became loud enough to ring my ears.
‘This sound……?’
Belladonna lifted her head and looked at him.
He had his eyes closed as if he were calm, but his ears were dyed red enough to be recognized even in the dark.
“…….”
Belladonna raised the corners of her mouth without realizing it.
Although he didn’t care as much about it as she did, she felt satisfied that he was reflecting just a little bit on her kiss.
She smiled and snuggled deeper into his arms.
I felt Escalion flinch. The sound of my heart beating regularly became louder in my ears.
* * *
The next morning, Belladonna woke up alone in a large bed and slowly got up.
As he told me yesterday, it seems that Escalion woke up early in the morning and went out to meet the merchant who wanted to trade with Griblata.
Blinking her eyes for a moment, Belladonna reached out her hand and opened the drawer of her nightstand. And she took out from it an envelope with a letter from Astanya.
“…….”
A letter from the Pope.
Belladonna opened the envelope and took out a letter, feeling a little nervous.
[To Bella.
I don’t know how you are doing in Griblata. Your old father’s hasty worries only increase with each passing day.
I wonder if you are keeping the promise you made to yur father before your marriage. Serve your husband and live with constant respect.
By the time this letter arrives, a month will have passed since you got married and left Astanya.
I miss you a lot today.
If you have time, please reply. Dreaming of the day I will see you someday.
Pope Pronance Briel.]
At the bottom of the letter was the Pope’s seal.
She laughed as she read the contents of the letter again from cover to cover.
Among the sentences that her ordinary and serious father had concocted as a letter to his beloved daughter, there was no way she wouldn’t know what the words that caught her eye meant.
‘I guess it means don’t forget about the divorce in three months.’
Belladonna let out a small sigh and rested the back of her head against the headboard.
The Pope was thinking of calling her to his side at any time. Now that he was far away from Astanya, he kept reminding me of that intention, even sending letters like this.
The feeling that was light and pleasant until I opened my eyes in the morning now felt like I was trapped in a stuffy and narrow box.
Belladonna looked down in silence at the spot where Escalion had been lying all night.
“…….”
There was now a little over two months left in my married life with him.
And this fact made Belladonna’s heart also tighten more and more painfully.
‘Where does this unknown nervousness come from?’
At first, I thought it was just that i didn’t want to return to the Pope’s side.
I don’t want to remain silent again, be stuck in the confessional, and become a trash can of people’s emotions.
I don’t want to be put in a situation where I have no choice but to raise the corners of my mouth and make a beautiful smile even though I don’t understand it.
But now……
I didn’t have the courage to face Escalion’s disappointed eyes.
‘He said he would not forgive those who betrayed him.’
Can he forgive his wife for trying to stab him in the back with the Pope?
Belladonna slowly shook her head.
Probably not.
Belladonna’s expression distorted and she bit her lower lip.
She squeezed her hand holding her letter and crumpled it.
It felt like her heart was being crumpled even more than the crumpled letter paper.
* * *
“……So, this is a list of materials that need repairs this year.”
Wolff held up a thick report.
Belladonna accepted it with an awkward smile.
“The windows in the Living Room aren’t old, but considering the number of guests we will have in the future, I think it would be a good idea to replace them. The rest was written based on feedback from Servants.”
The window in the living room, the stair handle going up to the 4th floor, the chandelier in the empty room on the 3rd floor, and even the old oven in the kitchen…..
There seemed to be more areas that needed fixing than I thought.
As Belladonna went through her list, she began to think about anything she thought needed repairs.
Seeing that there are a lot of places that need repairs here and there, it seems that the castle is older than I thought…..
“Oh, and the lumber you checked last time was paid for through the carpenter we have been dealing with. Delivery of wood will take place slowly over the course of two months.”
Belladonna nodded.
Wolff opened the lumber ledger he had previously shown us once again.
“I’ve pasted the receipt at the bottom of this. After you read it, if there are no problems, you can sign here.”
Bella Donna picked up her pen without thinking.
She signed where Wolff pointed and was about to turn to another ledger when something caught her eye at the top of the same page.
‘……What? I think something has changed?’
“If you’ve done everything, give me…….”
Wolff stretched out her hand, but Belladonna gently pushed back the ledger she was holding. I felt like checking it one more time.
Wolff nodded his head without much doubt and turned around to start shuffling through other documents.
Belladonna began to carefully look at the ledger that Wolff had opened..
Even Bella, who was reading the numbers in the ledger with her eyes narrowed, could easily tell what had changed.
“…….”
doesn’t exist.
The area where a certain amount of lumber heading to Scarlett Layton’s address had been written was completely erased, as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.
What? Why did that woman’s address disappear?
Belladonna frowned unconsciously and looked down at the ledger Wolff was holding.
“lady? Why are you doing this? is there something wrong with the ledger?”
Wolff across from me asked back with a puzzled look on his face.
Belladonna quickly straightened her frown and shook her head with her usual smile.
As she signed where Wolff had pointed, she thought deeply.
‘There is no way I would have stopped sending lumber overnight… …Did Escalion realize that I knew of her existence?’
So, did he order Wolff to erase all records related to Scarlett?
Belladonna frowned.
Perhaps Hazel had told him everything that had happened at the time.
•❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Esraa• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •
If you want to support the translation and the translator, you can buy a coffee~
