I Failed to Divorce My Husband

As they prepared for the picnic and headed together towards the garden, Julia arrived just in time. She had sent a letter in advance that morning, letting them know that she planned to have a picnic with the children today.

Today, Owen was also there by Julia’s side.

Owen had been serving as her aide since she began learning the business of the earl’s household.

It turned out he was adept at calculations and knowledgeable about business matters, which had been a great help to Julia.

“Welcome. Are you sure it wasn’t too much trouble to come out again today?”

“I like coming here under the pretext of the kids. Actually, these days there are so many people nagging me that it’s tough.”

Julia exaggerated a frown. It was more playful whining than actual distress.

“Surely you’re not talking about me?”

Owen, who had been quietly holding his place, interjected with a question.

“Wow, struck a nerve, have I?”

“Not at all.”

Suddenly, a playful argument broke out between Julia and Owen.

Erin watched the two bickering with satisfaction and quietly moved to her seat. Despite their squabbling, it was clear that Julia relied a lot on Owen.

‘I wonder if there might be more to it than that.’

For the past few years, the two had been as close as siblings. Only time would tell what the future held. They could continue to rely on each other as family, or perhaps something more might develop.

Whichever the case, Erin was satisfied that Julia had a reliable person by her side.

After spending some time with Aiden in their place, Erin looked towards the children playing in the garden and Julia and Owen, who were still playfully arguing on one side, and said, “Shall we all gather and have lunch now?”

At Erin’s call, everyone scattered around the garden gathered to where Erin was sitting. It was when they started pulling out sandwiches and fruits from the basket they had put together.

“Today, the children wanted to try making sandwiches themselves, so we also prepared some separately.”

“Oh, really? I’m so excited.”

“I made the best one!”

“I put a lot of tomatoes in mine.”

As Julia’s eyes sparkled with excitement looking at the children, they confidently exclaimed one by one.

“What kind of sandwich did Leo and Maylin make?”

“My sandwich is the biggest one! I put in five pieces of meat!”

Maylin said triumphantly. True to her word, there was a particularly thick sandwich among them.

“I… made a rabbit sandwich.”

Leo pointed out a uniquely shaped sandwich among those that were square or triangular.

All of them were sandwiches that captured the children’s individual personalities well.

When Erin was handing out the sandwiches the children had made to each of their plates, one of the employees, who had been keeping a reasonable distance, approached.

“Your Grace, Madam. A guest has arrived.”

“A guest?”

Erin looked at Aiden.

“Did we have a guest scheduled to come today?”

“No. We didn’t have any appointments today.”

Could it be a guest who has come unexpectedly?

“Who is it?”

When Erin asked, the employee was about to answer. But before they could, a familiar voice was heard. The voice grew clearer and its owner revealed themselves.

“What’s this, are you having a picnic?”

It was a bright and cheerful voice. But the owner of that voice was a face that shouldn’t be here.

“Your Majesty?”

Erin uttered in a daze. The reason was that the unexpected guest who suddenly appeared was none other than Fedrerick and Claire, who were supposed to be at the royal palace. Why were these two here without any prior contact?

The only ones who were not flustered by the situation were the children who did not recognize the Emperor and the Empress.

“The Lienster family’s garden is a nice spot for picnics. No need to go far to enjoy the atmosphere.”

“What brings you here so suddenly?”

Erin asked, bewildered.

“I felt like going out for a long-awaited outing and thought of this place. So here we are. Seems like we chose just the right moment.”

Fedrerick casually waved his hand and spoke.

“We’re not interrupting, are we?”

Claire, who accompanied him, said with a somewhat sheepish smile.

No, that’s not it… However, no matter the circumstances, the emperor and empress’s sudden visit made it difficult to remain unperturbed. Aiden stepped forward and asked.

“Does the royal palace know the two of you are here?”

“They will find out soon enough.”

That implied they had left without notifying anyone. Erin and Aiden felt dizzy with surprise.

“There should be days like today.”

After Fedrerick became emperor, the two of them had been extremely busy. Knowing how breathless and busy their schedule was, they could somewhat understand their desire to escape.

“Understood. I will inform the royal palace and take the necessary measures.”

Aiden, accepting the situation since it had already happened, momentarily left to address the situation. Meanwhile, Erin invited the two guests to sit down and said.

“We’ve made plenty of sandwiches, so please join us for a meal.”

It was slightly disconcerting, but meeting in such a casual setting instead of at the palace or for official business was pleasantly rare. As everyone settled down for a cozy chat, Erin noticed Aiden making his return. But someone else was following him.

“Who is that behind you… Oh?”

It was Angelina and Brody arriving together. Not only Erin but everyone else was surprised and stood up.

“How did you two… Did you contact us following His Majesty?”

“No. We just came on a whim too.”

“Then how did you arrive just at the right……?”

Erin’s gaze towards Aiden was full of questions about the situation. The children, too, continued to look on with curiosity as more people joined.

“They said they just stopped by and were at the front door, so I brought them along.”

Aiden shrugged, indicating even he didn’t fully understand what was happening.

“It’s curious for us, too. Brody and I came on a whim, but it seems like everyone had the same idea.”

“That’s right. What a day this is. We didn’t plan it, and yet everyone came together like this.”

Erin exclaimed in amazement at Angelina’s words. What she thought would be an ordinary picnic was unfolding into something unexpectedly delightful.

“We brought bread that Brody made himself.”

Angelina confidently pointed to the basket Brody was carrying, and the reaction was immediate.

“Wow! It’s bread made by Uncle Brody!”

The children were the first to cheer in excitement. Brody’s bread was extremely popular among them. His bread was welcomed anywhere, in fact, but it was especially popular where there were many children.

Initially, they had prepared for a small picnic among the children at the Lienster household, but before they knew it, a crowd had gathered.

Watching Leo and Maylin enjoy their sandwiches, Erin looked back at Aiden and spoke up.

“It’s been a while since it’s been this bustling, right?”

Over the past few years, everyone had been busy with their daily routines. They met during official banquets and events to exchange pleasantries, but those were just brief encounters.

Apart from that, even if they tried to meet up, coordinating everyone’s schedules proved difficult, and unexpected things often came up.

“It would have been better if Mother and Father were here.”

“Yeah, they’ll be sad when they hear about it in a letter later.”

“Since it’s hard for us to get together like this, should we take a family portrait? It would be nice to give as a gift later, wouldn’t it?”

Erin spoke with sparkling eyes, clearly having already made up her mind.

“Oh, that’s a good idea? Since opportunities like this are rare, it would be nice to keep a memento.”

In the midst of the noise, Fedrerick interjected, having overheard Erin. Then, one by one, the others began to react.

“I think that’s a great idea too. It will be a memorable thing for the kids as well.”

“It would be a good memory for us too.”

Angela agreed with Julia’s words. Everyone liked and agreed with Erin’s suggestion.

“Then, since it’s been brought up, shall we call a painter?”

Erin signaled a servant to prepare for someone to draw a family portrait. They were just continuing the picnic when it happened.

The visit of unexpected guests was not over yet.
“We should have contacted you before coming. We came without notice to surprise you.”

“Indeed. We didn’t expect everyone to be gathered here.”

The voice Erin loved very much reached them. It seemed impossible that they were here. While they couldn’t believe it yet heard the voice distinctly, they turned their heads.

Logan and Isabella were walking towards them.
“How did the two of you come here?”

Erin and Aiden quickly stood up and approached them. Leo and Maylin also ran, shouting, “Grandma!” “Grandpa!”

“It’s been a while. Our lovely kids. Have you been well?”

“Yes! We’ve been good! And we missed you so much!”

“Haha. Really? We missed you a lot too. That’s why we came like this.”

Isabella and Maylin overflowed with affection for each other.

It was at that moment. Leo, who was in Logan’s arms, tugged at his shirt collar and whispered.

“Grandpa. I missed you very, very much too.”

Upon hearing Leo’s confession, a bright smile spread across Logan’s face. He happily pressed a kiss on Leo’s cheek.

The two of them were completely smitten with Leo and Maylin. Just looking at them brought smiles to their faces, and any word from the children seemed to tug at their hearts.

“How did you get here? Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be coming until next year?”

“We had planned to, but we just kept wanting to see you. We had some errands to do in another domain, so on the way back, we ended up coming here.”

The domain Logan and Isabella stopped by was actually further away from the estate, but instead of going straight back, they came to the estate, taking a detour.

Erin welcomed them more happily than ever.

“You really came at the perfect time. Thanks to you, Mom and Dad can also be included in the family portrait!”

Erin decided. Today, she would hang the painted portrait in the most visible spot in the hallway.

Soon, the Lienster family’s exclusive painter arrived and painted a picture of everyone gathered together. Erin looked at the sight of everyone sitting together and was lost in thought.

Everyday life seems mostly similar, yet moments like today act as unexpected gifts. These moments will stack up one by one and complete our radiant days.

That was enough. With that, we were more than happy.

***

In later years, the hallways of the Lienster house were adorned with several similar paintings.

All with the same background, the same people.

The only thing that changed was the faces of the people in the paintings. As the series of paintings continued, the gradually aging figures were naturally revealed within them.

The child became an adult, the adult reached middle age, and the middle-aged grew old, but the people in the paintings were all smiling happily.

—————————
TRANSLATORS NOTE:

Thank you everyone for reading this novel. We’ve finally finished the novel 😊 This novel was so amazing.

I hope I did well I making you all happy and my translation was good enough. Thank you again everyone 💗