If he wanted to earn my trust by framing Aedis in the first place, he should have taken better care of his facial expressions.
As I looked into Gilbertâs eyes that were full of possessiveness and ambition towards me, I felt disgusted.
Aedis, who listened to me without interrupting, immediately reassured me with a normal face.
âDonât worry too much, wife. Iâll find out.â
I glanced at Aedisâs burnt hand.
âBut Aedis, you still have burns on your hands. Iâm worried about you.â
âWell.â
Aedis tilted his head and gently turned his hand over as I watched. Then, his red, swollen fingers returned to normal.
Excuse me?
Were you able to heal in less than a second?
So you could stay dazed even while dipping your fingers in hot tea?
ââ¦Aedis? Iâm asking this just in case. Did you intentionally make it worse?â
Aedis did not deny it.
âIt feels so good that my wife was worried about me. I donât even know.â
Wow, I feel betrayedâ¦
Looking back on how nervous I was today, it was unfair.
Aedis was also apologetic.
âBut my wife was more concerned about me than I thought. You really donât have to worry about me that much.â
I stood up without answering.
I tried to walk to the spiral staircase without hesitation, and Aedisâs questioning voice followed.
âEve? Where are you going?â
âIâm going down.â
âThen togetherâ¦â
What together!
I turned my head with a purpose, and asked without narrowing the distance between us.
âHow do I look now?â
âYou seem angry.â
âThatâs right. Do you know how much I worried about you?â
Aedis sighed and laughed.
âEve, do I look so weak?â
âItâs because Iâm confused between what youâre telling me and what youâre bragging about. Iâm so mad right now. If you donât release me quickly, Iâll go alone.â
Aedis and I both knew that there was no sincere anger in my voice.
So, instead of appeasing me as I really wanted, Aedis drew a seductive smile on his lips.
âWhat can I do, Eve?â
Well, what would be good?
As I recalled Aedisâs treasure troves that I had not yet robbed, I tapped my cheek.
âKiss me please.â
To want one kiss from my husband rather than to hold so many jewels in my hand, I think thatâs enough.
ââ¦..â
More embarrassed than I expected, Aedis suddenly went speechless.
It wasnât just that.
What, what?
âAedis? Are you stepping back now?â
Aedis really took two steps back and avoided my gaze.
âThatâs. A little.â
ââ¦â
He openly expressed his embarrassment.
âGo first. No, Iâll have to take you back though.â
ââ¦â
You donât want to kiss me, so I should go alone, right?
I had a very big wound in my heart.
Itâs good to have me worried, but you donât like kisses?
Aedis belatedly tried to explain to me, who was unable to hide my shock.
âDonât get me wrong. Itâs not that I donât like it.â
âYou donât not like it? Then tell me why. Iâll listen.â
ââ¦â¦â
Aedisâs lips seemed to move a little.
But there was no firm answer.
Look, you canât answer.
You donât like it!
I was beyond angry. I was upset and twisted my lips.
âAedis, we will use our own rooms starting from today.â
Unable to bear it, I finally declared a bomb and turned around.
***
It was early in the morning and I had just finished breakfast.
I stared at Sarah peeling the fruit and Shaula eating the peeled fruit with mad speed.
Shaula came over excitedly when I told her I had slept in a private room.
Unlike me, who couldnât even sleep a wink, Shaulaâs face was shiny.
Jealous. Jealous. Sheâs got a very nice face.
I licked my lips at the cheeky thought.
Just thinking about what happened at dawn still makes me cry.
Eventually, last night, Aedis took me to the bottom of the bell tower.
That was all.
My husband, who turned down my request to kiss, blatantly escorted me out of the tower and didnât apologize.
So I was even more confused about what to do.
No matter what kind of reaction he had shown me, Iâm not even going to think about why Aedis didnât even tell me why.
Uhhhhâ¦
It hurts because I canât sleep because of that thought, and itâs painful because I was rejected by Aedis.
Even in the midst of this, Shaula ate up all the fruit in the basket. It was annoying.
Sarah smiled and spoke to Shaula quite well. She has been very kind to her since Shaula took me away from Gilbert.
After struggling alone, I finally couldnât stand it and asked.
âYou know, Aedis and I. How does it look?â
When asked, Sarah gave a cool answer.
âYou look really good together! Seeing you two care about each other makes me happy too.â
Sarah finished her speech with a stern expression and looked into my eyes.
She seemed to be keeping in mind that I didnât sleep in Aedisâs bedroom, which had become the coupleâs bedroom.
ââ¦â¦â
âLady Shaula? Lady Shaula, please say something too.â
When Sarah tapped her on the elbow, Shaula said, after swallowing the large flesh without chewing it.
âUh huh, I think so too. It seems more like a pathological obsession than cherishing?â
I donât know who is pathologically obsessed with whom.
Me towards Aedis? Or Aedis towards me?
Either way, it was absurd.
Even when we were on good terms, neither me nor Aedis had ever hung up on each other.
â¦â¦But I donât know if weâll be able to return as before.
Shaula laughed as she pondered whether to correct the plausible misunderstanding.
âAt least in the future, he wonât be bothering Your Grace.â
He? Who are you talking about?
I waited for her to continue, but Shaula shrugged her shoulders.
Meaning she didnât want to say anything more, so I asked her something else.
âShaula, wonât you tell me where you were before you went to the quarry?â
Worried that I was going to tell her to stop eating the fruit as she replied, Shaula poured everything she had in her hands into her mouth.
And messing up her pronunciation, she said.
âI didnât go to the desert.â
My eyes widened.
âBut why didnât you answer last time?â
âJust because?â
âGet out.â
âI do it more because itâs fun since Your Grace responds so straightforwardly⦠Iâm sorry! Itâs true that I didnât really go to the desert, but it wasnât because there was nothing wrong with it!â
I gave her eyes full of disbelief and looked as if I wanted to chase her away.
âWhat did you do?â
Shaula hesitated uncomfortably.
âIâve been catching and killing a lotâ¦?â
âA magical beast?â
âA few magical beasts as well as a couple of people.â
ââ¦â¦â
In addition to that?
Shaula scratched her head shyly.
âA bounty request may have been issued.â
Ugh. That might not be bad news.
Hearing those words, I said in a soft voice. âDid you say bounty?â
ââ¦Will you sell me over?â
You understood well.
***
Shaula, who had hunted beasts and killed some people at the same time, insisted that she did it because of her circumstances.
I got Shaula out and took care of the morning work. I also checked the letters sent by Viscountess Ella and the small lord of the new Rosa estate.
Viscountess Ella found Sein Paisley, who was wandering between the Rosa and Lydia estates, and said that she would take charge of his education and life until he reached adulthood.
She also commented that she strongly supported the execution of Robson Paisley, who, she found out, had more criminal charges than Shaula.
Sein, who became the small lord of the Rosa estate, enclosed a report on how to manage the estate in the future, along with the letter.
While I was flipping through the report, the butler looked at me and muttered that he could feel the energy of the Lord.
Whether he knew or not, it was unwelcome.
I was trying with all my might to not think of Aedis while I was working.
I donât know how long it has been since I felt sad.
You can tell me whatâs going on.
Like If my cheeks touch his lips, Iâll be seriously ill or something!