Divorce Manual

Chapter 118

"There were a few complaints, but Ferdinand seems to have taken care of them well."

"Uh."

At Ledin's words, Charles glances up the stairs and taps the floor with his toes, nodding.

"Even if Cadensha wasn't an intermediate monster, they have no choice but to help because their lives are at stake anyway."

"...I guess so."

"Since that day, there has been no other movement on His Majesty Kyle's side. We will keep an eye on him."

"Uh."

"The only thing I worry about is—"

"Yes, I'll take care of it."

Thinking that it must be the end of the conversation, Charles gives an absurd answer and nods his head. In short, he's not been able to concentrate on the conversation with Ledin from the beginning.

Ledin looks at him with a bewildered expression as if he couldn't believe that Charles has not been listening to him.

"Excuse me, Your Excellency."

At Ledin's call, Charles, who is looking at the top of the stairs, slowly turns his head around after a beat.

"Oh, right. What—"

Perhaps because he sees Charles trying to erase his silly expression by wiping his lips with his hand, Ledin keeps his mouth shut.

"No, nothing."

"As expected, Ledin, you still have a long way to go."

Edgar stands in front of the two, taking one step, no, two or three steps without notice.

"You are not qualified as his closest aide, who must be able to read his heart as well as his hands and feet."

"What?"

"You should see where his eyes are going to."

Edgar turns his upper body, stretches out his hands, and points to the top of the stairs.

"What day is it today? It's the eve of the festival, and it's the first date with his wife, so he can't hear your words—"

"Her Grace is coming down."

Coincidentally, at Ergel's shrill voice that cuts through Edgar's words exquisitely, Charles pushes Edgar's face away with his arm and steps forward.

"Ah, sir!"

Then, Ledin pushes Edgar on the back of his head and follows Charles.

"Your Excellency!"

"Shh..."

As if to prevent backlash on Edgar, Ledin covers his mouth with his hand and pushes him to the back. Abella, who basks in the afternoon sunset light coming in from the end of the arched stairs, slowly stands at the end of the stairs.

"Wow."

At the exclamation that broke out from Edgar's mouth, Ledin also opens his mouth with a blank expression as if affirming what Edgar said.

It's worth noting that Abella, with her long blonde hair in a red dress, which is a symbol of the women attending the eve festival, looks beautiful to anyone who's looking at her.

"Has she always been that beautiful?"

Edgar rubs his eyes with his fist and looks up at the stairs. Curtis, who is standing by the door, coughs a little.

"Ah."

Then, Ledin and Edgar shut their mouths and turn their heads in embarrassment.

Seeing them like that, Curtis approaches Charles from behind.

"Uh."

Charles walks to the end of the stairs as if he has belatedly awakened and holds out his hand.

"Wife."

"It's not even a banquet."

Abella smiles, placing her hand in his and looks at him.

Thump, thump-

"......"

It's not even been a day or two.

Everywhere her blue eyes touch, he takes a deep breath, feeling a bit of excitement.

Even the place that her fingertips touch can't be calm. It just seems to heat up.

I'm going crazy.

With a pounding heart and a body that seemed to burn unknowingly, Charles takes another deep breath and chews the tender flesh in his mouth.

To be honest, he's the one who didn't have much emotion when he saw her dressed up before.

I don't know how this will sound, but there have been more beautiful women than Abella in my life.

He had never had such an emotional reaction for such women.

What about Abella?

Frankly, he thought that he wasn't someone who had interest in women at all, or even a person who knew the feeling of love itself.

That's probably because as far as he remembers, there's never been a case where his heart races or flutters when he sees a woman.

Even the women who took off their clothes, trying to seduce him didn't work.

It was all over then.

He dismissed such feelings as non-existent, as he had never seen the people around him genuinely like or even love someone.

He thought that throwing everything away for the sake of the one he loved only existed in children's books, and he didn't think it existed in reality.

Worse, I thought that the only real thing that could go back and forth between a man and a woman was their desire for each other.

So, there was no hesitation in choosing Abella.

Because it didn't seem like she would ask for the feelings I didn't have.

However, these days...

Rather than Abella, his own emotions have been irritating.

He was indifferent enough that even his mother reprimanded him for not having any emotions at all.

From the moment she talked about divorce, however, he felt his emotions running wild.

Sometimes her words felt like a dagger, and sometimes, it felt like a spring breeze.

Of course, he still doesn't know if this is love, but he doesn't want her to talk about divorce anymore.

I even thought that she was foolish, trying to leave in search of a true, sincere love. I think that the place that suits her best is now by my side.

Just thinking about someone else standing next to Abella, holding her hands, and wrapping his around her waist made Charles angry.

It's not even clear who the person is.

That's very funny.

"Whoa—"

"Your Grace?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking about?"

Abella tilts her head slightly towards him, who is holding her hand without saying anything.

"Nothing."

Then, Charles shakes his head and matches her stride.

"Nothing at all."