Villainous Husband

Chapter 44.1

Chapter 44 – Part 1

Just thinking about that day still sent chills down my spine.

In front of the cold and furious Raniero, I was out of my mind. Thinking that I might really die, I was desperate.

'He's a really scary man.'

I trembled.

There was no way he could be so angry just because I was not at the Empress Palace. For him, I was just a little game that was fun to fool around with. There must be other reasons for his anger. Perhaps, he caught me meeting Eden. Nonetheless, even if I thought about it that way, questions still remain.

'Still, why...?'

Why would he be so angry that I met Eden? As I kept pondering, I could only come up with one possibility.

'No way... Did he notice that he and I were up to something?'

I didn't even have a proper plan for what I was doing. If that were the case, it would be safe to say that Raniero's intuition was more like a beast than I thought.

'...No. There's no context or connection between Eden and me.'

There was no way he would know that Eden and I shared the characteristics of being a book-transmigrating person. Perhaps, if we were found to be transmigators, it would no longer be a matter of petty encounters.

The more I thought about it, the more my head hurt. While Eden, who had Cha Soo-hyun's soul inside, seemed like a person who likes to analyze, I am not. I hate to study or analyze. Still, studying the bow and social circles had to be forced if I wanted to live.

I stopped my thoughts.

It was because the solution was simple, even without thinking deeply about the cause of Raniero's anger.

...First, do not go out of sight of the Emperor recklessly.

...Second, I do not meet with Eden.

After all, the only time he and I would be able to have meaningful conversations again would be at the time of subjugating the beast. By then, I would have completed my library tours.

'I have to follow the beast's subjugation no matter what.'

It would be difficult to obtain information on black magic or magic in the Temple of Tunia. In the first place, this worldview was not accessible to magic or witchcraft. Like other fantasy novels, large-scale magic was not even dreamed of, and small-scale curses were depicted.

Eden seems to think we were brought here by someone's scheme, though the more I thought about it, the more skeptical I became. Such a spell must be complicated, but who the hell would cast it? And, for what purpose...?

'...I've been thinking too much again.'

Let's leave that reasoning to Eden, because the most important thing for me right now is not to offend Raniero.

'I'm worried. If I say I followed the subjugation, wouldn't he be angry because I made a mistake again?

I took a deep breath.

After that, if nothing else happened, I only repeated the path of going to the Empress Palace's library. And, when I was away from the library, I also left a short note stating that I was certainly going to the library.

Meanwhile, I treated Eden as if he had never existed.

However, before the delegation of the Temple of Tunia left, there was an accidental encounter with the paladins gathered in the garden of the Imperial Palace. Coincidentally, I was with Raniero, and Eden was there among the paladins.

I turned a blind eye to him with all my heart. Thankfully, Eden was also quite tactful.

"You must be familiar with the Imperial Palace's garden by now."

As the Empress, I gave out a ceremonial greeting while I smiled mechanically, Eden kept his mouth shut.

'Nice! You keep pretending that you don't care about me.'

It was another paladin, who seemed to be the oldest, who answered me.

"It's so beautiful. It's fresh every time I see it."

Even though his answer was rather mellow, the other paladins looked a little uncomfortable.

It was fully understood.

I heard that the people of the paladins were injured a lot in the friendship sparring. In addition, even the Knights Commander of Actilus tried to step on the fallen paladin with a horse's hoof. Contrary to me, who was stunned and thought, 'What if someone dies?', the young maids who told me the story were really excited.

...As expected, the national characters of this country.

I decided to be considerate of the paladins. This meant that I decided to leave this place as soon as possible.

However, Raniero did not move.

"Your Majesty."

I called him carefully.

"Hmm?"

He responded kindly. It was a bonus that he also made eye contact with me and smiled.

'...What is this?'

It felt like someone was sliding ice on my spine. Until now, my relationship with His Majesty has been more frightening than sweet. Despite that, I could not dispute him pretending to be close. I was so embarrassed that my face flushed red.

"I-I'm leaving now."

'These paladins look uncomfortable, too.'

However, the answer that came back to me was a spectacle.