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Chapter 20. The Fantasia Of Love And Jealousy (4)
It wasn’t until after lunch that day when Chloe came out of her unconsciousness. Her shivering body thoroughly hurt.
“Ugh.”
She turned her head and searched for Abel. Yesterday was a huge shock, but he must have been very shocked that she couldn’t get up today.
There was a blond-haired person lying on the left side of Chloe’s misty vision. He was sleeping with only his head resting on the bed, which seemed quite uncomfortable. She reached out and stroked his fine hair affectionately.
“Abel, why are you sleeping in such an uncomfortable position?”
She spoke as if nothing had happened. It was best not to let the child get anxious until her husband came. The child tossed and turned as if he was awoken by his mother’s voice.
“Huh…?”
But the hand that swept his bangs back was not those of a child. The long fingers, blue veins, and calluses here and there were the hands of a grown man.
The eyes that met hers were definitely green. Chloe was speechless at the sight of green eyes that captured her heart. It was her favorite color.
It was her husband.
“My Lady, are you feeling better now?”
Gerard asked, making eye contact with Chloe. Chloe scanned her husband’s face as he approached. It was her husband, giving her such a soft and affectionate look.
But then… Did she just stroke her husband’s hair?
She stuttered without being able to muster up a response. Gerard hurriedly lifted his hand and put it on Chloe’s forehead.
“Phew.”
Chloe’s fever had reduced significantly from dawn. Gerard sighed softly. The medicine he fed his sleeping wife must have worked.
Judging by her response, it was clear that she didn’t remember what happened that morning. Gerard was inwardly relieved. He didn’t have the courage to ask again if she really hated him… It was better this way.
“Oh? When did you arrive? Was I asleep all day?”
Chloe was confused when her husband, whom she thought would arrive in the evening, sat in front of her. Did she sleep for that long?
“No, my Lady. I came a bit early because I heard you were in trouble.”
“Early? When?”
Even if he had just arrived, it still meant that he came earlier than expected. However, if he came even earlier, she wondered what time he arrived. Chloe frowned.
“I arrived at dawn this morning.”
Chloe was puzzled by her husband, who spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal. Arriving at dawn that morning meant he had been riding all night long.
‘Does he know how dangerous it is to ride at night?! On top of that, the terrain in the North is rough. This man is really…’
“Oh, no, don’t you know how dangerous it is to ride a horse at night?”
“…”
“What if you got hurt? You really…”
“Can you let it slide this time, my Lady? I came as carefully as I could.”
Gerard smiled innocently even under Chloe’s glare. Actually, he couldn’t help but smile. When he heard the news yesterday, he felt like his world was collapsing.
However, when he saw his nagging wife, it felt as if they had returned to their usual routine.
“…Don’t do that again, I mean it.”
Chloe couldn’t say anything else to her smiling husband. Anyway, knowing he ran all night to come here because he was worried undoubtedly put her in a good mood.
“By the way, aren’t you hungry? I’ll ask them to serve food that you can easily swallow.”
Gerard pulled the bell rope and called an Anata maid. Why didn’t he call Jane…? Now that she thought about it, where did Abel go?
“Honey, where is Abel?”
Chloe asked after Gerard returned to her side.
“He was glued to your side all morning, but he’s currently downstairs eating with Jane.”
In fact, he had just sent Abel away to be comforted so that he could heal well, even though the child didn’t want to be separated from his mother.
“Oh, so he’s eating. What about you?”
“I was waiting for you to wake up so we could eat together.”
“Did you even know when I was going to wake up?”
“Just because I skipped a meal doesn’t mean I’m going to die.”
Gerard said thoughtlessly. She wondered if he was the same man who told Chloe to eat at least one spoonful of food even if she was sick.
At that moment, something flashed through Chloe’s mind.
“…Did you greet the Grand Duke and his wife?”
Chloe asked while examining Gerard’s expression. She forgot that she lied to her husband to come here.
She bit her lip impatiently. It was yesterday that she decided to face him, whether the result would be good or bad. But when she saw her husband’s face, the determination from yesterday disappeared and she was afraid her lies would be revealed.
“I greeted the Grand Duke briefly in the morning. I haven’t been able to spare time to visit Leila because I’ve been beside you all this time. Maybe I’ll see her at dinner tonight.”
“Did you tell the Duke about the dream?”
Chloe asked without attempting to conceal her anxiety.
‘Why is she so worried about it?’
Gerard wondered, but he let it slide.
“No I didn’t because I wasn’t sure how much you have talked with them about it.”
‘Phew.’
Chloe sighed inwardly. Things didn’t seem to have gotten worse, as she assumed.
“About my dream… Can you not tell the Duke and Leila about it, please?”
Chloe spoke too directly, perhaps because she was relieved. Gerard naturally couldn’t help but wonder.
‘She hasn’t told the Anata couple about her dream? Why?’
His wife only came to the North to tell Leila about her dream in the first place.
Rather, her husband… Leila, who believed Chloe’s precognitive dreams as 100% correct, couldn’t just ignore his wife’s words.
Leila would have to persuade Frederick if she wanted him to believe it.
His wife only had to tell the precognitive dream to Leila. Yet she still hadn’t told them about her dream? He thought the situation was contradictory.
Gerard stiffened his face at the somewhat suspicious atmosphere. He felt as if his wife was hiding something from him.
‘Did she really come to the North because of Leila?’
At that moment, the rumor from high society he had learned before he left the Capital came to mind.
-It’s…
-I’ll be fine, so tell me.
-Ehem. There are rumors circulating in high society that the Marchioness went up to the North alone because she couldn’t forget her first love. The reason why the Knight Commander of Anata Order didn’t get married was because he couldn’t forget the Marchioness…
The person who told him about the rumor hesitated because he was involved, and they felt sorry for him. There was a place in high society that created embarrassing and dirty rumors by gathering the existing facts and making up things that never happened.
Gerard had vowed that he would deal with those who dared to spread rumors about his wife when they returned.
Yes, it was Gerard who dismissed it as a false rumor all this time. However, what his wife said and did were increasing his anxiety.
‘If she didn’t come to the North for Leila… Then… What brought her to the North? Why would Chloe lie to me?’
The scene he saw in his recent dream bothered him. It was the face of his wife who smiled shyly at a man other than him. Gerard shook his head to shake off the unpleasant image.
However, it disappeared only after planting the seeds of jealousy in the corner of his heart.
***
In the end, Chloe couldn’t attend dinner that evening. Having eaten an early dinner, she took medicine and went to sleep again.
Of course, she didn’t forget to deliver a small note to Leila through Jane before going to bed. The content of the note was asking her to not say anything about the letters to Gerard. Chloe got a reply that she didn’t have to worry about it.
Gerard watched his wife fall asleep, and proceeded to attend dinner with Abel. Although he wanted to stay with his wife for a bit longer, he couldn’t miss the dinner because he hadn’t formally greeted the Anata family yet.
“Huh? Are you a prince?”
“What, Renee?”
That’s what Rennesia said when she saw Gerard for the first time. Frederick’s eyes turned round at her words. Prince? This sly man, a prince?
“Haha, oh yes. Gerard resembles the prince in Renee’s fairy tale book.”
Leila laughed as if it was too funny. It was because the prince in the fairy tale book [The Tall-Tale Teller Princess and the Mute Prince], which Renee was currently into these days, resembled Gerard closely.
Actually, in terms of hair and eye color, the prince looked more like Abel, but in Renee’s eyes, Gerard, who was an adult, looked more like a prince.
“Oh, she’s being shy.”
Leila pinched her daughter’s cheek because the little girl was so cute. Renee’s cheeks became beet red.
“Pleased to meet you, the Eternal Lady of the North. I’m Gerard Blanchett. It’s an honor to be referred to as a prince.”
Gerard greeted the child with a smile. There was no reason not to smile. It was satisfying to see Frederick grab Renee hurriedly and glare at him.
‘So he knows how to make that kind of expression as well.’
“He’s not a prince. He’s my father.”
Gerard didn’t see his son puffing out his chest because he was too busy observing Frederick’s offended expression.
“No, he… looks more like a knight!”
Noah, who sat beside him, talked about the character in his favorite fairy tale book, [Evan’s Adventure].
‘Oh, boy.’
Frederick snorted when even his reliable son betrayed him.
Noah had never called him a ‘knight’ even though he was the one who read the book to his son every night. The kid didn’t even know how to read yet, that’s why he always tried to read it for him, and the title wasn’t given to him?
For the time being, Noah was forbidden from listening to [Evan’s Adventure].