Chapter 20

Herace faltered at her husband’s relaxed attitude and looked into his eyes. Ezekiel urged her to speak with a gesture of his chin.

Herace lowered her eyelids and tried to answer as calmly as possible. However, her tears did not go away and her words were filled with sorrow.

“Y-You don’t love me anymore. You don’t care about me and you don’t treat me the way you used to…So if it’s going to be uncomfortable for you, I’d rather just stop…”

“…..”

“…I think it’s right for me to leave. It’ll be easier for you. I’m no help to you anyway.”

“…..”

“I’ll leave quietly. I don’t want anything. Just enough to leave with Erzen… If you give me that much money, then I can do it on my own… Ah!”

As Herace continued to speak, Ezekiel’s expression gradually hardened. Eventually, he grabbed his wife’s chin again. He pulled his wife’s face closer and spoke in a low tone.

“……Yes, that’s right. I can’t take care of you the way I used to.”

“Ah….”

“As you said, my g*dd*mn heart has changed. But, Herace, it seems you are misunderstanding something… When did I allow you to leave?”

“…..”

“………Or were you planning to go to your child’s father with that as an excuse?”

He flipped the story around. Now she was really confused.

Was he framing her for the sake of his woman and child? Or did he really believe she cheated on him? Did he? Either way, Herace was suffocating and losing her mind.

“No, I’m telling you that’s not true…”

I hate you! I hate you so much!

Herace raised her nails. Shaking her head as he held her, she scratched the hand that was holding her face. There were red streaks on the back of her man’s hand, and drops of blood were dripping.

Still, Ezekiel did not hesitate. He threw Herace to the side. Herace collapsed. Before she could lift her head and raise her body, Ezekiel reached out to her. Blood was dripping from the back of his hand, which he placed on his wife’s cheek.

“Herace, as long as you’re beautiful, I will not abandon you. Why would I easily give up on you when I brought you here at such a high price? There’s still a lot to use.”

[T/N: Not that she, as a person, was useful. It was more like her body.]

She was scared of Ezekiel. He didn’t care for her in the slightest, as he only thought to use her as a mere object for his lust.

“I think you’re complaining because my attitude was not as good as it was in the past, but don’t get me wrong. Whether I change or not, it has nothing to do with you. Whether I care for you, love you, or hate you, you will stay here unless I say otherwise.”

“I’m….”

“Of course, even if you are cheating. You can’t go anywhere with my name. Do you understand?”

She couldn’t speak. Herace has now even given up on denying it.

An uncontrollable anger erupted from Ezekiel’s eyes as she drooped and shed tears. He placed his hand on the back of his wife’s head and grabbed hold of her long hair and gripped it tightly.

“Ahh…!”

“……Why do you look like that? Do you feel wronged?”

The unresponsive wife annoyed him. If she had resisted, he wouldn’t have been so angry.

His wife was always like this. Even when he brought the mistress and openly ignored her, she always had a pitiful face. Even after the excessive remarks he made, she only cried.

[T/N: This guy… (╯ ͡* ● ͡*)╯┻━┻ ]

Ezekiel thought of that day every time Herace was like this, he became out of breath. Nausea came up and his head seemed to keep spinning.

“There is no need to be sad. It seems you forgot again, but you were a reward given to me. You probably thought you always had the freedom to do anything… But you shouldn’t be mistaken.”

“Huu… “

“At that time, I said that if you want to maintain a decent position, you should try your best. Why would you do that?”

His mouth was talking nonstop, but the scene from that day kept running through his mind. The more he thought of his smiling wife, the more crumpled his face became. Looking at it, the reason was out of control.

Why do you always look like this in front of me? Why don’t you look at me?

“You must have thought you needed to be careful because you could be kicked out, but that’s a big misconception. That meant that your situation could change depending on how I felt.”

“…..”

“If you’re going to be this st*pid I’m going to make you a mistress, or even a slave. However, there is no way that you, Herace, will leave this castle voluntarily. So if you say that you want to end things one more time, I’ll really send you and your bastard as slaves then.”

“D-Don’t do that. I’ll…”

When he made the child hostage, Herace’s eyes widened. She put her hand on her chest as her eyes tembled. Ezekiel, noticing the opponent’s weakness, wickedly raised his lips.

“Don’t just listen and make sure to remember it clearly. If you go against my will… You will fall straight into slavery. After that, your son, well I don’t care, I’ll sell him to a suitable place… ”

There was no time to worry about the situation she was in right now. Herace did not even dare to speak against the rude remark that he was selling their son. Her eyes, terrified, looked at her husband as if begging.

“…Herace, you’d be better off locked up in my bedroom. Seriously, this is all I’m going to get from you, so there’s nothing wrong with doing it right now. How about it? Do you really want to do that?”

[T/N: He was referring to her wanting to leave.]

Herace shook her head harshly. Like a creature begging him not to punish her as if he were a god.

Ezekiel was very pleased with his wife. He rolled up his wife’s dress this time.

When her pale skin was exposed, his mind calmed down strangely quickly. He spoke more slowly than before.

“No? Then you know what to do, do it right. Because this once is enough for you to run wild without understanding your situation.”

Herace swallowed a cry and nodded slowly. Ezekiel kissed her lightly as if he was giving her a prize, then lifted her up on top of him. Herace, who immediately looked down at her husband, gazed at him with a puzzled face and stared at the reddened corners of his eyes.

“…If you understand, you should try to show affection to me first. Even a lamb trembles and behaves well. Make me feel a little bit better now.”

Herace’s body hardened in an instant at her husband’s humiliating command. She somehow reached out her trembling hand and placed it on her husband’s chest.

“How dare you say things like quitting or leaving me? I feel disturbed. It’s crazy.”

Ezekiel’s voice became drowsy as her slender fingers touched him, leaving him tantalized. However, the words he spit out were still poisonous, and in the end, Herace burst into tears again.

The hand that had barely touched him pulled back. Herace wiped away her tears, as she remembered the words that she had done something wrong. Her husband’s words were so frightening. Her hands were trembling because she was really afraid he would do it.

Ezekiel, who looked at his wife, took a long sigh and clicked his tongue. He said as he dragged her little hand, covered in tears, back to him.

“……My wife is really a pain.”

**********

The remaining heat in the room was thick. However, the heat was unpleasant rather than warm, and the atmosphere in the room was dark.

“From now on, in the evening, you’ll find me first. If I have work, I’ll send someone to inform you that you don’t need to come.”

Ezekiel stood up and said, fixing his shirt. Unlike Herace, he now looked presentable.

Herace, who had been sagging helplessly, nodded her head slightly. He must have seen her feeble movements, Ezekiel sat back on the bed, dissatisfied with his wife’s attitude.

Ezekiel reached out and placed a hand on his wife’s exposed shoulder. His large, slightly open hands were warm, but Herace shrinked against her husband’s touch. Ezekiel frowned upon seeing his wife shuddering. He softly murmured.

“Harace, you have to answer properly.”

“…….Yes.”

There was no hope in her hoarse voice. After answering, Ezekiel removed his hand when he saw his wife coughing a couple of times.

“Then take a rest.”

Harsh footsteps were heard, and then the sound of a door opening and closing. Herace, who had presumed that Ezekiel had left, curled up in a ball, releasing the pent up emotions she had been holding back.

“No, I’m leaving. I’m going to leave… hic.”

**********

“What did my wife ask you today?”

“They were no different than usual. She asked me how Master Erzen was, and the rest of the questions were… ah!”

The doctor bowed deeply as he answered, and then straightened his back as if he had remembered something. Ezekiel, who was sitting in front of him, was looking at the papers with an expressionless face, then stopped his pen and raised his head. The doctor swallowed and continued as he stared at him.

“…The Madam asked me when she could start going out. She said she wanted to take the Young Master to Lake Aunue.”

“So what did you say?”

“The Young Master is still weak so a short walk is more appropriate.”

She probably was depressed again when she was told that the child was weak.

Ezekiel recalled his wife who would be focusing on caring for the child. Her blue eyes would be staring at the child, and her small hands would move, feeling pity for the child. Her small mouth will constantly be saying, ‘I’m sorry’. Or ‘I love you’. Words like that.

His mood plummeted in an instant. When he put too much strength in the hand holding the pen, a popping sound was heard. The doctor shivered and bowed his head. Ezekiel motioned for him to get out in annoyance.

Left alone, Ezekiel stood by the window and looked out. Lake Aunue…… It was a place that made his wife’s eyes shine just by looking at it.

‘It’s been quite a while since we went together…’

Come to think of it, they haven’t been together for quite some time.

Until a year ago, they stopped by the lake almost every week unless the weather was very bad. Herace was afraid of the deep lake, but liked it, so she would rest her head on his shoulder and watch the lake for hours.

Of course, Ezekiel’s eyes couldn’t appreciate the blue lake or anything like that. Instead, he admired his wife’s blue eyes that resembled the lake.

‘I want to go to the lake……’

It was nothing special, but he felt a sense of incongruity for no apparent reason. Ezekiel looked at the lake in the distance, then sat back down and tilted his head. Closing his eyes made him feel better.