Chapter 28
Husband is Possessed 28
Being alone in a dark, empty place meant there were no words to condemn him, no violence to inflict pain.
So it should have been his favorite time, but being alone was even scarier and more depressing.
Curled up in a corner, he held back his tears and read a book. He read it aloud.
Slowly and clearly.
His tutor had said that if he read like this, he would eventually be able to speak well.
He prayed and tried hard for the day he could speak fluently to come quickly.
Wiping away the tears streaming down his face with his wet sleeve, he spoke in his own terrible voice that he didn't want to hear.
Then one day.
For some reason, his father called him to the dinner table.
Was he really going to eat with him?
Was he suddenly going to hit him?
Anxious, Alex tried to eat his soup.
Having dinner with his father was unbelievably frightening, but also good.
Just being with him made him feel warm.
Was this what it felt like to have a father?
His father, who had been silently clattering his silverware, suddenly spoke in a deep voice.
"Your table manners are still terrible."
"...I, I'm sor, sorry."
"Actually, there's poison in either my plate or yours."
Unfortunately, Alex understood what he meant.
"One of us has to die for this pain to go away."
In fact, even in his young heart, he didn't want to die.
He was also trying to become the person his father wanted him to be.
He wanted to beg him to wait longer, to tell him that he would become a truly wonderful son.
But suddenly, he felt a burning pain in his throat and vomited what he had eaten.
This wasn't table manners. He would be scolded even more.
Even as he tried to hold it back, he kept gagging.
Even as he fell off the chair, his father's gaze towards him was cold.
It wasn't the poison that was killing him, but that cold look.
"Be born as a better person in your next life."
And immediately after, his mother's scream-like cry burst out.
"...Good heavens, Alex!"
At that moment, the real Alex opened his eyes.
Blinking, he was dazed for a moment, then headed to the mirror.
Judging by the strong sunlight coming in, it seemed like the sun had already risen quite a while ago.
No wonder the dream was so long.
Finding a hand mirror, he reflected his back in the large mirror.
He was sure his body was pure white without any blemishes...
"...!"
But in the middle of his back, there were long scars that he had never seen before.
The colors of each scar were different, as if they had accumulated over a long period.
"...It really wasn't just a simple dream, it was a memory."
Alex was inwardly shocked.
Alex, who had lived with these scars on his back and had been subjected to all kinds of contempt for a long time...
He felt a strange sense of solemnity and wiped his face.
He wondered if he was still struggling somewhere, going through even harsher things than here.
Could Alexis really handle it?
Suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He frowned slightly and brought his hand to his heart.
It was as if Alexis's heart from the dream was engraved on his heart, and it hurt.
He had never had this kind of pain before.
Knock knock.
At the sound of the sudden knock, he was startled and put down the hand mirror.
The door opened slightly, and Luise's face peeked in. After looking around the room, she found him.
As if bringing in the dazzling sunlight, Luise smiled brightly.
"Alex, you're awake. You woke up a bit late today."
"......"
A subtle glow emanated from Luise.
And her sweetly curved eyes and violet eyes.
At that moment, he was at a loss for words for some reason.
It wasn't like he was seeing her for the first time, but Luise especially brightly overwhelmed his vision.
It felt like a ray of light breaking into a dark and painful dream.
Thump.
As if responding to that smile, his chest throbbed and beat.
Why was this happening?
He felt a sense of alienation, as if he had someone else's heart.
\ \ *
While Alex was eating a late breakfast, I was drinking tea in the drawing room.
My mother-in-law started playing the piano again, and I enjoyed her performance while smelling the fragrant black tea.
I couldn't help but admire how she could exude such passion from her slender body every time I saw her playing the piano.
"...Really, what would have happened if I hadn't bought the piano thanks to Alex."
How had she endured those few days without a piano?
She hadn't shown it, but she must have been very upset when she was kicked out of the duke's residence and couldn't play her favorite instrument.
Even when she was at the duke's residence, my mother-in-law played the piano and sang every day.
"...Ah, good."
Of course, the piano wasn't being played for me to listen to.
As I was immersed in the sound of the piano, Eloy suddenly approached me with a soft expression and sat next to me.
Her eyes were sparkling, as if she was about to ask me for something.
"Sister-."
"No."
Before Eloy could even finish calling me, I gently refused, placing my teacup on the coaster in my left hand.
My sister-in-law blinked her eyes with a wronged expression.
"...I haven't even said anything yet?"
"You're going to ask me to go out again, aren't you?"
Eloy couldn't deny it and stared at me with a blank face.
I knew it.
There was no way Eloy, who had been flitting about ballrooms and tea parties almost every day, could get used to this kind of rural life.
My sister-in-law pouted her lips with a sulky expression.
"It's stuffy just being here. I want to go out wearing new clothes..."
"......"
Her eyebrows drooped pitifully.
Why wasn't she getting angry and was tearing up instead?
I felt a little sorry for her.
Well, we had a new carriage now, and it seemed like we could go out more comfortably than last time, so should we go out?
Anyway, I also wanted to travel around the North and get used to it.
"Then shall we go somewhere else this time?"
When I said that after taking another sip of tea, Eloy's face brightened and she nodded her head vigorously.
But my mother-in-law immediately rejected our suggestion.
"I just want to play the piano all day. You two go out and play."
I didn't expect my mother-in-law to go out with us in the first place.
In the end, while we were preparing to go out, I changed into a simple dress.
"I guess it's colder because we came to the North."
This time, we went to a more distant and larger downtown area than the market we had gone to before.
A cold feeling washed over me, and I fastened my coat a little more.
This wasn't really Grand Kalli in the North, but it was quite far north, so it was much colder than the capital.
"That's right. The atmosphere here is somehow barren."
Eloy agreed with my words.
Alex quietly followed beside me.
"Well, there probably isn't a place in the empire that isn't barren these days. People are so short of food that they even pick wildflowers growing on the roadside and sell them..."
"......"
Eloy didn't seem to be interested in the topic and pretended not to hear me.
I also looked around at the people around me and listened to their stories.
I was hoping to hear any news from the capital and the imperial palace.
When I was at the duke's residence, there were so many things I would find out even if I didn't want to, but now it felt like I was completely cut off from society.
'I wonder if they really found Prince Liddit...'
Well, it hadn't been long since Alex traded that information, so it might be too early to expect anything.
Eloy, who was clinging to my arm, seemed to be in a pretty good mood.
She was looking at the hats and accessories proudly displayed in the shop windows, not missing a single one, looking just like a fifteen-year-old.
Suddenly, I thought of my half-siblings at my family's home and wondered how much they had grown.
But I soon realized that it was useless and shook my head.
Just then, a pretty decent-looking confectionery caught my eye.
"Shall we go in there for a bit, Alex? You too, Eloy."
Alex nodded at my question, and Eloy nodded even more vigorously.
We went into the confectionery and drank refreshing lemonade.
But a problem arose on the way home.
"Well, well, who do we have here."
