Don't Get Caught By Your Husband! - Chapter 39

“Hey, where do they sell envelopes?”

Escalion, who had returned to the bustling downtown, abruptly stopped a passing man and asked.

The man, who had been cheerfully chatting with his friends as they walked, looked up at Escalion, who was considerably taller than him, and shrank back startled.

“Ah, over there… There’s a store that sells stationery…”

Pointing vaguely behind him, the man quickly ducked back into his group of friends and hurried away.

That man was scared…

Belladonna glanced back at him with sympathetic eyes, then looked up at Escalion standing beside her.

‘Certainly…’

…He did have an incredibly intimidating physique.

Especially when he had this expressionless face, rather than his usual playful grin and mischievous eyes.

Thump. Belladonna reached out her small hand and touched his.

But why did he suddenly stiffen up like this? He was fine just a moment ago. Did something upset him?

“What is it?”

However, as soon as Belladonna’s hand touched his, his face softened.

He returned to his usual playful, roguish expression and grasped her hand in return.

“Apparently there’s a stationery store over there.”

What? So he wasn’t actually upset?

Belladonna nodded awkwardly.

As his fingers intertwined with her slender ones and their palms pressed together, she suddenly felt all her nerves focusing on her hand.

She kept getting distracted by the slow movement of his thumb across her fingers.

Ugh, it feels ticklish…!

Belladonna pretended to be preoccupied as she started walking.

“Careful.”

Perhaps because it was the weekend, the streets were crowded.

Escalion naturally wrapped his arm around Belladonna’s shoulders and pulled her close.

Belladonna found herself pressed against his firm chest for a moment before quickly pulling away.

“It’s certainly more crowded here than in Griblata, no matter where we go.”

His hand on her shoulder, the solid chest muscles so close before her eyes, the scent that kept brushing her nose…

While she was acutely aware of every little thing, Escalion seemed completely at ease.

He pulled her even closer to avoid the constant press of people around them.

‘Is it because I’ve realized I like him…?’

Belladonna looked up at him, blinking slowly.

They were simply walking together, yet everything felt awkward and uncomfortable.

And at the same time, the name Scarlet Leyton once again entered her mind and refused to leave.

‘…This is unpleasant.’

She had thought she would surely forget, but facing him now made her earlier contemplation seem futile as thoughts of Scarlet kept surfacing in her mind, tormenting her and souring her mood.

Feeling annoyed, Belladonna petulantly bumped her forehead against his chest.

Ouch, that hurts! I’m only hurting myself…!

She grimaced in pain as if she had hit solid stone, and a chuckling laugh drifted down from above.

Escalion raised a hand to rub her forehead.

“You do such puzzling things sometimes.”

“…”

“I wonder what goes on in that little head of yours.”

“Excuse me…!”

Just then, a small hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Belladonna’s.

Belladonna looked down at the warmth from below to see who had grabbed her.

“Can you… can you buy this, please?”

A young girl who looked no older than seven stood there holding a flower basket almost as big as her face.

Inside the basket lay neatly arranged colorful and fresh flowers.

A flower basket…?

As Belladonna peered into the basket with an interested expression, Escalion leaned down and asked instead.

“What’s this?”

“Eek…!”

The young child, meeting Escalion’s burning golden eyes, gave a big startled shudder and darted behind Belladonna.

Clutching Belladonna’s skirt and hiding, the child peeked out with just her head, looking up at Escalion with a terrified expression.

“How can you do business if you’re so timid?”

Escalion asked with a nonchalant face.

It seemed that children being scared of him was quite a common occurrence for him.

The little girl, still gripping Belladonna’s skirt tightly, shook her head.

“I… I came to sell flowers to this b-beautiful lady…”

“The beautiful lady, is it. Well, you’ve come to the right person then. Let’s sit over there for now.”

Escalion grinned and led Belladonna and the child through the crowd.

Taking a seat on a nearby bench, he gestured to the flower basket the child was holding with his chin and asked.

“Now, calmly explain again. What is this?”

“These are…! Flowers that my mom and I picked together!”

“Where did you pick them?”

“Over there!”

The little girl pointed somewhere and explained enthusiastically.

So cute…

Belladonna watched the child with a fond expression.

Escalion also seemed to find the child adorable, smiling as he continued to engage her.

“Oh, really? Then I could just go over there and pick some flowers myself. No need to buy them, right?”

“…Oh!”

The child gave a startled gasp. Her face filled with what seemed to be her first taste of life’s despair.

Stop teasing her, you fool!

Belladonna gently jabbed Escalion’s side, though he was still grinning as he teased the child.

“What? It’s fun.”

Escalion replied with a smirk.

Belladonna gave him a reproachful glare, then reached out to take the flower basket from the little girl’s hands.

I’ll buy it!

“My wife seems to like it.”

“Wow…!”

Belladonna gave a kind smile to the child who let out a small cheer.

Seeing Belladonna’s beautiful smile, the little girl’s eyes instantly lit up.

The child grinned widely and said:

“You know what! You’re like an angel… Like the angels I saw in storybooks!”

“Seems you’ve got good eyes again, little one. You must have quite the eye for these things, hm?”

“Hehe.”

Stop teasing her already!

Belladonna glared at him once more.

Escalion shrugged nonchalantly and pulled out some coins from his pocket.

He held out a gold coin to the child who was still staring at Belladonna, unable to take her eyes off her.

“You’ve worked hard picking these flowers.”

“It was nothing! These flowers that my mom and I picked really suit you, miss!”

“Anything beautiful suits my wife well.”

“I think so too! Well then, goodbye!”

The little girl, not knowing the value of the coin he had given her, simply tucked it into her pocket.

As she turned to leave, she hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

“But you know…”

“Yes?”

“Miss… are you unable to speak? Why do you just keep smiling?”

It was an innocent question, typical of a child.

Belladonna blinked in surprise at the sudden question.

In Astania and Griblata, she was already well-known as the mute saint, so she had never been asked such a question before.

Moreover, having just had her voice exposed to Escalion earlier, she felt even more flustered.

Wait. How, how should I answer? As she stood there blinking, unable to say anything or even smile, caught off guard, a voice answered from beside her.

“Because she’s too beautiful.”

“Huh?”

The child turned to look up at Escalion with round eyes.

He answered in a deliberately serious tone.

“My wife’s voice is so beautiful that the angels in heaven borrowed it for a while.”

“Wow…”

“It’s a shame that even I, her husband, can’t hear her voice, but what can we do? They said they’d return it someday, so don’t worry too much.”

“I see!”

It was a perfect answer that preserved the child’s innocence while making everyone feel good.

Escalion smiled slightly as he watched the child nodding in understanding.

Belladonna gazed at his profile.

This gentle side of him, so incongruous with the fierce warrior of the battlefield, was hidden within.

And that side of him kept stirring up Belladonna’s heart.

This feels strange…

“Thank you for telling me! Well then, goodbye!”

The child bowed deeply as she said farewell.

“Alright, run along now.”

Escalion made a gesture that could have been either a farewell or a shooing motion as he sent the child off.

The child, now empty-handed, ran off excitedly and disappeared from view. He then turned to look at Belladonna.

“I wonder when the heavenly angels will return my wife’s voice?”

Ugh… Belladonna turned her gaze to look off into the distance.

Now that he had undeniably heard her voice, he was sure to tease her like this more often. She was already feeling tired just thinking about it!

Escalion, still with a playful smile, looked down at the flower basket she was holding and rummaged through it.

“They picked quite a variety. And they’ve been neatly trimmed too. The child’s mother must be quite meticulous, I guess?”

“…”

“I wonder if we can keep them fresh in a vase when we take them back to the villa? The warmer weather here seems to produce a greater variety of pretty flowers than in Griblata, which is nice.”

Since when did you like flowers so much?

Seeing her puzzled expression, he replied with a slightly embarrassed look.

“It’s not for me, I just thought you might like to look at them for a while. Women usually like flowers, after all…”

There he goes again, with that playboy moment.

But it wasn’t an unpleasant thing to hear.

Belladonna’s mood quickly improved, and she took out the largest and most beautiful flower from the basket.

She lifted it up and tucked it behind Escalion’s ear.

She had thought it would look quite ridiculous, but surprisingly, the delicate flower suited the dark-skinned, fierce-looking knight remarkably well.

Is it because he’s so handsome? Haha, it’s pretty.

“Having fun?”

Escalion asked with a smile matching hers. Perhaps due to the flower, his expression seemed softer than usual.

Nod nod! Belladonna nodded vigorously.

Keep wearing it, you flower boy, it suits you well!

She had expected him to immediately pull it out and throw it away, asking what this was all about, but contrary to her expectations, he left the flower in his ear as he stood up.

“Well then, shall we go? We need to buy those envelopes or whatever it was.”

Escalion turned and held out his hand.

Belladonna took it with a smile.