How To Escape From A Devilish Husband - Chapter 57

At that moment, I felt my heart drop to my feet.

It was a blessing to be turned around.

No doubt my face had turned pale blue from shock.

“That demon killed as many as a thousand people!”

The frightened voice of the man I heard earlier echoed in my ears.

Delphine, still turned away, stiffly opened her mouth.

“Yes. I just said that… didn’t I? Why?”

There was no answer from behind.

Why? What is it? Did he notice? At what point?

Was my excuse too flimsy?

My chest felt like it was burning with tension.

Just as my lips felt parched, he answered in a languid tone.

“…No. You came empty-handed, despite having such an interesting book.”

Oh no.

A mistake.

Though it was a minor detail, it could be a big clue for a man with such sharp senses.

How could I naturally overcome this situation?

Delphine, biting her lips, finally decided and brought her hand to the buttons on the back of her dress.

Pop, pop.

With each button undone, her nape tingled.

What kind of look was he giving her now?

Delphine remembered how easily he had been consumed by lust that snowy night, undoing her dress buttons.

‘That’s enough. Come over, now…’

Don’t focus on useless facts like coming empty-handed or being cooped up in the study all day.

Just treat me like usual…

Just as she had undone a few buttons, a large hand touched her back.

It worked.

Delphine inwardly swallowed a cry of victory.

Once again, he had melted at her slightest gesture.

Only then did Delphine turn her head slightly.

But there was something strange.

Ioan wore an expression she had never seen before.

It wasn’t like before, consumed by lust, trying to control himself.

How to put it, he seemed to be measuring something while looking at her exposed white shoulders.

But why did that look feel so ominous…?

“…Ioan?”

Finally, the fully undone dress fell to the floor.

Fortunately, his questionable behavior didn’t last long.

Ioan embraced her tightly, wearing only a thin chemise dress.

His large hand, stroking her wavy red hair, very carefully caressed her moist skin.

Surprisingly, that touch sent a ticklish sensation up Delphine’s lower abdomen.

He buried his face in Delphine’s nape and moved his lips in a voice so low it gave her goosebumps.

“You forgot the novel you were so engrossed in, rushing to the boudoir because you missed me?”

He lifted his head and smiled enchantingly.

“Isn’t that right, my lady?”

His breath tickled the bare skin of her nape this time.

The firmness and heat of his body pressed against hers was also disconcerting.

But most perplexing was this sensation of her lower abdomen tightening in response.

She couldn’t believe herself, feeling this way at his touch after just hearing he might have committed terrible atrocities.

Was this okay?

Just as she was about to twist away from him, feeling almost guilty remorse, another voice echoed in her mind.

“Make that man fall in love with you.”

…Right. I heard that, so it’s fine, right?

I’m just faithfully carrying out my mission.

Not being swayed by a devilish man whose true identity I don’t yet know.

Delphine struggled to regain her senses in her foggy mind and answered.

“That’s right…”

Yes. This was better than being caught visiting District 3.

With still much to learn from him, riling him up more was the best option now.

“That’s right. I did. I missed you.”

His caressing hand paused for a moment.

Delphine smiled inwardly in triumph, even as she exhaled heatedly.

As expected, by this point he usually lost his self-control and stopped.

However.

“…Huh?”

His large hands began to move in an even bolder direction.

Though Delphine knew little about such acts, she could immediately tell his touch was distinctly different from before.

Before, he always lost control, raging with unrestrained lust.

But now he was noticeably more gentle, yet also more persistent.

“Ioan…?”

When she called his name in apparent confusion, he immediately pulled away.

This too proved he was fully in control of himself now.

Ioan’s eyes crinkled as he faced Delphine, who was looking at him with startled eyes.

“Shall we end here for today? You must be very tired… my lady?”

When Delphine quickly nodded, he kissed her cheek lightly as if she were cute, then headed for the bathroom.

The relief at his warmth leaving her back was short-lived.

‘…Wait. Did he just say I must be tired?’

Doesn’t he think I’ve been in the study all day?

Did he notice something?

No, surely not.

He returned to the mansion as soon as he heard of his arrival.

Lin thoroughly confirmed there were no spies magically attached.

‘Surely not…’

He must just be acting differently, fooled by her act of loving him.

‘I must be too sensitive…’

Repeating this to herself, Delphine looked fearfully at the bathroom where water sounds had begun.

Cool streams of water poured over the man’s rock-like, solid body.

Despite the cold shower, the heat in his body and mind refused to cool.

Pryde recalled today’s report, his face set in a terrifying expression.

She who had been quietly staying in the mansion finally moved today. But…

“The lady was in the study all day. We didn’t detect any movement leaving the mansion.”

In fact, he had planted a well-trained spy disguised as a maid in the mansion.

He had removed all the maids placed for surveillance, pretending to make her let her guard down.

That experienced spy wouldn’t miss any sign of her leaving the mansion.

Yet the faint stench of sewage that brushed his nose when she hurriedly entered the boudoir.

It was the smell of District 3, which could never be smelled in his mansion in District 1.

There was only one way she could freely come and go between Districts 1 and 3, evading the eyes of the spy he planted.

“Magic…?”

But how?

He knew best that she had no connection to Veritas.

So the only possibility left was…

‘…Is she in contact with those rats?’

Questions of ‘why’ or ‘how’ came later.

Those were issues he could soon resolve and find out.

What first seized his heart wasn’t such questions, but anxiety.

An issue he had never worried about since their marriage suddenly came to mind.

‘She might leave.’

Before, he had never felt such fear no matter how much she doubted him or acted sharp-tongued.

As long as she was in this empire, there was no way for her to avoid him.

…But what if she tries to escape after uncovering all the empire’s dirty secrets?

Even his power couldn’t stop her then.

He might never find her again.

Reaching that thought, goosebumps rose all over his body.

It was a sensation he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

These human emotions like fear, anxiety, worry.

Though he had discarded all humanity to gain his current power and position.

For some reason, he becomes this weak human again when it comes to matters related to her.

Just a weak human, losing reason and dancing to the orders of a heart that could be held in one hand…

Now what should he do?

As the water poured down, Pryde began to ponder.

He wanted to protect her.

That was the only goal and wish he had ever had in his life.

But now he had to admit.

The past half year of married life had sprouted a new greed in his heart alongside that.

He wanted to protect her ‘by his side’.

It’s only natural.

The thought of another’s hand touching her, his saint’s body…

Crack.

He must have clenched his fist too tightly.

Pryde looked at his hand with indifferent eyes as blood seeped from his twisted knuckles.

He licked the red blood flowing down his fist and thought again.

He wanted to protect her by his side.

He wanted to bind her to his side forever.

With eyes like those of a beast, he repeated endlessly.

A way to make her stay eternally in this false, comfortable heaven he had created.

…What could that be?