Side Story 9. Separation Anxiety2024.04.20.As soon as the morning tasks were done, Clade stood by the window, looking outside.

Perhaps she was chatting with the gardeners about the flowers that would bloom in summer.

Yuan’s face, laughing as she pointed at various spots in the garden, was radiant.

“Did you fight?”

“Shut up and go back to work if you’re done.”

“You probably messed up.”

Clade doubted his ears for a moment.

His stiff face snapped toward Eddie, who was smirking.

“What did you say?”

“It’s obvious. You keep meddling, telling her not to do this or that, and your wife just agrees.”

Surprised by the unexpected feedback, Clade gave a stiff laugh and retorted.

“Me?”

“When the Emperor wrote that he wanted to visit, you told her to refuse. When the daughter of Count Kimfri asked to visit with her friends, you told her to refuse too. Did you even see how disappointed your wife looked?”

“The Emperor, barely a month into his reign, wanting to visit? That’s absurd. And Tasha Kimfri’s friends are all from the east. What’s the point of them dropping by? If she wants friends, there are plenty of noblewomen in the north or west.”

Besides, he wanted nothing more to do with easterners.

The thought of Eugene Kimfri coming to the mansion under the pretense of escorting made his blood boil.

“It’s been half a year since the Emperor’s coronation. He’s inspected everywhere except the northwest, so refusing him alone isn’t courteous.”

“I told him to come for Yuan’s birthday. Are you trying to make me out to be a jealous husband?”

“It’s less jealousy and more like separation anxiety, if you ask me.”

“Separa… what?”

“You keep asking where your wife is, even during work. She can’t go out unless it’s with you. Eating every meal together, fine, maybe that’s for her health, but it’s a bit much.”

Clade couldn’t believe Eddie, of all people, was saying this.

At the same time, it shocked him that Eddie’s criticism suggested he was overly fixated on Yuan.

After Eddie returned to the marquisate,

Clade stood by the window for a long while.

Yuan was always busy inside the mansion.

Even though the number of servants had nearly tripled, and the butler Gustav took on most of the ledger work to ease her burden,

she would stroll through the garden, picking herbs mixed among the weeds to bring to Hire.

Hire would turn them into reagents for various experiments.

Yuan would read books or papers nearby, offering insights that sparked inspiration, engaging in heated discussions.

When three or four academy students, recently hired by Hire as researchers, visited the mansion, she would quietly observe their conversations.

Clade suddenly left his office and headed to the small research room set up in the guest wing.

Through the half-open door, he watched Yuan, her ears perked, listening to Hire and the students.

Sitting alone at a desk in the corner, reading a book, her dark eyes peeked over the pages, intensely watching them whenever an interesting topic came up.

Sometimes, wanting to say something, she’d stretch her neck, lips moving slightly, but too shy to interrupt, she’d bury her nose back in the book.

Clade stood rooted, watching his wife’s dark hair through the gap in the door for a long time.

They had dinner together.

They bathed together too.

Clade, with his usual smile, carefully wiped Yuan’s body, helped her dress, and gently placed her on the bed.

Though her health had long recovered, it was hard to break the habit formed last winter.

Her soft body under his calloused hands felt good, and the warmth seeping into him was always overwhelming.

Lying beside Yuan, he asked how her day was.

Her cheerful, bright voice bounced in his ears.

Her answers matched most of what Clade had observed that day.

Except for the part about the academy students visiting Hire’s research room and what she was thinking as she watched them.

The things he really wanted to know were left out.

Sensing the sudden silence, Yuan burrowed into Clade’s arms.

Her warm, fresh scent filled his nose.

“I won’t leave.”

Her sudden words startled Clade, his mind going blank.

It felt like she’d seen through him. The darkness was a relief.

At the same time, a petulant wish surfaced, hoping she’d understand his heart a bit more.

“…You promised you wouldn’t die, but you died and came back.”

It was childish. He wanted to hear her say she’d never leave, never die, that they’d be together forever. Why didn’t others say such things?

“…I’m sorry.”

But Yuan apologized. For dying in front of him despite promising she wouldn’t.

For plunging him into regret and despair, she covered it as her fault and simply said she was sorry.

That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Clade’s spine chilled the moment she apologized for it.

His heart felt like it had been sliced and scattered across the bed.

Realizing something was wrong, his lips opened urgently.

“No. No, that’s not what I meant to…”

Overcome with suffocating anxiety, Clade hugged Yuan’s soft body tighter.

“I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. That was my fault. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Only after crushing her soft cheeks against his chest did the anxiety ease slightly.

It was peaceful and happy, yet anxious every day.

Life with Yuan, like before she left, was sweet and beautiful.

It felt like a dream. But it was also anxious, like a mirage that could vanish.

He couldn’t burden her bright smile with his daily anxieties. Divorce annulment was just a matter of time.

When the whole world recognized them as a couple, what did a single document matter?

The heat pushing away his anxious heart enveloped Yuan’s body. Climbing atop her small frame, he conveyed his feelings.

Burying his hot lips in her soft embrace, he mumbled how much he missed her even when together.

Instead of words, her quickened breaths poured over his head.

Her passion-filled eyes captured the white face glowing with fervor.

He lowered his lips. Lowered them again. And again…

Her sharp exhales scattered toward the ceiling.

He urgently placed his hand over hers, gripping his blonde hair. His lips grew wet, his body hot.

Climbing her small frame, binding her tightly with his arms, Yuan stayed close, as if it were only natural.

Passion leaked through the seamless press of their bodies and lips.

The woman responding fervently to his kiss, tasting every part of her mouth, was utterly lovable.

The rustling of the sheets, her delicate nails scratching his scarred back, her soft moans—all were endlessly stimulating.

Their breaths mingled, their warmth merged, becoming one, and only after pressing himself fully against her did he feel the burning thirst subside.

He buried himself completely in Yuan.

His nerves burned white, turning his mind into a midnight sun, and only then, panting heavily, did he press his forehead to her round one.

Pushing himself into her dark eyes, blurred and fixed on the ceiling, he pleaded for her to look at him.

He pressed his wet lips repeatedly to her sweat-drenched face.

Her faint voice calling “Clade” swept away all his anxiety.

The woman who could send him to heaven or hell with a single word was terrifyingly lovable.

He answered, “Yes,” kissing the corner of her eye.

Her eyes, gently closed then sparkling open, slowly regained focus.

Under the moonlight streaming through the window, her eyes gleamed like polished obsidian, and he gazed at them blankly.

“Yuan.”

“Yes.”

“…You’re beautiful.”

In that moment, her beauty sparkled even more finely.

Her curved eyes held the image of a blonde man, foolishly gazing down, drenched in sweat.

He suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

Seeing her eyes crumple in his embrace was wonderful, but he’d briefly forgotten the incomparable happiness that filled his heart when Yuan looked at the world with those sparkling eyes.

Her eyes, sparkling as she saw the world he’d built, were filled with excitement for things she was experiencing for the first time, making his heart race.

Chuckling softly as if realizing something new, Clade pulled Yuan into a tight, seamless embrace.

Exhausted, Yuan hugged him back and fell asleep as if fainting.

Clade traced her sleeping cheek with his long fingers.

The curse was over.

No matter how much he said he loved her, he was intoxicated by the presence sleeping soundly beside him, breathing softly, holding her close.

As he turned off the bedside lamp and tried to force himself to sleep, Clade froze upon noticing a book on the nightstand.

It was the latest Collection of Academy Medical Papers, which he’d once gotten through Lancelot because it couldn’t be found in their poor, barren territory.

Seeing the book’s edges worn as if read for a decade, he was at a loss for words, looking down at the peacefully sleeping Yuan.

Over the serene scene, he recalled something Lancelot had once said.

That they married and fell in love before truly knowing each other, so they’d face many challenges ahead.

Clade had scoffed, thinking it didn’t matter, but lately, he couldn’t shake the feeling.

That there was still so much he didn’t know about Yuan Pelliese.

That the real reason for his anxiety might be because he still didn’t fully know the person he loved most in the world.