Chapter 14

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Chapter 14

“I’m fine with that one…”

“Do you want this?”

Eric, who was standing behind her, pointed to the pink dress that caught Chloe’s eye at first.

“Or this one?”

Then he pointed to the red dress next to it.

As he looked around the boutique, he was quiet for a moment, then he pointed his finger from here to there.

“I’ll buy everything.”

“Darling!”

“Everything that my wife looked at.”

Chloe’s face turned red with astonishment. She grabbed Eric’s sleeve right then.

“No, please, you don’t have to do that.”

Then, she added in haste.

“I won’t need to wear those once I go back north anyway. I’ll try on a few. Let’s just get the ones I’ll be comfortable in.”

Eric stared at Chloe, but with one finger again, he gestured for the clerks who were standing a distance away to come closer.

“I want to see my wife in that dress. Madam, get it ready.”

“Of course.”

Madam Lizen answered delightfully and called the clerks.

As she stood awkwardly, Chloe could feel tears in her eyes. If he buys all the clothes here, the total would be well over 500,000 francs!

“Darling, please, let’s think it over again…”

“Have her try them on.”

But Eric ignored Chloe’s words once more.

The affectionate appearance she thought she saw in him all throughout the day was replaced by a firm expression, and Chloe had no choice but to follow the clerk without the chance to say anything more.

It wouldn’t look good to refuse more here because it would look like a wife ignoring her husband. It would affect her husband’s honor.

“Let me help you remove your clothes, Your Excellency.”

Chloe couldn’t go against the clerk.

Her dress was taken off, then her corset was tightened a little more before she was donned with a panier.

The dress that caught Chloe’s attention was a robe a la francaise, with large folds and a silhouette in which the skirt was puffed out at the sides. Due to the curved hips, the tightened waist was more emphasized.

Usually, such dresses had deep necklines, but Chloe covered her chest up to her neck just like she would with a redingote gown.

After wearing new clothes for the first time in a long while, she felt better. To be exact, seeing herself in a mirror improved her mood.

Was it because she remembered the past, when she still came by here often to purchase dresses, or was it because this was the first time that her husband had bought her clothes? Perhaps it’s the latter.

’I want to see my wife in that dress.’

Did he mean it when he said that?

She hoped that he did. And she hoped that he would tell her that it looked good on her.

Chloe left the changing room with excitement, wanting to show Eric how she looked.

But then…

The reception room was empty. Was he on another floor? Chloe hurriedly looked around.

“Um, Your Excellency.”

Madam Lizen approached her.

“The Marquis has left. He mentioned that something urgent came up.”

“…He left?”

Chloe sighed in despondency, filling the empty reception room with this single sound.

He left.

Without even telling her.

Then why did he say that he wanted to see her in this dress?

Why did he make her look forward to it?

Why did he give her a sliver of hope?

Why…

The embers of hope within her, which had fostered flames for a while, were instantly extinguished. And the only thing left behind was black smoke.

It felt like her lungs were filled with that dry smoke. It pained her. It suffocated her.

“His Excellency has already paid for the clothes. We would just need to send it over to your home here at the capital, correct? Or should we send it to the north?”

Madam Lizen was unaware of Chloe’s condition, and so she continued to smile happily as she talked to her.

“Marchioness?”

“Ah, yes. Send it to our residence in the capital.”

Chloe, who had regained her senses, replied in a hurry. In fact, she didn’t care whether the clothes would be sent to the residence at the capital or to the north. She was going to be divorced anyway, so these dresses served no purpose. …It was pointless, Husband.

She wondered what he would say if she had the payment canceled here. But if she did, her husband would definitely be enraged once more. The right thing to do here was to go back calmly.

Chloe breathed heavily with a hand over her chest, feeling the stiff texture of the new dress.

“You have the best husband, Marchioness. He just buys everything for you without saying anything about it. What a great husband.”

“…Is that so?”

“Of course. My ex-husband nagged at me so much whenever I bought something and asked me so many questions about my purchases. Goodness, I was so sick and tired of it!”

Madam Lizen burst into laughter as she chatted.

Chloe opened her lips, then closed them, then did that once more.

There was a word that lingered at the tip of her tongue. She couldn’t bear to say it, nor swallow it down, but eventually, it went down and clotted over her heart.

“I…”

…don’t mind living like that.

Chloe dropped her head.

It hurts.

She felt pain deep in her lungs.

Eric had left first because something urgent came up. He got a telegram that the clock tower had stopped ticking.

It would have been alright to call a repairman for it, but Eric had to go there urgently because it was the clock tower itself. It was the capital’s landmark.

When he got there, the problem wasn’t dire. When he checked the battery, he found that the fuse had become faulty and the power just went out. It seemed like it was due to the abundant snow that covered the sun, that’s why it couldn’t be seen right away.

This made Eric more determined to craft a battery that had an infinite power supply.

If he completed this, it would be the kingdom’s—no, the world’s best invention.

Being so lost in thought that he was, he forgot about Chloe.

In other words, he couldn’t have thought the emptiness that Chloe had felt when she was left alone at the shop, the bleakness that came upon her as she returned to the locomotive alone, the hopelessness that dawned on her as the lady-in-waiting asked why she returned without her husband.

Eric had always been like this.

He never thought that his actions caused any troubles.

But then again, wasn’t he nice to Chloe today?

When Daniel had mentioned something about it to him, he had to suppress his temper as much as he could to adapt to Chloe’s presence. He didn’t even get angry, not once.

‘You must be in a good mood.’

‘You keep being so kind to me.’

Chloe’s expression was completely serene as she said this. It was the most relaxed expression he saw on her ever since she came to see him here at the capital.

Would it be okay to do this much from now on? Then, would Chloe slowly warm up to him as well?

Eric pondered over it. He felt a small flutter as he thought of the delighted smile that she would have on her lips.

That’s why he didn’t expect it.

That Chloe did not sleep and waited for him until dawn.

“You’re here.”

Eric was surprised to see Chloe greeting him as soon as he walked through the door. It was so early in the morning that the moon was still in the sky. She should have been asleep at this time.

By any chance, did she wait for him to say thank you for bringing her along to the boutique? Eric had such expectations.

However, Chloe said differently.

“Why did you leave?”

Eric furrowed his brows.

So the moment she saw his face, she was angry. He ruffled his hair roughly.

“I had something to do.”

“You should have at least told me.”

“You were in the middle of changing clothes.”

That was the truth.

Chloe was in the changing room when he received the telegram, that’s why he couldn’t tell her.

“Is that why you’re angry?”

Honestly, Eric felt that this situation was unfair to him. It felt to him that Chloe was angry with him just because he left first.

Wasn’t she disregarding all his other actions throughout the day? He thought he did well today.

“It couldn’t be helped. Anyway, didn’t you get to buy the clothes? That’s all that matters.”

And so he replied to her with a biting tone that was filled with the disappointment he had for Chloe at this moment.

“…Alright.”

However, the look in Chloe’s eyes was different this time. She had an empty expression, as though she was exhausted.

“It always couldn’t be helped.”

Chloe put her arms around herself and breathed heavily.

She didn’t know how she was able to return here.

She was still in the locomotive when she had closed her eyes, but when she opened them once more, she was already inside the house.

As she closed her eyes once more, she was in bed. But when she opened them again, she was drinking her medicine. And her fever had risen once more. Her body’s condition was at its worst.

’Two years left.’

The doctor’s words kept ringing behind her ears.

She was running out of time.

She was going to die soon.

Why does she need to live like this?

Why does she have to endure it all while living with all this sorrow?

Chloe was so, so tired. Her exhaustion couldn’t be expressed with only words.

“It couldn’t be helped that you can’t come to the north, it couldn’t be helped that you must neglect me, it couldn’t be helped that you had to leave first…”

She looked down at the floor. As such, she looked terribly lonely… and terribly exhausted.

“It couldn’t be helped that you ignore my pain.”

“When did I ever neglect you? Wife, I’m always worr—”

“Darling.”

Chloe sighed heavily and raised her head, making eye contact with Eric. In his eyes was a deep-seated indifference to the person in front of him who he did not love.

“I don’t want to live like this anymore.”

She loved Eric.

She still loves Eric.

Perhaps, she would continue loving Eric.

But these feelings were separate from wanting to be with him.

It was so difficult to offer this love that would never be returned. This indifference was something she couldn’t bear any longer.

With a bitter smile on her lips, she said it plainly.

“Divorce. Let’s get divorced.”

——

t/n: The currency used in past chapters was pounds, but francs were mentioned here this time. perhaps because they’re in the capital now? Doesn’t make much sense though since they’re still in the same kingdom.

But anyway. Divorce! It’s here! Aaaaa!