A Way to Confirm Your Husband’s True Feelings - Chapter 3
“Ha… And why exactly should I indulge your ridiculous curiosity?”
“Oh, come on! After all we’ve been through, you can’t even tell me something like this? I’m really starting to feel hurt here!”
As far as Beatrice knew, Sir Schultz was still unmarried. It seemed that he was jokingly expressing his envy while asking his superior, who had married before him, about his newlywed life.
“Then just one question! Just answer this one thing for me! What does it feel like for a man who lived like a lone wolf to suddenly have a wife? If you answer that, I promise I won’t pester you anymore today!”
It was not a particularly serious or profound question. Rather, it was a lighthearted and predictable inquiry—one that people often posed as a casual greeting to a groom who hadn’t even been married for a year.
Given Sir Schultz’s naturally cheerful and sociable personality, his playful curiosity was no surprise. What was surprising, however, was the deep sigh that came from Caesar in response.
Even for someone as taciturn as he was, it seemed difficult to completely ignore a subordinate he cared about when they asked so persistently.
“Let’s see.”
Caesar hesitated briefly before finally opening his mouth to speak.
At that moment, Beatrice was caught in an intense internal struggle.
She knew, logically, what she had to do. Before their conversation went any further, she should step forward, make her presence known, hand over the handkerchief as she had originally intended, and return to the mansion.
Eavesdropping was an utterly undignified act for a noblewoman, not to mention a cowardly one.
And yet, shamefully, an improper desire rooted her to the spot.
Even in the short conversation she had overheard, she had glimpsed a side of her husband that he never showed in front of her.
Caesar was always perfectly composed, impeccably disciplined—so much so that his restraint sometimes felt stifling.
But here, in front of a trusted subordinate, he seemed rougher, more unguarded. His manner suggested that he wouldn’t hesitate to curse if the mood struck him. This untamed side of him reminded her of the first time they had met.
In short, Beatrice wanted to hear Caesar’s true feelings. More precisely, she wanted to know how he spoke about their marriage when she wasn’t present—what he revealed to others that he never shared with her.
Not once had she felt that he disliked her. In fact, he always looked at her with unmistakable longing. But he was not one to voice his emotions easily.
She was desperately curious. What would he say about their life together when she wasn’t around?
They say curiosity killed the cat. In that fleeting moment of temptation, Beatrice made the wrong choice.
Instead of stepping into view, she pressed herself against the wall, hidden from sight.
Her heart pounded in anticipation as she waited for Caesar’s answer. Then, at last, his deep voice reached her ears.
“It’s seriously… troublesome.”
His words were so unexpected that Beatrice felt her heart drop as if it had stopped beating altogether.
Her body froze, and the coldness in his voice only deepened her shock.
“What? Troublesome? Are you saying I’m troubleseome?”
As if echoing her own thoughts, Sir Schultz immediately asked the question.
Yes. A nuisance? No, that couldn’t be. There was no way Caesar would say such a thing. He must have been referring to Sir Schultz’s question being a nuisance.
But that fragile hope was shattered by Caesar’s next words.
“I mean that I never realized marriage—and having a wife—would be such a bothersome thing.”
Unfortunately—or perhaps, mercifully—Beatrice did not hear any more than that.
In her shock, she had taken an involuntary step back, her foot knocking against a small stone. The faint noise was enough to draw the attention of the two men toward her hiding place.
Before Sir Schultz could investigate the suspicious sound, Beatrice turned and fled back into the mansion.
Even after she had safely returned inside, her breath came fast and unsteady.
Since Caesar had not come looking for her, she knew she hadn’t been discovered. But his words still echoed relentlessly in her mind.
“I never realized marriage—and having a wife—would be such a bothersome thing.”
Caesar was not a man who spoke lightly. He was always polite and gentlemanly, but he was also extremely reserved. He never said things he didn’t mean.
Hadn’t it been the same when they first met? Unlike other men, he had never bothered with empty flattery or sweet words.
If he had spoken those words aloud, then he must have meant them.
‘But just a little while ago, he was saying such affectionate farewells… How could he turn around and say something like that the moment I was gone?’
Was that really how he felt? Then what about their marriage? What about all the tenderness he had shown her? Was it all a lie?
Confusion swirled within her, leaving her unable to calm down.
Beatrice paced anxiously through the bedroom, her mind in turmoil.
She had no idea how to process what had just happened—or how she was supposed to respond.
