The Wicked Wife's Dark History Keeps Coming Back To Haunt Her - Chapter 74
No, trauma or whatever, I should have just endured it a little longer.
Biting her lip with a pang of regret, she looked up with a pitiful expression.
“I was… trying to cover you with this…”
As she held out the blanket she’d gathered, his expression subtly changed.
“…There’s no need for you to worry about things like this. Frankly, you should be more concerned about your own state.”
“Pardon?”
Following his gaze, Nina looked down.
Drip, drip, drip…
Red droplets of blood were trickling down onto her front.
“Blood…?”
As she touched her face with her fingertips, her face turned as red as a tomato.
The blood was from a nosebleed.
A double nosebleed, no less.
Nina quickly covered her nose and turned away.
‘This is so embarrassing…!’
She genuinely wanted to cry.
Not that there was any reason to save face in front of her husband, but still, this was about her pride.
Her face must look like a complete mess right now.
The sharp pain and the even sharper embarrassment made tears prickle in her eyes.
Then he thrust a handkerchief toward her.
“For now, just hold that to your nose.”
With a nasal voice, Nina responded, resigned.
“…Go ahead and laugh if you want.”
“Do you see me as the kind of person who’d laugh at an injured person?”
At the very least, he could have tried to hide it if he was going to say something like that.
“I can see the corners of your mouth twitching…”
At Nina’s dry comment, he pressed his lips together and turned away, taking out a water flask and wetting a clean towel.
“You’re not going to be able to take another bath at this hour, so just wipe up with this.”
Nina used the damp towel he handed her to clean the blood off her hands, glancing at him as he lay back down on the bed.
‘Still, it’s not too bad…’
Even though she’d lost face, the atmosphere of coldness that her husband usually carried seemed softer than usual.
The tense silence that had lingered felt slightly more relaxed than before.
In this kind of atmosphere…
In this kind of atmosphere, it felt like she could be a little more honest.
Nina turned toward the bed, and with sleepiness creeping over her, she called out to him in a half-asleep voice.
“Your Grace…”
“…Yes?”
His tone was stiff, but maybe because she’d seen the faint smile earlier, it didn’t sound as cold as usual.
“…Do you still dislike me a lot? Do you really find it unbearable to be around me…?”
“……”
“…It’s okay if you do. I understand. I know that nothing can compensate for your pain, and I wouldn’t blame you for it…”
Unless she could turn back time and make it all disappear.
What could she do to make up for the two years of hatred he’d harbored?
“Still, for the time we have left… I’d like it if we could get along like friends…”
If that’s too much to ask, then it can’t be helped…
“Hating someone is… a hard thing to do, isn’t it…”
It wasn’t just about avoiding the consequences of past deeds—she genuinely hoped he would stop expending his emotions on her.
Even if it hadn’t been a pure love, he was someone she had once cherished.
“I’m sorry…”
Hoping her feelings reached him, Nina drifted off into sleep.
***
In the quiet darkness, Ash slowly opened his eyes.
His wife, who had given him the most entertainment he’d had in a while with her foolish antics, had long since fallen asleep.
‘Unbelievable.’
Was it because of that shocking statement about sleeping together?
He strangely couldn’t fall asleep, so he lay there with his eyes closed.
Then she suddenly approached him, and he’d wondered what she was trying to do…
He’d never realized, after two years of living together, that his wife could be so amusing.
Now that he thought about it, she had a knack for making people laugh.
“I… I was trying to cover you with a blanket!”
He let out a small laugh, his shoulders shaking.
Thinking of her flustered expression and foolish actions, he couldn’t hold back his laughter.
With a few quiet chuckles, he looked over at Nina, curled up like a caterpillar and fast asleep.
Strangely, he no longer felt uncomfortable with her presence.
He hadn’t changed his decision to divorce her in a year’s time, but as she suggested, it might not be a bad idea to spend the remaining time as friends.
“Hating someone is… a hard thing to do, isn’t it…”
Most of all, he realized in that tranquil moment how tiring it was to harbor hatred.
“……”
Ash looked at his palm.
The softness of her skin, her unusually full lips pressed against him—the warmth of that moment still lingered.
Feeling oddly stirred, he shook off his thoughts and closed his eyes.
‘I should get some sleep now.’
Though he wasn’t feeling sleepy, he knew he’d need rest to leave early in the morning.
“Mmh…”
Just then, a faint voice carried in from the sound of the wind.
