I Am Trying to Divorce My Villain Husband, But We Had a Child - chapter 37

Chapter 37

“…Divorce?”

Richard’s gaze, as if questioning, was cold, devoid of its usual warmth.

Elisa, momentarily taken aback by that gaze, spoke up.

“We agreed to divorce in eight years, remember?”

“…”

“At that time, after eight years, I was supposed to leave the dukedom.”

“Is it because of that bastard?”

Richard’s response was entirely unexpected.

Elisa, not knowing who he referred to as “that bastard,” looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“Ancel Arden. Are you planning to remarry him?”

There was something unsettling in his mention of Ancel.

Elisa was startled by the sudden mention of that name.

‘Why is Ancel being brought up here?’

He must be seriously misunderstanding something.

Before Richard’s misunderstanding could deepen, Elisa hurriedly corrected him.

“Ancel is just a friend. I want a divorce because of the promise we made eight years ago.”

“I don’t remember.”

Richard cut her off before she could finish speaking.

In truth, he remembered the promise made eight years ago very clearly.

There was no way he could forget it. He rushed to fulfill that promise, hastening to end the war and disregarding the emperor’s call to return directly to the Roubellin territory.

He feared that when Elisa became an adult, she would divorce him without hesitation and leave.

Fortunately, Elisa stayed by his side without saying a word, and Richard was relieved.

Perhaps she had forgotten about that promise, or perhaps she had changed her mind about living in Roubellin.

That’s what he thought until just a moment ago, before Elisa mentioned divorce to him.

“…I was careless.”

On the day they spent together, he had suspected, just by seeing her brushing off the accident, that she had no feelings for him.

But suspicion and hearing it directly were two very different things.

The moment he heard the word ‘divorce’ from her lips, his heart shattered.

When Elisa mentions divorce to him, it means she doesn’t want to stay by his side. It means she doesn’t have any feelings for him at all.

His feelings for her were rejected before they could even be conveyed. But he had no intention of letting her go like this.

With a voice filled with suppressed anger, Richard added.

“So, we’re not divorcing.”

“Richard—”

“No, we’re not.”

Taken aback by his unexpected intense response, Elisa looked at Richard with astonished eyes.

Richard, holding her cheek in his hand, met her gaze and said.

“You’re my wife, the mistress of Roubellin. You will be in the future.”

While his hand holding her cheek felt warm and gentle, his words were colder and harsher than ever before. And he was determined and persistent to a frightening degree.

It was as if he was trying to trap her with his gaze.

Elisa couldn’t say anything more to Richard. She just stared at him blankly.

Reading fear in her eyes, Richard wiped his forehead and sighed. It wasn’t his intention to frighten her.

At the same time, his fierce gaze softened a bit.

“…It’s late. Let’s go to bed now.”

Richard escorted Elisa to her bedroom.

Feeling dazed, Elisa followed his lead to her bedroom. Before he closed the door, she called out to him.

“Richard.”

“Sleep well.”

But before Elisa could say anything else, he shut the door.

It felt like he was locking her in the room.

As if he was afraid she would run away.

As if he was afraid she would be too scared to say anything more…

Elisa stared blankly at the closed door.

‘Why am I so angry?’

She hadn’t thought he would cheerfully agree to divorce, but she didn’t expect him to refuse so decisively either.

‘I just made a choice that could make us all happy…’

Elisa alternated between staring at the closed door and her stomach, then placed her hand over it.

It seemed unreasonable to talk about it more today.

The next day, Elisa woke up late, almost at lunchtime.

“Madam, how are you feeling today?”

Anne, who had been waiting for Elisa to wake up, hurried over and asked about her condition.

“I’m fine.”

Elisa lied, her head pounding with a headache.

She knew telling the truth wouldn’t make the symptoms go away, and she didn’t want to worry Anne unnecessarily.

“Shall I bring your meal?”

“Yes, please.”

Elisa lay still, waiting for Anne to return. Her stomach felt emptier than usual, making her feel more nauseous.

Anne returned with the meal before long.

On the bed table were lightly salted biscuits, freshly baked bread, soothing ginger tea, and a fresh salad.

“And this, I brought just in case you could eat it, Madam.”

Anne brought over a bowl of cream of mushroom soup that had been left on the other table.

“Ugh…”

Contrary to Anne’s hopes, as soon as Elisa smelled it, she began to feel nauseous. Despite being a food she usually enjoyed, Anne hurriedly took away the soup when she saw Elisa’s reaction.

After calming down a bit, Elisa took a sip of ginger tea and picked up the bread.

But as she tore into the bread, the strong smell of butter stimulated her sense of smell.

“Ugh!”

“Madam!”

Anne, startled, brought a nearby basin prepared for Elisa, who was struggling with nausea.

Elisa retched emptily, unable to take more than a few bites of her meal. Acid rose in her throat, causing pain, and tears welled up as she endured the painful process.

Despite attempting to fill her stomach with food, she couldn’t bring herself to eat anything.

In the end, she finished her meal with a few bites of biscuit. With her body devoid of sustenance, she felt weak and trembled.

Elisa lay down on the bed, her head throbbing and her body drained of strength.

“I have things to do today….”

She wanted to read books about the power of the family and take a stroll in the garden where flowers were blooming for the first time in a while, but she lacked the energy to do anything.

Seeing Elisa in such a state, Anne felt sorry for her and fidgeted anxiously.

“Madam, you’ll exhaust yourself like this….”

“I’m fine. It’s just the nausea from my digestion.”

“I’ve never seen anyone suffer so much from indigestion.”

“Should I go to the doctor we visited last time and get some medicine for indigestion?”

Elisa had no strength to answer, so she just nodded.

Although she had no hope that the medicine would be effective, she felt desperate to try anything that might help.

With determination to save Elisa, Anne got up from her seat.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

“Elisa.”

It was Richard’s voice.

Elisa was surprised to hear his voice.

“Is there no work today?”

Usually, at this time, Richard would be busy and absent from the mansion after coming from the Duke’s office. However, today, for some reason, he came to see her.

Puzzled, Elisa struggled to get up from her weak state.

She couldn’t show him such a weak appearance. Anne hurriedly approached and supported Elisa, leading her to the door.

Elisa straightened her disheveled clothes and hair as much as she could, pretending to be nonchalant, and then opened the door.

Standing in front of the door was him, as always, with his dazzling appearance.

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought we could have lunch together if you haven’t eaten yet.”

“Ah… Sorry. I overslept and had breakfast just a while ago.”

Richard looked at Elisa with concerned eyes.

Elisa realized that he was assessing her condition.

Recently, he had seen her in pain many times, and he had always been worried about her.

Elisa forced a smile, trying to hide her pain. Richard, who had been observing Elisa, made a different suggestion this time.

“Then how about having lunch and going for a walk in the outskirts? It’s stifling to stay home all the time.”

Richard suggested a date because he wanted to spend time with her for once. He also wanted to make up for last night.

But Anne, who was listening nearby, had a triangular-shaped expression.

‘How can he take someone who can barely walk out?’

Of course, Richard didn’t make that suggestion knowing about Elisa’s condition.

But Anne found it unpleasant that he didn’t even know about Elisa’s pregnancy.

However, Elisa found it hard to refuse his suggestion twice, so she accepted it.

“All right, then.”

“I’ll come to pick you up after lunch.”

“Yeah. Enjoy your meal.”

Richard turned away, leaving Elisa behind.

Then, as he turned back, Elisa’s shoulder appeared beyond him.

On the table, there was still a steaming bowl of soup that looked untouched.

Richard’s eyes narrowed as he noticed it.