I Am Trying to Divorce My Villain Husband, But We Had a Child - Chapter 56

The greenhouse was hidden by various flower trees, making it impossible to see inside from the outside.

“If I had known, I would have pulled out all the flower trees…”

Richard couldn’t bring himself to go to the greenhouse directly and instead just stared intently in its direction.

After about two hours had passed, the greenhouse door finally opened, and Ancel and Elisa came out.

Elisa escorted Ancel to the carriage of the Count of Arden, which was waiting in front of the duke’s mansion.

As a farewell gesture, Ancel lightly kissed the back of Elisa’s hand.

Richard, who was watching this, frowned.

Soon, Ancel got into the carriage.

Elisa watched the Count of Arden’s carriage leave the duke’s mansion and then turned around.

Suddenly, she looked up, as if she felt someone’s gaze.

Richard was startled when his eyes met Elisa’s unexpectedly.

He hesitated, not knowing how to react, but Elisa averted her gaze first. Then she briskly walked into the mansion.

Seeing this, Richard’s heart sank.

“Is she very angry…?”

He wondered how he could make it up to her.

His mind went blank with worry.

That night, Elisa returned to the bedroom after washing up and looked around the empty room with a puzzled expression.

“Richard?”

Usually, he would be back in the bedroom before her after she finished washing up. But tonight, he was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did he go?”

Elisa recalled getting angry with him earlier that day.

At the time, she was so emotional that she hated him, but now she felt a bit sorry for crying and getting angry over such a trivial matter.

However, it was awkward to pretend nothing had happened now.

So, when their eyes met as she returned from seeing Ancel off, and even at dinner, she had been aloof towards him.

Still, she had intended to reconcile properly after washing up.

“Maybe he’s in the study?”

She considered going to look for him and making the first move to reconcile. Just then, the door opened.

“Richard?”

Turning around at the sound, Elisa blinked in surprise at what he was holding.

“A Story of the Little Witch in the Black Forest”

He was holding a fairy tale book.

“I wanted to read it to the baby.”

Richard mumbled, hesitating. Elisa, who had been staring blankly at him, finally realized his intention.

He had brought the fairy tale book as a way to reconcile with her.

Suppressing a smile and pretending not to know, Elisa said,

“Really? Then read it to me.”

The two of them sat on the bed.

Richard opened the book while holding Elisa in his right arm, and carefully placed his right hand on her slightly protruding belly.

Elisa rested her hand on her now noticeably rounded stomach and whispered,

“Baby, today Daddy is going to read you a story. The title is ‘The Little Witch in the Black Forest.’ Doesn’t that sound fun?”

As soon as Elisa finished speaking, Richard cleared his throat and began to read the storybook.

“In the northern part of the Popori Forest, there is a black forest where no one goes.”

Elisa promised herself she wouldn’t laugh, but she faced a challenge right from the first sentence.

Popori? Isn’t that an adorable name for a forest?

“In that forest lived a little witch named Lulu. But all the animal friends in the Popori Forest were afraid of Lulu because her hair was so long that it covered her entire face.”

His deep, soothing voice was sweet, but his tone was so awkward that it couldn’t have been more stiff.

‘He would make history books sound more interesting than this!’

Feeling playful, Elisa subtly nudges Richard.

“Aren’t you reading it a bit too stiffly? They say it’s better to tell stories to babies with lots of emotion so they can understand better…”

“……”

“And change your voice for the characters’ dialogue.”

After a brief pause, Richard reluctantly complied with Elisa’s request and started his awkward storytelling attempt.

“…One day, the animal friends decided to play hide and seek. Baby Bunny Toto wanted to hide in a place where no one could find him, so he entered the black forest. ‘If I hide here, no one will find me,’ he thought.”

Elisa bit her lip to stifle her laughter as she watched Richard earnestly trying to imitate a cute bunny voice.

It was still awkward, but his serious expression, slightly furrowed brows, and handsome features made him look adorable.

“But as Toto went deeper to avoid his friends, he tripped over a tree root and fell. ‘Ouch!’ Blood started flowing from Toto’s knee. Scared and in pain, Toto… started crying.”

Elisa noticed Richard hesitating before saying “crying” and finally burst out laughing.

Richard paused for a moment before continuing.

“But then, Lulu appeared. Toto thought she was a ghost and screamed, ‘A ghost!’ But Lulu applied herbs to Toto’s injured knee. Toto then…”

Stifling her laughter, Elisa refocused on the storybook. But her eyes kept drifting back to him.

His red eyes, sparkling softly in the light of the glowing stones, his long eyelashes, the sharp line of his nose, and below it…

His lips, tracing a smooth arc.

She vividly remembered the soft and tender sensation of those lips when they had kissed.

As if entranced, Elisa reached out her hand toward his lips.

“?”

Richard, engrossed in reading the storybook, was startled by Elisa’s sudden action and turned to look at her.

It was only when their eyes met that Elisa realized what she had done. Her heart sank.

‘I must be crazy!’

Not knowing how to recover from the situation, she blinked in confusion. Then, an idea popped into her head.

“There was a hair stuck…”

Elisa pretended to remove a nonexistent hair from his lips, brushing them lightly with her fingers. 

It was only for a moment, but the soft, tender sensation lingered on her fingertips. The touch was intoxicating, causing her heart to pound. She became acutely aware of his firm arm around her waist, his solid body she was leaning against, and the warmth they shared.

Thump. Thump.

In the quiet, she could almost hear her heart beating loudly.

Elisa stared into his eyes, noticing they seemed to darken with intensity. When his arm around her tightened slightly, Elisa quickly turned away, avoiding his gaze.

“It… it might be better to continue the story tomorrow.”

She closed the storybook Richard was holding and set it aside.

Without giving him a chance to respond, she lay down on the bed.

“We have to go to the temple tomorrow, so I should sleep early.”

She felt his gaze on her back as she lay facing away from him, but she didn’t look back.

Thump, thump.

She was afraid he would hear her still racing heart.

As she tried to calm herself, she felt his careful touch tucking the blanket around her.

“Good night.”

His low voice and the now familiar warmth of his embrace surrounded her.

‘It’s uncomfortable.’

But strangely, the discomfort wasn’t unpleasant. It was reassuring.

Elisa eventually drifted off to sleep, unable to understand the reason for the paradox.

*

The next day, Elisa visited the temple.

‘So this is the temple.’

It was the most prominent building on the outskirts of the capital city. Amidst the mud-colored houses of the slums, it stood out with its pristine white marble structure, rivaling even the grandest of noble estates in size.

Elisa had always lived in Rubellin, and even when she occasionally came to the capital, she would return to Rubellin as soon as her business was done. This was her first time visiting the temple.

As she wandered deeper into the temple, admiring its various features, Elisa came upon a fountain at the center.

‘Is this the Fountain of Purification?’

Pope Aiden had created this fountain over twenty years ago, pouring his divine power into it upon his return from the canyon. There were four more such fountains outside the temple, built to protect the weak and impoverished from monster invasions.

‘The Pope is truly remarkable. Even in a time of personal hardship after losing his family, he thought of protecting the weak first.’

While Elisa was looking around the Fountain of Purification, a cleric passing by approached her.

“Welcome, madam. What brings you to the temple today?”

“I have an appointment. Could you please direct me to the west chapel?”

“It’s not far from here. Please follow me.”

The cleric willingly offered to guide her. Elisa followed him.

She had arranged to meet Olivia here today. A few days ago, during the hunting festival, Elisa had learned that Olivia was closely associated with the temple. They had agreed to visit the temple together.

Elisa’s purpose for visiting the temple was clear. She intended to donate in Rubellin’s name to gain reputation and to bolster Rubellin’s influence within the capital by aligning with the temple’s prestige.

“This way, please.”

They arrived at the entrance to the west chapel, and the cleric pointed it out. Elisa bowed in thanks and headed towards the chapel.

At that moment, she heard voices in conversation from the corridor outside the chapel. She turned to look and stopped in her tracks.

There, conversing with a young blonde man who appeared to be of similar age to Olivia, stood a man she recognized instantly.

Pope Aiden Seriart.

The very person Elisa had come to see.

Just as Elisa was about to call out to Olivia, Aiden turned, perhaps sensing her presence. Their eyes met, and for a moment, her heart seemed to skip a beat as she found herself looking into his piercing blue eyes.