I Am Trying to Divorce My Villain Husband, But We Had a Child - chapter 6

Episode 6

 

“Kyaak!”

 

the centipede’s gaze turned towards the owner of the voice.

 

“Should I go out here in this opening? Or is it right to keep hiding here?”

 

After a moment of hesitation, Elisa stepped on a cushion and climbed up to look outside the carriage window to survey the situation.

 

“Richard…!”

 

As expected, Richard was confronting giant centipedes  there.

 

a centipede attacked Richard with one of its numerous legs. However, when Richard skillfully avoided it,the centipede attacked again, this time with a venomous fang-filled mouth.Centipede’s fang got stuck in the ground.

 

Richard, who easily avoided the attack, stepped on the centipede’s back and gracefully landed behind it.

 

Only then did centipede’s, pulling out its fang, start to look around, unable to find Richard.

 

“Over here.”

 

In the meantime, Richard gathered the humid wind, forming a storm the size of centipede’s.

 

Eventually, the storm swallowed centipede’s.

 

“Kiyaaak!”

 

Within the swirling storm, centipede’s were struck by lightning and turned pitch black.

 

When the storm finally disappeared, only the centipede’s charred corpse remained.

 

Richard confirmed that the centipede was no longer moving and turned away.

 

The attendants who had accompanied Elisa were thrown out of the carriage and were unconscious on the ground. The knights were confronting small monsters that had appeared with the giant centipede’s.

 

Richard, who locked eyes with Elisa through the carriage window, flew over to her.

 

Then he reached out his hand towards Elisa, who was still frightened, and Ann, who was crying.

 

“Take this child out first.”

 

After rescuing Ann, Richard hugged Elisa, who was still trembling in fear, and looked at her with concern.

 

Her small body in his arms was still shaking.

 

Whether to call him stupid or kind…

 

Richard gently placed Elisa on the ground and assessed her condition.

 

“Any injuries?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

At that moment, three men approached Richard.

 

“Are you Lord Rubellin, by any chance?”

 

They were the pedestrians who had been fighting monsters earlier.

 

Controlling wind and lightning freely was a power bestowed only to those with Rubellin’s bloodline, and currently, Richard was the only one with the ability to use that power.

 

Therefore, recognizing Richard after witnessing his power was natural.

 

Richard looked at the patterns of the empire engraved on the man’s uniform with a suspicious look and replied, “And who’s asking?”

 

“Indeed, that’s right! We were on our way to Rubellin Castle, and such a coincidence… Thank you so much for saving us.”

 

“Looking at you, it seems like a knight from the imperial family. What brings you here?”

 

“Oh, that.”

 

The man took something out of his pouch and handed it to Richard.

 

“This is an invitation from His Majesty the Emperor, sent to Duke Rubellin.”

 

It was an invitation with the imperial seal.

 

*

 

“Someday, I want to see who will be the lady of the Duke’s mansion…”

 

Albert, who received the Emperor’s invitation during the dinner, quickly scanned it and handed it back to the butler next to him.

 

Elisa carefully observed the elaborate letter held by the butler.

 

The purpose behind the Emperor’s invitation was clear.

 

“He wants to confirm if the cunning child who stole the position my daughter should have occupied actually exists, and if the Duke created a false story just to avoid the marriage between Richard and the princess.”

 

And to gauge if they could easily eliminate the issue. Of course, Albert wouldn’t let Elisa be removed by the Emperor’s hand, not because she was precious, but because it was a matter of Rubellin’s pride.

 

“And in the original work, Elisa survived safely and bore a child named Hanesse.”

 

Elisa silently waited for Albert’s decision.

 

Albert, holding a soup spoon, spoke.

 

“As there happens to be a noble gathering in the capital around that time, going a few days early wouldn’t hurt.”

 

Even if they declined the invitation, the Emperor couldn’t retaliate differently, but avoiding the invitation was something Rubellin’s pride wouldn’t allow.

 

“The puddles should be dried up in three days.”

 

Albert, eating soup while listening to the rain outside, instructed Richard and Elisa.

 

“We’ll leave for the capital in three days, so get ready.”

 

*

 

The journey from Rubellin Castle in the north to the capital was a long one, taking more than a week by carriage.

 

Everyone traveling together found the long journey exhausting, but one person, in particular, was having a hard time.

 

“Uwup!”

 

For example, someone suffering from motion sickness.

 

As soon as the carriage stopped, Ann, who had jumped out of the carriage like an arrow, ran into the nearby grass and vomited.

 

Because of one young maidservant, everyone in the group had to stop by the roadside, drawing everyone’s attention to Ann.

 

Albert, too, was not pleased with the delay.

 

“She’s like a useless wench… We can’t be held up on the road because of her. If the carriage stops one more time for her, I’ll leave her behind.”

 

Although they had brought motion sickness medicine before departure, they had already taken it, and it was now empty.

 

Motion sickness medicine was a relatively expensive item, and it wasn’t easy to find in small villages along the journey.

 

To reach a larger town where they could buy motion sickness medicine, they would have to go back for at least half a day.

 

Even if they went quickly on horseback, they would still have to stop the carriage, and by then, the sun would have set.

 

In that case, they would inevitably have to camp on the road, which everyone dreaded.

 

Albert was not a person of such generosity to endure all that for the sake of one maidservant.

 

“No, she doesn’t want to vomit! “

 

Elisa felt discontent with Albert’s decision.

 

Especially because Ann was only ten years old, her symptoms were worse than the adults.

 

“Ann, are you okay?”

 

Elisa carefully observed Ann’s pale face as she climbed back into the carriage with tearful eyes.

 

“I’m sorry…”

 

With tears streaming down her face, Ann crouched down and sat on the floor of the carriage.

 

Originally, maidservants could ride in the carriage with their masters, but they couldn’t sit in the same seat. The hard carriage floor was their place.

 

‘If she continues like this, she’ll only get sicker…’

 

Watching Ann with concern, Elisa grabbed Ann’s arm.

 

“Ann, sit here.”

 

The place Elisa pointed to was right next to her. Ann raised her head in surprise.

 

“Oh, no, I can’t.”

 

“It’s okay. Come up.”

 

“But…”

 

Ann hesitated. If someone saw this, she would be scolded severely.

 

However, Elisa covered the windows on both sides of the carriage with curtains and urged Ann.

 

“Come on.”

 

Ann hesitated for a moment, glancing at Richard sitting across from Elisa.

 

Richard, who had been awake until a while ago, now had his eyes closed, as if he had fallen asleep.

 

Attempting to sit discreetly, Ann glanced at Richard, who was sitting across from Elisa.

 

Elisa seemed unsatisfied with that and, after a moment of assessing Richard’s reaction, moved to sit next to him.

 

Then she offered a cushion to Ann.

 

“Lie down and rest. You’ll feel better if you fall asleep.”

 

“Well, I…”

 

Before Ann could say more, Elisa brought her index finger to her lips and pointed silently at Richard on the other side.

 

Ann looked at Elisa with a tearful expression, then reluctantly lay down on the chair.

 

Elisa smiled satisfactorily as she looked at Ann in that state.

 

‘The little lady is truly like an angel.’

 

Ann was certain. Among all the people she had met in this world, Elisa was the most beautiful. Probably among those she would meet for the rest of her life.

 

Ann looked at Elisa, and, while doing so, gradually drifted off to sleep. The rhythmic sound of breathing echoed in the quiet carriage.

 

Watching Ann like that, Elisa spoke in a soft voice.

 

“Thank you for closing your eyes.”

 

Richard, who had been closing his eyes, opened them slowly.

 

“… You have quite a broad heart.”

 

‘Enrilhae’ was a huge sea between the western and eastern continents.

 

Now accustomed to Richard’s way of speaking, Elisa chuckled and accepted it.

 

“You, who closed your eyes, are the same.”

 

“…”

 

“We’re partners, right? You and me.”

 

Instead of responding to Elisa’s words, Richard picked up a book that was beside him and began reading.

 

How much time passed like that?

 

As Richard  was about to turn the next page, a light weight pressed onto his shoulder. It was Elisa’s head, which had fallen asleep this time.

 

The soft blond hair tickled Richard’s neck. The sensation was not unpleasant.

 

Frozen for a moment, Richard, who had closed his eyes again, peacefully accepted it.

 

*

 

After a little over a fortnight, the Rubellin Duke’s entourage arrived in the capital, Ideo.

 

In Ideo, there were many mansions where nobles from various territories stayed during their visits, and among them, the Rubellin Duke’s mansion was the most grand and magnificent, befitting its reputation.

 

However, exhausted from the long journey of over a fortnight, Elisa fell asleep as soon as they arrived, without even having a chance to tour the mansion.

 

The next day, the dresses made by the designer, who had measured Elisa’s body dimensions in advance and sent them, were brought in.

 

As a result of the long makeover, Elisa spent a day doing a fashion show without a chance to relieve her fatigue.

 

And finally, the day to go to the imperial palace dawned.

 

The designer and maidservants who had been in the mansion were already preparing as soon as Elisa finished her breakfast.

 

“Wow, how can you be so beautiful!”

 

The designer, who completed the makeover that took several hours, seemed quite pleased with the results.

 

“You look just like a princess.”

 

“If Lord Richard sees you, he’ll fall in love.”

 

Even the other maidservants, who were usually quiet, chimed in with a word or two.

 

‘Wow…’

 

Usually, she would have brushed it off, but today Elisa couldn’t tear her eyes away from her reflection in the mirror.

 

The girl in the mirror was wearing a sky-blue dress as light as flower petals.

 

Her fine golden hair was braided on one side, and on top of that, she wore a feathered hat, exuding a spring picnic atmosphere.

 

Her small, white face, large azure eyes, and ruby-red lips remained unchanged, yet somehow, they looked different today.

 

At the moment Elisa finished her makeover, the door opened, and someone walked in.