A Change of Husband - Chapter 60

Lately, life had been very busy.

Esperad had been dealing with a heavy schedule without complaining, as he had to pressure the conservative nobles while the Bonaparte and Bellucci families were weakened.

The only thing he regretted was that he had less time to see his lovely wife.

Even yesterday, he came home late and didn’t get to see Asilie’s face.

Just hearing her soft breathing wasn’t enough. So when the faint morning sunlight came in, Esperad woke up and looked at her face. Then, he carefully stroked her hair.

Even though he tried to be careful, it seemed that he woke Asilie up.

“Mmm…”

“Oh, did I wake you?”

“Esperad?”

“I’m sorry. You were just so beautiful that I couldn’t help but touch your hair. I came home so late, I didn’t get to see your face…”

“You don’t have to.”

“Huh?”

“An excuse, I mean.”

Asilie whispered softly and held the hand that had been under her head.

“I’m yours, so you can touch me whenever you want. I don’t hate it. No, I like it…”

Just from her voice, it was clear that she wasn’t fully awake yet.

Even so, Esperad found it hard to wait until she was completely awake.

Anyone would feel the same if the person they loved this much was lying beside them.

Of course, he wouldn’t let anyone else even dream of touching her.

As he kissed her right away, Asilie snapped out of her dreamy state.

“Esperad…!”

“Shh.”

He greedily covered her small lips with his, not even giving her a moment to breathe, digging in deeply.

His tongue explored every corner of her mouth, making her body grow hotter.

It was intense. And sensual.

Maybe it was because they hadn’t had time alone recently, but Esperad seemed very eager.

He held her slim waist tightly and ran his hand up her thigh—it was enough for Asilie to feel all of him.

“You don’t have to make excuses, I already said that.”

Despite that, when he mumbled something that sounded like an excuse, Asilie giggled playfully.

As if he wanted to swallow her laughter too, Esperad kissed her again.

His body was already warm, and the heat she felt wasn’t from the weather—it was from him.

Of course, Esperad didn’t leave his lovely wife unattended.

But even when she got a brief break thanks to his roaming hands, the heat came rushing back.

Because his big, hot body completely wrapped around her small one.

“What time did you come in last night?”

Asilie asked, feeling a little nervous because of his urgent movements.

Even though they hadn’t been together long, she had learned to read him well. Just by his voice, she could tell what he was thinking and feeling.

Esperad, realizing she was trying to delay things, teasingly bit her ear and answered clearly.

“Very late.”

His breath brushing right against her made her feel strangely thrilled.

Asilie squirmed to get away from the unfamiliar feeling, but Esperad’s strong arms didn’t let her go.

His lips moved from her ear to her neck, then to her collarbone, and even lower.

The lower he went, the deeper his kisses became, leaving red marks on her pale skin.

“Haah…”

Asilie frowned at the intense sensations and shook her head, but Esperad knew it wasn’t a sign of refusal—so he didn’t stop.

And soon, he began to move.

Their bare skin, damp with sweat, touched, and their moans grew deeper.

As Esperad moved inside her, Asilie moaned like a cry, but welcomed him.

This strange, scary, and overwhelming feeling—something she had only felt from this man—made her wrap her arms tightly around his waist and press her face against his chest.

“Asilie…!”

“E-Esperad…!”

At the same time, he called her name and stopped moving.

“Ah…”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Hearing his hoarse voice, she let out a small laugh.

Looking at her with soft eyes, he kissed her cheek and lips lightly, then gently lifted her small body into his arms.

While making love was thrilling enough to leave no room for thought, these moments of quiet focus on each other brought Asilie true happiness.

“You’ve been really busy, haven’t you?”

“There was a lot of work. I wanted to come home early yesterday…”

“I wanted to take a walk last night. The weather was nice.”

“We can go today.”

“Really?”

She asked with a smile, and Esperad nodded.

“I plan to come home early.”

Asilie hadn’t felt upset about his recent busyness, but she had felt a little sad.

Knowing they could have time together made her smile brightly without realizing it.

“Then I’ll come home early too.”

“You’re going out today?”

“Just for a bit in the afternoon. Lydia and Sophia are going with me. I’ll be back soon, so you don’t need to wait.”

Looking at her with love, Esperad kissed her white cheek and whispered softly.

“For you, I could wait no matter how long, Asilie. No—I will wait.”

Sophia, who had just finished checking the location of the new boutique and signing all the contracts, looked very relieved.

“Do you like the location?”

“Of course, my lady. It’s more than I deserve.”

At Sophia’s reply, Lydia laughed and waved her hand.

“Oh, it’s not that great. In fact, it looked a bit small to me.”

“What do you mean! It was more than spacious. Even bigger than the atelier I used to work at!”

Though Lydia didn’t say anything more in response to her passionate words, she did look a little puzzled.

It seemed she was wondering why Asilie hadn’t given Sophia a larger boutique, knowing she Asilie could.

Of course, Lydia was right, but Asilie believed that it would be much more meaningful and rewarding for Sophia to build things up herself rather than being handed everything from the start.

She didn’t want to take that experience away from Sophia.

“Anyway, I’ve already received so much kindness from you, my lady. I can’t accept any more.”

“But if there’s ever something you need, don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“…Yes, my lady. Still, I really feel like I owe you so much. Honestly, from the first moment I met you, it felt like destiny.”

“Destiny?”

Lydia giggled as she asked.

She knew Lydia was teasing her, but Sophia still blushed and nodded.

“You might not believe me, but it’s true. Actually, you reminded me a lot of a young girl who helped me when I was going through a hard time… It’s a long story.”

“I want to hear that story.”

“So do I.”

“It’s really nothing special…”

Sophia trailed off shyly but soon seemed to make up her mind and began to speak again.

“After losing my parents, I worked at Madame Marriage’s atelier for fifteen years. I became an apprentice designer ten years ago, but before that, life was so hard that I wanted to give up everything. So I went back to my hometown with the little money I had saved.”

When she returned home, Sophia met her aunt and uncle, but they tricked her and ran off with most of her savings.

“I had to start working again. But in my hometown, all I could do was sew, and there wasn’t a proper atelier where I could find work. In the end, I had no choice but to go back to the capital. I only had just enough money left for the trip…”

“Oh no…”

“It takes ten full days to travel to the capital by wagon, and for about four of those days, I couldn’t eat anything except water. Then I got off in a village to take a break, and I was starving.”

Remembering that time, Sophia’s eyes grew teary again.

“And then, a poor-looking little girl came up to me and gave me half of her bread. She said she had to give the other half to her younger sibling. Her eyes and hair were the same color as yours, my lady. That’s probably why I felt so happy when I first met you.”

“What a kind child…”

“I wanted to repay her someday, so I asked her for her name. But she got shy and ran off. All I know is the name of that village.”

“What was it called?”

“Pembis. At least, I think that’s right.”

Sophia, dabbing her tears with the handkerchief Asilie had given her, answered with a trembling voice.

“What? Pembis?!”

Lydia was about to say something, but Asilie tightly gripped her hand, forcing her to stay silent.

Pembis was the village where Asilie and Lydia had grown up. And there had only ever been one girl there with amber hair and amber eyes.

“Do you know the place?”

Lydia stared at Asilie, realizing that the girl in Sophia’s story really was her. But Asilie responded calmly.

“I’ve heard of it.”

“I see… Oh dear, I must have embarrassed myself.”

“No one thinks that. Oh look, the carriage is here.”

“Thank you for understanding… Oh!”

Sophia, who had been speaking casually, suddenly clapped her hand over her mouth as if something just occurred to her.

“What is it?”

“Oh no, I forgot all the fabric I bought today! I must’ve been too excited. Please go on ahead. I’ll catch another carriage.”

“We can wait.”

“Oh no, I know how busy you are, my lady. I can’t take up your time. Please, go ahead without me. I’ll take my time and look at more fabric while I’m at it.”

It seemed clear that if they didn’t leave first, she would find every excuse to make them go. In the end, Asilie and Lydia had no choice but to board the carriage without her.

As the carriage started moving, Lydia looked at Asilie with a suspicious expression and asked as if demanding an explanation.

“Sis, why didn’t you tell her?”

“Tell her what?”

“About Sophia. That girl in her story—it was you, wasn’t it?”

“Probably. No one else in our village had hair like mine.”

“So you knew and still didn’t say anything? Why?”

Of course, if she had known this before going back in time, Asilie would’ve used that fact to her advantage.

Back then, just owning a dress made by Sophia would make any noblewoman envious—it held that much influence and value.

But now, Sophia was entirely relying on Asilie’s support.

Knowing that Asilie was the benefactor who helped her as a child might not be good for Sophia right now.

“I barely even remember it.”

“But if she knew you were the one who helped her, she’d be so happy.”

“And feel burdened, too.”

“I… I didn’t think of that.”

“It was just an act of kindness in the moment. That’s where it should stay. If there’s ever a good time to tell her, I’ll bring it up casually. But now’s not the time. Let’s keep this between us.”

“…Alright. I won’t say anything to Sophia.”

“Thank you. Oh, by the way, has Baroness Werther mentioned anything about etiquette lessons? If she needs anything…”

As the mood grew a little heavy, Asilie gently changed the subject.

“She hasn’t brought anything up yet.”

“She might find it hard to say something to me directly. So if she talks to you, let me know right away. That way I can prepare.”

“Okay, I will. Oh, and…”

Neighhh!

Suddenly, the smoothly moving carriage came to a halt. The horses neighed loudly in alarm.

The sudden jolt made the carriage shake violently, and the two women quickly grabbed the walls to steady themselves.

“W-What was that? Did we hit someone?”

“No way.”

“Then should we check outside?”

“Wait. Stay seated, Lydia.”

Asilie spoke while peeking out through a small gap in the carriage window.

If the carriage had stopped, the coachman—or the knight from the Medici family riding up front—should have said something. But there was no word.

Something felt wrong.

“What’s going on?”

Lydia lowered her voice, sensing that something wasn’t right too.

“Lydia.”

“Yeah?”

“If something happens… can you protect yourself with magic?”

“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I think… the coachman might be dead. If not, then…”

Several possibilities ran through her mind.

A suddenly halted carriage. No idea what was happening.

Either the coachman and knight couldn’t inform them… or they didn’t want to.

“Whether this is a planned attack or just a robbery, I’m the target.”

Attacks on noble carriages were rare, but not unheard of.

Thinking through the two most likely scenarios, Asilie looked at Lydia and spoke carefully, but firmly.

“Tell me, what can your magic do right now?”

“What are you talking about!”

“If we really are in danger, someone has to let others know what happened. That has to be you.”

In the silence, voices of men could be heard from outside.

It was hard to make out what they were saying, but it didn’t sound like they were here to help.

“Lydia.”

“…I can hide myself for a while. But still—”

“Don’t forget what the smartest choice is, Lydia.”

Asilie stood up, giving her one final reminder.

“What are you doing?”

“If I go out first, they won’t bother checking inside the carriage. Tell the duke as quickly as possible.”

With that, she opened the carriage door and stepped outside.

There, she saw several rough-looking men, and the dead bodies of the coachman and the knight lying on the ground.

At least they’re not working together… that means they don’t know Lydia is here. So how can I buy time?

The men looked surprised, as if they hadn’t expected her to step out.

Asilie stared at them calmly, then slowly moved her foot beneath her dress and slipped off her shoes.

“Are you the lady of the Medici household?”

The man who looked like the leader asked, trying to confirm her identity.

Asilie pretended like she was about to answer, then suddenly grabbed her skirt with both hands and ran in the opposite direction.

“What the—?”

“She’s running!”

“Get her!”

She probably wouldn’t be able to buy much time.

But just getting away from the carriage would make it much easier for Lydia to escape and head for the Medici mansion.

Besides, if they had been ordered to kill her immediately, they wouldn’t have asked questions. The more time she could stall, the higher her chances of survival.

“Ah!”

Asilie ran with all her strength, but it didn’t take long for a rough hand to grab her hair and pull her down, making her scream.

“So troublesome.”

That was the last thing she heard before she lost consciousness.