A Change of Husband - Chapter 85

“Wh-what did you just say…! I-I never did that!”

Caught off guard by Asilie’s unexpected actions, the Count of Bourbon’s daughter stood there for a moment, unable to say anything. Eventually, she stammered, shaking her head.

Asilie responded with a soft smile.

“Really?”

It was just one word.

Though she no longer claimed that Asilie was the woman involved in the affair, her single sentence seemed even more powerful. The quiet surroundings began to stir once again.

The Count of Bourbon’s daughter, with a stiff face, denied it once more.

“Lady, I told you, it’s not true!”

“Alright, I understand.”

“Lady! What exactly are you doing…!”

“I said I understand. If you say it’s not true, then it’s not. I don’t think I’m mistaken, though.”

“What did you say?”

If Asilie had withdrawn her statement, the situation might have changed a bit. But instead of retracting, she only added that she might have been mistaken, which made her look even more ridiculous in this situation.

Having already learned the ways of noble society, Asilie didn’t act the way the Count of Bourbon’s daughter hoped. Now, she was certain that whatever Joseph did, she wouldn’t care.

However, the Count of Bourbon’s daughter, who had smiled proudly when she saw Asilie that day, was unforgivable.

If this encounter with the Count’s daughter had ended here, Asilie might not have gone this far, but the fact that she had tried to mock her alongside Monica made her angry.

Rather than solving things in the noble way, Asilie chose to take direct action for this reason.

Of course, she would be criticized for publicly revealing Joseph’s affair, which would bring shame to her husband and tarnish the Bonaparte family’s reputation. But as a member of the Bonaparte family, such criticism no longer affected Asilie.

“Sister-in-law.”

Asilie turned to Monica, who was standing there with a blank expression, watching the unexpected situation unfold.

“…Yes, sister.”

“I’m sorry, but if the people you want to introduce are generally from this kind of group, I’d rather not meet them. I don’t think they’re necessary.”

“What do you mean…?”

Monica’s face flushed red as she realized Asilie had just lumped her and her circle into the “this kind of group.”

However, with the Count of Bourbon’s daughter in front of them, Monica couldn’t speak out of turn. She just glared at Asilie gritting her teeth.

“His Majesty the King is here!”

At that moment, a voice announced the arrival of Esperad, almost as if to end the situation.

And with that, the situation Asilie had been dreading began.

It was harder for Asilie to face someone who, though bearing the face of the man she loved, had nothing to do with him. It was much more difficult than facing the accusations from her mother-in-law or the overly confident mistress of her husband.

Especially since she had been the one to end things so coldly and cruelly.

In the brief silence that followed, the nobles kneeled to show respect.

Asilie who had been momentarily stunned, quickly followed suit and knelt with the others. She felt further distanced from this moment.

Even here, with Esperad, she felt far away. How much farther was the man she had once loved?

Though the thought came in a flash, the emotions she had buried came flooding back, making her feel overwhelmed. She felt like she might cry any moment, even though she hadn’t yet seen his face.

When Esperad took his seat, the nobles rose again. Asilie slower than the others, stood up and then lowered her head to avoid looking in his direction.

While he spoke about the royal banquet and the mourning for the national loss since his ascension to the throne, Asilie focused on calming her tears.

If she listened to his voice, it would be too similar, and that would hurt her even more.

“Then, I hope you enjoy the banquet.”

With those words, music began to play again inside the banquet hall.

It felt like time, which had stopped, was now flowing again, though only for everyone else. Asilie remained where she was, head lowered.

She couldn’t move, even as the other nobles moved gracefully around her. She stood there, unable to escape the moment.

She didn’t snap back to reality until the music had changed three times.

“Ah.”

When she finally raised her head, the first thing she saw were the eyes of someone watching her.

And the owner of those eyes was someone she never wanted to face.

‘Esperad.’

But at the same time, not exactly Esperad.

Perhaps, after all this time, the young king might have noticed her strange stillness at the center of the hall. No one was approaching her, and people were avoiding her, as if they feared to interact with her.

Still, Asilie couldn’t shake the feeling that the Esperad she knew was looking at her.

“Or maybe I just want to think that way,” she thought, as she found herself looking for the Esperad she knew, even in this situation.

She felt pathetic for clinging to the hope that the young king might be the Esperad she remembered.

Thankfully, the disgust she felt toward herself kept her from crying.

Asilie looked into his familiar yet foreign blue eyes for a moment, then lowered her head and made a brief nod. Without looking back, she turned and walked away.

Now that the king had entered, she could leave the banquet hall.

Needing some time alone to calm herself, Asilie headed straight for the balcony. She needed some space to collect her thoughts.

The brief moment had a significant impact on Esperad.

After seeing Asilie from a distance, he couldn’t concentrate on anything for quite a while.

He had finally found the woman he loved, but now he had to focus on keeping the peace and eliminating the stillness around him, even as her sorrowful gaze kept pulling at his heart.

‘She probably doesn’t remember me.’

If she did remember everything, she wouldn’t have just passed by him that day.

If the situation had prevented her from acting, she should have shown some kind of emotion.

But Asilie remained as expressionless as ever.

In fact, it wasn’t a huge problem for Esperad that she didn’t remember him.

What troubled him was that she was now known to love Joseph, and that she was a married woman.

‘What if she doesn’t want me?’

The thought that Asilie might reject him was something Esperad had never even considered.

But after seeing her, it became his biggest concern.

He waited for the day of the royal banquet with both deep worry and hope that he would meet Asilie again.

And again, they came face to face.

Her, Asilie.

“Where did she go?”

“It seems like she went toward the balcony, but I couldn’t confirm it properly.”

Esperad followed immediately after confirming that Asilie had left the banquet hall. He had told Madame Marche to discreetly keep an eye on her, so it wasn’t difficult for him to head toward the balcony.

However, each balcony was curtained off, so he couldn’t tell where Asilie had gone. If she went toward the shadowed side and met others, it could create an awkward situation, so Esperad decided to enter an empty balcony first.

At that moment.

“Your Majesty.”

He turned at the voice, which was filled with a hint of annoyance.

It was Cordelia who had entered the balcony.

“How is the late queen?”

“I wanted to talk with Your Majesty in a quiet place. After all, we haven’t had the chance to meet until now.”

There was no intention of returning to Velkoz, and it was confirmed that Count Mirk had been useless. In this situation, what needed to be done was to find a new connection, and for Cordelia, that connection was Esperad.

But she couldn’t act hastily. She understood how strange it would look to ask Esperad to accept her as a queen, having recently sent away her husband. During their last meeting, she had hinted at it, but he seemed to have ignored her true intentions.

It was a frustrating situation. She couldn’t just wait, nor could she let go.

Then, her thoughts turned to the royal banquet. A banquet, where many people gather, alcohol is served, and it runs late into the night, could be the perfect place for an unexpected romance to begin. Cordelia had set up a maid to watch over Esperad, which was why she had found him Asilie on the balcony.

“I don’t think it’s the right time right now…”

Esperad was about to refuse, but then changed his mind.

He still didn’t know where Asilie was, and Cordelia had found such a private spot. Perhaps she wanted to talk about Count Mirk.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“We don’t need a specific topic. We can create many conversations, don’t you think?”

Cordelia spoke softly with a seductive smile. It was clear that she was trying to tempt him. But to Esperad, it felt nothing but repulsive.

In this world, Cordelia had already betrayed Hort while he was bedridden, having an affair with Count Mirk. She had also secretly used Hort’s seal to pass bills that benefited conservative nobles. Now, seeing her try to open up to him in this new world, it was hard for him to view her favorably.

Furthermore, Cordelia had been the one who killed Asilie in the previous world. Even if she hadn’t taken action here, Esperad couldn’t tolerate her.

Still, he didn’t drop his smile.

“That is true. But I’ve been wondering if the late queen is ready to speak with me more honestly.”

“More honestly, you say…?”

She was a bit confused.

Was Esperad hoping for her to act more like a woman, or was this related to the issue with Count Mirk?

Because of that, Cordelia couldn’t speak right away, her face full of confusion as she looked at him.

“I’ll visit in a few days. Then, we can have a deeper conversation.”

Esperad responded gently, but formally, before passing Cordelia and leaving the balcony.

If Asilie’s purpose had been to take a short break, she might have already returned to the banquet hall.

Esperad hurried toward the banquet hall. Just before he reached the hall, in the hallway, he saw the beautiful golden hair he had once been so familiar with.

“Madame Bonaparte.”

It was a voice she had never forgotten, even for a moment.

But there was one difference now: instead of the affectionate name “Asilie” she was now being called by the surname of another man.

She had hoped to be called, but not like this. Asilie stopped in her tracks, not looking back right away. After hiding her clenched fists in her voluminous skirt, she finally turned her head.

“Your Majesty.”

The voice she barely managed to utter sounded very hoarse to her.

For a moment, she didn’t know where to look, but then she gathered her courage and met Esperad’s eyes.

His blue eyes, so similar to her lover’s, immediately brought back memories of him.

“…I saw you that day,” Esperad finally spoke after a long pause.

The only connection they had in this moment was that single encounter, and Asilie knew it too. There was no other topic they could share; it was only that—their accidental meeting on the street.

“I…”

The situation itself was troubling Asilie.

It wasn’t that anyone else was the problem. The problem was her own self. She was the one torturing herself.

She knew now. Esperad was not the same Esperad she knew, and she had returned to a completely different world, alone.

Yet, the voice that had spoken about having a deep conversation with another woman made her feel so sad. The woman in question was Cordelia, who had killed her in the previous world.

“I haven’t told anyone about that, Your Majesty.”

It was a conversation that had barely started, but the time they had and the words they could exchange were too short and brief.

Esperad, hearing her cold and formal voice, felt an odd sense of discomfort. It wasn’t the voice of the Asilie who had once called him lovingly.

But strangely, this scene reminded him of the Asilie who had once asked him for marriage, and that thought made him nostalgic.

It was a simple and obvious conclusion: every moment with her reminded him of every moment they had shared before.

Of course, Asilie knew that she was no longer the same.

So, Esperad simply looked at her, silently. For a long time, he allowed himself to look at the woman he had once desperately loved.

“You won’t have to worry about anything from now on.”

When Esperad remained silent, Asilie cautiously nodded and lowered her head.

Her mind was too cluttered with the worries that had arrived. She wanted to escape the situation and distance herself.

Leaving behind their troubled fate, Asilie knew that Cordelia had ties to Count Mirk. Therefore, her approach would be dangerous for Esperad.

But this Esperad, in this world, had nothing to do with her. That was why it was so confusing and painful.

“…I’ll leave now.”

Esperad didn’t stop her as she turned away.

Asilie too, quickened her pace and distanced herself, despite feeling his gaze lingering on her back.

Support