My Husband is Suspicious - Episode 21

Then Mackiv said in a rather calm voice.

“I had something like that happen to me before too.”

His face was a little more serious than before.

“What kind of thing?”

Perhaps influenced by the atmosphere, Eleanor naturally asked him.

“Well, if I tell you this story, you might look at me strangely.”

Eleanor was already looking at him strangely. She felt uneasy and uncomfortable. But there would be no good in saying that to him directly, so she just stayed quiet. Mackiv, quick to notice, read Eleanor’s momentary expression and said,

“Surely, Eleanor, you don’t already think of me that way, do you?”

Eleanor was startled by his words and waved her hand. She was so flustered that her gesture was excessive.

“No! Of course not.”

As Eleanor shook her head and spoke, Mackiv seemed somewhat relieved and smiled brightly.

“Still, thank you. For not thinking of me that way. Other people tend to see me rather lightly. Well, I can understand why.”

Then, he grinned and bowed his waist towards Eleanor. The jangling sound accompanying him was particularly loud.

“You were flustered when you first saw me too, weren’t you, Eleanor?”

I’m flustered even now.

But Eleanor shook her head. She thought Mackiv would back down by now, but he kept his gaze locked with hers. Eleanor blinked, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

Then Mackiv broke into a wide smile. The smile was perfect enough to momentarily steal one’s breath away.

“Thank you, Eleanor.”

Then Mackiv leaned back leisurely against the seat.

“…What are you thanking me for?”

“Because you didn’t show me a look of dislike. I’m more soft-hearted than I appear.”

“……”

“I don’t think you’re such a bad person, Eleanor. I think you’re just very shy around strangers.”

“…You know me better than I know myself.”

“Really? Well, I do meet a lot of people selling magical artifacts. So, I guess I’m good at figuring people out.”

Mackiv gave a naive smile. It was a smile that seemed proud of his profession.

Eleanor was curious for a moment. Did Mackiv really like that job? Surely there must have been times he disliked it.

“Isn’t that kind of work difficult?”

Mackiv smiled. He didn’t seem to find doing such work difficult at all.

“Not at all, it’s rather fun. People’s reactions are all different.”

“It must be nice to do work that suits you.”

“Yes, sometimes I’m happy for no reason. But you, Eleanor, were the most exceptional person I’ve met.”

“Exceptional?”

“Yes, that’s why you’re more memorable.”

“How so?”

As Eleanor asked with curiosity, Mackiv smiled brightly and said,

“You were the only one who didn’t buy my magical artifacts.”

“……”

“Normally, when I ask someone to buy something, they all buy at least one. But you were an exception.”

“You said you wouldn’t talk about selling magical artifacts anymore.”

“But isn’t it okay to do it just once like this?”

Eleanor was speechless. It was probably because of his handsome smile that everyone bought magical artifacts. Honestly, Eleanor had also been momentarily captivated by his smile. But it was only for a few seconds. That was all.

“Has it been easy selling magical artifacts all this time?”

“How did you know? Everyone buys at least one, so my sales figures are quite high.”

Just as I thought. Eleanor looked at Mackiv with a knowing expression. It was natural for his sales to be good if he relied on his looks to sell magical artifacts.

“They probably bought them because of your face.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Eleanor replied indifferently and glanced at the tracker. The red light was still neither moving away nor getting closer. At this speed, it was just right.

“Then what about you, Eleanor?”

“What about me?”

“Do you dislike faces like mine?”

Eleanor slowly raised her head. Mackiv looked at her with innocent eyes, as if waiting for her answer. It was like the eyes of a puppy seeing its owner.

Are they all trained to sparkle their eyes like that? Eleanor looked at him indifferently and slowly opened her mouth.

“I don’t particularly dislike it…”

“Then that’s enough.”

“Enough for what?”

“It means you don’t dislike me, Eleanor.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Then do you dislike me?”

Mackiv said in a somewhat dejected voice. Eleanor felt awkward, as if she had created a difficult situation for herself. She suddenly felt like she was being tested. Moreover, Mackiv had a hurt expression, making it difficult to say anything.

In the end, Eleanor said simply.

“No.”

“That’s a relief.”

Mackiv smiled brightly, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. Eleanor felt a sense of unease at his reaction and raised her left hand. A wedding ring with a diamond on the fourth finger sparkled.

“I’m married.”

“I know.”

“Then that’s all that matters.”

Eleanor lowered her hand, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Then she turned her gaze back to the tracker.

Then she glanced at Mackiv. He seemed in better spirits than before. He was looking out the carriage window, a smile spread across his face.

‘Now that I’ve shown him my wedding ring, he won’t try to hit on me anymore.’

It felt like an overreaction, but Eleanor was uncomfortable with him. His tendency to suddenly blurt out inexplicable things also bothered her.

‘Coming with Mackiv might have been the wrong choice.’

The thought crossed her mind for a moment, but she quickly dismissed it. It couldn’t be helped now that it had come to this. Eleanor focused on the tracker again.

Above all, riding in the carriage like this was to achieve her goal of finding out more about Dreid. Eleanor had no other desires.

________________________________________

Before she knew it, they had arrived at Delfos. As expected of a resort town, the atmosphere was very bright. There was even the sea, and if she weren’t tracking Dreid, Eleanor might have thought differently about this charming place. But Eleanor steeled her resolve. The red light on the tracker had stopped at the Raftin Hotel.

“We have arrived.”

The coachman, sensing the situation, stopped the carriage by the hotel’s back entrance. Being at the back of the hotel, there were few people around.

Eleanor didn’t take her eyes off the tracker even after getting off at the hotel. At that moment, Dreid seemed to have completely stopped, as the speed at which the numbers changed had significantly slowed.

Eleanor said quickly.

“Mackiv, can you calculate the location?”

“Yes, just tell me the numbers that appear, and I’ll calculate it right away.”

Eleanor called out the numbers displayed on the tracker. Sometimes the numbers swapped, so she had to calculate quickly. While Mackiv calculated the location, Eleanor looked around. Dreid would be somewhere in this hotel. The Raftin Hotel was Delfos’ most luxurious hotel.

No matter how she thought about it, Dreid didn’t seem like a low-ranking bank employee at Finn Bank. The accommodation here was exorbitant; they wouldn’t provide such lodging expenses for a junior employee.

Dreid had said he was popular because he was competent.

‘So that means he has a solid position at Finn Bank.’

She couldn’t understand why Dreid would lie about something like that.

Or rather, couldn’t he at least tell her his position at the bank?

Was it such an important position that he had to hide it?

Eleanor recalled the first time she met Dreid. Perhaps it was because he seemed like a junior employee then that she felt more at ease.

If Dreid had told her he held a high position at Finn Bank, Eleanor would never have been able to sit with him for long. Above all, it would have been uncomfortable and quite burdensome.

But when Dreid said he worked as an ordinary bank employee at a nearby Finn Bank, Eleanor spoke to him comfortably. Of course, it was also because he created that kind of atmosphere.

As she thought of that, Eleanor felt a strange sensation.

‘Could it be that Dreid thought of that too and hid his true position all this time?’

While Eleanor was lost in thought for a moment, Mackiv exclaimed.

“It’s showing room 1109! Judging by the room number, it seems to be on the royal floor.”

The royal floor was the highest floor in the hotel. There were only a few rooms, and it seemed very difficult to secure one right now.

Eleanor looked up at the tall hotel building. It was a hotel where the Crown Prince used to stay frequently before building his villa. Eleanor looked up at the higher floors before lowering her head. While the royal floor might be difficult, she still needed to secure a room on another floor.

“First, I need to get a room.”

As Eleanor spoke, Mackiv followed her, making his characteristic jangling sound. The more she walked with him, the more the jangling sound bothered her. She couldn’t be sure. What if they were discovered because of that sound?

She was already on edge, and the sound seemed to echo particularly loudly in her ears.

Eleanor let out a faint sigh.

“Mackiv, don’t you have any intention of changing clothes? Or perhaps you could leave the magical artifacts somewhere safe.”

“Does it bother you a lot?”

“We need to move as discreetly as possible, and well…”

At that moment, Mackiv stopped walking. Then he lightly touched his clothes. He seemed to move them around, and then said to Eleanor,

“Is it better now?”

The jangling sound was faint, but not enough to be bothersome. Mackiv seemed unwilling to give up the clinking sound of the magical artifacts bumping against each other. Eleanor had no choice but to nod.

“Do you like magical artifacts that much?”

When Eleanor asked, Mackiv nodded.

“They collect facts I don’t know. And they’re quite pretty too.”

“Aren’t they heavy when you carry them around like that?”

“They’re not very heavy. Rather, they make me feel secure.”

Mackiv looked proudly at the magical artifacts hanging all over his clothes. A smile spread across his face.

Does he really like them that much? Eleanor looked at him, then looked ahead again. Then she stopped walking abruptly.

Eleanor grabbed Mackiv’s arm.

“Come here.”

As Eleanor pulled him suddenly, Mackiv looked at her with a puzzled expression, then turned his head in the direction Eleanor was looking.

There was a man. Even from a distance, he looked quite handsome. Mackiv looked in that direction, then turned his gaze back to Eleanor.

Eleanor came to the side of the building with Mackiv. The reason Eleanor was surprised was simple. Dreid was talking to someone.

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