I Refuse To Be A Character In A Novel - Chapter 7

“… What are you doing ?”

‘When did he-’

“Getting along with my wife.”

Behind his courteous smile, the duke looked like a fierce predator.

“This is not what I meant when I said that.”

As her voice unwillingly trembled, Erna cursed in her mind.

She hated looking nervous in front of her husband who appeared as calm as his usual self.

Seeing his wife making a grumpy expression, Zachary smiled and asked mischievously,

“I didn’t know you wanted to spend more time together, are you perhaps upset I didn’t come last month?”

“…”

Upset? I was rather relieved.

“There was a problem at the northern border, weird mana has been flowing out of there…  ”

Zachary trailed off as if he didn’t know why he was explaining.

When he bent forward, Erna flinched and unintentionally closed her eyes.

“…”

But nothing happened.

“Alright, I understand.”

When she opened her eyes, Zachary was smirking down at her.

The duchess felt dumbfounded.

‘For a persistent man, Isn’t he convinced too fast?’ 

“Are you disappointed? Did you perhaps want t-”

“NO!”

Erna firmly refuted before he finished his words.

Zachary chuckled softly again. 

‘I don’t know his intention but this is for the best. By the way, why isn’t he getting off…’

“So how is it that you want to ‘get along’?”

Erna felt intense heat rising from her neck when she heard his sarcastic question.

‘I didn’t know you could make such a reaction’ 

Seeing her cheeks turn red, Zachary wanted to tease her more but she was now getting closer to anger rather than embarrassment. 

The duke stared at his wife for a while in that position.

Flustered by his blank expression, Erna asked in a confused tone. 

“… What?”

‘What am I doing?’

Zachary slowly lifted himself up with a sigh.

He intended to leave the room the moment she said she wasn’t feeling well, but somehow she was acting defensive towards him and he kept wanting to see her flustered reaction.

When Zachary got off of her, Erna fixed her attire and prepared herself to sleep.

“Are you going to sleep here?”

She looked at him perplexed as Zachary was already laying on the other side of the bed.

‘I thought he would leave the room.’

“Of course, we wouldn’t want needless rumors circulating between the servants.”

‘That’s true but … ’

Erna swallowed back her words.

Zachary was no longer looking in her direction. He had already turned off the lights and laid down with his forearm resting on his forehead.

She now felt like she was making a big deal out of nothing.

Erna got up from her seat, grabbed a small towel and laid it on her husband’s head.

“You should at least dry your hair.”

Unlike her earlier worries, she had a sound sleep that night.

By the time she woke up the next morning the duke was already gone.

-End of Flashback-

✰✰✰✰✰

Erna scolded herself for acting like a frightened rabbit in front of her indifferent husband. She vowed in her heart to only show him a calm expression the next time.

A month passed and that day arrived again.

All her determination came to naught.

The duchess is now using her son to avoid her husband.

Although she didn’t feel wary of him, she was still reluctant to be in the same bed with Zachary.

“Since I won, you’ll have to grant me a wish.”

Said the shameless duchess as she looked at her son with a sneaky smile.

“ … Yes, I’ll do anything mother asks of me”

Jonas mumbled with a sulky look on his face. 

He was finally opening up to his mother who approached him with innocent intentions, but now he lost his one chance for ice cream.

He never lost against his father.

The child wouldn’t know his father always let him put the last piece intentionally to praise him.

“Ahem….well….”

‘Omg! I swore to protect his smile just earlier. I feel like a bad mother.’

It was a redeeming quality to be aware of your own faults.

‘I really didn’t approach you with this intention. I only remembered what Rose had told me yesterday and I thought I could use this opportunity.’

Well, it was only a redeeming quality if you backed down after realizing your own faults.

✰✰✰✰✰

“Let’s sleep together.”

I really wanted to have some mother-son time together so it’s not like I was entirely using him.

“ … Huh?”

Jonas looked even more confused than he did when she asked to play together.

“Don’t you want to sleep together?”

“No.”

Erna was baffled by the blunt answer.