CH 4

Noah’s eyes were on the bulletin board, not her.

As she looked at what he was looking at, she saw a wanted flyer on one side of the bulletin board. One was an ex-convict pickpocket, one ran away after a drink, and the other was a… con artist. They must’ve offended someone of high standing.

“Hiccup.”

Suddenly, a large warm hand touched her back.

Noah turned to her when she hiccuped one more time in surprise.

“What’s wrong, Hazel?”

She could feel him sweeping her back slowly.

“Nothing. Just a hiccup.”

Saying so, she slowly took a step to the side.

He couldn’t have thought of her when he saw that, right? He couldn’t catch this idiot, so he posted a wanted flyer. But now, he got her in his hands… Noah must’ve felt a sense of superiority over her when he did it.

Eventually, Hazel couldn’t even look around the market properly because she was bothered, so she came back home under the pretext of being tired. She didn’t know she’d be so afraid of him. She even promised to go on a date with him today.

It was only after she came back and warmed herself in warm water that she felt at ease.

* * *

Noah, who washed up first, came back to the room and was waiting for me.

“….”

There was no one around, so should I use my mind manipulation magic on him…?

[ T/N: In the last chapter, it was mentioned that Hazel could do this ‘magic’ that could beat even a few sword masters. But after searching about it again and from this chapter’s context, it’s not only magic in general but some kind of illusion/mind manipulation magic. Sorry for the mistake. The raw is 환영술. ]

“Hazel, come here.”

Noah gestured to the bed as if he had been waiting.

He knew that I liked to take a nap when I came home early. The appearance of him lying down with his bathroom robe disheveled in the afternoon was strange, but it was also a problem because even that matched him well.

In the end, I decided not to use my magic on him.

There were many ways to use mind manipulation, but since it was usually the ability to infiltrate the other person’s mind and use them, no matter how good they were, their mind would be impacted unconditionally.

In the first place, if the caster had no will to attack, the person would only feel a small shock that even a child couldn’t feel though I didn’t want to even give that to him.

…Because I loved him that much, I never tried to use a magic spell on Noah/

Besides, he wouldn’t resist me, so even low level magic could work. Kairos Hadid would feign ignorance of whatever I do. I’d already decided that he was Kairos Hadid in my heart, but…

As I calmed down my trembling breath, I strode towards Noah. Looking into his eyes, I poured my energy around him.

I hoped I would fail and he would notice it.*

Then, there were suddenly flowers around us blooming.

[ T/N: A short explanation in case all of you are confused at first like me lol. So Kairos is immune to mind manipulation magic, right? If he’s not immune, it means that he’s not Kairos Hadid. ]

Even though the flowers bloomed and filled the surroundings quickly, Noah’s eyes were not a little surprised or shaken. Rather, he just patted the bed again, telling me to sit there.

“Noah.”

“Yes, Hazel?”

From his left, a woman who looked just like me sneaked onto the bed. She then stretched out her hand and brought it to his cheek.

‘Please, see it!’

Due to my impatience, I tried to set fire right in front of Noah. At the same time, he, who was not shaken at all, got out of his seat.

…Could he see it? Did he see it?

When I was about to be happy, Noah approached and hugged me tightly.

“When did my wife learn to tease me like this?”

He really… didn’t see a thing?

When I managed to come to my senses and escape from Noah’s arms, I carefully grabbed him by the arm.

“Noah.”

“Yes, Hazel.”

“You don’t see anything?”

“What do you mean? I can see my wife very well.”

“No, I mean…”

Saying that, he tilted his head and seemed to not know what I was talking about. It was as if no matter what I did in front of him, he couldn’t see anything.

‘So, he’s really not Noah Edith…?’

As I let go of Noah’s arm and stepped back, he raised his eyebrows as he tried to hug me to bed.

“I don’t think I’ll be taking a nap. I suddenly remembered something, so I’ll be at the office for a moment.”

Then, I turned around and left the room.

* * *

He was the real Kairos Hadid.

He was not Noah Edith.

If he was not Karos Hadid, it meant he was the final villain who did all kinds of bad things. Even though I had already checked his name on paper, I wanted to check it with my own eyes.

…My husband was the man who came to kill me.

I couldn’t believe our love was fake.

I could almost know why he didn’t kill me right away. It was to give me more pain. He was going to push me to the cliff at my happiest moment…

…How could he be so terrible?

Compared to his wealth, what I did was smaller than the dust on my gloves. Honestly, I thought the wanted flyer was too much. Even then, he seemed to have done it because he was ashamed of the fact that I dared to deceive him, not because of the money.

“…He’s cruel.”

I knew that there was only one way, but I was stubborn.

It wasn’t until dawn that I left the office.

When I didn’t come out of the office until evening, Noah or Kairos Hadid, who pretended to be Noah, came to the office. Still, I sent him back. Even though I didn’t know about his motive, he said he couldn’t see me skipping a meal, so he made me Galette and Salad.

Anyway, it was the first time I didn’t sleep with him since we got married. Even though I felt a sense of loss and emptiness, I couldn’t do it.

Eventually, it was past four a.m. when I came out.

Click.

As I carefully opened the office door, I could see Noah’s back by the window of the hallway, where the moonlight was seeping in.

“….”

The reliable back of Noah and the cruel Kairos Hadid’s image overlapped.

Soon, he turned over this way. Noah’s face under the moonlight looked dangerous, especially his red eyes that shone in the dark.

‘…I should’ve come out later.’

While I regretted my decision, I thought Noah would follow me if I went back in again.

“Hazel.”

Noah quickly approached me.

“Noah, why aren’t you sleeping?”

“How can I sleep without Hazel?”

“…So, you’ve been waiting here?”

Instead of answering, Noah held me in his arms and kissed my neck. He inhaled several times and kissed my skin with his lips.

As I stroked his hair due to habit, he hugged me as if he had been waiting.

“Noah?”

“Are you done with your business?”

His eyes looked at me kindly.

“…Yes.”

“Hazel. Let’s go to bed then.”

“Right now?”

“Yes.”

I blinked and looked rather troubled.

“…I think it’ll be hard. I’ll be tired when I get ready for work later.”

Noah stared at me and burst into a short laugh.

“Wh-why are you laughing?”

“What are you thinking? What would make you tired?”

He clearly teased me. I murmured as I glanced at him.

“…It’s because you always say we’ll just sleep, but we actually don’t each time.”

As he moved his face on my shoulder, he giggled. The small tremor made me laugh.

“I had no intention of doing that today.”

“…Really?”

“Yes, truly.”

I still gazed at him suspiciously.

“It’s true. Just wait and see.”

Repeating his words again, Noah smiled again and began to head to the room while hugging me.

* * *

…Only half of what Noah said was true.

Come to think of it, he never kept his word to just sleep every time! Maybe he already intended to lie in the first place? Otherwise, why would he do this?

With half-sleepy eyes, Noah, who had been away, entered the room while I was forcing myself to sleep. He then held a tray of omelets while humming.

I’m the only one who’s having a hard time again!

“Liar.”

As he was just smiling and setting the table for me to eat the omelet, I stared at him quietly. It must be a hassle, but even then, he hummed as if he was having a lot of fun and put down the knife and fork.

He looked so much better today.

“….”

Okay, fine.

I have decided to admit that my lovely husband is Kairos Hadid. Likewise, I decided to admit that I betrayed my villainous husband once.

That was the reality…!

Now that I knew everything, if I kissed him as usual, it would be bitter rather than sweet.

At the same time, Noah smiled at me.

“….”

…Bitter taste was usually healthy. Wouldn’t it be okay to keep at least one bitter taste in my life for my health?

He always did it again!

Disarmed by Noah’s smile, who was smiling broadly, I slapped my cheek.

Crazy. That’s poison, poison.

‘…Don’t be fooled.’

Noah, whom I was contemplating about, hurriedly ran this way.

“Hazel, why all of a sudden…? Doesn’t it hurt? Was it because I gave you a hard time each night? If you want to hit something, just hit me. Look, your white cheeks are already red…”

As he uttered with a very worried face, the hand that touched my cheek was very attentive.

“….”

Unable to answer his question, I made up my mind.

I couldn’t believe he was acting.

As expected, I really couldn’t do it. I would definitely die at this rate… I should plan a perfect divorce. I couldn’t be fooled like this by him anymore.

* * *

I gazed up at my guild office, which I had worked hard on. Until now, I worked so hard from a one-bedroom office that it now had become a sizeable two-story building! So, was I going to abandon all of this, too…?

Ugh, the monthly fee alone was a massive amount!

It was a coincidence that I quit my job in the Imperial Knights and started a mercenary guild. I recalled the memories with my grim expression.