Marriage of Convenience

Chapter 10 – 15 Year Reunion (4)

Translator: Skye

“…You’ve just returned from war, have you not? As your wife, it‘s only expected that I come by,” Bianca replied.

A subtle crease marred Zachary’s forehead. Was he irked by her words? It was possible that he found the latter part of her comment off-putting, since she had been ignoring him all this time. He may have also taken it as her being sarcastic. The lies felt from her forced smile may have played a part as well. Afraid that Zachary may misunderstand, Bianca quickly added, “And there are things I’ve been neglecting as well.”

Zachary was silent. It appeared he didn’t believe her.

He continued to stand a distance away and observe her. Not only was the distance between them wide, but their conversation seemed to be going in circles as well. Would it get slightly better if the gap between them was narrowed? Bianca took a step forward. It was only a single step, yet it felt awfully heavy.

But her efforts ended up being for naught. Zachary visibly flinched as soon as Bianca took a step forward and took several steps back, widening the space between them again. His face was contorted, like he hadn’t been expecting her to get closer to him at all.

Do you dislike me to the point where you don’t want me to get near you? Stunned, Bianca stared at the gap between them, which had become wider than before.

“I haven’t washed yet,” Zachary quietly added before clearing his throat. Perhaps he realized that his earlier actions had been too direct.

“…Pardon?”

Bianca tilted her head at the random comment, causing him to grow flustered when he saw her confused look. However, this caused Bianca to grow flustered as well, unsure why he appeared taken aback.

“…It must be fine now?”

“I don’t understand what…”

“It’s nothing.” Zachary mumbled, almost as if he were talking to himself, before pressing his lips shut.

Bianca frowned at the ambiguity in his words. She didn’t understand what it had to do with what they were talking about moments prior.

In the midst of her confusion, Zachary carefully took a step towards her. Now it was Bianca who flinched, her instincts shouting at her to flee.

At the same time, the rational part of her warned that if she were to back away now, all of her efforts would go down the drain. She couldn’t let that happen. Even though she was afraid, Bianca knew better than anyone else the result of running away. She remained stubbornly in place, not taking a single step back, while the hairs on the back of her neck rose and her palms broke out in a cold sweat.

Before she knew it, Zachary had closed the space between them one step at a time. Seeing him up close like this, Bianca realized he was bigger than she thought. Her eyes only came up to his wide and sturdy chest, which gave off the impression that it wouldn’t budge no matter how hard she pushed. Bianca took in a breath.

She had hated this part about him in the past. He was huge and frightening like a locked-away black fiend only talked about in fairytales.

But she couldn’t be afraid forever. She needed to face him head on. Bianca casually raised her head, eyes sweeping past his long, thick neck to his deep set, gleaming eyes. The unrest in his sharp gaze peering down at her was as clear as day.

Gulp. His Adam’s apple moved conspicuously as he swallowed. Though his movements were stiff and disciplined like a soldier, there was still an untamed, primitive air that could not be hidden in his small insignificant actions such as this. It felt like she was facing something raw; an instinctive threat that she, a defenseless herbivore in comparison, could do nothing but tremble before.

“…This is a first, seeing you be so doting,” Zachary mumbled in a deep, hoarse voice.

His dark eyes observed Bianca’s light green irises before moving down to take in her nose, cheeks, neck, and the outline of her shoulders. Her skin grew flushed from his direct gaze, feeling like she was being thoroughly examined. Zachary swiped his tongue over his dry lips, appearing like his whole mouth had become dry. Each and every one of his small actions caused Bianca to stiffen up.

“It feels like I’m dreaming,” he commented.

“It’s not a dream.”

Bianca forced the corners of her mouth to curl upward. It felt like a cramp was going to form in her cheeks from how much she had been forcing a smile today. She wished it could freeze into a tender smile permanently as she would need to continue forcing one on her lips from now on anyway.

At any rate, Zachary was much too close. She didn’t know when he had closed the gap so much, but it had narrowed to the point where their bodies could almost touch. Her bangs fluttered slightly from his exhales. She had been under the impression that narrowing the physical distance between them would improve their hesitations towards the other, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Her heart was pounding and her body fidgeted, wanting to get away from him as soon as possible. She hated herself for feeling so timid, but just because she was determined to change didn’t mean that change would come immediately. Her patience was pushed to its limits. Unable to endure any further, Bianca tried her best to not appear like she was uncomfortable before lifting her hand to slightly push against Zachary’s chest.

Though it had initially appeared he wouldn’t budge from her weak push, he ended up easily moving back from the force of her fingertips.

Bianca used what remained of her strength to beam a smile. Whether he genuinely believed her or not, she had no choice but to continue asserting and repeating words like a talking bird.

“As you may know, I’ve become older.”

Zachary looked a bit puzzled. His brows furrowed like he was trying to figure out what she meant but ultimately failed. Bianca smiled bitterly.

“I can’t avoid you forever either… I should fulfill my duty.”

“Duty?” he asked.

It would have been better if he had sneered at her. Instead, he was staring at her dryly, appearing completely clueless. This caused Bianca’s face to be the one growing hot. Desperately praying that her nervousness wouldn’t show, she feigned composure and raised her chin.

“The duty of giving birth to your heir.”

“…Do you know what giving a birth to an heir entails?”

“Of course!” Bianca shouted back before realizing, failing to maintain her composure like an adult.

Zachary dragged a palm over his face and for the first time, his gaze left her visage. He pursed his lips, having trouble putting his thoughts into words. With the continued silence, Bianca’s eyes flitted to his lips where she saw his tongue flicking between them several times. She knew what that muscle felt like; a blunt, rough, and honest part of him that could strip her of her resistance completely. Her cheeks reddened even further.

It was after a long while when her ears picked up on Zachary’s voice.

“This is rather confusing.” He sounded stumped, his words mixed with a sigh. His voice was calm like he was talking to a child. “I don’t know what brought upon your change of heart, but why don’t you go and rest?”

She couldn’t believe the seemingly warm tone that left Zachary’s lips. Her face grew red for a moment before turning pale. To think he would simply tell her to go and rest after she had steeled herself and taken an active role. Was that all he had to say? When it took her so much courage to come stand before him like this… Bianca felt her body begin to tremble, feeling insulted.

A flame ignited in her green eyes, her lips curling in a twisted way. A crack formed in the mask she had been making an effort to keep on, and as pieces of it started falling away, her wounded pride began to lift its head.

Do you think I’m doing this because I’m truly in love with you? You’re going to come take me in two years anyway – You have to have an heir through me anyway!

Bianca made an effort to calm her ragged breathing, shoulders shaking. Her small lips twitched before eventually tugging upwards. Though she was able to put her mask back on, her tongue still held a bite. Her eyes were subdued, resembling a dark viridescent forest, yet they were also quite clear.

“How much was my dowry exactly?”

“400 calves, 900 pigs, 100 units of silverware, 300 rolls of silk, 2 crates of jewels, and a portion of a territory… Equivalent to a two-year budget for the Arno county.”

Despite the randomness of her question, Zachary’s answer came calmly and quietly. It didn’t seem like he needed to rack his brain nor count with his fingers to recall. He easily listed out the items in her dowry and her assets like he had them memorized, as if it was something he would never forget.

Bianca didn’t understand why he had something like that memorized. Her dowry was indeed massive, but it wasn’t something that needed to be looked back on enough to the point of being memorized.

In the first place, a wife’s assets were essentially her husband’s. There were only two scenarios in which one would need to calculate the wife’s assets: when the wife becomes a widow or when the husband wants to kick the wife out to proceed with a second marriage.

It was possible that Zachary was itching to kick her out. After all, Bianca had clearly heard the talks that he must have a mistress.

However, it didn’t matter at this point because Zachary clearly had no plans to divorce her. If he was going to leave her, they would have separated much earlier in her previous life after all. As much as a woman was not able to file a divorce herself, the thought of divorce itself was pointless.

In that case, there was only one answer.

Smiling like the white fox on her shoulders, Bianca remarked, “Don’t you think you should compensate for that?”