The Returning Husband Refuses to Divorce Chapter 17

Kallia.

This tree could only grow in warm regions. Five years ago, when Ines Chartier married the Duke of Evanhardt and became his duchess, it had been brought all the way here as a commemorative symbol of the reconciliation between their two families.

A tree that could never survive naturally in the North.

Maintaining this outrageously beautiful and extravagant commemorative gift required an enormous amount of manpower and resources.

Now that I think about it, this thing was here.

She had known it existed, but it had been several years since she’d last seen it in person.

That was because Selena, who had taken control of the domain during the five years Zecard had been away, despised the tree.

……She even got angry when I offered to take care of it myself.

Ines had already fallen out of Selena’s favor. From Selena’s perspective, there was no reason to spend money on something for Ines’s sake.

Indeed, for the past five years, Selena had only maintained the tree well enough to keep it from dying.

Its bare, withered branches and severely dried-out bark came into view.

Feeling a little sorry for it, Ines approached the tree.

Just then, a voice spoke.

“The Kallia tree requires a considerable amount of purified water to grow.”

Ines instinctively turned her head.

When their eyes met, a young man with long silver hair smiled pleasantly.

“Furthermore, the northern climate is hardly suitable for its growth.”

Who is he?

He was strikingly handsome, but she had never seen him before.

Someone that eye-catching surely wouldn’t have slipped her mind after a single encounter……

“Maintaining this tree costs several dozen gold coins annually. That’s enough for two or three commoner households in the North to live on for an entire year.”

The man asked matter-of-factly, “Do you understand what that means?”

“……What does it mean?”

“It means the North spends a considerable amount of money because of you.”

Ines flinched.

It was a familiar reproach.

Selena and many others in the castle had said the same thing to her time and again.

But……

He doesn’t seem to be criticizing me outright.

The man might have sounded as though he were blaming Ines, but there was no particular hostility in either his tone or his expression.

Nor was there any discernible emotion in his voice.

Ines answered calmly.

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Indeed. It is quite unfortunate.”

The silver-haired man approached her, speaking in a gentle tone.

“Luxury items like this were an excellent means for the criminal to attack you, after all.”

The criminal.

He must have meant Selena, the former duchess.

“In fact, the criminal drastically cut the budget allocated to you, citing the high cost of maintaining this tree. And that wasn’t enough for her. She was even preparing to turn those expenses into your personal debt.”

“Debt……?”

“If His Grace’s return had been delayed by just one more month, you would have found yourself a hundred gold coins in debt. All under the pretext of maintaining this tree.”

Ines hadn’t known Selena had gone so far in her schemes.

She was privately taken aback, but another question soon occurred to her.

“Even so, she doesn’t seem to have taken particularly good care of the tree.”

“That’s true as well.”

The man’s voice remained gentle.

“According to the testimony of a servant who has already been dismissed, the criminal ordered that the tree be maintained only well enough to keep it alive. I suppose she was careful about that one thing because the tree’s death could have escalated into a diplomatic incident.”

Just who was this man?

His elegant clothing and the way he approached Ines without hesitation despite knowing her status suggested he was no ordinary person.

Judging by his appearance and demeanor, he didn’t seem to belong to the knights, either.

“But……”

The man reached out and took hold of a branch.

“Things are different now.”

At the tip of the branch he pointed to was a tiny flower bud.

“……Ah.”

How had she failed to notice until now?

It’s not completely dead.

The tree was preparing to bloom again.

Her heart began to pound.

“You’re right. It really is.”

It had been several years since Ines had last seen Kallia blossoms.

In fact, she hadn’t properly seen them since leaving her hometown.

She wasn’t particularly homesick, but it would have been a lie to say she wasn’t happy to see them again.

“Restoring this tree was one of the orders His Grace issued immediately upon his return.”

“His Grace?”

“It was actually one of his highest-priority orders.”

One unexpected revelation followed another.

Ines had known that Zecard took their contractual marriage very seriously, but she hadn’t imagined he would pay attention to something like this as well.

Moreover……

……How does this man know all that?

Gratitude toward Zecard, guilt, and confusion mingled in her heart.

And on top of that was her curiosity about the mysterious man standing before her.

“I’ll have to thank His Grace properly.”

Ines gently stroked the tree trunk as she spoke.

“You should. This is no ordinary favor.”

His words might have sounded somewhat insolent, but Ines didn’t take offense.

He wasn’t wrong, after all.

When Ines finally withdrew her hand from the tree, the man spoke again.

“Allow me to introduce myself properly.”

He bowed with elegant movements, observing the proper etiquette.

“My name is Enrique Orche.”

Orche?

She had heard of that family before.

They were one of the vassal families serving the Duke of Evanhardt.

After living here for five years, Ines had at least gained a general understanding of how the castle operated.

However, the man’s next words were entirely unexpected.

“As of today, I have become Count Orche. I look forward to working with you.”

“Pardon?”

Ines knew the previous Count Orche.

He had been an old, greedy man, nothing like the person standing before her.

“What do you mean……? Until recently, someone else was the Count of Orche.”

Even for a low-ranking noble on the Empire’s frontier, the authority to appoint someone to a title belonged to the Emperor.

That meant the matter had to be reported and approved, even if the Emperor didn’t personally review every single detail.

“I’ve just received word that the succession process has been completed. We have His Grace to thank for that. He personally contacted His Majesty the Emperor on my behalf.”

“……His Grace? The Emperor?”

The more she heard, the more unbelievable it became.

Since when had the Duke of Evanhardt been in direct contact with the Emperor? At least, that wasn’t how Ines understood the Empire’s political landscape.

And all that just to expedite a matter involving one of his vassal families?

He’s not lying to me, is he?

Feeling wary, Ines forced herself to squeeze out what little holy power she had left and examined the man.

But astonishingly—

There was not the slightest trace of black energy around him, let alone any indication of a lie.

“Ah……”

The unexpected sight left Ines momentarily stunned.

“My Lady? Are you all right?”

Her legs suddenly weakened, and she staggered violently.

“My Lady!”

Enrique hurriedly caught her.

It was a strange feeling.

It had been so long since Ines had seen someone in this castle without any black energy surrounding them.

That didn’t necessarily mean the man held any particular affection for her, though.

“Please, hold on to me. I’ll support you.”

Feeling his grip on her arm—which wasn’t particularly gentle for someone expressing concern—Ines managed to steady herself.

……Now that she thought about it, the man had seemed strangely unsettling despite the smile on his face.

“I’m fine. I just…… felt a little dizzy.”

Even so, Ines found herself developing a favorable impression of this mysterious man.

For the utterly absurd reason that she couldn’t see any black energy around him.

Enrique supported her by the arm and let out a faint sigh.

“You seem rather frail. We’ll be seeing each other often from now on, so I’ll keep that in mind.”

Ines smiled awkwardly, then suddenly realized something was odd.

“But you said we’ll be seeing each other often? Why would we……”

Just then—

“Ines.”

A hand suddenly pulled her close as though to embrace her, startling her.

When she turned around, Zecard had approached without her noticing and was staring intently at her.

……With an unexpectedly desperate expression on his face.