Chapter 34

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Chapter 34

At Chloe’s words, Eric’s mood plummeted. But if he were to tell her that what she said made his mood turn sour, then that in itself was him admitting to the fact that he had not been upholding his responsibilities as a husband—that he never cared about Chloe.

So, he did not show any signs of being affected. He soon erased all expression from his face.

“Let’s have dinner now.”

Instead of getting angry, he reached out to Chloe.

“Dinner here at the airship will be wonderful.”

Chloe took his hand lightly.

Just as he said, dinner here on the airship was quite nice. The view of the clouds beyond the large windows was divine, and the sunset glow was marvelous to look at.

Chloe stared blankly at the scenery, forgetting that she had to eat. It was a wonderful sight enough that she was mesmerized.

“The food is getting cold.”

Eric pointed towards the plate as he said this. At this, Chloe came to her senses and took her silverware quickly.

“I’ll cut it for you.”

Eric took Chloe’s plate and cut the steak for her.

She was bewildered. She had never seen Eric be so kind before. Was this the beginning of what Eric said about trying? If her husband would continue treating her like this for the days to come, then Chloe hoped that they could continue their marriage life like this until its end.

Right. It was that again, the hope that she tried to throw away before. It was back once more.

What a foolish woman she was. Chloe already knew how ridiculous it was, but she couldn’t let go of this lingering hope, which continued to grow at one corner of her heart.

“How do you like your meal?”

“Oh, it’s delicious.”

Chloe nodded as she wiped the corner of her mouth. Eric’s eyes narrowed.

“Andrea said that you hardly ever eat.”

“Is that why you’ve been eating breakfast with me regularly?”

“Yes.”

When Eric replied, his voice was gentle.

“Eat as much as you like. So that you won’t fall sick again.”

Suddenly, Chloe’s hand that was holding the fork trembled.

Won’t fall sick?

Who knows.

If such a day were to come, that would be the day she’d die. Since Eric didn’t know about her illness, he could at least say something like this.

Chloe then thought about what on earth she was doing with something like hope.

Even if she hoped for love to blossom between her and her husband, she would die anyway. She wouldn’t be able to survive…

Though she felt melancholic, Chloe didn’t show this and instead smiled and nodded with a gentle expression.

“Yes. I’ll eat a lot.”

Her answer made Eric smile subtly, as though he was satisfied enough by this—without a clue of how much she was burning inside.

He thought that Chloe would soon change her mind if he showed his efforts like this. Asking for a divorce was nothing but a passing phase… He’d be able to keep Chloe by his side as long as he could be gentler with her.

Besides that, he surprisingly didn’t hate doing this for her. Somewhere inside him, he felt somewhat ticklish along with a strange sense of pride.

Whatever that was, it didn’t feel bad. Therefore, Eric decided to try a little harder from now on.

“You’re here!”

But at that moment, someone exclaimed with a jovial voice. A middle-aged man with a warm expression approached their table.

“I’ve been looking for you for a while, Your Excellency. I am Alfredo, the captain of this airship.”

He reached a hand towards Eric as he said this, and in turn Eric shook the captain’s hand lightly.

“It’s nice to meet you. This is my wife. I’m sure you know.”

“Ah!”

Alfredo’s eyes widened as he looked towards Chloe.

“So the Madam is the one who went up to the deck earlier. I didn’t know it was you.”

The way he said it felt callous. Chloe bowed her head in shame.

“I’ve encountered some other people doing that, too. Even if it’s unsafe, they just wouldn’t listen. Madam, what you did earlier was clearly dangerous and you could’ve gotten into such big trouble. If you fall, you’ll die! Die, I say!”

Alfredo said this as if to scold Chloe. Chloe was more than timid already, but she had to say what was on her mind. So, she replied carefully.

“But I tied the rope to my waist. I was safe.”

“It’s still a problem, Madam. Do you know what happens to someone who’d fall?”

“What will happen?”

“They’d get sucked right into the engine—we wouldn’t even be able to find your body. You’ll be all split up!”

“Captain. That’s enough.”

Right then, Eric stopped Alfredo, who had a grim look on his face. At this, Alfredo coughed out once, perhaps realizing that the words he uttered had been too insensitive.

“In any case, that’s what I’m trying to say. So please don’t go up there again, Madam. You understand, yes?”

“Haven’t I told you to stop?”

Eric rebuked the captain again in a rather irritated voice. The captain was practically scolding Chloe, who was someone who probably had never been scolded in her life. Chloe might be feeling offended, too, so Eric stopped him, but…

“I see. I apologize.”

But Chloe was fine with it. Contrary to Eric’s thoughts, she even apologized.

Eric looked at Chloe, his eyes tinged with astonishment.

Of course, Chloe was also taken aback. It was her first time she was being scolded by someone who wasn’t a family member. But because it was for a sensible reason, Chloe accepted it.

“It won’t happen again. No matter how good the sight is, I’ll just watch from inside. That’s fine, right?”

“Oh, of course, of course, Madam. I’m only saying this for your safety, so please don’t be too angry.”

“What do you mean by angry? It’s alright. You were only concerned for my safety.”

Alfredo seemed to feel comforted by these words. With a hand over his chest, he bowed towards her.

“Then, I’ll be leaving now. I’ll ask the chef to bring out a good bottle of wine.”

“I would appreciate that. Go ahead inside.”

“Yes, Madam.”

After Alfredo left, Eric turned to Chloe, still baffled.

“Are you alright?”

“Huh?”

Eric added.

“I mean, are you alright after the captain spoke so presumptuously towards you?”

“What do you mean? I’m fine.”

Chloe waved her hand as she replied.

“He only pointed out my mistake. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be fine.”

“……”

Eric couldn’t say anything back. Chloe seemed to be lost in thought now, but she couldn’t guess what he meant when he asked that, so she also remained silent.

Clatter, clatter. The only that could be heard between them was their silverware hitting against their plates.

Then, suddenly, Eric spoke.

“It’s shocking.”

“Pardon?”

Chloe asked back, not knowing what he’s talking about. Eric continued speaking.

“I thought you’d have been a little more uppity.”

“Uppity?”

Chloe knitted her eyebrows together for a moment before she let out a peal of laughter at the unexpected word. How could he continue to say such cute words while maintaining the same cold expression? She couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I don’t know what you think of me, but I do believe I’ve got a good personality. Darling, I wouldn’t get angry or upset about something like this.”

“It seems so. That must also be why you chose to ignore the nonsense that the servants up north had been saying.”

“You’re still holding onto that?”

He was talking about the servants who said, ‘Isn’t it that your husband has a mistress?’ and were fired as a result.

As Chloe thought about that time, a wave of emotion passed through her face again, and it was the same look that Eric saw as ‘uppity’.

“You were at fault back then. I’m the lady of the house and yet you fired them without my permission.”

Eric clenched one hand into a fist beneath the table.

As soon as those servants were mentioned, he could feel his anger rising. The back of his neck gradually grew stiff.

However, he couldn’t show this anger to Chloe. It’s obvious that whatever good atmosphere they had between them would disappear the moment he did, no matter how hard he’d try. He accepted those words meekly.

“That’s one way to think of it.”

As Eric pressed down the urge to let out his anger, he continued speaking in a calm manner.

“But it was a good thing that I fired them. You know that, too, don’t you?”

He looked straight into Chloe’s eyes.

“They deliberately ostracized you.”

Chloe’s pupils trembled. She lowered her hands from the table and clasped them together on her lap.

“You knew?”

“I came to know about it. That’s why I fired all the servants in the northern estate and hired new ones. Even the butler. He knew what was happening, and apart from that, he had been siphoning a considerable amount of assets. All the newly hired employees know this. So, the same thing is not going to happen when you return to the north.”

Eric let out a long-drawn sigh.

“Why didn’t you tell me? If you had, I would have solved it all right away.”

Chloe bit her bottom lip. She wiped the cold sweat from her hands over her lap as she raised her head to meet his gaze, as if she’d made up her mind.

“I wanted to tell you.”

She spoke sincerely, from the bottom of her heart.

“But you did not have time to talk to me.”

“That—”

“You always said you were busy, and you brushed me aside…”

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