The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 126: Among the five senses

Before the dynamic in their relationship that happened the day before, Canillas probably would have acted proactively to get Joanna attention as usual, which would then build conversation between them as it was his strategy to narrow their distance.

However, this time, he chose to be calm, as he had decided to give Joanna space, not to make her inconvenient, which would then make her grow annoyed at him.

Therefore, he let her immerse herself in the book she was currently reading, although he itched to poke the lady who was in a light yellow dress and had her head lowered to read the book on her lap.

From the position he was sitting, where if she was not highly conscious of his presence, their knees would brush each other, he could see the earring that she wore on her left ear was slightly tilted, which he also itched to fix. However, instead of disturbing her calmness, he chose to distract his focus from the beautiful lady in the book that he was holding in his hands.

Canillas knew that they would make a long trip to the capital of Terra, and he needed entertainment that would help him fill the time so that he would not disturb his wife. Hence, he asked her to lend him a book to read during the journey, and the book that he asked for from her was the one that made her cry that night.

He wanted to know what story made her cry until she blew her nose more than once, and her eyes turned puffy and reddened.

He still remembered her reaction when he told her that he wanted to read that book. With her cheeks flushed, she offered him another book to read, as she might be embarrassed if others read the book but were not crying as she did. Or she was probably shy if others knew what kind of story made her cry as if she were in deep sorrow like that.

But of course, he would not be called the great General Canillas von Rodega if he was not successful in getting the thing he wanted.

Dear Mister Camel. Canillas read the title of the book inwardly. Was it telling a story about a camel? Canillas wondered, slightly tilting his head to the side. As if wanting to prove that he guessed right, he began to read, flipping the first page of the book that made the woman whom he called his wife cry.

Seconds passed, turning into minutes. Minutes passed, turning into hours.

A small smile appeared on his face when he finally found out what kind of tale the book was about, which surely was not about camels.

Lifting his head for the first time since halfway through the book, as he was absorbed in the story that was getting more interesting as the story progressed further, a wider smile appeared on Canillas’ face when his eyes caught the current state of the lady before him.

Looking out the window where the curtain was not drawn close as his wife suggested to let them open, which was not hard for Canillas to know the reason for that suggestion, Canillas noticed that the sky was covered in a reddish hue as the sun was going down and the rays were not reaching the land anymore.

Shifting his eyes to look back at the woman across from his seat, Canillas took a few moments to contemplate before taking a decision. He made a cautious movement to take a seat next to his wife. When he was by her side, Canillas stayed silent for a few seconds, as if waiting to see if she was awakened by the cautious movement he made.

Finding his wife still in her current sleeping position, he carefully touched both of her cheeks, which felt so soft under his calloused palms.

Waiting for another couple of seconds while readying himself to receive any reaction from her, including preparing the pain on his cheeks and other limbs as the reflex reaction if she happened to wake up from her sleep and found him touching her, Canillas slowly lifted Joanna’s head, who was asleep with her head facing down when she was still in her deep sleep.

His movement was very deliberate because he did not want to hurt her neck, which might be numb, as he did not know how long she had slept as she was still awake when he glanced at her during the first half of reading the book.

With her sleeping face facing him, Canillas then took a moment to look at her delicate face, which he could closely look at again since he last saw it in their room in the mountain. For a moment, he forgot the initial plan he had before sitting by her side.

For a moment as well, he stared at her face as if bewitched by the beautiful face before him.

Canillas gulped. He had an inner battle to satisfy his thirst or hold back, as he always did in order to gain her trust.

Pondering for more seconds, Canillas let out a quiet sigh as he broke his stubborn gaze from the slightly parted rosy lips a few inches away from his.

Forcing his conscience to fight his inner beast, which insisted on emerging every time she was close to him, Canillas still chose to be a person who could be trusted by her rather than becoming a pervert who stole a kiss from the sleeping lady, which he believed that she would not know if he happened to do so.

Canillas lowered his shoulder and placed the enchanting lady’s head on it. Because of the different heights they had, Canillas had to tilt his body so that his wife could rest her head on his shoulder.

Leaning his back against the chair, Canillas closed his eyes as he attempted to calm his heart, which was thumping frantically as if it were going to explode in his chest.

How could he not if there was no more space between them at the moment where he could smell her soothing scent that he missed so vividly?

Trying to calm the flaming beast inside him, which became more unbridled, was not easy, but he still did not want to taint the beauty beside him without her consent.

Even though she had signaled to him that she accepted her fate as his wife based on their conversation the day before, he was still in the phase of courting her as he sensed that she had not accepted him completely as her husband. Therefore, their boundary was still there, and it took time to ruin it.

A few minutes passed, and his heartbeat went calmer. Opening his eyes, Canillas found the sky turning darker as the sun approached closer to the horizon.

Glancing at his wife, who was still sleeping, his sense of hearing was filled with the sound of her soft breathing and his pounding heart, while his sense of smell was filled with her soothing scent, either from her body or her hair, which was very close to his nose.

Among the five senses he had, he should pity his sense of taste, as he could not do anything to satisfy it. But he would satisfy the last sense of his.

Sense of touch.

Even though it had its share when he touched her soft cheeks and her head, it seemed to ask for more.

Canillas looked down at the hands that were placed on top of the book that was lying on her lap.

Gingerly, he reached out his right hand and clasped the smaller hand in his before moving further to intertwine with it. He then brought them to his lap, as he did not want to put pressure on her delicate thigh.

He could not have a direct touch with her skin, as she had never forgotten to cover her hands with gloves every time she went outside. But it was more than enough for Canillas. And a warmth swarmed inside him when he gently laid his cheek on her head without giving much pressure on hers, where he could feel her soft, fragrant hair.

Closing his eyes, he wanted to cherish this moment when they looked like a normal married couple, with an intimate physical touch of their version as a problematic couple.

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The carriages shook due to the rocky and bumpy path, as the Duke’s entourage had left Barasca and was now crossing the border of neighboring territory, where the infrastructure was inferior compared to Barasca. However, the torturing road would not be passed for long as the infrastructure would get better with paved roads when they got deeper into the territory until they entered the capital.

Joanna, who was still in deep sleep until the carriage shook, frowned. It was just a hint as to how much the path needed to be constructed, as it would destroy the carriage’s wheels if they were not of high quality.

Opening her eyes slowly with a frown, the first thing that met her eyes was the darkness.

Realizing that she had fallen asleep, Joanna tried to lift her head, but soon she hissed in pain as the right side of her neck was hurt. It made her wonder for how long she had slept, which made her neck numb and sore like that.

Lifting her right hand to hold her numb neck, Joanna slowly pulled her head away from anything she used as a pillow for her head to lay on.

She had not yet realized that the man, who was in the same carriage as her, had disappeared from the seat across from her.