The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 136: To melt one’s heart

Joanna was an ordinary young lady. Just like how other young ladies would normally act, she would apparently be affected by such a sweet compliment that came from a gentleman, especially when it was the first time she heard a gentleman, who was not her father, praise her as a beautiful lady and the only one in his eyes.

Moreover, there was no suitor who ever said that to her.

However, Joanna was in a situation where she could not act normally, as she should, in response to the compliment she heard.

If she was really a normal lady who had never experienced a nightmare that haunted her life since then, she would have probably jumped here and there in joy with a blushing, happy face when hearing a man praise her for the first time in her life.

Therefore, she refrained from being overjoyed, which would make her guard down, as ending up like Joanna in the dream was the thing that Joanna avoided.

Joanna decided that she would do her best to calm her nerves and regain her composure, to show the General that his sweet words would have no impact on her if he happened to attack her with those approaches again. That way, she expected him to stop praising her with sweet nothings that he thought would work to melt her heart.

She did not deduce him for having ulterior motives for paying her such a compliment. She somehow could feel that what he said was not mere sugary words that were only said without deep meaning. She could sense the emotions when he said that.

However, there was a doubt in Joanna’s heart that the General would be the same man as she had seen in him so far once he got what he wanted from her.

Joanna was afraid that if she opened her heart and mind, burying the nightmare deeply, deciding that it was only a mere dream, and submitting to him as his wife completely, what would be left to her was the nightmare that came true.

Aside from that, there was also a topic that had awakened her to build a higher and sturdier wall between them. Mistresses.

It was not a public secret how mistresses had been part of the upper-class society’s households. She was just grateful to have grown up in a family where mistresses never appeared as an issue, even though her father had lived in loneliness after her mother went to sleep for eternity.

She did not know what kind of person the General was. He claimed that he was not interested in taking any mistresses, as he said to that drunkard Viscount, who was eager to sell his own daughter.

But people tended to change, and Joanna still believed that, in this matter, the General was not her father, whom she knew well as to how her father viewed mistress-related issues. But she did not know the General as well as she knew her father.

Hence, Joanna still chose to be a wife whose husband worked hard to melt her heart, and she would work hard not to let her heart melt by every flattery word he said.

She would also try to appear calm, not like how she became flustered when he first praised her as a beauty in the Alenna Garden.

Joanna was determined until she heard what was coming next from the man whom her determination aimed to.

"By the way, how could my wife know that I have smiled quite so long? As much as I noticed that she didn’t even once bother to spare a look at her husband’s handsome face," Canillas asked, raising his brows, which made Joanna have to try harder to maintain her composure at his unprecedented questions.

It was not as easy as she thought it would be. It was always hard to make her determination win easily over him. She could talk to him, but there was a risk she should bear when she brought herself to talk to each other with the sharp-witted man before her, who never missed the opportunity to pester her, making her think hard and restless.

He never let her pass easily. Joanna sighed inwardly.

Then, how should she answer him? Should she tell him that she accidentally glanced at him and found him looking too weird, worrying, and creepy, which made her want to kick him out of the room?

Joanna contemplated while attempting to show a calm demeanor as she planned her to be. However, the next words she heard from the weird man ruined her determination once again.

"Noticing how my wife is now looking dazed, darting her wavering eyes away from me while having a rush to hide her blushing face, made me remember how she looked when I caught her watching me asleep in the carriage a few moments ago."

A chuckle that seeped into Joanna’s ears after the hitting words were uttered made her realize that she was not as calm as she thought she appeared to be.

"Would it be that my wife has actually always been watching me in secret all this time?" Canillas inquired in a surprised tone, his eyes widening, covering his mouth with his hands.

A surprised expression, which was of course not a real expression as he wanted to tease the now-seeming flustered lady who had previously appeared calm, also masked his face.

And Joanna now regretted acting bravely to initiate a conversation with the mischievous man who was now playing a role as a man who was greatly shocked after being hit with unforeseen news that struck his entire being, like lightning striking the land.

While the perplexed Joanna had a regret to initiate the conversation with the mischievous man, the so-called mischievous man, which was the beaming Canillas, felt a joy in his heart when his wife seemed to get used to talking to him.

The indescribable joy had crept up in Canillas’ heart when he witnessed how his cold wife unexpectedly stood for him, defending him from the drunkard man who talked indecently about him.

He did hold her hand as he wanted to show the affection in their relationship in order to diminish all the unnecessary drama that might appear to disturb him, as he avoided all the drama related to women as his wife was enough to rob him of his peaceful life. But he did not expect that she would stand up for him like she did.

Although she did not resist him holding her hand, he had thought that his cold wife would act coldly toward him, not caring how the rude Viscount persisted in offering his daughter to become his mistress.

He had thought that she would do what she did to him with Lady de Lorn, supporting him to take her as a mistress or even his wife, as she would once again request a marriage annulment, giving in her position as his wife to another woman.

Some part of his mind had even prepared for the worst if she repeated her disappointing conduct toward him.

However, he was wrong, as she did not do what he thought she would do. She really listened to their deep conversation in Alenna Garden, where he asked them to respect each other and not repeat the same conduct.

Then, he was not mistaken to define the tea she made for him as a treaty of reconciliation, and she did not disappoint him, making him hurt by her previous conduct.

Therefore, the joy that emerged from his heart was unbearable, like overflowing water that spilled from a surface, which made him want to hug her, kiss her, and even do all the things that he wanted to do with her. But he knew he could not do that to her yet, particularly with the hilarious rule of agreement that she had just set and stood between them.

He still needed to water his patience, which tended to whither with time.

What he could do to satisfy the joy inside him that urged him to celebrate the progress in their problematic marital relationship was, still, look at the beautiful lady who enjoyed all the meals that were served on the table, although he noticed that she did not eat as much as when she ate in the Powel Orphanage or in her maiden home.

It seemed what she said was true—that she was a picky eater. Or perhaps she was too tired to enjoy the meal.

It was then that he noticed that she was not that oblivious not to notice where his eyes had been fixed, as he caught her stealing a glance at him several times during the dinner. But he still did not dare to think that it was because she wanted to see him, even though he had caught her watching him with multiple sighs when he was asleep.

In Canillas’ mind, it was likely because she was disturbed by the way he stared at her, where somehow most people could sense that they were being watched.

And he could only ask for her understanding inwardly. It was that he could not control the joy of keeping watch over her figure, a cold wife who had warmly stood for her husband, whom she had not fully accepted yet.