My Contract Husband is Going Crazy Because of My Iron Wall - Chapter 47.2

Schedule: Thurs and Sun. Nana's ko-fi, Nabi's kofi.

Chapter 47.2

At her urging, I finally took one item out of the shopping bag. Since I was going to give him everything anyway, I just grabbed whatever came to hand…

‘Why a bonnet?!’

“…That?”

Reinhardt looked at the bonnet with a cold gaze. I smiled awkwardly and put the bonnet on myself instead of giving it to Reinhardt.

“…The fact that I’m wearing the bonnet is Reinhardt’s gift! Haha.”

Catherine let out a small exclamation, “So that’s what it was!” On the other hand, Reinhardt’s face was filled with bewilderment, as he knew all too well that I wouldn’t be making such claims in my right mind.

I made a conscious effort to avoid his gaze as I pulled the next item out of the shopping bag. Thankfully, this time, it was something normal.

“A brooch!”

I couldn’t even remember when I bought this, but now that I saw it, I liked the design of the dark blue jewel set in a silver frame that would go well with Reinhardt.

“….”

When I handed him the brooch, Reinhardt stared at it in silence for a long time.

I began to feel uneasy.

Was he upset because he realized I was giving it to him out of obligation? Or was it because he didn’t like the design?

“Do you know…”

Reinhardt, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke in a slightly muffled voice.

“In the North, giving a brooch as a gift has a deeper meaning than you might think.”

“Really? What does it mean?”

“It means, ‘I will take your heart.’”

As soon as he finished speaking, Reinhardt pinned the brooch directly onto my chest.

“That’s what it means.”

An unknown emotion filled my heart, and that moment I had desperately tried to forget resurfaced. The feeling of his lips on mine, the sound of our hot breaths mingling, the tingling sensation that made my eyes close involuntarily, his face filling my vision just before I did.

‘No… I can’t.’

I liked Reinhardt.

In that instant, an undeniable realization pierced through my mind. No matter how much I struggled, I knew all too well that it was absolutely impossible for me to escape this feeling.

* * *

“I like you.”

The man smiling at me was so endearing. So, I kissed him on the corner of his mouth, and it soon turned into a long, deep kiss. While I was embracing him tightly and kissing him, I discreetly lifted my eyelids and looked at his face.

But… it wasn’t the face of the man who always appeared in my dreams. It was a face I knew well.

…It was Reinhardt’s face.

“I don’t see a past life in you. I guess this is your first life.”

Suddenly, the scene changed, and I found myself looking at the moment when Lucia spoke to me.

“Huck…! Ugh…”

“Irovel. Are you alright?”

Reinhardt looked down at me with concern as I woke up from the dream. I stared back at his face without saying a word.

The face I had loved so dearly in my dream, the face with whom I had shared the most blissful love. To think that I felt this way after seeing Reinhardt’s face, not ‘that man’s’… Was it just a dream? Or did I foresee the future again this time?

It was probably the former. Although my ability to foresee the future has shown me glimpses of the future on occasion, not all my dreams are like that.

After all, dreams are inherently inaccurate.

Just like that ridiculous dream where Reinhardt said I was cute…

‘So please, don’t get your hopes up. It’s just my subconscious projecting what I want from Reinhardt onto my dreams.’

I tried to calm myself down, pleading with myself inwardly, and then I deliberately turned away from Reinhardt’s gaze and forced a stiff voice.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“You kept whimpering in your sleep. Are you not feeling well?”

“Not at all. Rather, we decided to create an alibi for requesting the restoration of the Imperial Edict by going to the black market today. When should we go?”

I like Reinhardt. Now that I’ve realized that, there’s only one thing I need to do.

Distance myself from him.

Reinhardt will come to love Lucia, not me, so the outcome of this unrequited love is bound to be filled with nothing but pain.

I just need to get this done quickly and run away from Reinhardt as soon as possible.

“…Well, how about this evening?”

“Okay. Then I’ll see you tonight.”

I gave a curt reply and ran out of the bedroom as if I were fleeing.

Reinhardt didn’t stop me.

* * *

Reinhardt couldn’t bring himself to stop Irovel as she ran out of the bedroom without even changing into her sleepwear. Even though he knew she wasn’t feeling well, he couldn’t ask her why.

Because he already had a guess as to why.

‘She must have realized that I kissed her out of my own selfish desires…’

Fearing that he would be rejected forever, he couldn’t do anything but cling desperately to the blanket, gripping it so tightly that the threads were about to snap.