Villainous Husband

Chapter 61

October in Actilus was peaceful.

For Raniero Actilus, peace was boredom. It was during these times that his nerves would get the better of him with the overwhelming boredom. This year alone, however, he seemed to pass through the period of peace quite calmly compared to previous years.

The reason was his wife.

It was because the peace Raniero hated so much was what his wife loved.

It was fortunate that the environment was peaceful. However, Angelica's insides were swirling in turbulent waves. Ever since they went to the beast subjugation, she has been having nightmares. The nightmares were followed by self-harm. Whenever she dreamed, Angelica would set her nails into her own body so Raniero instructed her handmaidens to keep his wife's nails short and round.

There were times when he asked what kind of dream she was dreaming of, and how it could be so painful for her to do that to herself. Then, Angelica would mumble through her sleepy eyes.

"I forgot."

Raniero knew it was a lie. The afterimage of the dream was clearly holding her captive. It was the same even during the day when she was quite lively, as if she was not aware of it herself.

Still, he didn't want to push her to tell him a lie.

For some reason, he couldn't erase Angelica's tearful face out of his head the day he pushed to question her. Even more so, the way she pushed him away at the temple and became desperately in fear of offending him.

In fact, the Emperor of Actilus usually wouldn't care about such things.

The terrified expression on her face was rather amusing. Blocking each and every path to lose reason and being busy was merely a form of entertainment for Raniero. However, it was uncomfortable for his wife to make such a face so he didn't dig too deep.

At least he knew that she was lying, so that was enough.

If Raniero Actilus had been a normal thinker or a little more sensitive, he might have been able to deduce that the summer hunt, which Angelica had executed so brilliantly, had been traumatizing and haunted her. Unfortunately, he was neither ordinary nor sensitive enough to make the connection between her nightmares and his own atrocities.

Little did he know that he was to blame for all the horrors Angelica had to endure.

Therefore, he didn't regret anything he did. Because he didn't ask her how she felt because he was afraid Angelica would cry in front of him, he didn't even know she was distrusting of him.

Her occasional fatigue was chalked up to just nightmares.

There seemed to be nothing wrong with her relationship with him. Her frequent bad dreams were a problem, of course, but Raniero was able to wake her up every time. Trapped in the horror of her dream, he was able to whisper to Angelica that this was reality and that she was safe... At such times, she was held close to him so he didn't get the chance to see Angelica's eyes flicker for a moment at the words 'You're safe.'

Waking her up didn't bother him in the slightest.

In Raniero's opinion, the peace in their relationship seemed to last forever.

Peace.

Wasn't that what his wife wanted to receive as a present?

˚ ·: * ✧ * :· ˚

One day, Raniero came to the Empress' Palace and taught Angelica how to use a bow. It was around sunset, so the ladies-in-waiting came to say goodbye.

Angelica greeted them with a kind greeting.