The General's Wife Wants to Leave
Chapter 108: Don’t cry

Chapter 108: Don’t cry

As he found that he could not sleep, he chose to take a walk somewhere in the huge mansion, as if trying to clear his mind and exhaust himself before going back to his room. He thought that by doing that, he could go into slumber easily.

He wanted to walk in the garden that became a treasure for her, but he chose to walk in another direction, as she had agreed to be his companion to stroll in the garden, and he waited for that.

After taking many minutes walking around in which he could not remember which direction he had passed, as his mind refused to be clear, he planned to go back to his room. However, he did not go back to his room. Instead, he found himself standing in front of a closed door that was unlikely to open for him to enter.

Nevertheless, instead of walking back to his room, which was at the other end of the long corridor, he stood there, for he did not even know how long. And he was still there until he perceived a sobbing sound from inside the room.

He tried to hear more clearly by planting his ear on the closed door, and he heard the sound of a nose blowing.

Feeling worried, he knocked on the door, and he was now with the woman, who desperately wanted to escape from him after casting him a spell to crave her presence.

As stillness stood between them, Joanna knew very well that the man before her would not let her go if she did not give an answer to his inquiry. Hence, Joanna decided to satisfy him this time, although she knew that he would soon laugh at her, embarrassing her more.

Joanna stopped struggling to free her wrists from the man’s hold. With her breath going frantic, she said, "I read a book just now." Her voice was soft and low, as if she were trying to make it not be heard by whoever she talked to.

Right after she revealed the real reason behind her crying, Joanna, who had her head lowered, not looking at the man who kept her wrists in his hold, closed her eyes as she prepared herself to hear the man laugh and tease her.

But the laughter or tease did not come even after she finished speaking about a minute ago. Only silence engulfed them.

Why was he quiet? Joanna wondered as she opened her eyes to meet the floor beneath them.

"Did you cry because of the sad ending?" And Joanna heard the General’s voice, breaking the awkward silence that fell heavily upon them.

But where was the tease and laughter? Joanna became bewildered by the absence of laughter and tease she expected to come.

No longer able to ignore her curiosity, Joanna glanced up at the General to see his facial expression. But surprise took over her as she found him smiling at her, but not a playful one. It was just a warm, kind smile.

Lowering her eyes back to see the floor with the realization that he looked serene without his usual mischief at the moment, Joanna nodded her head as the answer to his inquiry.

"Then don’t make our marriage have a sad ending, so you won’t cry, Joanna."

At the words that were uttered in a soft voice laced with certain emotions, Joanna lifted her head in a swift movement to meet the green eyes that had already held hers. As seconds passed, Joanna felt her heart once again pounding so fast, like when they stood facing each other under the balmy rays of the sun this afternoon.

Joanna quickly drifted her eyes away, as she did not want to sink into the depths of the ocean, which would make her suffocated and not able to breathe later.

With her gaze landing on the sun-kissed, big hands that gently held her pale ones close to his chest, where she could faintly feel the beating of his heart, Joanna felt something indescribable surge inside her.

She did not know what that was, but it was definitely something that made her restless. She still felt suffocated, even though she did not sink deeply into the ocean.

"What if it is not me who makes a sad ending in this marriage?" Joanna asked in a whisper. Brace herself to bring her gaze up, she continued, "But you, Sir Canillas." Joanna fixed her eyes on his, trying to read the emotions that were pooled behind his green eyes.

Perhaps it was the thing that made her restless and suffocating. Perhaps if she got the answer from him, the indescribable feelings that surged inside her would be lifted. That was what Joanna thought.

After a few moments of silence, as both Joanna and Canillas only stared in stillness, Canillas answered Joanna’s question. "Then don’t cry. Just don’t cry."

It was the only words that were spoken in a whisper that seeped into Joanna’s ears—a vague answer that she could grasp yet was unable to fully grasp the real meaning of it.

Joanna faintly nodded her head. Even though it was a vague answer, she refrained from asking for more, as she only knew one thing that she should do rather than asking to make it clear.

"I have answered your question, Sir Canillas. So please go back to your room. I need to rest as well," Joanna calmly said.

Silence once again took over their surroundings until she heard the General hum in response before feeling the touch on her wrists loosen.

Joanna took a step back once she was freed.

"Good night, Joanna."

Not waiting for his wife to share him a look as she had her eyes downcast even after replying a ’good night’ in a whisper, Canillas took two steps backward, looking at his wife’s figure showered in a soft, warm glow before turning around and walking away.

But after no more than three steps, he halted and turned around once again to see the door behind him slowly closing, hiding the figure of the woman in white from his sight.

A faint smile appeared on his lips. Only the illumination of lanterns hanging on the wall of the long corridor became his companion on his way back to the cold and vacant room.