The General's Wife Wants to Leave
Chapter 109: In contrast to the prediction

Chapter 109: In contrast to the prediction

When the morning sun showered its first golden rays on the land of Barasca, Joanna was faced with a reality that made her have an urgency to accomplish a mission.

Since she woke up and saw her reflection in the mirror, all of the memories that made her avoid looking at the mirror due to the embarrassing occurrence that happened the previous day had evaporated into mist. What greeted her was the sight of her puffy, reddened eyes.

If she had no schedule to get outside her home to take someone for a suit measurement, she would not have panicked and asked Bianca to help her reduce the puffiness of her eyes.

If the birthday banquet of the Crown Prince was not held within this week, she would have pushed backward the schedule for the suit measurement.

She could ask one of de Lara’s staff to give a companion for the General to Mr. Simone’s shop, but there would be a guarantee for Mr. Simone to accept the hasty tailoring request if she came in person.

The senior maid, Bianca, who was shocked to see the condition of her eyes, had helped her reduce the swelling by compressing them with a clean cloth that had been wetted with cold water after Joanna explained to the worried maid why she had those worrying eyes.

However, it seemed that all the efforts that had been made to relieve her puffy eyes were useless, as she ended up concealing them by lowering the brim of her light green hat.

Bianca said that the hat she wore almost provided no impact to conceal the puffiness, as if people looked at her thoroughly and if she did not keep lowering her head not to allow people to see her face, her swollen and reddened eyes could be noticed.

Therefore, she had been busy hiding her face since she left her room, concealing it under the brim of her wide brim hat. Joanna had also planned not to face people too long, as she tried to minimize the time they noticed her after-crying eyes.

However, she was absolutely not able to hide it from her father, who noticed it immediately when they met in the dining room for breakfast.

She had wanted to skip breakfast for today, but it would only make her father worry and question her more, as when they were at home, they never skipped having meals together.

Apart from the fact that her father had always been attentive to his children, which made it not difficult for him to notice something happened to them, the way she adorned herself with a wide brim hat was rare to see.

On common days, when she was scheduled to go somewhere outside her home, she would adorn her head with a simple medium-brim hat. Besides, the brim that went lower was also questionable enough by the Duke.

She had also told her father the source of her puffy eyes, as he kept pestering her to answer him, just like the man who made a sudden visit last night. As predicted, laughter soon reverberated in the dining room.

She was just grateful that her brother was not present. Otherwise, he might make her a never-ending laughing stock for the whole day and might present her with sad-ending books on her next birthday.

She was also grateful that, although there was the presence of another man in the dining room, he did not join her father to make her want to lower her hat more.

Nevertheless, her relief seemed to not last long, as right at the moment she had to endure not to jump off the carriage where she was riding in with the man who did not join her father to laugh at her but wore a sly grin on his face once they were in the carriage.

Having her eyes fixated on the view outside the window, Joanna actually did not enjoy what she was seeing as her conscience was distracted by the man who sat across from her and had his eyes on her.

Joanna was actually still remembering their encounter last night. The man, who seemed not willing to make an absence from her sight even for one night, was different from how she felt him to be last night.

A melancholic man who saw her with a tender gaze and spoke to her with a soft voice—even the melancholic aura from him—were no more. What appeared before her was a mischievous, cunning man who was ready to make her his amusement.

Joanna wondered, even almost drawing the conclusion that he could read her mind as all of his actions were mostly unpredictable to her. To be exact, it was contradictory to what ran through her mind, as if he wanted to make her think that he was a mysterious man whose mind was unable to read or that her thoughts were wrong about him.

Joanna had reasoned for that, as when she thought he would laugh at her, he did not. When she guessed that he would be serious, he was not.

It was also like this moment. When she thought that he would be like the man she met last night, as she prepared herself to face him with the awkwardness that might be surrounding them, he appeared as a man in contrast to her prediction.

There was no residue of the man with emotions that made her heart pound so fast last night. Even his words and the look on his face when she closed the door of her room, which had taken her longer to go deep into slumber and made her eyes puffier due to lack of sleep, were not there anymore.

"Can you please stop looking at me, Sir Canillas?" Joanna finally commented, no longer able to bear the piercing, teasing gaze that stubbornly directed at her. Turning her head to see the grinning man, she added, "The view outside is indeed more interesting to see."

A low chuckle from the man was heard in the carriage as the first reaction to what had actually been waited for by him. "But the view outside can’t provide me with such beautiful puffy eyes like what I get from seeing my wife right now," Canillas replied with a smiling face.

"But it is a good chance to familiarize yourself with what Barasca offers, Sir Canillas. Look!" Joanna quickly shifted her gaze and pointed in a certain direction outside the window. "The shop in the middle of the two tall buildings over there." Joanna tried to shift the man’s attention away from her. "If Sir Canillas would like to have a leisurely afternoon drinking coffee or tea while reading books, you can just go to that shop."