The General's Wife Wants to Leave
Chapter 116: A farewell smile

Chapter 116: A farewell smile

In the carriage where the insignia of de Lara was engraved, the atmosphere that flowed inside was tense and tended to be dark and heavy, which was completely in contrast to what was there in the morning.

The only same situation was that the young lady, who still wore a wide brim hat in her head, still had her gaze fixed to see what was laid outside the window. However, she somehow felt more suffocated this time as the gaze that came from the man sitting across from her pierced deeper, as if it were trying to penetrate her soul.

Through the carriage window, where the sun rays streamed stronger as the sun had risen higher compared to when they headed to Mr. Simone’s shop, Joanna could see the reflection of the man, who seemed not to blink even once as he stared at her since they stepped inside the carriage. But it was neither a mischievous nor a friendly stare.

There had been no word coming out from him since then as well, which made Joanna feel more anxious.

She thought that it would have been better if he transformed the meaning behind his darkened gaze into words so that she could hear what his decision would be after what she had done to him this time.

Gripping her leather drawstring pouch that was placed on her lap, which she had taken out of her pocket dress as she needed something to hold to ease her restlessness, Joanna tried to calm her nerves as shivers had crawled down not only on her spines but also on her waist, where the angry man had placed his infuriated hand when they were in the park.

Even the grip on her hand when they walked toward the carriage was still vividly felt as well.

Not long later, Joanna was jolted from her seat when the first sound took over the dead silence since she stepped inside the carriage, which made her shift her gaze, which had stuck on the window since then, to the source of the sound.

Soon, the carriage stopped at the sound of three knocks that were made on the top of the inside of the carriage.

"We need to talk," Canillas demanded. "Don’t make any excuse because this loathsome man will for sure carry you by force if you don’t obey him this time." His tone of voice was as cold as the winter ice that was not coming yet, making Joanna feel like she was drifting back in the deep forest in West Lane Mountain when he warned her at their second meeting, but somehow it currently felt much more daunting.

Watching the infuriated man open the door of the carriage, Joanna then saw him walk ahead down toward the side of the river.

The location where they were now was alongside the Glasstown River, which was the longest river that flowed through the city of Barasca. Just like how the river was named, the flowing water was clear like glass.

Joanna thought that he might have waited for the carriage to reach this quiet area to talk to her.

Knowing how furious the General was, Joanna tried not to provoke him more. Besides, she was also curious about what he was going to say to her. Hence, she stepped down the carriage by herself, as no hand was stretched out to support her.

Standing two steps away from the man whose broad, sturdy back faced her as he had himself stare at the stream flowing before him, Joanna still tried to calm her nerves by gripping the pouch in her hands.

The air around her felt colder as it flowed from the water to the land where she stood, adding to the restlessness inside her. The dress she chose to wear, where the materials were thicker than usual, as Bianca told her that the air outside seemed colder today, was not able to prevent the goosebumps from popping on her skin.

Joanna wondered when he would talk to her. They had stood like they were now for about five minutes, if she counted right, as she had counted the seconds to drift her mind and calm her nerves.

But then the infinite silence broke, and Joanna lifted her head, moving her gaze from the piles of stones beneath her feet to the man who began to speak.

"I really didn’t know how much you resent me until now, Joanna." Canillas said, letting out a chuckle, which caused his broad shoulders to shake.

Turning around with both hands he kept inside his pocket trousers, he resumed speaking, "Trying to sell me to another woman." He smirked. "Do you hate me that much so that you want to get rid of me and make me sleep with another woman?" Canillas captured a pair of quivering eyes in his raging ones.

He had felt something ominous when she made a single agreement to receive the request for a brief conversation from the sudden-appearing woman who kept stealing glances at him. However, at that time, he tried to think positively that his wife really wanted to have that brief conversation with her acquaintance based on the excuse they made that they had not seen each other for quite a long time.

Once the so-called brief conversation started, his gut told him true that his wife, the woman he married who had not accepted him as husband yet, had ulterior motives. She played a role as a matchmaker to match him, her husband, to another woman.

He could not form a word to describe how he felt at that time. After all he had done to her, after all his effort to maintain their marriage, all seemed to have gone away, disappearing into the mist.

What was harder to discern was when, for the first time, he saw her smiling at him. A beautiful smile that never appeared on her face for him was finally there. But it was not a smile from a wife to her husband.

It was like a reassuring smile that she was fine with him being with another woman. Or perhaps it was a wishing smile of his happiness with his life with another woman.

Or it might be a victory smile where she finally reached her goal of getting rid of him by matching him with the so-called most beautiful woman in Barasca.

Overall, the smile that he saw on her beautiful face was like a farewell smile.