The General's Wife Wants to Leave
Chapter 122: Rising smoke

Chapter 122: Rising smoke

’Are you going to bring this to Archess?’

Joanna was stunned by what she heard. Why did he still bring up Archess with her?

Wasn’t he angry at her? Wasn’t he here because he would agree to nullify their marriage?

Those were the questions that ran through Joanna’s mind and could not be formed into words to be asked of Canillas. She was just stupefied by everything that happened outside of her prediction.

What she could only do was watch him speak to her in silence while pondering that once again she had failed to predict what would come next from the man before her.

"I said that I would change my mind to have our marriage ended if you had someone dear in your heart whom you wanted to make your husband. But since there is none, I will just go with what I said," Canillas said while keeping on grinding the dried leaves into grounded ones. He did not lift his head while speaking, as if trying to reassure the stupefied woman.

Without looking at her, he already knew what kind of expression was painted on her face at the moment.

"We will live in another house, just like I told you before. But I ask you to please endure with the house, as it is only a simple house that can’t be compared with this huge mansion." Canillas continued to speak in a calm tone, his hands not stopping from grinding the dried leaves. "If you don’t like it, just tell me. We will find another house that you like to live in."

The faint sound of the pestle hitting the mortar, which was mixed with his voice, filled the gazebo as he spoke more. "But if you like it, just do what you want to do there. There will be no one to disturb you. So you can live peacefully there and do not need to worry about anything," Canillas reassured, looking down at the grounded leaves that almost turned into fine powder due to the strength he used to grind them.

"You can take your maids to Archess to accompany you so you won’t be alone when I am away from home to work. I will also introduce you to some of my friends. I hope they will be good friends for you too," Canillas uttered, grinding the already fine powder without looking up even once at Joanna, as he knew that she would feel pressured if he stared at her as she always was.

Besides, without feeling pressured, he expected her to easily digest what he said to her, regardless of the agitated feelings that he believed had wreaked havoc inside her.

"There are so many herbal plants that grow in Archess. You can choose whatever plants you want to grow in your garden. If Archess doesn’t have the plant you want, I will ask someone to get the seeds from Terra. So there is nothing to worry about having an empty garden." Canillas kept on talking, as if the lady would cry if he stopped talking. "Orbane is colder than Barasca so..." But he soon halted, not continuing to speak, when he noticed movement and heard a clinking sound that came from across from him.

Lifting up his head, his hands stopped working on grinding the fine powder, and he found Joanna placing two cups and a saucer on the table in front of her. He then saw her move to take a small clay charcoal stove from the storage cabinet rack that stood on one corner of the gazebo, which was behind her, and place it on the table, across from where the wooden stacked container lay.

Canillas then watched her skillfully lit up the charcoal as if it were an activity that she had done for the umpteenth time. As the charcoal burned, showing a red flame on it, a small kettle was placed on top of the stove.

Canillas did not speak anymore after that. He was just immersed in what she was doing, as if it were an interesting event that was too dear to be missed.

When Canillas noticed Joanna waiting for the water to boil, but she made herself busy by taking another mortar from the same cabinet where she kept the stove and the stuff that she placed on the table at the moment, he rose from his seat and stretched out his hand across the table to place the mortar where fine powder was contained before her once she took a seat back on her chair.

"Is it enough? Do you want it to be grounded more?" Canillas asked, to which Joanna took a close look inside the mortar.

She then nodded her head and said, "It is more than enough. Thank you."

Noticing the way she calmly replied to him, Canillas was surprised. She looked so calm. There was no sliver of distress or fear that he could catch on her serene face, although she directed her gaze on anything in front of her but him.

Taking a seat back in his chair, Canillas kept on studying Joanna’s demeanor, which he found to be foreign, not wanting to miss any detail.

Meanwhile, Joanna was busy finishing what she had to do with the dried leaves she had collected, as she had to process them into grounded leaves as a tea as soon as possible, as the longer they contacted the air, the quality of the tea would be depleted.

As for the grounded leaves she had just received from Canillas, Joanna took a porcelain jar from the cabinet. She then collected the finely ground leaves from the mortar and put them in the jar.

Before closing the jar with the lid and sealing it tightly so that the moisture, which could deteriorate the quality of the tea, would not seep inside the jar, Joanna took a spoon of them to be placed into a cup.

Setting the jar aside, Joanna then wiped the inside part of the now empty mortar with a clean cloth and put another dried leaf, which was raspberry leaves, in there. Without any hesitation, Joanna placed it in front of Canillas, whose eyes trailed any of her actions.

Finding the mortar he had just handed in to her back in front of him again, Canillas let out a chuckle as he knew why she returned it to him.

Without wasting more time, he placed the mortar on his lap and did what he did to the previous dried leaves, grinding them into a fine powder. At the moment, he worked on it without lowering his head as he watched every movement that was made by his wife.

As the water boiled, Joanna lifted the kettle from the stove, poured the boiled water into the cup that had been filled with the tea powder, and gave it a stir with a small spoon. She then let it steep for about three minutes before straining the immersed tea leaves and collecting the tea liquid in the other cup.

A couple of seconds later, the cup of tea on top of the saucer changed position, and it was now lying in front of the man who had helped her grind the dried leaves.

At what he found right before his eyes, Canillas’ hand that moved to grind the new dried leaves stopped immediately. For a moment, he stared at the drink, where the smoke rose from the surface of the cup. The fragrant, shooting smell wafted through his nose.

Raising his eyes, through the rising smoke twirling before him, he caught sight of the woman who, for the first time, served him something to drink.

A small smile appeared on Canillas’ lips as he laid his eyes on the beautiful lady who was sitting across from him, whom he still called his wife.

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