The General's Wife Wants to Leave
Chapter 127: Sleepless nights

Chapter 127: Sleepless nights

As her eyes were now adjusted, Joanna could catch a glimpse of her surroundings inside the carriage through the moonlight that seeped through the window and also through the lanterns that were installed and lit up outside the carriage, along with those that were held by a few Barasca knights.

But she did not catch sight of her companion, who was supposed to be sitting on the seat in front of her.

Joanna’s brows knitted at the realization that she was alone in the carriage.

Did he get bored, so he rode on horseback with the Barasca knights? Joanna wondered.

When she thought so as the answer to her silent question, Joanna, who had sat up upright, was about to fix her hair, which might be in a mess due to the friction with everything she used as a support to lay her head.

However, there was something that made her not be able to move her left hand, and it felt heavy as if there was something pressing it.

Before she moved her head to look down at why her hand had become like that, she felt something ominous, as her senses had gathered almost completely after being sunk into slumber.

Even though her neck was numb, the pillow was comfortable enough to lay on despite the toughness. But there was no tough pillow in the carriage so far, and if she happened to sleep in the carriage, she would lean her head against the back of the chair or the wall. And from where she was sitting, the carriage wall was close to her right side, not her left side.

With the ominous feelings still swarming inside her, Joanna slowly turned her head to look down, where her left hand lay. In a blink of an eye, Joanna’s eyes widened, and she inhaled sharply before covering her mouth as a response to the shock of what she discovered.

Moving her eyes to look up at the owner of the hand that enclasped hers, Joanna found him sleeping as he leaned his head against the back of the chair with his eyes closed.

And he was still in the carriage with her, not riding a horse with Barasca knight, as she previously thought. Not only that, he even moved closer to her side. And even further than that, he lent her his shoulder to lay on and clasped her hand.

Joanna’s heart pounded so hard in her chest at the realization.

Looking back down at her hand, Joanna carefully lifted her hand, on which there was a hand that lay on it, intertwining with hers. Fortunately, the man was sleeping so that there was no barrier for her to lift that big hand, which in his conscious state, his strength was too superior for her to fight.

Joanna turned the position of their hands upside down, and hers was now on top of his. One by one, Joanna uncurled the big fingers that were linked to hers, making them into an open palm. As there was no barrier that trapped her hand anymore, Joanna quickly pulled her hand away so that it was now free.

Bringing her left hand to her chest, in which her heart beating rapidly, Joanna squinted her eyes while looking at the sleeping man as if complaining about him, who sought opportunity when she was asleep.

Realizing that she had slept so tight, which made her not able to feel any disturbance that would wake her up, Joanna examined her attire, wanting to know if it was misplaced as she did not know what the sleeping man did when she was asleep. After finding out that her attire was still in place, Joanna tried to discern if there was something wrong with her body.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she felt nothing different—the same feeling she realized after she woke up from her sleep in the Powel Orphanage.

Looking back at the sleeping man, she was somehow thankful that he still proved that he was a man of his words.

However, after finding out how far he moved and even daring to make a physical touch with her, Joanna became worried about how long he could stay with his words.

Was it because their conversation the day before made him think that she had given in to him as his wife? Joanna’s heart palpitated at the thought. If so, then she should talk to him about the boundaries that both of them should set, telling him that she was still the same and had not accepted the condition of their marriage completely yet.

Didn’t he say that she could discuss anything with him while drinking healthy tea? Joanna decided in her mind.

However, thinking of what just happened, Joanna blamed herself for sleeping like a log. But she thought again that she probably would not have fallen into deep sleep if she had been able to sleep well since she returned from the Powel Orphanage.

He suddenly appeared in her room at night, on the same day they had just arrived from the Powel Orphanage, when she read the book, ending up with a melancholic atmosphere between them, which then disturbed her sleep, adding to the puffiness of her eyes.

The next day, they encountered Clara de Lorn, which ended up with her feeling guilty for what she had done to him and making her unable to sleep for the whole night.

The following day, they had a deep, long conversation in Alenna Garden, which ended up making her sleepless because she felt restless knowing that she would follow him back to his homeland, the place that she avoided stepping into.

Because of those sleepless nights, she paid for the price, laying her head on the man’s shoulder with her fingers intertwined with his.

Joanna breathed a quiet sigh at her negligence. She should not let her guard down again, no matter how sleepy she was, especially when he was around her, because she did not know what other daring movements the sleeping man would make in the future.

Worse, he would become more intimate with her, to the point where it would be irreversible. Joanna could not help but feel a chill crawl her spines along with her pounding heart at the thought.