The General's Wife Wants to Leave
Chapter 71: A beautiful dream in the light of day

Chapter 71: A beautiful dream in the light of day

"Oh, my God!" Mrs. Powel exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand. Her eyes, which grew wide, were busy scanning the General, whom she had just first seen, from the top to the bottom.

Lowering the hand that covered her mouth to her chest, she said, "So this is the great general of the Archess Kingdom who has saved us from the invasion of the Zalthian Empire?" Her slightly stammering voice was filled with a hint of doubt, as if disbelieving to find the great General who had saved her kingdom standing right before her.

"I am Canillas von Rodega, the husband of Lady Joanna von Rodega. It is an honor to meet you, Mrs. Powel." Canillas introduced himself proudly to the old lady, offering a slight bow.

He also did not miss the chance to underline the new family name of his wife, who tended to want to forget or deny her status as his wife. A bright smile was broadly plastered on his face, and it was a smile that never once appeared every time he introduced himself or was introduced to someone.

"It is also an honor for me to finally meet the great General of Archess, the husband of Lady Joanna, with my own eyes," Mrs. Powel stated enthusiastically with the same bright smile on her face after getting confirmation that the young man before her was really the famous General of Archess. Her eyes, which were not tired from observing the General, as if trying to memorize his figure, twinkled with bliss at him.

Clasping her hands in front of her chest, she then said, "It is also good to know that you are the husband of Lady Joanna so that I don’t need to prepare another room for you, General von Rodega." Mrs. Powel smiled, showing a relieved demeanor.

It was a rare occasion for every guest who visited the Powel Orphanage to leave immediately on the same day they arrived due to its seclusion area. Therefore, every time there was a guest in the orphanage, Mrs. Powel would instantly think about providing a room for them to stay.

She added, "Please don’t be mistaken. It is not that I am not willing to provide a room for you. Because in this old orphanage, only the room of Lady Joanna is very feasible to shelter a great general like General von Rodega," Mrs. Powel reasoned, eyes still filled with enthusiasm, not realizing that a pair of shockingly wide eyes had been fixed on her since she brought up the topic of the room.

Realizing how serious the situation would be, Joanna took Mrs. Powel’s hand, about to convey her objection to the thunderbolt-like suggestion.

However, before a word managed to be delivered to the smiling old lady who had her attention on her since she took hold of her hand, a deep, heavy voice that belonged to a man overlapped, beating her by a second.

"Thank you for your kind consideration and attention, Mrs. Powel." At the coming voice, Mrs. Powel turned her attention to the General, and a bright, broad smile reappeared on her face every time she looked at him. "Actually, any kind of room is fine for me." And it was now Joanna’s turn to have her eyes twinkle at his words, feeling glad to know that he still had a conscience to know their boundary.

Looking at him with a hopeful look, she then heard him say, "But personally, I..." Canillas directed his eyes from the old lady toward the younger one, which made the latter turn worried about what he would say next as she felt that she recognized this kind of suspicious look. And her premonition was not wrong in the continuation of his words that she heard.

"And my wife have the same opinion that it will be good if we can reduce the load of your work by not preparing another room." He smiled at his bewildered wife before turning to face the old lady to finish what he had in mind while avoiding the glare dagger that was shot at him.

"Although this is my first time here, I could reckon how tiring it is to take care of guests while you have many kids, which are more important to take care of. So, please don’t think of us too much, Mrs. Powel. We are fine with what you have provided for us, and you may please focus on caring for the kids," Canillas remarked. His facial expression was laced with concern, which made the old lady give a nod of relief and admiration.

Inwardly, Mrs. Powel could not help but feel relief as she finally was able to meet the husband of lady de Lara, whom she had regarded as her granddaughter.

She had long wondered about the general from the neighboring kingdom who had been betrothed to her. She knew what kind of person the young lady was, and she was worried when she was informed that the delicate lady would marry a strong, powerful general.

However, after knowing what kind of gentleman her husband was, Mrs. Powel was now calm, as if she could close her eyes peacefully if she was called to rest for eternity, as she now knew that the young lady was married to a good man who looked so caring for her just by the way he looked at her and his sudden arrival to see her in this secluded place.

Unbeknownst to the old lady, the husband and wife, who looked fine in her eyes, held a different intensity of desire inside them.

The husband knew that his cold-hearted wife would not accept this arrangement to the point that she would fight against it with all her might, but he would not let go of such a precious opportunity, which came unexpectedly like a beautiful dream in the light of day.

Hence, when he heard a word just coming out of her lips, and before she could talk further, he hurriedly cut her words off.

Turning his head from Mrs. Powel, who stood in front of him, to look down at his wife beside him, he said, "You seemed to want to talk to me before. Was there something important you wanted to tell me about?"

Joanna, who had her mouth open from wanting to speak out her strong objection to Mrs. Powel, turned her head to see the General and moved it back to see Mrs. Powel before fixing it at the General with a confused look.

Did she want to tell him something important? Thinking about that for a fleeting moment, she now remembered what she was going to tell him.

"Ah!" Joanna exclaimed. Reaching out her hand that was holding the white-flowered herb toward him, she explained, "Please take this herb to Sir Luca. You can pluck the leaves, wash them, and take some of them to be ground finely because we need to extract the juice from the plant. You can then place the ground leaves on the bitten wound on Sir Luca’s shoulder."

Seeing him stand still with his eyes on hers after she finished explaining, Joanna cleared her throat, which made Canillas smile at her.

Taking the white-flowered herb from her hand, he offered a slight bow to Mrs. Powel and made his way toward Luca’s room in the knight’s quarter with the guidance of Sir Sylvester, as Canillas was blind about the direction in the orphanage building that he had never visited before.

Standing with Mrs. Powel after the departure of the General, Joanna turned to look at Mrs. Powel, and she was stunned to find the old lady looking at her with a wide grin across her face.

"He seems to be a good man, my lady. And I can see that he is smitten by you just by how he couldn’t take his eyes from you." Mrs. Powel chuckled, revealing her observation so far, to which Joanna pursed her lips.

Instead of responding to Mrs. Powel’s comment, Joanna shifted the focus of their conversation.

"I am going to see Liam, Mrs. Powel. Lucy should have finished preparing the remedy I requested." With that having been said, Joanna left Mrs. Powel after offering her a soft smile, heading to Liam’s room.

She tried not to prolong the conversation that was related to the General, as by seeing Mrs. Powel’s enthusiastic expression, she could tell how much the old lady wanted to gather information about him as her husband.

On the other side, Mrs. Powel found the response given by the young lady to be the same as when she talked about having her own children the day before. She was somehow cold and unenthusiastic.

It was obvious that the young lady had avoided talking about her husband and her married life.

Was she not happy with her marriage? But her husband looked like a good man. There was no malicious look on his face. Instead, she could feel his sincere look when he looked at the young lady.

But what could she say if the young lady did not share the same feelings as her husband?

Arranged marriages without love were very common in the aristocratic world. Fulfilling their duty as a married couple was the only thing they could do to carry out their married life for the rest of their lives.

If love could grow during that time, then one could say that it was a blessing and something to be grateful for. But if there was no love until their hair turned gray or until one of them left first, it would then be a misery in one’s life.

Staring at the back of the young lady who walked further away, Mrs. Powel could only let out a sigh. She hoped, with time, that the kind young lady would find happiness and love in her married life.