The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 252: Mine is yours

Looking back at the golden lion seal in his hand, a small smile played on Canillas’ lips. As he observed it once again, he found a red stain on the head and legs of the proud sitting lion.

His memory brought him back to when he saw that filthy man with a blood-drenched face that prevented her from approaching him and left a scar on her that night.

"Why didn’t you use your dagger?" asked Canillas, remembering that she had told him that she kept her dagger with her every time she was out of her home. She even used it to make him stop doing what a husband could do to his wife when they were in the deep forest—the second time he encountered her, but it would be forever engraved in his mind.

"I couldn’t bring it with me because of the royal protocol," Joanna answered.

Even though there would be small to no possibility for the guards to grope her body to check if there were weapons hidden under her dress, she could not breach the royal protocol that had been long regulated even before she was born—that no weapons should be brought inside the venue of a royal event.

If she happened to be a rebel, unwilling to obey such an old rule, choosing to keep her habit inside the venue, she was afraid of an unwanted thing happening that would open the chance to drag her family to be accused of committing treason.

She was aware that her father did not live without other parties opposing his policy and even resenting his achievement. Many possibilities could happen under the name of conspiracies to bring her father and her family down. She only tried her best to keep her family’s safety intact.

Besides, she thought that there was nothing to worry about without her dagger with her as security should be high in the castle. But now, it was only her old belief. She did not trust it anymore.

She only felt luck was still with her, as she kept the seal that her husband asked her to keep before he went to have a meeting with His Majesty the King.

Catching her point, Canillas said, "I asked you to keep it for me. So you may please keep it for me. It is yours too." Canillas placed the seal back on the table close to Joanna.

He meant it. When he had no other choice but to accept the gift that was given to him, he had decided to give it to her as his wife. However, knowing her personality, along with her bewildered expression when the seal was revealed, he knew that Joanna would not accept that if he blatantly gave it to her. Thus, he asked her to keep the seal with her, simply excusing that he could not bring that with him when he was about to meet the King of Terra.

That reason alone was not flawless, which undoubtedly pushed her to pursue another convincing reason. He was not sure if his next reason was sensible, but he voiced it, saying that his attire was not set to keep such an object. She was about to argue but swallowed it back as he managed to divert her attention to another matter.

And he was now glad that his decision to close a chance for her pursuing inquiry and leave the seal with her was absolutely the right decision, as she could use that heavy and dense object as a weapon to give an unforgettable lesson to that Tres before he sent him to the grave with his own hand.

Shaking her head, Joanna said, "No, it is yours, Sir Canillas. His Majesty has gifted this for what you have done to Terra. So it is more proper for the owner to keep what belongs to him well." She pushed the object on the table to be closer to Canillas’ side.

In response, Canillas wrapped Joanna’s hands that were still on the object that she pushed, making her hands unmovable and still on top of it. "You are my wife. What’s mine is yours too," Canillas remarked firmly, giving no room for rejection for something he had decided.

"You have kept it well, Joanna, so I give you my trust to keep it for me." He softened his tone as he saw Joanna flinch at both of his sudden movements and his previous remark that seemed to be too stern for her, realizing that he was consumed by his current emotional state.

Finding Joanna in silence, clearly still weighing that, Canillas said, "And about the dagger... Please be careful anytime you use it for any reason." Capturing her face with his eyes, he added, "Don’t get hurt." His demeanor was calm, but his voice was laced with warning, causing Joanna to be perplexed as to why Canillas suddenly emphasized her dagger.

"Do you get it, Joanna?" Before she could wonder too long, she was pulled back from the trance of wonderment when another firm voice reached her ears, and the pressure of the grip of his hands on hers was increased, clearly demanding her response without any excuse.

Joanna nodded her head as she noticed that Canillas was not showing any hint of being playful. He was serious at the moment.

"Promise me." And he was utterly serious that he asked her to promise him that. But why? Joanna wondered.

"Joanna..." He called out to the perplexed Joanna, making her give him another nod.

It was because he was worried about her. Joanna gave the answer to her own question, recalling how he looked when her neck was wounded by a sharp object where the scar could still vividly be seen.

"Is that all you wanted to talk with me about?" Joanna heard Canillas ask her while his hands pushed her hands and the seal to be close to her side. Not only was the tone of his voice calmer now, but also his composure, as he was now more relaxed in the way he sat with his arms folded across his chest.

Joanna shook her head in response before saying, "I—I have something to demand from you." Joanna trailed off but managed to finish her words, indicating that the demand might not be easy to voice out and there was a probability to not be granted.