The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 31: When the polar opposite meets

From unpredictable consoling words to unpredictable embarrassing ones in about a couple of minutes. Joanna could not believe that those words were expressed by the same person who was sitting leisurely not far away from her with a contented grin on his face.

An uninvited man, who made a sudden visit to her peaceful dwelling, was able to make her heart touched and annoyed in a very brief period of time. He was really a handful man and this fact made Joanna wonder. He was not supposed to be like this based on the dream she had seen. He was supposed to be a cold, aloof man with limited words and a stony expression.

So, who was this man? Was he the same person as the General in the dream? Joanna turned confused and anxious at the same time. Was she too exaggerating in responding to the dream? Was the dream she had that night only a mere dream that she did not need to worry about? Joanna wondered in her mind.

With her gaze fixated on the man sitting close to her while her mind wandered to connect the man and the dream, Joanna was awakened by his beaming face. It was not time to do an analysis of a dream as she needed to clarify the man’s perception of her decision.

"It is not like that, Sir Canillas. Please don’t think too far more than necessary," Joanna retorted. "It is true that I used the term annulment instead of divorce because of what you just said that we haven’t... consummated our marriage yet," Joanna trailed in a low voice at the end, averting her eyes from the beaming General’s.

She felt uncomfortable and embarrassed to speak about things that were too private even though he happened to be her husband.

"But that is not the exact reason why I wanted this marriage to be nullified," Joanna managed to speak more fluently, staring back at the man to meet his smiling eyes.

She did not want to have their marriage consummated. She did not want to let their marriage progress any further, let alone reach an intimate relationship. She only wanted to end her marriage with this man as soon as possible, regardless of whether he was the same man in the dream or not. No matter if it was a mere dream or not.

She only wanted what was certain, which was a peaceful life in Terra, her home, without being haunted by anxiety and worry over the meaning of the dream.

"If all that I have elaborated is not enough, let me underline the other thing that matters to me. I hope it will be convincing enough." Joanna held the green eyes that gradually lost their beam. She said,

"I can’t be the wife of a soldier. At first, I felt abandoned by the so-called husband as he left even before we met and no one welcomed me to his mansion at that time, less keep me company to adapt to the new place." Joanna tried to state another reason, although she had lost confidence whether it would work after knowing how difficult the man before her was to persuade.

Uncountable words had come out of her lips under her sick body, but she was still having her brain to work to argue with the man.

She added, "And I was alone for months without the presence of my husband in a place that was foreign to me, not being able to see his face during that period of time, not even receiving any news from him. But I tried to diminish the negative feelings as I knew it was a risk that I had to bear as a wife of a soldier." She noticed the General was totally back to his indecipherable expression with no smile to be found on his face.

"However, with my loneliness, my mind became clearer and I realized that this is not the married life that I wanted. If I stay in this marriage, I will face the same situation as my husband would leave me for battlefield after battlefield. Therefore, even though he has made an effort to come here to take me back, I can’t follow him back to where he lives. I have made up my mind. I can’t be Sir Canillas’ wife anymore and I beg you to agree on our marriage annulment. Please consider this well, Sir Canillas," Joanna stated, and even pleaded, asking no room for further argument.

She was getting more tired now, wanting to end this argument soon.

Meanwhile, at the words declared firmly by his wife, Canillas took a deep sigh. Lowering his head, he massaged his temples with his eyes closed.

He was married but his wife was very adamant about nullifying the marriage, which he had not even started yet. Since their first meeting until now, there was no other topic they had talked about but marriage annulment.

Both of them were like the polar opposite. One was eager to end the marriage and the other one was eager to maintain the marriage.

He had heard all the reasons she had mentioned. He had also appeased those reasons with solutions that were supposed to be a relief to her uneasiness. He had even tried to loosen her tension with a slight humor. Well, he was not sure about that, but for him, it was intended to ease her worries and melt her icy expression.

But they were still in the same spot, revolving over the same matter, with a gloomy atmosphere surrounding them.

He could not grant her wish as the reasons she had stated were not unresolvable. He wanted her to make more effort to bear with that, especially when he finally managed to survive the war and meet her in person.

And why should he remarry like she suggested if he had already had a wife? And he did not want to marry twice. Once was enough, although his wife happened to be very challenging to rationalize.

"It seems that you are eager to have our marriage annulled despite all that I have said to you, Joanna," Canillas spoke in a tired voice, closing his eyes while massaging his temples. Opening his eyes, he lifted his gaze towards Joanna after removing his hand from his temples. With a stern look, he straightened his upper body to sit upright and said,

"But I apologize, my dear wife, I have to disappoint you as I cannot and will not grant your wish to annul our marriage." His tone was serious, no playfulness weighed as before. "Whether you like it or not, you are Canillas von Rodega’s wife now. And as you said before, you already know the risks that have to be born as a soldier’s wife and I demand you to stay with that. Being left for battles or expeditions, no matter how long it takes, is one kind of unavoidable risk. Whether your husband returns alive or not, you have to endure that." freēnovelkiss.com

He added after a brief pause, not allowing his eyes to be away from hers, "And I am sorry if, among many women listed by His Majesty the King of Terra, I have chosen you to be my wife. Therefore, it made you have no other choice but to obey the marriage decree issued by the King and be bound in marriage with a soldier like me."

The room fell into silence. Only the eyes of the two people in the room spoke their own words as they stared at each other.

Not long after, Canillas’ deep voice resonated in the silent room as he resumed to speak, "If you still want to annul our marriage, then I suggest you make such a request to the King of Terra yourself. If the King of Terra approves your request, further followed by the approval of the King of Archess, it is when you will be able to have our marriage annulled." Lingering his gaze on Joanna’s face, he resumed speaking,

"But remember this, Joanna. Once it happens, it does happen not by my will, but by the role of power. Just like how the royal marriage decree fell upon both of us. As for me, as a man and a soldier, once I agreed to the marriage proposed to me at that time and chose a young lady that I hadn’t seen before to be my wife, I decided to take this marriage seriously and treat the young lady who had become my wife with responsibility." His voice was tender and calm, with no sign of anger or displeasure, but it was too firm to be ignored by Joanna.

Raising from his seat on the bed, he kept fixing his gaze on Joanna, who sat silently with her eyes meeting his. "So, until then, I suggest you stop asking for that useless, absurd request from me and it will be better if you change your mind. And what you need to do now is to rest well and get better soon so that we can go back to Archess as soon as possible. And remember this, Joanna..." He took a pause as if giving her a fleeting time to digest all of the words that would be delivered from his lips,

"You are Joanna von Rodega now, not de Lara. And your home is where your husband lives, which is in Archess. So, please keep that in mind," Canillas stated firmly, giving a strong reminder before making his way toward the door.

When he reached the door, before pulling it open, he looked at Joanna over his shoulder and said, "I will be back soon, wait for me here." With that, Canillas left the room, leaving Joanna sitting alone on the bed.