The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 34: Would she give in?

Joanna was once again alone in her room.

Different from when the General left her room before, this time she knew the reason he left.

She was actually not feeling well at all. The fever had made her head spin and her body sore. She just forced her body to stay sober so that she would not make mistakes due to a slip of the tongue when arguing with the General, as she had learned him to be a sharp-witted person.

After using all of her strength to face the General, Joanna felt worn out. She wanted to sleep, but she was curious about what would happen later. She wanted to know what his reaction would be after finding out about her lie.

Nevertheless, after trying so many times to fight her heavy eyes from closing shut, Joanna finally lost as she surrendered into a deep slumber, failing to know the reaction of her so-called husband that she wanted to know a lot.

Canillas went back to Joanna’s room only to find her asleep in a semi-upright position. It should be an uncomfortable position to sleep in, thought Canillas. But he had no intention of fixing her sleeping position as he did not want to wake her up, which would then end up with her sending him a sharp glare when she found him touching her body.

Trying not to create any noise in the quiet room, Canillas closed the door very carefully without making any clicking sound. As the door closed shut, he slowly stepped across the room toward the bed where his wife was sleeping peacefully.

Instead of taking a seat on the bed, Canillas chose to sit on the chair that was occupied by Fabio before, so that he would not cause a stir, making the sleeping lady awaken from her sleep.

Leaning forward with his elbows resting on his thighs, he focused his gaze on the face of his sleeping wife. With the left side of her head pressing on the pillow, Canillas could finally see her features clearly.

A few strands of her black hair rested on her cheek which made Canillas’ hands itch to tuck it behind her ear. But again, he restrained himself from touching her. He wanted to enjoy this peaceful moment without looking at her being restless and busy racking her head to persuade him to a marriage annulment.

As she was sleeping, he could not see the cold eyes that had been shown by her to him so far. And she was now defenseless, not like a few moments ago when she attacked him with argument after argument just to convince him about the marriage annulment.

Aside from that, he wanted her to enjoy her rest as he already felt full about the so-called marriage annulment that she had served on his plate.

She was a beautiful woman, and Canillas could tell that, even though her beauty was now hidden as her face, her neck, and her other exposed body parts were now swollen with reddened rashes.

But why did she hurt herself like this? Was she really that desperate to end her marriage to him? Was she really unwilling to be his wife, so that she chose to ruin herself to make him willing to annul their marriage?

Canillas still found himself unable to believe what had been done by the woman who was sleeping peacefully with her lips slightly agape.

He was in doubt, wondering the true reason that made this woman act this way. Were all the reasons she had stated true? Or were those a lie that she fabricated just like her sickness?

Under normal circumstances, after he argued with her and offered solutions to the matters that became the grounds for her intention for a marriage annulment, just like normally most women did when they were in the same situation as they were now, she would have stopped arguing. She should have felt contented and relieved as her husband seemed to care for her and eager to value their marriage.

But she looked frightened and restless, bombarding him with endless counterattacks every time he encountered her argumentation.

Never once did she soften her expression. Never once did he find her relaxed since he stepped inside her room. Over time, she was tense and trembling.

He actually wanted to know how far she would act defensively like this. How far she would go with her bold idea. Would she give up and accept the fact that he would not agree to the marriage annulment she had persistently brought up?

However, Canillas was once again in doubt if it would happen soon. He noticed that even until he called Fabio to examine her as he wanted to ease her from the sickness that she claimed to be caused by the weather of Archess and help her find the cure so that she would not be in pain anymore and not afraid of returning to Archess with him, he was still finding her refuse to give in.

Due to social decorum, it was not common for women, especially noble ladies, to initiate a divorce or marriage annulment. Even though the marriage they were sent off to was against their will or they despised the men that would be or had become their husbands, they just had to endure living in a marriage that did not make them pleased and did not meet their expectations.

Therefore, he was beyond surprised when he heard his wife, who was a noble lady, the daughter of the Duke of Barasca, initiate to annul their marriage.

In the kingdoms where they lived, there was no law to forbid women to have a divorce or marriage annulment. However, most women would prefer to avoid such conduct as it would only inflict an irreversible impact on their lifetime reputation.

Although an annulled marriage was considered to be preferable to a divorced one as the marriage would be regarded as never existing, the reality would say the opposite thing, as those women would still be called divorcees. And as a divorcee, of course, the judgment and treatment in society would be different compared to married ones.

Even though they would be able to remarry, they would not be able to escape the social perspective about the failure of their first marriage and they would hear those circulating words for the rest of their life.

Had she considered that well? Was she ready to bear that reputation for the rest of her life?

Canillas actually noticed that his wife was not happy to see him as she seemed not to hesitate to ignore him since he set foot inside her room. He clearly felt zero enthusiasm for a wife to meet her husband for the first time, as he could not find any slight warmth in the way she looked at him.

Only coldness and fear were showcased by her, as if he had done something wrong to her. It was also because of such behavior that made him doubt it when she said she ignored him because she did not want her condition to be seen.

He was not blind and numb. He could differentiate between concern and resentment.

It was also obvious that she maintained her distance from him, keeping him at bay as if he was only a guest to her, not her family, like what was informed by the butler, when he and his father-in-law were in Alenna Garden, that the young lady was ready to receive the guest.

It did not mean that he was not surprised to hear that. However, on most occasions, as a soldier who had fought on the battlefield for years, he was used to hiding his emotions and steadying his expression, keeping it known for himself, as it would not be good for him if he ever showed his weaknesses or true feelings to his enemies or even his fellow soldiers.

Aside from that, he first thought it might be her habitual way to regard someone who came to the de Lara mansion as a guest and he was not an exception.

But the more he thought about that, the more he felt that she regarded him not as a guest, but worse than that, as an enemy that had done something unforgivable to her. And it reminded him of the enemies he faced on the battlefield who were ready to beat him to a pulp.

At first, he was relieved when he found that she had returned to Terra because of sickness, not because of her argument or cold war with his mother. However, after he found her room in his mansion vacant, doubt started growing inside him about whether she left solely because of sickness.

What had he done to make her behave like this? Did she resent him because she felt hurt and offended by the treatment of his mother to her when she was in Archess? How far did his mother have treated her? Was it unforgivable?

If the fault was also his, just like her confession, then was becoming the wife of a soldier really that hard and torturing? But, he had seen many of his fellow soldiers who had built families and they were fine. Even his mother was still longing for her late husband in her heart.

Why couldn’t she be like them? Rather than poisoning her body so that she could leave Archess and make him detest her, why couldn’t she accept the fact that she was now the wife of a soldier?