My Husband Caught Me Having an Affair - Chapter 113

Ethan stared at Camille for a moment, at a loss for words.

It wasn’t the first time Camille had said something completely outside of his expectations, but this time truly surpassed anything he could have imagined.

When Ethan gave no response, Camille mumbled softly as if embarrassed.

“If you don’t want to, I understand…”

“No, it’s not that. Not at all.”

Ethan answered firmly. His gaze was utterly serious, prompting Camille to ask back awkwardly.

“Huh? Uh… really?”

“Yes. What time tomorrow? When should we leave? Where are we going?”

Bombarded with sudden questions, Camille was visibly flustered.

“Uh, well…”

“If you haven’t decided yet, take your time to think about it. Or I can make the arrangements. I’ll narrow down some candidates by tomorrow morning.”

Ethan closed the file he’d been reviewing and pushed it to the edge of the desk. Seeing that, Camille quickly waved her hands.

“Huh? No, that’s okay. You must already be busy with work, there’s no need for that.”

“It’s fine. It’s all stuff that can be handled slowly.”

He wasn’t lying. Because of the fake injury incident, most of his business dealings had either been postponed or delegated to other executives.

What had kept him clinging to work until now was simply his restless nature—he couldn’t help but feel uneasy unless he checked everything himself. And despite being perfectly healthy, doing nothing at all left him feeling unsettled.

So if he wanted, he could easily take the next two weeks off without issue.

“Right. This might even be a good time to spend a few days out in the countryside. Is there any place you’ve always wanted to visit?”

“…Huh? A trip? All of a sudden?”

Camille blinked in surprise.

“We’ve never traveled together since we got married. This might be the perfect opportunity. If we say it’s for convalescence, it won’t seem odd to anyone. Let’s see. Somewhere within a few hours’ carriage ride from here…”

As he quickly ran through possible destinations in his head, Camille interrupted, looking truly flustered.

“Wait, wait. Just a second. Hold on.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean what’s wrong? A man who was just on the brink of death is suddenly going on a trip? That’s just too strange.”

“Is it? As I said, if we say it’s for convalescence—”

“Even then, it’s too soon. Considering the severity of the injury, this is still a period of necessary rest. Girard’s side must already be on high alert—we don’t need to give them any reason to be suspicious.”

Now that she said it, it was certainly true.

Ethan furrowed his brows silently. A trip? Why had that even come out of his mouth? He didn’t know himself.

“So a trip is out of the question, and you should refrain from going out for a while. For the next week… no, two weeks, stay inside the estate. Even if it’s stifling, bear with it.”

At Camille’s unusually stern tone, Ethan looked puzzled.

“Two weeks? But you just asked me out on a date tomorrow…”

“There are plenty of places within the estate where we can go on a date. Take a leisurely stroll through the gardens, get some sun. Call it part of your rehabilitation.”

Ethan gave a bitter smile. “You talk as if I’m actually injured.”

“That’s what most people in the estate believe, isn’t it? Given the nature of the matter, no amount of caution is too much.”

She was right. They had just caught a spy who had infiltrated the knights’ order, thanks to the information provided by Mathieu. Despite thorough background checks on even the lowest-ranking knights, another spy had slipped in. Girard truly was relentless.

But if anything was surprising, it was Camille—by far.

The fact that Dumont had gained such an advantage over Girard was almost entirely thanks to her.

Maybe that was why. These days, Ethan found himself trusting everything Camille said without question. It was the complete opposite of how things used to be.

He looked at his wife with a renewed sense of awe. Looking back, it was astonishing. Could one’s view of a person change so drastically?

Now, Camille had become someone Ethan couldn’t live without.

And that wasn’t just for the sake of the family.

“So let me take care of tomorrow. Don’t overwork yourself, and make sure you go to bed at a decent hour.”

At Camille’s words, Ethan quietly smiled.

“Alright. I’ll do as you say.”

***

The next day.

Ethan came out to the northern garden with Camille.

Recently, due to the cover story, Ethan had been using a wheelchair when moving around. Normally, a servant would push it for him, but today, Camille had sent the servants away, insisting she would do it herself.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Isn’t it heavy?”

At Ethan’s question, Camille gave a short laugh.

“How many times are you going to ask? I said I’m fine.”

“But it must be quite heavy.”

“Not really. That’s what the wheels are for. It’s just the right amount of exercise.”

It didn’t sound like she was just trying to act tough. Neither her voice nor the force with which she pushed from behind gave any sense that it was burdensome.

Of course, that didn’t mean Ethan wasn’t concerned. If he had known it would be like this, he would have taken crutches or found some other way.

In the end, Ethan had let Camille push the wheelchair because of the words she had whispered softly into his ear.

“This way, we can talk alone, can’t we?”

A few escorting knights followed behind them, but they kept a distance far enough that their conversation couldn’t be heard.

“It’s been cloudy these past few days, but the weather’s nice today. The sunlight’s warm too. It’s really perfect.”

“It is.”

His answer had been reflexive, without much thought, but Ethan realized that he genuinely agreed with her words.

In the past, he had never paid much attention to whether the weather was good or bad. If it was sunny, it was sunny; if it was cloudy, it was cloudy. That was all.

Naturally, the weather had never affected his mood.

But now, he was glad the weather was nice. Not because the sunlight was warm, as Camille had said, but simply because his wife’s voice had sounded cheerful when she said it.

“Honestly, you were surprised, right? When I suddenly asked you to go on a date…”

At Camille’s words, Ethan paused to think before replying carefully.

“I was. But I appreciated it.”

“You… appreciated it?”

“It was the first time you brought up something like that. Of course, you’ve asked to go out together before, but the purpose was completely different then.”

“……”

Camille fell silent, so Ethan turned his head to look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

Their eyes met, and Camille smiled awkwardly.

“No… it’s nothing.”

***

‘…Ugh, what do I do?’

I quietly broke out in a cold sweat, gripping the wheelchair handles.

To be honest, the reason I had gone to Ethan’s office yesterday was to bring up the topic of adopting Elodie.

Originally, I had planned to wait until Ethan and Elodie had grown close enough, but recent circumstances had made it impossible to just sit back and wait.

So I had decided to bring it up first, and even if he opposed, I would slowly try to persuade him.

But when I was face to face with Ethan, the words wouldn’t come out.

It was because the look in his eyes as he asked what was going on had been filled with so much anticipation.

Honestly, that part was still okay. The real problem was that, because of that, I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

In the past, I wouldn’t have cared either way and would’ve just said what I wanted to say. But now, for some reason, I couldn’t understand myself.

In that moment of panic, racking my brain, what came out of my mouth was, “Let’s go on a date.”

I had my reasons. I thought that if I used the date as a way to lighten the mood, Ethan might be more open to the conversation.

Also, it gave me an extra night to prepare. I could reorganize what I wanted to say and mentally brace myself.

‘Yes, that’s how it was supposed to go…’

But now that the day had come, nothing had changed from yesterday.

No, it was worse.

Ethan looked happier than ever. Honestly, since I ended up in this body, I had never seen him so giddy.

‘…Is there any way I can bring it up without making it obvious?’