Violet Zerotta’s Hasty Marriage - Chapter 65

“Oww, my head…”

Violet was certain she had gone to sleep in a good mood—or at least, she thought so.

She had drunk quite a lot, but she hadn’t thrown up embarrassingly, and her head wasn’t spinning.

Looking back, it wasn’t so much that she fell asleep, but rather that her memory had been cleanly cut off as if someone had snipped it away…

Wait—did she even say goodnight to Count Lambert?

With her head throbbing painfully, Violet struggled to recall her last memory.

She was pretty sure Aldrick had returned to the dining room, and that she had somehow ended up in his arms, crying with Simon…

But after Aldrick led her out of the dining hall with a bewildered look on his face, her memory went completely blank.

This was a first for her.

She wasn’t someone who drank often to begin with, and since giving birth, she had hardly touched alcohol. It seemed the rare drink had hit her hard.

In truth, Violet had plenty of reasons to pass out beyond the alcohol.

Raising a child was exhausting, but even more so was the constant tension of being without Aldrick.

Even though she had appeared calm on the outside, she had been burdened with a heavy sense of responsibility.

While he was gone, she was the master of the lord’s estate, and the master had a duty to lead their household well.

Even with the knights, attendants, and maids that Aldrick had left behind, she still felt the pressure of having to keep the estate safe until he returned.

After spending three months like that, her exhaustion was at its peak.

And now, to top it off, they had guests, and she had drunk copiously—of course her body couldn’t handle it.

Still, no matter how bad her hangover was, it was time to pull herself together.

She needed to see to breakfast for the guests likely still sleeping upstairs, greet Rosetta who must have just woken up, and manage the numerous other duties expected of a lady of the house…

“….?”

As Violet managed to lift her heavy body, she was immediately bewildered.

“Where… am I?”

One look around told her she definitely wasn’t in the lord’s bedroom.

No—in fact… there wasn’t even a roof!

She stared blankly up at the blue sky with clouds drifting by overhead.

Birds chirped, and the air was filled with the scent of grass—this was clearly the forest.

The only saving grace was that she wasn’t alone in this unfamiliar place.

Next to her, roused by her movement, was Aldrick, blinking sleep from his eyes.

“You’re awake?”

He yawned widely as he gently pulled the cloak around her, likely placed to keep the night dew off.

“We only meant to take a short rest before moving again, but I guess we both fell asleep.”

Aldrick’s casual tone only added to Violet’s confusion.

Is he… not fazed by this situation at all?

“Aldrick, I’m asking because I honestly don’t understand what’s going on… Did you bring me here?”

At her question, Aldrick looked back at her with an even more puzzled expression.

“You don’t remember anything? You’re the one who dragged me out through the castle gates.”

“I did?”

No matter how hard she searched her memory, Violet couldn’t recall such a thing.

“You said the happiest memory you had was when we traveled to Mallo on our honeymoon, and then you insisted we leave immediately. You even pulled out the horses from the stables and shoved me on one.”

“…I did?!”

Come to think of it, behind the large tree trunk they had been leaning against was a brown horse, snorting gently.

Aldrick continued.

“Simon took it even further and practically kicked us out of the castle, saying he’d risk his life to protect it while we went and had some time to ourselves. When I asked where we’d even sleep, you said we’d camp out for the nostalgia. You really don’t remember?”

“Why would you take a drunk person’s words seriously?!”

Violet, her face paling more and more with every word, snapped back in a feeble tone. Aldrick only chuckled.

“Well, I thought what you said sounded nice. So I just carried your sleeping self onto the horse and pretended I didn’t know better.”

Carrying an unconscious person on horseback wasn’t exactly easy, but despite her drunken behavior, Aldrick looked perfectly pleased.

Vowing never to drink herself into such a state again, Violet told him now that she was clear-headed, they should return to the castle.

But Aldrick, looking even more perplexed, shook his head.

“What? So you don’t want to go back?”

“Since we’re already out here, wouldn’t it be better to enjoy it a little longer? I actually prepared for this, thinking there might come a chance like this someday… And anyway, Simon said he’d be staying at our estate for about two weeks for a break, so it’s fine.”

After some back-and-forth in the gently rustling morning breeze, the two finally agreed.

They wouldn’t return to the castle—at least, not just yet.