Especially since the document she had intended to send was divorce papers.

She stared at the traces of the letter, now reduced to ash. The distinctive smell of burnt paper tickled her nose, and she could see flames that had already spread to the dry firewood beside it.

“Writing that letter was so unbearably difficult…. Yet it burns away this easily.”

It felt hollow. So hollow that one side of her chest turned cold. Perhaps it was because she had pressed her emotions so firmly into each word when writing the letter.

Or perhaps it was because he had gone too far away, and she knew he would never return to her side.

‘They say when bodies grow distant, hearts do too.’

Every word of it was true.

She saw his face occasionally, but his heart was more distant than a stranger’s. Thanks to that, the four years they’d spent together seemed to have burned to black ash as well.

She stared blankly at the reality that had become nothing but gray powder, then turned toward the empty chair. Through the crack in the open door, the man she thought wouldn’t come today appeared.

Without a single word of notice.

The cold, handsome man with silver hair and gray eyes—traits passed down through generations of the Winter family, announcing him as the head of House of Winter—burned into her vision.

He was still a beautiful person. Unlike her shabby self.

She knew he was someone who acted freely, but he had rarely shown up this unannounced before.

‘He was someone who always contacted me through the butler…. What’s going on?’

Considering how consistently he’d been contacting her lately, something must have happened.

Thea’s eyes widened in surprise at his sudden appearance.

“Honey, what brings you here?”

“Did I come somewhere I shouldn’t? I simply came here because you’re in the study at this hour.”

He spoke in an extremely displeased tone, finding fault with her. Then he turned his head toward the documents piled on one side.

“What are you doing instead of processing the documents?”

“I was handling some household matters for a bit. The weather hasn’t been good lately, so work has piled up.”

Despite the reasonable excuse, he grumbled and roughly kicked his feet, which wore fur slippers made from bear hide.

“To think you’re spitting that out as an excuse right now.”

The clear disgust in his tone made her feel like she couldn’t breathe, but she forced herself to answer calmly.

“…It’s true. The butler can tell you about my schedule.”

She insisted it wasn’t a lie, but he had not even a speck of interest.

He only glared sharply at the piled-up work before sitting down on the long sofa.

“I’ll be away all next week, so look into a sanatorium for that nasty old man.”

“Father? If you send him to a sanatorium in this cold winter, something terrible will happen.”

When she frowned, thinking it was too much even though he was his own biological father, his voice rose.

“But we can’t keep a living corpse in this gloomy corner forever, can we?”

“Still, you need to be mindful of public opinion. Last time, there was a lot of talk because you secretly left Father by the cold riverside.”

When she looked at him with a face full of pity, telling him to come to his senses, he let out a hollow laugh.

“Public opinion, public opinion. What nice talk. When you don’t even know what the nobles are actually saying.”

He rose from his seat and strode toward her, roughly grabbing her brittle hair.

The lusterless blonde hair was tangled in his grip like a broom made of straw.

She couldn’t even let out a groan of pain at the reality that was too tangled to easily come apart.

Unable to scream at what happened in an instant, he let out a snickering laugh.

“Dear, all the nobles say the same thing. That the family is rotting because of one senile old fool. Didn’t you have your head shaved once because of the old man too?”

Her bare face turned deathly pale at the mention of shaving. About two and a half years into their marriage, there had been an incident where her father-in-law, whose mind wasn’t sound, had set fire to her long, flowing hair.

Since it was beyond any level of repair, Thea had no choice but to shave off her beautiful hair completely, and at that time, the family’s infamy rose without knowing how high it went.

It was already a family famous for mental illness, but this incident made them even more notorious.

It took a whole year to grow it back, and the butler and all the estate staff poured in foods and supplements good for hair, finally managing to grow it just past her shoulder blades.

When the memory of those difficult days came back, she let out a cry.

“Let… go. That was an accident. A very small accident.”

She bit down hard between her teeth and looked up at him with a face full of fury. Yet he remained relaxed. Go ahead and try, his attitude said.

His gaze was filled with the meaning of how long she could keep dismissing the family’s “madness” as an accident.

At his thoroughly provoking attitude, Thea struggled even if it meant having her hair ripped out.

Crash!

In the scuffle, a chair that had been placed nearby hit Thea’s body and fell to the floor, and a chunk of long hair remained in his hand. A stinging sensation struck her scalp, but Thea didn’t shed a single tear.

She didn’t want to cry over something like this.

She then spoke to him, who was letting out an incredulous laugh.

“I had something to say to you anyway. Good timing.”

“What is it?”

She swallowed her saliva and slowly spoke to him, who attached a question, unable to even grasp what it might be.

“Let’s… divorce.”

“What did you say? I must be going deaf. I’m hearing nonsense.”

When he scrunched up his brow like something unbelievable had happened and raised one hand to rub his eyes freely, Thea declared it wasn’t a lie.

“Isn’t this enough of living as husband and wife? And you were the one who first talked about divorce.”

“That was… I said that because I was angry.”

He seemed extremely flustered, seemingly struck by something, which was unusual. Normally he would never waver, but she could tell that what she said was quite shocking to him.

That didn’t mean her feelings would be resolved though.

“Always saying we should break up when you’re angry. I’m sick of hearing it now.”

Habitually saying they should break up was something that should never be said. It was something that could never come out if he had any consideration for the other person.

Rather, she was grateful to him for bringing it up first.

She would never have been able to put it on her lips first.

To show him that she wasn’t afraid of separation, she straightened her slightly disheveled body.

“Let’s get the papers sorted before this month ends.”

“Thea, are you saying you’ll go back to Utro?”

She nodded to him, who called her by her name from before marriage.

“Yes, I will.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. No matter how angry a spouse gets and says they’ll break up, you as the wife shouldn’t do that.”

“Why not? Why is it okay for you but not for me?”

It was truly incomprehensible. The man who had threatened her that he would leave anytime when he didn’t need her was now dismissing it as nonsense.

The meaning that he could disappear whenever he wanted, but she couldn’t disappear when she wanted, was too cruel.

“Honey, I’m human too. How much longer am I supposed to endure this?”

She wasn’t a doll that only agreed with his words. While divorce was rare in this area, it wasn’t completely nonexistent. If a spouse’s fault was severe, divorce was possible.

He was not a good husband by anyone’s standards. Nor was he a good person.

The fact that he treated her badly was famous beyond the Empire, even to neighboring countries.

‘How much…’

How much must it have been for rumors to spread even to other countries? 

And while he hadn’t yet raised his hand against her, who was still his wife, because of his wrongdoing, she had been separated from her mother-in-law.

Her relationship with her mother-in-law honestly hadn’t been bad after the first year of marriage.

She later learned that this region itself had a custom of harshly teaching newcomer brides for one year.

Her mother-in-law had simply followed that custom.

When the misunderstanding was cleared, she could see affection between the stern gazes.

‘From that time… we got along well.’

They greeted each other when they saw each other’s faces in the morning, had simple desserts together at lunch, and had warm conversations at dinner.

That happiness shattered because of this man standing before her.

‘All… because of that madness.’

How could someone not distinguish between a parent and a dog and throw his mother-in-law into a pit of fire? Thinking about that time still sent chills down her spine.

No matter how much she tried to stop him and pleaded, those crazed eyes inevitably created a horrific disaster.

The wailing mother-in-law, Acel standing before her, laughing maniacally.

At that time, Thea thought if there was a mad demon, it was surely that man.

When she looked at him while recalling that moment, she felt like she could smell the scent of burning flesh that wasn’t even there.

The unrefined, unpleasant smell seemed to creep up, and she grabbed her churning stomach with one hand.

‘…That can’t be.’

Why, how could that situation feel like it was right in front of her? Thea clenched her fist prominently, determined to somehow separate from her husband.

Then she opened her eyes sharply at him, who was still displeased, telling him to come to his senses.

“Honey, it’s time for us to stop.”

“I can’t understand what you’re saying at all.”

His tone wasn’t gentle, but informal speech finally burst from his mouth, which had been using formal speech. That’s how strange this situation was to him.

She swallowed her dry saliva at his transparent inner thoughts.

“…I’ll file the papers with the temple. Soon we’ll be able to be free.”

“Do you… know what you’re saying?”

“Yes, I know very well.”

She responded in an unwavering tone and raised her head. Then she saw his face, which displayed fierce anger.

In an atmosphere where he seemed ready to rush at her and grab her by the neck at any moment, Thea stepped back.

Whenever her husband Acel made that expression, something big always happened.

One step, two steps, and when she couldn’t take the third step.

“Have you lost your mind, Thea? Even if you die, you’ll die in this household. Whatever you just said will be dismissed as nonsense in the end.”

His face was covered with bulging veins, holding back his anger that had risen to the top of his head, and the whites of his eyes were stained red.

At that sight, she put more strength into her unclenched fist. Without even having to look, her hand must be deathly pale.

“No, my mind won’t change. I will leave this place.”

“How… can you be so certain?”

Unlike how she had been quietly staying put until now, at her manner of plainly conveying her will, Acel seemed extremely shocked and breathed more and more roughly.

Feeling like he might suffocate at this rate, she spoke with a face that held not even a trace of emotion.