The following day at the naval base of Seidel, after having his breakfast, Canillas was escorted by Captain Marvin Zilberman for the inspection of the naval base for the fleet of Terra as scheduled.
It was an important task to be carried out, as if an invasion occurred, General Canillas von Rodega, as the commander of the Archessan and Terran troops, would be familiar with every spot in the naval base.
Walking side by side with each other, Captain Zilberman first escorted General von Rodega to inspect one warship and explain all the things that were thought to be important to be known by the General.
The inspection went on ordinarily as Canillas listened to what was explained by the Captain and gave so questions that he thought it was necessary to inquire.
Until one mont when they were in the cockpit of the ship, Canillas found amusent with the young Captain, whose age was about one year younger than him, and had beco his companion in this inspection session.
"I haven’t said this to you as I didn’t have the chance to do so yesterday when we were introduced to each other. But at this mont, before I miss the chance to say it later, I would like to congratulate you on your marriage with Lady Joanna de Lara, General von Rodega," said Captain Zilberman with a smile on his lips.
Turning to look at the man who congratulated him on his marriage, Canillas nodded his head and simply said, "Thank you, Captain Zilberman."
"Please take care of her well," the Captain added. "She will sotis be so spoiled and stubborn, but she is indeed a kind and lovely lady." The smile still plastered across his face.
On the other hand, Canillas did not utter a single word in response, just looking at the man before him with an indifferent facial expression.
At such a response, Captain Zilberman smiled and calmly stated, "Lady Joanna is a good friend of mine. A very good one, if I may add. Knowing that I had the chance to et her husband here in Seidel, I just simply wanted to congratulate her on her marriage and convey so ssages for her good sake." The smile never slipped away from his lips during his speech. He added,
"She had never been outside Barasca. To be suddenly moved far away from her ho, to settle there, it must be hard for a timid and ek young lady like her." As the words were spoken, the smile, which never left the Captain’s face, got smaller before disappearing from his face. His eyes drifted away from the General’s as he stared into space as if imagining how hard it was for the lady.
As a fleeting mont passed, the young Captain blinked his eyes as if being pulled back from his trance, returning to his senses. He fixed the smile on his lips and focused his gaze back on the man before him. He resud to speak,
"Therefore, I ask you to please take care of her as she must have found difficulty in a new place. She needs soone who can give her company to help her adjust to her new life there. And I thank you if you have done that for her, General von Rodega."
Canillas stood in stillness, staring at the young Captain in silence. No words were uttered as a reply to his concerned ssages. The ssages that brought him back to the mont when he first t his wife, and listened to the reasons she elaborated desperately in order to convince him to agree to nullify their marriage.
No one welcod her when she first set foot in his mansion. No one gave her company to adapt to a new place. She felt lonely during her life in Archess. Therefore, she wanted to end her marriage to him.
It was one of the reasons she had said that erged from his mory at the mont and it happened because of the man before him who brought them up as a form of a kind ssage to remind him, for the sake of a very good friend of his.
Canillas did not remove his gaze from the young Captain, who seed to not only know well about his wife but also to care for the woman who had been willing to hurt herself in order to end her marriage. The woman, who had not given up on convincing her husband, even fabricated a lie or might be lies, in order to make her husband say yes to her adamant request.
Even after her husband did sothing to help her, she still showed him her cold side.
But how could this young man know his wife well? Was their friendship just like how he befriended Paul, Fabio, and Sonia? But he did not know about Sonia in such detail although they had beco friends since they were a kid.
In other words, Canillas indeed did not, but Paul did.
Canillas remained silent in deep thought for a few more seconds before responding to the man, who still had a smile on his face.
Canillas nodded his head and said indifferently, "Thank you for your concern for my wife. So, can we resu what we are supposed to do here, Captain Zilberman?"
At the response he received from the important man for Archess and Terra, Captain Zilberman slightly lowered his head, sensing the bold line that was drawn by the man clearly.
Smiling, he lifted his head so he could et the General’s piercing eyes. He replied calmly, "Sure, General von Rodega. This way, please." They then stepped out of the warship, heading to the next spot of inspection.
With each step that was taken, the young General of Archess could not wait to finish whatever duty he had now as soon as possible so that he could see the woman who was a very good friend of the assertive man walking beside him.
---
With the finalization of the inspection at the naval base which indicated the completion of his military duty in Seidel, Canillas with three of his n-at-arms left Seidel imdiately in the evening and arrived at the de Lara mansion in Barasca the next evening after taking a few hours’ rest in an inn when they were halfway to Barasca.
When he was on his way to climb up the stairs to head to his wife’s room, Canillas t the senior maid, who stood near the base of the stairs with her hands clasped in front of her stomach, as if she had waited for him purposely. And she was indeed there to inform him of the important yet bewildering news.
Canillas narrowed his eyes at the information he heard from the senior maid of his wife. He asked, "My wife is not here? Where is she, Ms. Bianca?"
"Lady Joanna has gone to a place which is quite far away, Sir. She has an urgent thing to do and she asked to pass the ssage to you that she will stay there until everything that she needs to do is completed. Lady Joanna said that General von Rodega may return to Archess even without Lady Joanna," inford Bianca in a polite tone, her eyes casting down.
Canillas’ brows creased more as he thought that he might have heard sothing absurd at the mont, an absurd thing he always heard every ti he dealt with his intriguing wife.
"Where is she now?" Canillas asked in a firm voice, his face turning serious, clearly depicting that he was ready to pounce at anything that ruined his patience.
"It is far from here, Sir. Lady Joanna said..." Before the senior maid completed her words as the answer to the inquiry given to her, Canillas left her, disappearing from his spot, causing the senior maid to raise her eyes in surprise. Her eyes then followed the direction where the General headed.
Climbing up the stairs as he wanted to prove that the senior maid did not tell him a lie like what would likely be done by his wife, Canillas rushed and opened the door of the room where his wife was supposed to reside.
Empty, cold, and dark. It was the condition that he found once the door of her room was opened.
The sa condition as when he opened her room in his mansion.
She was gone again. She disappeared again.
Canillas gritted his teeth, stepping across the dark, cold, and empty room.
He walked around the room, checking spot by spot as if wanting to make sure that she was not hiding sowhere inside the room. But there was no sign of her presence after he searched for her in the bathroom, underneath the bed, the wardrobe, behind the wooden divider, behind the curtain, and every spot inside the room that had been inspected by him.
Standing in the middle of the room, the moonlight that stread through the window illuminated the line of his inflad features. His breath quickened.
Canillas took so ti to ponder. She was really determined to avoid him, to get rid of him, and to provoke him.
No one had dared do such offending, disrespectful conduct to him. No one had been brave enough to do what this woman had done to him.
She did not respect him as her husband. She trampled his dignity as her husband. She seed to declare war on him, challenging him to see how far his patience would endure.
Should he give up on her? Should he give her what she wanted? Should he agree to end this marriage as she had requested him?
There was nothing wrong with having this marriage annulled, wasn’t it? They were literally strangers. They only t once.
Why did he have to maintain a marriage with soone who did not have the sa concerns as him? So there was nothing to lose, wasn’t it?
Question after question twirled wildly inside his outraging mind until it terminated at one point. He wondered if it was best for both of them to end the marriage, just like she had reasoned with him.
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