The General's Wife Wants to Leave

Chapter 287: Considerate man

"Couldn’t agree more with you, Val. How funny it is to think we sit here together a week after we arrived here. I thought Joanna disliked us being here. Thus, she ignored us." The sound of low laughter echoed across the gazebo in Alenna Garden."To be honest, the timing for you and Valerie to be here isn’t right, Aunt Camille. Had you come to visit me here earlier when I was in my better condition, we would have done so many things together instead of making you think I ignored you while in truth I was recuperating." Joanna’s voice was heard afterwards.

A kind smile graced her face as she opened the lid of a pot that was filled with water on top of the burning charcoal clay stove. Finding the water was not boiled yet, Joanna put the lid back to cover the pot before looking at the two ladies across from her with a smile.

"We once again apologize that we came so suddenly without prior notice, Ann. When Brother Jason told us that he saw you here, in Barasca, we first didn’t believe it. Your marriage with General von Rodega was not a public secret and was widely spread. We also heard that you left for Archess. But Brother Jason assured us that he surely saw you. Thus, we came in a hurry just to see you. I am sorry if our presence becomes a nuisance," Valerie said in a more gentle tone compared to her mother, informing Joanna that they knew about her presence in Barasca from Jason Preston, her older brother, not by spying on the de Lara.

"There is no such nuisance, Val," Joanna responded casually, hiding the real emotions behind her smile. "Aunt Camille said you insisted on coming here because you wanted to see me. How can your presence become a nuisance while you have a concern for me in your mind?" Joanna smiled. "But I wondered why you and Aunt Camille never came here for so long? I sent you a letter, but there was no reply I received. What happened?" Joanna asked as her gaze moved from Valerie to Aunt Camille before settling on Valerie.

"Why did you never come to visit us back then but now?" She again questioned another thing that she was curious about.

"We had to move to Dashley, dear." The answer came not from Valerie but from Aunt Camille, pulling Joanna’s gaze to the older lady. "We couldn’t explain more because it was a family matter. But you should know that Dashley and Barasca are very distant, and my health wasn’t at its best for a long journey back then. And thus, the letter you sent didn’t reach us." Joanna saw Aunt Camille spoke with a gloomy expression that marred her face, which bore no similarity to her mother, as they were not siblings.

"We just managed to move back to Ashton after Valerie’s father passed away," Aunt Camille added in a low voice before she lowered her head and dabbed the corner of her eyes with her handkerchief.

Joanna watched her mother’s stepsister’s action in silence. She could not grasp if Aunt Camille told her the truth or not. What she knew was that Aunt Camille, who was taken as the second wife of Baron Preston of Ashton, did not get along with the children of Baron Preston from his first marriage.

They have a strong resentment toward Aunt Camille and her children and would quarrel every time they met. She remembered when Valerie ever mentioned to her back in their childhood time that she did not want to go back to her father’s house because it was noisy, and she’d rather choose to live in Duke de Lara’s house that was so peaceful instead.

Perhaps, if what was told by Aunt Camille was the truth, Baron Preston sent Aunt Camille and her children far to Dashley when the conflict in the family escalated. And Baron Preston might have inherited one of his properties in Ashton to Aunt Camille. Thus, she could make her way more efficiently to Barasca because of the closer distance.

"That’s why we can only see you now after so many things happened," Aunt Camille continued speaking in a sorrowful, trembling voice before lifting her head to show her slightly moist eyes. Her hand, where the handkerchief was held, was lowered on her lap. "And we do wish we had heard about you in Barasca earlier. But who had ever thought you would come back here after the marriage decree bestowed upon you, Ann? It was just hard to believe, but gratefully it happened so we could see you now."

It was a common reaction that came from people who found her return to Barasca odd, as it was rare for a married lady to go back to her maiden home after marriage, particularly a distant one. Negative presumptions about one’s marriage usually followed suit.

Yet she did care less about the sarcastic remark that was implicitly aimed at her by Aunt Camille. She was more concerned about what she thought was more important to care for at the moment.

A small smile was expressed on Joanna’s face, a single expression that she would not show if the ones narrating to her about their sad story were not the people in front of her.

A consolation should not be responded to with a single little smile. A hug or holding their hands might be more right to offer to console a sorrowful heart. But she was sorry. For now, she felt better responding to them with what she felt to be right. Too much faking one’s expression was not good either.

Because she still believed one thing. Aunt Camille was still persistent in telling her that they were here because of her, not some other hidden agenda.

"I am also glad to see you and Valerie again, Aunt Camille. Thank you for being concerned about me," Joanna remarked. "I had also never thought that my husband was kind enough to offer an idea to spend some time here in Barasca when he was on the battlefield." Joanna was calm in her effort to diminish the prejudice, trying her best to look natural when uttering a lie while lifting the lid of the pot to recheck whether the water had boiled.

"He is a considerate man," Valerie commented in a low voice that sounded like a murmur.

"Indeed," Joanna, who heard Valerie’s words, replied with a smile as she looked at Valerie after finding the water still needed a little more time to boil.

"But you must not be careless, Ann," came an interjection from the lady sitting next to Valerie. "You knew the rumor about that general is not good, didn’t you?" Joanna saw Aunt Camille squint her eyes. She looked serious, warning her to be cautious. "Don’t trust him fully yet, particularly when you just married him. And you must remember that he is an Archessan and... a low..."

"Mother!" Valerie snapped, turning her head at her mother with her eyes narrowed.

"I only reminded Joanna. Who else would care for her if not us, her family?" Aunt Camille responded nonchalantly. "And you see, Joanna has no problem with that because she knows that it is a matter of fact."