The System Gave Me A Yandere Husband

Chapter 46: Her Tantrums, His Devotion

The Aldric townhouse became a fortress again.

For Eveyr, it was paradise but for Esme, it was her grave.

By the afternoon, Esme’s vitality had dropped to 25%. Desperate to trigger Eveyr, Esme tried to pick fights with him. She complained about the temperature of the rooms, intentionally gave the servants contradictory orders, and refused to eat her meals.

But nothing worked. Eveyr tolerated all her tantrums with a smile. She was frustrated. Later, while sitting in the main hall, she talked to a maid who told her how much Eveyr was possessive about his art collection. Instantly, an idea clicked.

Pushing her luck, she picked up an antique Ming vase from nearby and threw it on the floor. The vase shattered into a hundred pieces.

Eveyr, who had been discussing security patrols with Commander George nearby, immediately rushed into the hallway. Esme smiled and waited for him to snap at her.

But Eveyr didn’t even look at the shattered pieces of the vase. He stepped right over the pieces and held her hands.

"Are you hurt?" Eveyr asked as his eyes examined her hands for any injury.

"I broke it on purpose, Eveyr," Esme replied, pulling her hands away. "I found it ugly."

Eveyr smiled and turned to George.

"George. Go to the capital and buy the Duchess ten more vases. Make sure they are fragile. If breaking them soothes her nerves, she can shatter as many as she likes."

What the fuck?? Why is he so accommodating?

An hour later, Esme sat by the fireplace, her pain increasing with each minute as her vitality dropped to 23%.

Eveyr sat in a chair across from her, his sword resting on his knees. That sword was a sacred artifact of the Vanguard. He was polishing the steel with a soft cloth.

Esme stared at the sword, her mind racing again.

"The fire is dying," Esme said suddenly. "Stoke it."

Eveyr looked at the fireplace. The iron fire poker was missing, having been taken by a maid to be cleaned.

"I will call a servant to bring the iron, Esme."

"I am cold right now, Eveyr," Esme said and pointed towards his lap. "Use that."

Eveyr looked at his sword, a weapon that had claimed the lives of thousands of his enemies, and then looked back at Esme.

Esme held her breath, waiting for him to stand up and reprimand her for daring to ask him to use a sacred artifact to push burning logs.

But Eveyr just stood up gripping the hilt of his sword. He leaned forward and used his sword to push the burning logs around, ruining his weapon.

"Is that warmer for you?" he asked gently.

Esme stared at the ruined sword, her heart sinking. He wasn’t insulted; he was perfectly happy to ruin his legacy if it kept her warm.

By evening, Esme was frantic. Her vitality was at 20%. She was struggling to breathe without wincing now. At dinner, suddenly, capital’s cathedral bells began to ring out, marking the hour. Esme dropped her fork on her plate.

"I cannot stand that noise," Esme said, rubbing her temples dramatically. "It gives me a terrible headache. Make it stop. I want absolute silence when I eat."

It was an impossible demand. The cathedral was miles away, heavily guarded by Imperial paladins.

"Of course," Eveyr said as he put his napkin on the table.

He stood up, walked out to the dining room balcony, and opened the doors. The freezing night air rushed in. Eveyr looked towards the cathedral, and raised his right hand.

A wave of pure shadow magic erupted from his palm, shooting across the sky like a comet. Seconds later, a distant sound of something cracking echoed across the city. The sound of the bells suddenly turned into screeching and collapsing stone, and then silence.

He had crushed the top of the Imperial clock tower from miles away just to silence a bell. Then he calmly walked back inside, shut the doors, and sat back down at the table, pouring her a glass of wine.

"Happy now," Eveyr smiled as he offered her the glass.

Esme stared at the wine glass, her hands trembling under the table, realizing petty tantrums and absurd demands were not going to work. She suddenly stood up from the table.

"I am suffocating in this house," she whined. "I want to see the Northern pine forests. If you keep me locked in here, I am going to lose my mind."

She stared at him, her heart pounding.She expected him to stand up, trap her against the wall, and angrily threaten to chain her to the bed if she ever spoke of leaving the house again.

But once again, Eveyr didn’t respond as she expected.

"You are suffocating?" he asked softly as he stood up as well.

Esme nodded. He walked past her, grabbed his coat, and left the estate. Esme stood alone in the dining room, confused and anxious. She waited for hours, praying for the system interface to flash with new notification. But the screen remained blank.

Eveyr didn’t return that night. It wasn’t until the dawn that Esme was abruptly awakened in her bed. A tremor violently shook the townhouse. The glass in the windows rattled furiously. Esme gasped, sitting up and clutching the sheets tightly as the bedroom door suddenly opened.

Eveyr stood at the door, looking exhausted. He was covered in mud, and leaves. He was breathing heavily because of magical exertion.

He walked to the bed, pulling a fur cloak from the chair, and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Come with me," Eveyr said.

Before she could ask him anything, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the bedroom, walking towards the first floor ballroom.

As they stepped inside the ballroom, Esme’s stomach dropped. The pristine floors of the ballroom had been destroyed. In their place, Eveyr had magically transplanted an entire acre of the Northern pine forest.

Massive, ancient pine trees with thick trunks stretched upward, their upper branches piercing the painted ceilings of the room. Real, damp soil and thick green moss covered the ruined floor.

He hadn’t taken her outside. He had ripped the outside world from the earth, dragged it across his house, and caged it inside the house for her.

"The outside is full of threats, Esme," Eveyr whispered as he gently put her down, keeping his one arm around her waist. "I cannot let you wander where I cannot protect you. But you wanted the pines... so I brought them for you."

Esme could only stare at the impossible sight in front of her in stunned silence. To Eveyr, it was a gesture of his love but to Esme it was a beautiful cage with no escape.

Esme gripped the cloak tightly around her chest as sharp pain shot through again her lungs. She was running out of time. The system wanted a monster. But her every attempt to awaken that monster only made Eveyr love her more.