The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 281: "What is this?"

Still in a numb mind, Canillas watched Joanna slide in under the blanket, lay down on one side of her body, showing her head and her delicate neck only as she pulled up the blanket until her shoulders. And he fixed his eyes on Joanna’s smiling face in silence.

He could not describe how delighted he was at the moment, knowing Joanna could be relaxed when he was around her. That way she would not need to exert too much energy to not let her guard down like she did when she was around him so far.

And regardless of her now being caught off guard or not, he chose to think that the door in her locked heart was being opened slightly wider for him to enter.

Though he still needed to knock on her heart multiple times so that she would completely unlock her heart to him and allow him to settle in, the current progress was fairly significant, and it gave relief to Canillas’ heart and mind.

He realized that she needed more time to unlock the shackle that prevented her from accepting him wholeheartedly. Even now he knew that the possibility of making her allow him to sleep by her side was not as big as his expectation.

Yet he was fine with that as long as she would smile as freely as she was at the moment.

Canillas reached out his hands to fix Joanna’s blanket, making it cover her body more tidily. He then gently stroked Joanna’s head with a small smile while staring down at her pale complexion.

"Sleep well," Canillas said in a low voice with his hand still making a movement to caress Joanna’s head. "Good night," he added, deliberately pulling his hand away from her soft hair.

Taking a few moments to fixate his gaze on Joanna’s face, whose hazel eyes were also on his, Canillas then broke his gaze away before turning his body on his seat, ready to go back to that empty room so that she could proceed to sleep.

"You don’t want to sleep here?"

With his back facing Joanna and his bottom slightly lifted from the surface of the bed, as he was about to stand, he heard those words.

"Did you change your mind? Are you going back to that empty room?"

In a swift movement, without wasting any second even to look at her for certain confirmation, believing that his sense of hearing still worked properly, Canillas put his bottom back to land on the bed. Subsequently, he took his feet out of his slippers, got on Joanna’s bed, and took the vacant space next to her.

His movement, which was hurried and enthusiastic as if afraid Joanna would change her mind if he slowed down for a second, caused the bed to shake.

Canillas was in disbelief that Joanna would allow him to sleep with her when they were not outside their dwelling place. So far, during their reunion, there was no opportunity for him to share a bed with her when they were not going anywhere but dwelled in her maiden home. And he respected her for the principle that she held as a noble lady, aside from the fact that it was mainly aimed to maintain the line that she boldly drew between them.

He had also thought that Joanna did not heed his plea, based on how she set herself to lie on the bed and said that she did not want to move anywhere else but her own room. Another thought in his mind was that although she allowed him to see and be mesmerized by her lively expression, the barrier was still there, not letting her guard completely down.

But he seemed to think too much. He was too worried. His wife had a different consideration that had not come across his mind.

Perhaps the heart-to-heart conversation that transpired between them the previous night was the turning point for the miracle to happen. And his sincere wish had her heart opened wider than he had anticipated.

With indescribable joy flooding his heart, which was exposed through an ear-to-ear smile on his bright face, Canillas fixed his body under the same blanket that Joanna used to cover her body, and without any hesitation, he slid his hand to embrace her.

Yet before he could cuddle with Joanna, who did not resist his intimate gesture, his forehead creased when his hand touched something on Joanna’s stomach. His facial expression swiftly shifted.

"What is this?" Canillas inquired as he pulled down the blanket that covered their body to get to see the hard, warm object that met his hand when he was about to pull Joanna’s body to get closer to his.

Joanna, who had giggled over seeing Canillas’ zestful reaction, brought her gaze to the object that was touched by Canillas.

With a smile, she replied, "To ease my stomach, reducing the pain."

Diverting her eyes to look sideways at Canillas, who propped his body with his elbow to get to see the object that pressed against her stomach, Joanna found the crease on Canillas’ forehead deepened.

He seemed not to see it before, as her blanket covered it up. Joanna thought to herself in response to Canillas’ bewildered expression.

"Is it so painful, Joanna?" The bewildered Canillas asked, moving his gaze from the warm bottle in a white cloth towards Joanna’s face. His voice and his eyes carried a sense of worry.

Joanna nodded her head. For her, menstrual cramps were torturous, especially when her period just began. "But it will ease soon naturally. Don’t worry too much," Joanna responded further, sugarcoating the reality that she did not want to hide, as she was aware that her current look spoke her condition louder. It was useless to hide it from the sharp-witted man like her husband.

Joanna did not let her smile falter, particularly when Canillas’ demeanor was tense. The least she wanted was for Canillas to be more worried and flee to call a doctor to check on her health.