Valerie went still. This ti, she didn’t deny it. She didn’t smile. She didn’t offer the familiar deflection.
Only silence.
And within that silence, for the first ti in a long while, Valerie felt that soone truly saw her not as the Duke’s woman, not as a figure endlessly discussed by others, but simply as herself.
Ethan let out a quiet breath, as if carefully weighing his own words."I’m sorry, Valerie," he said at last. "I didn’t an to offend you. It’s just that... from the way you speak, from the way you fall silent, it seems you truly aren’t happy."
Valerie lowered her gaze. Her fingers stopped turning the handle of the cup."I know," she murmured. "I just... don’t know what to say. These feelings are too complicated to be explained with simple words."
Ethan looked at her, his eyes growing more serious."Before I knew the truth," he said softly, "I thought all those rumors were ridiculous. People said you were sold to a wealthy rchant by your father I was furious when I heard it. But in reality... you’re with soone I can’t even et easily."
Valerie lifted her eyes."The Duke is part of the imperial forces," she said briefly.
Ethan nodded. "I know. And that’s exactly the point. Even eting him isn’t easy, not even for my superiors. The world he stands in is far removed from ours."
Valerie nodded again, more slowly this ti, as if that acknowledgnt made the distance she had always felt suddenly undeniable.
"You’re already pregnant," Ethan continued, his voice gentler now, "yet... there’s no happiness on your face."
Valerie gave a faint smile a fragile one."Ethan," she said, almost in a whisper, "I truly don’t know what I can say. Honestly... I’m ashad of my own life."
Ethan fell silent, giving her space.
"Being his woman isn’t easy," Valerie went on. "Especially when I am only his woman without status, without a recognized na. It’s... humiliating. Every day I have to remind myself of my position."
Ethan exhaled softly, then said, "Still, your father gained great benefits after you beca involved with the Duke."
The words fell like a weight. Valerie didn’t answer right away. She stared at the table between them, as if all those injustices had been laid out there.
"Have you ever gone ho?" Ethan asked after a mont.
Valerie lifted her face and looked at him an honest look, stripped of all pretense."I’m certain," Ethan continued, "that you haven’t gone back. And that you don’t truly know what’s happened to your own ho."
Valerie remained silent for a long while. Then, in a voice calm yet hollow, she said,"From the very beginning... I never had any rights in the place that was supposed to be called ho."
The words were not spoken in anger. Nor with tears.They were simply a statent cold, bitter, and buried for far too long.
Ethan looked at her and said nothing more. For the first ti, he understood: it wasn’t only Valerie’s happiness that had been taken from her, but also her sense of belonging of ho, of self, of having any real choice in her own life.
Ethan didn’t answer right away. He simply looked at Valerie for longer than was necessary, as if only now truly seeing her not as the girl who once laughed with him by the riverbank, nor as the duke’s woman people whispered about, but as soone worn down by the weight of her own life.
"You know," Ethan said at last, his voice low and careful, "I’ve often wondered what your life is like now. And every ti I imagined it, I thought... at least you’re safe. At least you live in luxury. I never imagined you would feel this empty."
Valerie gave a small smile that never reached her eyes."People always think that," she said. "As if wealth can replace a sense of belonging. As if luxury automatically ans happiness."
She let out a quiet breath, then continued in a voice barely above a whisper."Sotis I feel like a valuable object kept neatly inside a glass case. Admired, protected, desired... but never truly regarded as a human being with choices of her own."
Ethan clasped his hands together on the table, restraining the urge to reach for hers."Does the duke... treat you badly?" he asked cautiously.
Valerie shook her head."No. Demian isn’t cruel," she said honestly. "He protects . He makes sure I lack nothing. But that protection is also like a wall. Thick. High. I am safe but I am trapped."
She looked out the café window, watching people pass by free, ordinary, unburdened by status or unspoken agreents."I don’t even know whether this child..." Valerie touched her stomach without realizing it, "...will have a clear place in this world. Yes, the child will be a duke’s. But I am nothing."
Ethan stiffened at her words."That isn’t fair," he said quietly, but firmly. "You don’t deserve to live with feelings like that."
Valerie let out a soft laugh one that sounded more like exhaustion."Life rarely cares about what’s fair, Ethan."
She looked back at him, her eyes now slightly glassy."The most painful part isn’t being his woman," Valerie continued. "The most painful part is realizing that even if I were to leave... there isn’t a single place truly waiting for to co ho."
Ethan fell silent, his chest tightening."Your ho—" he began.
"Isn’t a ho," Valerie interrupted gently. "It’s just a building where I was raised to soday be exchanged for profit. From the mont I left with the duke, I stopped being a daughter there. I beca a tool that succeeded."
The words lingered in the air heavy and bitter.
"Valerie," Ethan said slowly, "you’re not as alone as you think."
She looked at him, confused."What do you an?"
"I can’t change your life," Ethan said honestly. "I’m not a duke. I’m not a powerful noble. But... I’m still here. Es is still here. Your mories, your childhood they’re real. You’re real. Don’t let them convince you that your existence only has value because of what you give to others."
Valerie fell silent. For a mont, her chest ward with sothing unfamiliar not happiness, not grand hope. Just... acknowledgnt. That her feelings were valid. That her wounds were seen.
Her eyes dampened slightly as she said,"Thank you, Ethan. I don’t know why your words feel so heavy... maybe because for the first ti, soone isn’t asking to be anything."
Ethan gave a faint smile."Because you don’t need to be anything other than yourself."
Reviews
All reviews (0)