Chapter 54
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Chapter 54
“Ah…”
How did it co to this? I looked at him and my hand alternately.
My body, frozen by fear, couldn’t move at all.
“So? Did you co up with the bright idea of pretending that I hurt your hand?”
I tried to pull away from his grip, but there was no chance at all.
He smiled and pulled the bandage.
“N-No…”
Without any ti to stop him, he roughly pulled my hand and violently removed the bandages that covered it.
I could only surrender my hand to him and watch helplessly as he did this.
There was nothing I could do.
Then, he stared at with a ferocious glare, holding the tattered bandages in one hand.
“At least when you kneeled in front of and prayed for my recovery, I thought you were sincere.”
“……”
“I didn’t even know that you’re capable of an abominable farce.”
“……”
“I sympathized with you.”
He was enraged.
“Even for a short while.”
“Amoide…”
I stared blankly at him as I murmured, but he continued with his sharp tone.
“You have a reason for this, of course. You need money, so you needed to attach yourself to a sick husband and act so deplorably.”
“……”
“I don’t know the details, but it seems like you’re doing this after signing so kind of agreent with my mother.”
“No… No, it’s not like that—”
I shook my head in a hurry. How did he know? I never said anything about it.
“There were tis when even I wanted to pretend to be fooled, even though I knew the truth.”
He continued speaking with a subdued tone.
“Because you have a huge debt.”
His deep blue eyes pierced into her as he gripped her hand tighter.
“I’m sorry, I… I didn’t an to do anything else, I’m… I’m just worried about your health…”
Tears burst out of my eyes and flowed down my cheeks.
“I, I really… It’s only that I… I only thought of your recovery…”
Wracked with sobs, I couldn’t speak well, but he seed to understand enough.
And there’s no way he’d believe .
His expression hardened frighteningly.
“Stop fooling .”
His biting tone as he gritted his teeth sent goosebumps all over my body.
At that mont, the strength that was holding together was released at once.
“…Amoide.”
I called his na helplessly, but he slowly stood up.
“Duchess of Efret.”
“……”
“It’s the na you want to protect so much.”
His voice was as cold as a lake in the middle of winter.
“It’s a farce that you started. You should have done your best to fool until the bitter end.”
Amoide got up and sat back down on the bed.
“Sleep here.”
“……”
“Pretend, just as you usually do. Spend the night with . It’ll be easier to deceive everyone this ti.”
His eyes passed over my face, my neck, and even lower. His eyes settled on my chest.
…Where he left many dark red traces behind.
“A-Ah…”
It was only then did she realize that her robe had completely loosened and her breasts were almost out of her clothes.
The mont I regained my senses, I hurriedly reached up and covered myself.
Amoide, who was watching as I was flustered, walked away from the bed.
“Where will you…?”
I jumped up and asked him.
“……”
“You’re trying too hard.”
“……”
“When I see you going crazy about wanting your husband’s offspring, it feels like I’d die from disgust.”
I dropped my head to a bow because I wasn’t confident facing his eyes that looked so betrayed.
“Let’s talk, Amoide.”
He didn’t even look back.
The only response back to her was the sound of the door closing, echoing throughout the quiet room.
“The tea is getting cold, Milady.”
Regardless of what Rona said, I focused solely on the embroidery fra I was holding.
However, considering that I was so unfocused, I couldn’t make any progress.
I was just poking holes one after another into my own fingers.
“Ow…”
It’s already happened so many tis. When I looked down at the stinging pain, I could see red drops staining the embroidery.
It wasn’t just one place. It was almost camouflaged now because there were several drops all over the cloth.
Eventually, I sighed and set it down.
“Milady, are you feeling alright?”
Rona ca closer and applied dicine over her fingers. Then, she stared blankly as she nodded.
“It’s the seventh ti now. Please stop, Milady.”
“Okay.”
I nodded helplessly.
“Goodness, Milady’s face is dry.”
“Huh?”
“It’s like your skin is covered with sand.”
I touched my face. Just as she said, my skin seed to be drier than usual.
“You have your own skin care, Milady. Just go to the combined room, then your skin would beco soft and glossy and… What’s wrong, Milady?”
“That won’t amount to anything.”
I waved my hand at Rona, who continued to stare at my face.
‘Not just that, but nothing really would happen.’
In fact, after the room sharing day, the words he said to kept haunting .
While I was eating, while I was walking, while I was embroidering.
[ At least when you kneeled in front of and prayed for my recovery, I thought you were sincere. ]
It wasn’t that I still wanted to have a child with him.
I felt sorry for him… but apart from that, I was still bound by a contract with Camilla.
So even after the first night we had together passed, I was still quite intimidated by him.
Just in case, I hoped anyway. But he continued to hate .
I recalled the progress we had together over the last few weeks one by one.
Despite my shaless requests to take a stroll together, he responded positively and was relatively kind.
But then I…
“Ah, I know now,” Rona said.
“What is it this ti.”
I could feel it in my gut, Rona was going to say sothing ominous.
“It bothered Milady a lot, right?”
“What did?”
“All the rumors that Milord is weak during the night were false, right? See, I knew it.”
Rona had a proud smile on her lips, but I reached out and shook her shoulders.
“Where did you hear that?”
“What do you an… I heard Lisa talking to all the maids about it…?”
“Lisa?”
Lisa was one of the maids under Camilla.
“Then… Don’t tell …?”
“What is it, Milady?”
When Camilla was saying that those words could cause misunderstandings.
How could it be guaranteed that Camilla’s hysterical voice wouldn’t be heard from beyond the door?
“It can’t be…”
I mumbled, pulling my hair out.
“Won’t you go out on a stroll with Milord today?”
“No, we won’t.”
Truthfully, I couldn’t, but it’s not sothing I can say. I barely raised my reputation in this mansion, so that would only destroy it all at once.
“Then if you don’t mind, I’ll clean Milady’s walk-in closet a little. As the weather gets warr, the dust that gets in is no joke.”
“Alright.”
I nodded, and Rona brought out her cleaning tools and placed them in front of the door.
I could hear the sounds of her scuffling as she cleaned. Then, after a while, she ca back out.
“Hmm…”
Rona was carrying a bunch of dresses in her arms.
“What’s wrong?” I asked carefully as I stared at the clothes.
Rona lifted the dresses, looking at them one by one, then with a serious face, she spoke.
“Why don’t you go out shopping for new clothes, Milady?”
“New clothes? So suddenly?”
I tilted my head to the side as though I couldn’t understand what she’s saying.
“All of these are too old-fashioned, don’t you agree?”
I scanned the dresses that she brought out.
“Clothes reflect one’s dignity. For a Duchess like Milady, these are… too simple.”
All of those dresses were given to when I first entered the mansion.
Camilla, who looked at the clothes I was wearing, then kicked up a fuss and told to take them off. She told it would be better to be naked than to wear such rags.
She hurriedly placed an order at the boutique and ordered dresses for to wear.
Because they were ordered in a hurry, it couldn’t be said that they were made with good quality.
Usually, when a noble orders custom clothes, it was standard practice to call a dressmaker to the mansion. But that wasn’t the case for .
So were too small and others were too large as they were made with asurents that were roughly guessed by sight.
So dresses were loose on the waist, so were too tight around the bust. So were too short and revealed my ankles, and others were so long that they dragged on the floor.
None of them fit her comfortably. The sa was true for the clothes she was wearing right now.
‘I’m still in the sa position.’
As I was slapped with the reality of the situation, I felt my heart shattering for a mont.
“This is the first ti I’ve seen this ever since I wore it around the ti I entered the household.”
I pulled the yellow cotton dress out of the pile of clothes.
“What is that?”
Rona was appalled to see it.
It was a dress full of frills and ribbons that were loosely attached to the yellow dress, its color reminding of a chick. It’s obvious that it was made in a hurry. The color combination wasn’t done well either.
“It’s not sothing a Duchess would wear. Who made this?”
Well. It’s because I’m not a real Duchess.
Even the servants who didn’t know the terms of my agreent with Camilla ignored my existence.
It was obvious why a young lady from such a poor noble family was welcod as a bride for the sick Duke. And Camilla didn’t treat well either.
But I couldn’t complain.
Because I’m supposed to endure it all anyway.
All I was allowed to do was look forward to the luxurious treatnt I was promised after bearing an heir.
“Did you finish organizing the closet?”
“Of course. There was so much dust, and so many clothes you don’t wear anymore. Also, what’s this bag? It’s really old.”
Rona was holding an old, yellowed leather bag.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Reviews
All reviews (0)