Night of the Abandoned Duchess

She glanced at him today, wondering if he had come with a signed document.

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Kyle always had a face that was prosperous.
His handsome face, without frills, seemed to be soft and somehow calm.
However, when he smiled with a twitch of his eyes, he seemed genuinely sympathetic.

She really liked the moment when the eyes that were as fresh as the green leaves turned to her.

Meanwhile, he watched Rosalind out of the window until her class was over.
After a while, when the class was over, the children nonchalantly greeted him and left.
He strode across the room towards Rosalind.

“The documents…”

Before Rosaline could even finish her words, he cut her off and spoke.

“No matter how much I think about it, I think it will be difficult to sign the documents.”

“…Why?”

Rosalind looked right at him.

“Because I don’t want to.”

At his blatant remark, she burst into laughter as if it were ridiculous.

“I can’t give the wife everything she wants.
From playing with other men, as well as doing this kind of job.
Do you think I’ll let you live like that?”

“…Duke, do you hate me that much? You really are too much.”

“The child…”

Child.

At Kyle’s words, her eyes fluttered slightly.

“I called the doctor and asked, and she said you weren’t completely infertile.”

“…I am more likely to be infertile.”

“For a child, you need to pour seeds day and night, trying hard…”

Soon, Kyle lifted his hand and gently brushed Rosaline’s flowing hair.
Perhaps, it was because his fingertips were cool, the touch that passed by her gave her goosebumps.

As she turned her head to reject him, he looked down at her as she turned away from his hand and spoke his words in a mundane voice.

“If that doesn’t work, I think adoption might be the way to go.”

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In an instant, her brow furrowed.

“Why…? Why are you doing this?”

She didn’t understand.

Throughout her married life for over a year, she felt like chasing a shadow.
It was a miserable feeling to follow a shadow that had no substance and could not be caught because it was a trace he left behind.

As the other couples walked affectionately, holding hands, he wouldn’t even give up the hem of his robe, so all she could hold on to was his shadow.

Rosalind couldn’t understand why he suddenly held onto her.
If she asked for a divorce, wouldn’t he be the one who should have been more happy than anyone else…?

“You know what’s so weird?”

“What?”

“The easiest way is to divorce me and take another woman into your house, rather than betting on the odds of getting an adoption—to see a child in that woman!”

She raised her voice as if she was screaming.

At that moment, Olivia’s image flashed through her mind as if it was obvious.
She then remembered as he walked side by side into the inn.

She felt a choking sensation in her throat in an instant, and she struggled to catch her breath.
It was wretched and sad that she had to say such a thing with her own mouth.

“Do I really have to say this with my mouth? Another…another woman is the easiest and fastest way.
Don’t you know?”

“I don’t want that.”

It was an answer that jumped right out without a single gap.

Moments later, Kyle reached out and stroked her hair again.
The hand gradually moved downward and suddenly grabbed her shoulder tightly.
This time, his hand gripped her shoulder as if he would never allow himself to be rejected.

A groan of slight pain lingered in Rosalind’s mouth as he put his hand on her strongly.

“I can’t give you a divorce.”

“Why?”

Then, their eyes met each other.

A sudden gust of wind blew past the two of them.
Perhaps, because of the tension, her heart was pounding loudly, though the air between the two was as still as though it had stopped.

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The inability to get pregnant, the fact that her husband had another woman, and the reality of having to tell him he had another woman were all terrifying.

Nonetheless, the most tragic and saddest thing was that, despite all knowing what Kyle had been up to with Olivia, Rosalind tried to give meaning to each and every little of his actions, despite the ill-treatment she received during her marriage with him.

Though now, he came and held onto her, as if he was doing this because of his feelings for her.
Even if it was not a passionate love like her if it was just because of a handful of small hearts…

“Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

Rosalind’s eyes gazing at him were somehow desperate.

“…Because I need a woman to raise my children.
So, don’t make me tired for nothing.”

She clenched her teeth in the non-trivial tone as though nothing really happened.
Every word that was spit out between the teeth of his mouth was crushing her.

“I can’t have children, so why do you need me?”

“They said there was a high chance of infertility, but they didn’t say there was no chance at all.”

Not knowing what to say next, she stared at the man in front of her.

“Isn’t it better to ask to hold you at a time like this? If you want a child.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Rosalind raised her hand high and slapped him hard on the cheek.

When the sound of ‘slap!’ rang, Kyle couldn’t speak anymore, as if startled, and Rosaline, who had slapped him on the cheek, was also shaking anxiously.
The tears welled up as if they were about to fall, but she clenched her teeth and endured them.

It was her who struck him.
She slapped him on the cheek, so it must have been her palm that hurt.
However, instead, it was her heart that throbbed painfully.

It felt like her heart was being ripped apart and trampled on by someone.

“You don’t even care why I want to have children…?”

Unexpected at her words, Kyle stared intently at her.

Why did she really want to have children? She said it was because she wanted to be loved by him.

“Do you know what made me want to have a child?”

“Do I really need to know that?”

“That’s right! You don’t need to know that because you’re not interested.
What kind of food I enjoy, who I am with, what I do while you are away, what flowers I like, what I like and hate, what kind of person I am! You don’t know anything.”

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Rosalind answered in a quivering voice.

“That’s why we should get a divorce.”

Finally, she finished her words.

“Don’t come to me again.”

Her voice became cold.

 

***

 

“Damn it…”

Kyle cursed lowly.

He couldn’t even comprehend why he was so annoyed and twisted at the thought of Rosaline.

He then turned his gaze to the empty space beside his bed.

The woman he always holds every night… He held her like a habit.
The moment his wife’s face was wrinkled with pain under him, and the exhaled breath, it was so thrilling that his reason was paralyzed.
He didn’t get tired of holding her.

Kyle suddenly wiped the empty spot with his fingertips.
He wondered if the bed was this big.

It was already a big bed, but today it just felt so much bigger.

‘…No.
It’s the same for me.
At least to me, in over a year of marriage, every single moment has been the same.’

The answer she gave to him saying that love and marriage are separate things.

As soon as he heard those words, he felt numb, as if he had been hit in the back of the head.
It wasn’t that he didn’t know that Rosalind liked him, but why was she like that?

The way she was smiling brightly among the children, the way she conversed skillfully with an unfamiliar person, and the sharpness she spat out towards him made her feel like a slightly different person…

Ha. Kyle ruffled his hair as if frustrated.
He didn’t like her from the beginning, and it still made his head hurt like this.

‘Because you’re not interested.
What kind of food I enjoy, who I am with, what I do while you are away, what flowers I like, what I like and hate, what kind of person I am! You don’t know anything.’

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The more he chewed on those words, the more ridiculous it got.

Should he care? It was ridiculous to ask questions as if he should have been interested.
With that thought, Kyle suppressed his twisted heart and pressed his straight forehead with his fingertips, and had the maid outside to call the maid who had been in charge of Rosalind.

Well, it would be easy to learn that, isn’t it? It was nothing special.
He could just call and ask someone.
That was enough.

“Did you call me, Master?”

“Rosalind… So, can you tell me about the wife?”

“Yes…?”

The maid widened her eyes as if in surprise.
Since he had never once asked about Rosalind, it was understandable.

Then, the maid frowned and opened her mouth as she looked into his eyes.

“What specifically is Your Excellency talking about…?”

“What kind of person she hangs out with often, what she usually does, and what she likes.”

“She doesn’t interact well with people, though she often hangs out with Countess Dyna.
Countess Dyna was so cheerful and sweet that the two of them had tea time occasionally.”

“Anything else?”

The maid answered Kyle’s question in a calm voice.

“She likes sweet and sour fruits, and doesn’t eat undercooked meat or foods that are close to raw.
Well, and… Usually, she takes a walk in the garden, reads a book, and does housework as the Mistress.
She tends to be meticulous and directly involved in the things that the butler or maid should care about.”

Kyle still looked up as if her words were still lacking, and she continued as she spoke in a muffled voice.

“Then, what’s her favorite flower?”

“Flowers? Flowers—”

At that moment, the maid drew her words at the question.
As if she did not readily come up with an answer, she also had a rather perplexed face.

“She likes to take a walk in the garden, although the Madam doesn’t pick flowers or anything like that.
She never said that she liked any flowers… As to what kind of flower she likes, I don’t know…”

“Do you not even know that about the person whom you served?”

The maid flinched when a sharp voice that had been normal from before rang out of nowhere.