KMKS 36

chapter 36

Duke Winston swallowed a puzzled silence as he glanced around at his son-in-law. Sarah had never gone out during her entire marriage—by choice or by circumstance.

“Lin wouldn’t have come all this way alone.”

“…I came with my husband.”

At Sarah’s metallic voice, Leo’s eyebrows flickered.

“Your husband, huh—”

A sly smile soon spread across his lips.

Now that Sarah knew whose voice it was, she couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down her spine. She hadn’t expected to run into him here.

Even above her, the banner swayed in the wind.

“Where’s that so-called husband of yours? Leaving your wife here alone, is that smart?”

Sarah instinctively took a step back. There was an odd sense of possessiveness in his tone.

Yet, the way she stepped back looked like she was trying to flee from him, and Leo’s face twisted in displeasure.

“See, Sarah. Still don’t know?”

As her name came from her husband’s mouth, goosebumps prickled her arms. She quickly shook her head.

“Look closely. Figure out who I am.”

It was a voice she had tried to forget.

If he hadn’t lifted her chin, she might have avoided seeing him at all. But now, his image reflected in her eyes.

Pitch-black hair, burning red eyes, a firm jawline.

So this was your true form.

In that brief instant, Sarah envisioned the real Leo Winston, Duke, inhabiting Aiden’s body.

Her expression composed itself, but she couldn’t hide a trace of expectation as she replied.

“…You’re Duke Winston.”

No, she knew. That her husband was Aiden Spencer. She knew it better than anyone.

From the moment they first met, her body had stiffened, and she had never misunderstood the contempt in his gaze throughout their marriage.

But Sarah could never voice the fact that he was her husband.

Even now, the reflection of disdain in her red-eyed gaze was identical to the one she remembered from her husband.

‘Could my husband’s memory have returned?’

The thought of reliving the nightmare of their two-year marriage made her grit her teeth.

Suddenly, he started laughing.

“Ha ha ha!”

Was it because he alone knew that the two men’s bodies had switched? Or was it amusing that Sarah couldn’t recognize him?

Grinning with another’s face, he looked demonic.

“This is fun. Very fun indeed.”

He stepped closer, closing the distance between them. Soon, Sarah’s back pressed against the building’s wall. As the space between them shrank, he spoke chilling words.

“Still have no interest in trying something different with me?”

“Different?” …Still rude and insolent.

On that stormy day when thunder and rain raged, her husband should have been punished, according to Sarah’s wishes.

Even though lives had completely changed, he seemed unchanged from before the accident.

Instead, he seemed to enjoy an even more reckless lifestyle, backed by the Duke’s status that had suddenly fallen into his lap.

Even the press noticed and published articles about his changed behavior.

Sarah felt more miserable.

She had never shared a sincere heart with this man, yet she had been unable to escape—how foolish.

And now, faced with a dead-end, there was nowhere left to retreat.

“Answer me, Sarah.”

The old Sarah would have fretted about answering late under her husband’s scrutiny.

“You are rude, Duke Winston.”
“What?”
“No matter how noble a lady, you shouldn’t call names so freely.”

Sarah no longer wanted to live like that, trapped under a shadow of a man she had never shared her heart with.

“…Hah.”

Leo Winston brushed back his hair and smacked his lips. It must have been an unexpected reply, yet he seemed intrigued.

“The lady countess has more complicated sides than I expected. Well, fine. Easy things aren’t fun anyway.”

He extended his hand, as if to shake hers.

“Apologize.”

The curiosity lasted only a moment. When she didn’t readily take his hand, Leo forcibly pulled hers into his grip.

Startled, Sarah inhaled sharply, her collarbone exposed.

Far from feeling excited or pleased, her terrified expression seemed to sour Leo’s mood.

“That face again.”

Even if Sarah didn’t realize he was her husband, he was a man who upheld his pride with every woman.

“If you were my wife, would you have held my hand? Now I’m not so sure.”
“Stop it.”
“I could be your husband, you know. What if, just what if.”

She didn’t want to entertain that possibility. Even if he were her husband, she wouldn’t have been any different.

“…That won’t happen.”
“Do you not understand the word ‘if’?”

Sarah’s refusal to even entertain the possibility made Leo’s eyebrows rise sharply.

Indeed, she was someone who could provoke him.

Her hardened tone and the ongoing strain, combined with the pain pressing at her chest, repeatedly contorted her face.

“I’ll give you another chance. Answer me.”

Just then, as Leo leaned closer to her,

“What do you think you’re doing? Take your hands off my wife immediately!”

This time, Duke Winston’s face twisted. Aiden, appearing now, was an intruder in his eyes.

Aiden’s blond hair was slightly tousled from running, his chest heaving with heavy breaths.

With a stern glare, he stared down Duke Winston as if to warn him.

“Hah… my wife, huh.”

Tension crackled between the two men.

Sarah, anxious as ever, worried that the Duke’s nonsense might restore Aiden’s memory.

Duke Winston appraised him from head to toe—himself from the past.

“Fine, I’ll let it go for today. Take care of yourself. This will be quite a long game.”

With a relieved voice, Duke Winston indicated the banner above and left. It seemed a warning that he had taken other measures to seize ownership of the Riera building.

Only after he left did Sarah collapse, her legs giving way.

“Could I… hold your hand?”
“….”

[If you were my husband, would I have held your hand?]

Leo’s words echoed. Technically, the man in front of her, in Aiden’s body, wasn’t her husband.

Yet Sarah held his hand, without doubt or fear. Even knowing he wasn’t her husband, even in this moment.

[Take care of yourself. This will be quite a long game.]

Though seemingly directed at Aiden, it was essentially a warning to Sarah.

Even though she had struggled to prepare the divorce papers to escape the Countess estate, she hadn’t delivered them herself.

He would never let go of her easily.

The husband she knew wouldn’t have allowed her to end the marriage with her own hands.

Love had nothing to do with it.

She tightened her grip on Aiden’s hand, however slightly.

Once Duke Winston left the vicinity of the Riera building, he kicked the carriage he had left standing.

Though his feet tingled and he had to roll them, exerting his body was the perfect way to calm his anger.

He had almost revealed his rage in front of the two of them.

[I could be your husband, you know. What if, just what if.]

What had Sarah answered to his pointed question?

“What? That’s impossible?”

It wasn’t unexpected. Who could have imagined the two men’s souls switching?

That alone would have been enough for Leo to accept, but…

[You are rude, Duke Winston.]
No matter how noble a lady, you shouldn’t call names so freely.]

When pressed for an answer, Sarah delivered her sharp retort.

Just as when she had firmly told him she had a husband after their previous encounter in the street.

Her words stung his pride, and today was no different. How dare she confront him so boldly?

‘Since when…?’

Since when had she started speaking her mind?

There were more days when he didn’t hear her voice than when he did.

He often grew impatient when she didn’t respond immediately to his questions.

Seeing her lips pressed tightly together made him furious, as if she were deliberately ignoring him.

Would it be funny if she smiled?

Leo stomped the ground in frustration.

Wait.

He remembered seeing her faintly smile once, from afar, during an unexpected visit to the Countess estate.

Surely, she had been wooden as a puppet throughout their marriage.

“Damn it.”

Even recalling it, Leo felt like a rag. The Sarah who smiled had ‘Leo’ in his body standing right before her.

He kicked the carriage wheel roughly again.

“What right do you have!”

[What do you think you’re doing? Take your hands off my wife immediately!]

Hearing that from Aiden’s body drove him nearly insane. He restrained himself, but barely.

Who should be speaking!

He had clearly seen them together on the balcony during a social gathering at Countess Cordelia’s estate.

Surely it wasn’t because he was her husband that she had misbehaved.

It couldn’t be. After two years, she remained unconquered.

Leo inhaled sharply, trying to regain his composure.

‘Hasn’t her memory returned yet?’

If she had remembered, the mighty ‘Leo’ wouldn’t be bound to Sarah.

Orphaned and abandoned by her adoptive parents, she had little status or power—merely a Countess.

Still under his control.

‘No need to get this worked up.’

That the man in his body didn’t know the truth was actually beneficial.

Before revealing that the real Aiden was her husband, he had to act.

He needed to transfer all Duke Winston’s property elsewhere before the real Leo recovered his memory.

Once the man realized he was the Duke, he wouldn’t easily give up his status.

‘I’ll leave him penniless.’

He could rot in Aiden’s body for life, and even if he somehow took the body, he wouldn’t be able to resume his old life.

Leo’s lips curled into a wicked smile.

He would need to ensure that the butler, Jace, was firmly on his side to prevent complications.

‘Not that I like it.’

Better to know the Duke’s safe keys and bank passwords.

“What are you doing? Not getting in yet?”

Leo forced a smile. It was Jace urging him on.

“So you had some business to attend to, huh?”
“You waited for me?”
“Of course. How could I leave a friend alone?”
“Finally, your memory has returned!”

Jace exaggeratedly gestured with excitement. Leo reluctantly climbed into the carriage.

“It’s not that far along yet, so don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“Ah, I was expecting it.”

With separate thoughts on their minds, the carriage headed toward the Duke’s estate.