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Chapter 20
“…Yes. What should we do?”
Rivet asked me cautiously. But I couldn’t make a decision right away.
Why had Ains suddenly come to see me?
I set down the fork I had been using to pick at my salad and looked at Rivet.
It wasn’t like staring at her would magically give me an answer, but in my flustered state, I found myself looking at her while thinking about how to respond.
“For now, escort him to the drawing room. I’ll be there shortly.”
Rivet called another maid and instructed her to politely guide Ains to the drawing room. Watching her, I fell into thought for a moment.
Even before our divorce, Ains had never once sought me out first. In fact, aside from asking for the divorce, he had never brought up any matter with me at all.
And yet now, after the divorce, he was showing an almost unsettling level of interest in me.
Of course, I knew very well that this attention didn’t come from any affection. It seemed more like everything about me after the divorce displeased him.
I could understand, to some extent. As the former Duchess of Graham, the fact that I—who had been married to him—was now entangled with Kadiya must have irritated him.
Most likely, his reason for visiting this time was related to that.
Even if I insisted I could handle things on my own, he clearly didn’t trust that. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to have a proper conversation with him at least once.
Before heading to the drawing room, I briefly checked my appearance. It was early morning, and I wasn’t exactly dressed to receive guests.
Quick-witted as ever, Rivet promptly tidied me up and smoothed out the hem of my dress as a finishing touch.
“That should do it.”
“Thank you.”
After thanking Rivet, who was always taking care of me, I made my way to the drawing room where Ains was waiting.
When I arrived, I saw familiar faces—Jacob and Jackson, Ains’s aides.
Upon noticing me, both men bowed deeply.
“Greetings, Lady Marves.”
“It’s been a while, Lady Marves.”
I gave a brief nod in return and walked past them to the door.
“Announce me.”
“Yes, my lady.”
The servant knocked lightly twice before speaking.
“Lady Marves has arrived.”
The door opened soundlessly.
Before stepping inside, I took a deep breath. Only after calming my slightly trembling heart did I enter the drawing room.
Ains was seated on a sofa, enjoying tea and refreshments.
As I approached, he lifted his head to look at me, still holding his teacup with his legs crossed. Though he was the guest and I the host, he carried himself as if he were the master of the place.
For an ordinary person, such behavior would have seemed rude—but when the one doing it was Ains Graham, the empire’s only duke, things were different.
He was in a position where even such rudeness seemed natural. And to him, there was no obligation whatsoever to show courtesy to a minor noble like me.
“You’re here. Sit.”
“I believe that’s my line.”
I shot back at him once before taking my seat.
Ains placed his teacup back on its saucer and waited until I sat across from him. Only then did he raise his head and look at me. His gaze seemed the same as usual, yet somehow, today felt different.
“Duke Graham, may I ask what brings you to my estate so early in the morning?”
I asked first, as he remained silent.
Only then did Ains move, pulling something out from his coat. He placed it on the table with a firm thud.
The shape of the bottle looked familiar.
“That is…”
“You know very well what this is.”
I couldn’t deny it.
The item he had taken out was a vial containing a suppressant.
So it hadn’t been found at the restaurant—Ains must have taken it.
As I reached out to grab it, Ains snatched it first.
I stared at him, dumbfounded, as he looked inside the bottle. Inside were small pill-like beads. More than anyone, I knew exactly what they were.
“Trinz Disease.”
The name of the illness that had tormented me so cruelly left Ains’s lips.
He shifted his gaze from the bottle to me.
“They say it’s a disease where the mana within the body gradually hardens. I heard you were suffering from it. Is that true?”
He mentioned the main symptoms—things he shouldn’t have known unless he had already investigated beforehand.
“So you’ve already looked into it.”
I found it strange that someone who had never cared about me before was now bringing up my illness after our divorce, but I nodded anyway.
“Yes. It’s true.”
At my answer, Ains frowned.
“Why did you hide the fact that you were sick from me?”
There was a faint anger in his voice.
Why did I hide it?
Yes, it was true that I hadn’t told him. But rather than hiding it, it would be more accurate to say I simply never mentioned it.
Because he had never been interested in me in the first place.
No matter what I did, how I felt, or whether I was in pain—over the past few years, he had never given me even a shred of attention.
Six months ago, when I had fallen down the stairs and been severely injured due to the early symptoms of Trinz Disease—if he had just come once and asked if I was alright, I might not have kept it from him.
But what meaning was there in telling someone who hadn’t even spared me a glance when I was in ruins? It would only hurt me more.
More than the physical pain, his indifference had wounded me far deeper.
…And now, someone who knew nothing and had never cared was asking why I had hidden it.
Strangely, hearing his question only made me calmer.
“Would it have made any difference if I had told you? To you, I was a stranger anyway. Wouldn’t it be better for you to continue as you always have—keeping your distance from me?”
“Cecilia.”
Ains quietly called my name. I paused, waiting for him to continue.
“I admit I wasn’t interested in you. But our relationship wasn’t exactly affectionate to begin with, was it? Still, this is different. If you had told me about your illness…”
“If I had? Would you have gotten medicine for me?”
“I would have.”
At his answer, I let out a small laugh—then quickly wiped it from my face.
“No, you wouldn’t have.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because until the divorce, you never showed any concern even when I was injured. When I fell down the stairs and was left in a wreck, you remained completely indifferent.”
“That’s…”
Unable to refute it, Ains opened his mouth, then closed it again.
To me, his silence felt unbearably cruel. It was like having the wound from that day reopened.
It would have been better if he had at least denied it.
Keeping my composure, I continued.
“If you had known I had Trinz Disease, would you really have gotten medicine for me?”
No matter how many times I thought about it, the answer was the same.
Then why now—after the divorce—was he acting like this?
I didn’t need long to figure it out.
He simply didn’t want to be seen as a bad person.
For ten years, he had always been cold to me. But now that we were completely strangers, he suddenly had a reputation to maintain—even toward me.
“And you don’t need to worry about the illness anymore. It’s already been treated.”
“Treated?”
Ains’s brow twitched.
“Does someone who’s fully cured cough up blood?”
His tone turned mocking—likely referring to what had happened at the ducal estate yesterday.
Well, I had collapsed coughing up blood right in front of him. Even someone as indifferent as him must have been startled.
I gave a bitter smile and nodded.
“That’s just a side effect. It’ll disappear with time.”
I had already taken the cure for Trinz Disease, so there was no longer any fear of my mana hardening. Instead, what remained were occasional aftereffects—bursts of unstable mana that clashed with my body.
But for some reason, Ains misunderstood.
“It’ll disappear with time? Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think I’d believe that?”
“And if you don’t?”
I found it absurd that he wouldn’t believe it was merely a side effect. Explaining my illness to him in detail, making him understand the symptoms—what was the point? We were already divorced. Why should I have to explain my condition?
Yet Ains, as if angered, continued.
“Why are you going this far just to hide the fact that you’re sick? You’re still unwell.”
