WHCTA 10

Chapter: 10

“……”

“And it’s not like you’re cute. It’s not like you’re charming either. We’ve been together for so long that I’m even willing to marry you. So what’s the problem?”

The more he spoke, the more it felt as though swords were flying into my chest one after another.

More than the night Delos abandoned me and ran away, this moment hurt me far more.

So that’s how he’s always seen me.

His tone wasn’t that of an equal lover. It was the way someone spoke to a pet they owned.

Disgust welled up inside me.

“Ha…”

People said that when something was too absurd, words simply wouldn’t come out.

It turned out they were right.

As I stood there in silence, Delos casually intertwined our fingers and whispered in a coaxing voice,

“We were happy together.”

The instant he grabbed my hand, a wave of nausea rose inside me.

A pounding headache made it impossible to think straight. I almost found myself nodding at his words without realizing it.

Fortunately, someone suddenly pulled me away.

“Are you alright?”

Seeing my face rapidly turn pale, the duke must have decided I was in danger and gently pulled me toward him.

Just as I was about to tell him I was fine, I heard Delos mutter darkly.

“How dare you…”

Turning around, I saw Delos staring at us with utter disbelief.

“Hey, Duke. Since you only recently came to the capital, I guess you don’t know any better. When you witness your superior’s private affairs, the proper etiquette is to stay out of them.”

Even though he addressed him as “Duke,” his tone was no different from the way he ordered servants around.

Just hearing it irritated me.

But the duke completely ignored Delos’s provocation and asked me again,

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. I’m alright.”

Watching us, Delos lost his temper and reached toward me again.

The moment I saw it, I slapped his hand away with more force than I knew I had.

Smack.

“Dahlia. You just—”

I looked at the stunned fool with pity.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Did you take some kind of strange medicine? Why have you changed so much?”

Seeing him act as though he couldn’t believe I had rejected him, I couldn’t even laugh anymore.

“Why? Am I not even allowed to say something like that? I’ve lived exactly the way you wanted me to. Like a doll. Never smiling. Begging whenever you told me to.”

As the words left my mouth, all the years I’d spent with Delos flashed before my eyes.

“I only did it because I loved you. I just wanted to make you happy.”

Before I knew it, I’d become nothing more than Delos’s puppet.

People said there were countless forms of love.

But I could say with certainty—

Whatever Delos felt for me wasn’t love.

“Did you ever love me? Even once?”

If he had…

He never would have spoken to me like this.

Looking at him with completely emotionless eyes, I said,

“Who I marry is none of your business anymore. So disappear from my life.”

“Hah…”

At my final words, Delos could only let out rough, speechless breaths.

I didn’t want to look at his face any longer.

I immediately turned away.

As I did, my eyes met the duke’s.

He looked genuinely surprised, as though he had witnessed something completely unexpected.

Without thinking, I grabbed his hand and ran in the opposite direction.

How long had we walked?

Only after reaching a quiet place with no people around did I finally stop and let out the breath I’d been holding.

“Ha…”

My entire life had revolved around that man.

“Ah…”

The moment that realization sank in, tears suddenly began falling one drop at a time.

Why…

Why were the tears that hadn’t come the day I broke up with Delos only coming now?

Drip.

Drip.

As I kept wiping away the endless tears, a spotless white handkerchief appeared in front of me.

“If you need it, use this.”

When I looked up, I saw the duke holding out the handkerchief while deliberately looking away.

Right… I brought this man with me too.

The sudden flood of sorrow had made me completely forget he was standing beside me.

“…Thank you.”

I accepted the handkerchief with a voice still thick with tears.

As I absentmindedly fiddled with the cloth, embarrassment finally caught up to me, making my face burn red.

While I sniffled miserably, I heard a short sigh from in front of me.

“If you don’t still have feelings for him, then stop crying. After breaking up with someone like that, shouldn’t you be celebrating all night instead?”

It was the kind of outrageous thing that would shock anyone who overheard it.

And yet the duke said it without the slightest hesitation.

My eyes widened in surprise.

Looking at my expression, he let out a faint scoff before casually adding,

“Your nose is running.”

“Ah!”

I hurriedly wiped my face with the handkerchief.

After some time passed…

The duke, who had silently stayed by my side until I calmed down, finally spoke.

“It seems you’ve settled down now.”

“Yes… Thank you.”

After wiping away the last traces of tears and fixing my appearance, the duke quietly looked at me before asking,

“May I ask you something?”

“Yes. What is it?”

“What did you mean when you said you lived like a doll that never smiled and begged whenever he told you to?”

For a moment, I could only stare blankly.

Since he’d only recently arrived in the capital, it seemed the duke hadn’t heard the rumors circulating through high society.

Nearly every noble already knew.

But hearing him ask me directly somehow made me feel far more ashamed, as though he had uncovered my deepest humiliation.

After hesitating briefly, I forced a bitter smile.

He would find out eventually anyway.

“I meant exactly what I said. Delos didn’t like seeing me smile, so I almost never smiled. Whenever he was even slightly upset, I groveled like a worm. Pathetic, isn’t it?”

“It is pathetic.”

The firm answer came immediately.

My heart seemed to stop.

It was true that I had been pathetic.

But hearing those words from the duke felt like being stabbed through the chest.

“S-So you think so too? But I’ve really come to my senses recently—”

“To call him trash would be an insult to trash.”

Only then did I realize…

The one he had called pathetic wasn’t me.

It was Delos.

Especially when he called Delos trash, the duke actually looked angry.

“Now that you know what kind of garbage he is, never meet someone like him again.”

“O-Okay…”

A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me, and I nodded.

Hearing him repeat the very words he’d once said to me just before I died somehow filled me with warmth.

“You seem fine now, so I’ll be going.”

After confirming that my tears had completely dried, the duke turned as though to leave.

His calm, detached attitude made me instinctively grab his hand.

“Wait!”

Stopping in place, the duke looked down at the hand that I was holding, one eyebrow lifting slightly.

Thinking he was about to tell me to let go, I tightened my grip instead.

“We’re not done talking yet.”

“As I said before, about that matter—”

“Just one year! If you don’t want to stay married forever, then live with me for exactly one year. After that, we can get divorced.”

According to imperial law, nobles could only file for divorce after they had been married for at least one year.

“My lady, let go of my hand first, and then we can talk.”

“No. Answer me first.”

The duke tried to pull his hand free, but I stubbornly tugged it even closer to me instead.

Inside my grasp, I felt his hand flinch before becoming stiff as stone.