Sickly? Husband’s Contractual Wife - Chapter 54

“Ah…”

How did it come to this? I looked at him and my hand alternately.

My body, frozen by fear, couldn’t move at all.

“So? Did you come 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 time 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 me with a ferocious glare, holding the tattered bandages in one hand.

“At least when you kneeled in front of me 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 some kind of agreement 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 times 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 mean 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 seemed to understand enough.

And there’s no way he’d believe me.

His expression hardened frighteningly.

“Stop fooling me.”

His biting tone as he gritted his teeth sent goosebumps all over my body.

At that moment, the strength that was holding me together was released at once.

“…Amoide.”

I called his name helplessly, but he slowly stood up.

“Duchess of Efret.”

“……”

“It’s the name 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 me until the bitter end.”

Amoide got up and sat me back down on the bed.

“Sleep here.”

“……”

“Pretend, just as you usually do. Spend the night with me. It’ll be easier to deceive everyone this time.”

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 moment I regained my senses, I hurriedly reached up and covered myself.

Amoide, who was watching me 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 frame 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 times. 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 came closer and applied medicine over her fingers. Then, she stared blankly as she nodded.

“It’s the seventh time 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 seemed to be drier than usual.

“You have your own skin care, Milady. Just go to the combined room, then your skin would become 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 me kept haunting me.

While I was eating, while I was walking, while I was embroidering.

[ At least when you kneeled in front of me 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 me.

I recalled the progress we had together over the last few weeks one by one.

Despite my shameless 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 time.”

I could feel it in my gut, Rona was going to say something 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 mean… I heard Lisa talking to all the maids about it…?”

“Lisa?”

Lisa was one of the maids under Camilla.

“Then… Don’t tell me…?”

“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 something 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 warmer, 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 came 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 me when I first entered the mansion.

Camilla, who looked at the clothes I was wearing, then kicked up a fuss and told me to take them off. She told me it would be better to be naked than to wear such rags.

She hurriedly placed an order at the boutique and ordered dresses for me 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 me.

Some were too small and others were too large as they were made with measurements that were roughly guessed by sight.

Some dresses were loose on the waist, some were too tight around the bust. Some 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 same was true for the clothes she was wearing right now.

‘I’m still in the same position.’

As I was slapped with the reality of the situation, I felt my heart shattering for a moment.

“This is the first time I’ve seen this ever since I wore it around the time 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 me of a chick. It’s obvious that it was made in a hurry. The color combination wasn’t done well either.

“It’s not something 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 agreement with Camilla ignored my existence.

It was obvious why a young lady from such a poor noble family was welcomed as a bride for the sick Duke. And Camilla didn’t treat me 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 treatment 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.