Although only a month had passed, it felt like a year had gone by. Because Etienne was often away from the mansion, Shioana rarely saw his face.
Etienne returned while she was asleep and held Shioana all night, but by morning he had vanished without a trace.
"Duchess, were you here?"
"Viscount, welcome."
Shioana, who was reading a book in the study, jumped up with a welcoming expression. Viscount Conrad was a grateful person who brought news of Harriet and Martha.
"The child has safely passed the critical stage and has entered intensive care."
"Ah. That's a huge relief."
"And this is what Martha gave me."
When she unfolded the paper the Viscount handed her, half-melted chocolate came out.
In her childhood in Regbell, where there wasn't a single shop, eating candy or chocolate was not a common occurrence. So, whenever she did get some, she would divide it into small pieces to keep and eat over a long period.
"You still think I'm a child."
Shioana spoke sadly, her eyes immediately welling up with tears.
'Eat something sweet and cheer up.'
It feels like the heart of Martha, who doesn't know how to write, is captured in this chocolate.
"...Sigh."
Tears began to flow without a moment to hold back. The hand holding the paper shook uncontrollably, and she sobbed while stifling the gurgling sounds.
Her heart ached more now than when Regbell's barn burned down, Eli disappeared, and she was harassed by creditors and threatened by Count Noah.
'Is he really my Etienne?'
He seemed so unfamiliar upon our reunion that sometimes she wondered if everything from the past was just a dream. If it weren't for the scar on his back, she might have actually believed it.
Just as she was about to wipe her tears with her sleeve, the Viscount held out a handkerchief.
"Wipe it with this."
“S-sorry.”
She took the handkerchief, lifted her head, and struggled to stop her tears. She was ashamed to have shown such a state in front of Viscount Conrad, of all people.
"Viscount. Did His Excellency go out with Miss Diana again today?"
Etienne always left without saying a word, so she had no way of knowing where he was.
Cedric hesitated for a moment at Shioana's question, then spoke up.
"Yes. I understand that you went to see the performance."
"Yes."
Cedric looked troubled as he observed the Duchess's face, which showed no particular sign of disappointment.
In fact, His Excellency and Miss Diana were not in any relationship. However, he felt stifled because he was in a position where he could not reveal this due to the important business he was currently preparing.
'Cedric, it is important to make Mother believe that things are going her way.'
To do so, His Excellency the Duke had to pretend to get along well with Miss Diana, whom the Madam wanted to make her daughter-in-law.
"It is because His Excellency has a lot of business outside these days."
Although Cedric was very suspicious, he was not fundamentally a heartless person.
At first, he suspected that Shioana, who was approaching His Excellency, might have ulterior motives, but after watching her for a while, he realized his prediction was completely wrong.
'It’s not the Duchess, but His Excellency who is more obsessed.'
So he wanted to lighten the Duchess's worries a little, as she was likely growing a needless misunderstanding.
***
Diana Vale began to act as if she had become a member of the Bernhard family. She joined them at every meal, sat side by side with the grand Madam to plan balls, and even made plans to go get dresses fitted together.
"Your Excellency! You're here?"
Excited by the Duke's early return, Diana ran over and linked arms with him.
"I finished my busy work early, so I hurried back."
"Welcome. Now it finally looks like a real home."
The three people who exchanged greetings, excluding Shioana, really looked like one family.
'I thought we didn't get along very well, but I guess that wasn't the case.'
Etienne was affectionate toward the grand Madam and listened to Diana's words.
On the other hand, he didn't even make eye contact with Shioana.
Shiona, who had no expectations, silently dipped a piece of bread into the soup.
'I have to cheer up, just like Martha said.'
She refused to be controlled by anyone anymore.
As she took a sip of tea with dried flower petals floating in it, a pair of red eyes stared intently at Shioana's profile.
***
After dinner, Shioana found her bedroom, not the Duke's.
It had only been two months since she got married, but Shioana was completely exhausted.
"My digestion is bad again."
She hadn't eaten anything, but she felt suffocated, so she lightly tapped her heart with jer hand.
It was difficult for Etienne to hate her, but the way he ignored her was even harder to bear.
'I have never betrayed you for even a single moment...'
Even when she confessed her true feelings, he didn't believe her.
'He wanted to make me a Duchess in name only.'
Every visible situation was proof of that.
As soon as the wedding was over, Diana entered the mansion as if she had been waiting. Grand Madam Bernhard handed the family's token of the mistress of the house, passed down through generations, to Diana instead of her.
Etienne often went out with Diana in front of her, as if to show Shioana.
'You want to ignore, trample on, and mock me.'
It was then.
The door leading to her bedroom opened, and Etienne appeared.
"Shioana. There is no such thing as a wife who leaves her husband behind."
“...What about my husband?
Shioana bit her lip, muttering softly so as not to be heard.
'I'm sick and tired of it.'
At the sight of her unable to admit that he had already changed, even though she knew it.
Shioana whispered with dry lips.
"How much more do you have to torment me before that anger subsides?"
Etienne, walking slowly, smiled sweetly as he untied the strings of his gown.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I'm asking how long you have to keep putting on this fancy play before you're satisfied."
Shioana sat up and wore a self-deprecating smile.
"Etienne, your plan succeeded. Thanks to you, I think I can now forget all my memories of Regbell."
Even after crossing over to Urcheka, Shioana constantly missed the deceased Etienne. Although she was surprised when she met the Duke who resembled him, and when the Duke revealed that he was Etienne, her feelings for Etienne remained unchanged.
'There must be a misunderstanding.'
She believed that if they opened their hearts and talked to each other, even the most complicated misunderstandings could be resolved.
However, she was given a pretext and forced into marriage, and after that, everything spiraled into the worst.
'Etienne doesn't love me anymore.'
Facing his sincerity, Shioana found it difficult to remain composed. Etienne narrowed his eyes.
"What is it? Did you get some secret message from Raul? Did he say he would take you as his mistress?"
Shioana was speechless at the dumbfounding suspicion.
Raul was someone who had no reason to be treated this way by Etienne. He was a grateful person who wished for Shioana's happiness even though he had suddenly quit his job.
"Don't even think about unnecessarily disgracing such a good person. It seems like anyone you name right now would be better than you."
Even the butcher imprisoned in the dungeon was better off than Etienne.
At least that man didn't feign hypocrisy by hiding his dirty desires.
"Are you finally revealing your true intentions?"
He leaned deeply into the bed where Shioana was lying, holding the edge, and whispered.
She felt disgusted by this side of Etienne.
'He has no idea what I'm saying, and he doesn't even try to understand.'
Because both the twisted possessiveness and obsession toward her stem from hatred, not affection.
For a moment, Shioana felt disgusted by the night the two had spent together.
Even though Etienne's love was a bit rough, whenever they were physically close, it felt like she had returned to Regbell and was being loved by him.
'That was all just me believing what I wanted to believe.'
"You won't listen to anything I say anyway, so think as you please."
Shioana got up because she did not want to be with him even for a moment.
"Where do you think you're going!"
However, she couldn't do that either because Etienne held her back.
"..."
Shioana shivered at the ominous aura on Etienne's face.
"It doesn't matter if you let me go."
She held back the tears that were about to burst out and spoke.
"What do you mean, Shioana?"
"You're going to remarry Miss Diana soon, aren't you? And have a child too—"
He treated Shioana like a fool just now, even though it was obvious what would happen when she returned from the mansion.
As she acted slightly accusingly, Etienne swept his bangs back.
"Shioana, do you still think you are important to me?"
"...No."
The lover who cherished her like his own life was already dead. As Shioana shook her head, Etienne, who had bowed deeply toward her, growled.
"So I don't think I need to explain anything to you."
"...Ha."
Shioana, having heard of the terrible tragedy that befell the Bernhard family, had been trying to understand him.
She wondered why he had such empty eyes when they first met.
Why couldn't I speak?
She had only just come to realize it, and she wanted to comfort his wounds. But the most important thing was missing.
'The Smilax inside you has vanished.'
The love story of Crocus and Smilax, which Etienne often spoke of, ended in tragedy.
The day she read that story in the study of the Bernhard mansion. Shioana could not even fully express her joy.
'Why did you have to dream of such a love?'
There is no way a human and a forest fairy could ever be together.
Shioana, suppressing the rising sadness, raised her head and stared at Etienne.
"Etienne, please don't do this."
Going any further from here would only lead to falling off a cliff.
"I like that pained look on your face, too."
Etienne replied playfully to her appeal.
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