A Transparent Relationship

Chapter 49

It had only been a few days, but her face had become so haggard, and the shadows under her eyes had deepened.

“I don’t need that.”

There was no one she wanted to look pretty for, and she had no intention of dressing up. Rivera refused, saying it was more comfortable for her not to wear makeup.

“But you’re going to see the Duke of Bartman?”

Rivera, who was about to stop the carriage, froze.

“…He said he doesn’t want to see me.”

“Who said that?”

“Didn’t you see the article? I’ve been dumped.”

“But that was a false report.”

“If that article were false, there would’ve been a follow-up report saying Adrian sued the newspaper. But there’s been no word, right?”

“What if there’s a reason he can’t say it directly? Have you thought about that?”

“What kind of reason?”

Trisha pulled something out of her bag. What she brought out was the relationship contract written with Adrian.

“Think about the clauses in the relationship contract.”

“Why do you have this?”

“Because I received it directly.”

“What?”

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

Trisha pointed to Article 3 of the relationship contract.

“Read it carefully. What does it say about breaking the contract?”

[Clause 3: If Party A requests a breakup, Party B must comply. However, Party B cannot request a breakup. If this clause is violated, Party B must grant one condition requested by Party A.

The contract period is set for one year from the date of signing.

Anyone who violates the above clauses will not escape the curse of mana.

“According to this clause, after notifying you of the breakup, he has to fulfill your wish. Did the Duke say anything like that?”

Rivera shook her head. She had been so out of it that she had completely forgotten about the contract.

Trisha began to explain step by step.

“Then have you heard any news about the Duke being cursed by mana?”

“…No.”

“That’s strange. The Empire’s newspaper said he notified you of the breakup, meaning he wanted to end things. So why hasn’t there been any word about this?”

Rivera blinked, thinking.

“Was that article… fake?”

“Exactly.”

“Then why hasn’t Adrian denied it?”

At that moment, Trisha’s face hardened.

“He’s being blackmailed. He was told that if he didn’t comply, you wouldn’t be left alone.”

“…By who?”

“The man who’s always been lurking around you.”

Rivera’s face hardened as well.

“Antonio.”

That dreadful name was mentioned again.

Since he became a High Priest, she thought she wouldn’t have to see him anymore. But it turned out the temple he was assigned to was near the war-ravaged Lenin territory, and he wouldn’t leave for a few months.

“So Adrian can’t come to protect me because of that?”

“He had to find that bastard’s weakness.”

Rivera started thinking.

‘The reason Trisha brought the contract must’ve been because Adrian told her to. He needed an excuse to meet me. But after all this time, why is he reaching out now…?’

Rivera’s hardened expression softened.

“He found it, didn’t he? A weakness that can get rid of Antonio right in front of him.”

“You’ll have to ask him yourself.”

The carriage carrying the two women was heading toward the Bartman Ducal Estate.

***

The hallway in front of the study was noisy. Though she had expected this, she couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Adrian, who had been sitting at his desk, slowly stood up.

“Lady Rivera, you can’t go in right now!”

Bang—!

She barged in, her face covered in tears.

Before he realized it, he almost reached out to wipe her tears. He wanted to comfort her, but when their eyes met, the guilt overwhelmed him, and he couldn’t do anything.

[You bastard.]

Her bloodshot eyes seemed to scream at him. Not wanting to hear her voice full of resentment, he turned his head, avoiding her gaze.

“You were sick! You were being blackmailed without telling me! Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you do this to me?”

Thud! Thud!

Rivera hit Adrian with a cushion.

“If something like this happened, you should’ve told me! Now that the contract’s almost over, are you just doing whatever you want?”

No matter how hard Rivera hit him, it didn’t hurt. If anything, he felt like he was getting off too easily, which made him feel even guiltier. Adrian took the cushion away and brought her fist close to his face.

“Hitting me with a cushion doesn’t hurt at all. Use your fists instead. Or there are plenty of weapons over there.”

His study was filled with things she could throw—hundreds of pages of books, vases, weapons mounted on the walls, even the pens on his desk.

He was willing to let her hit him with anything if it would make her feel better.

“Are you trying to provoke me?”

“I’m serious. None of this will hurt me anyway.”

Adrian tossed the cushion aside.

“Do you want me to lend you my sword?”

“No, thanks!”

Rivera fumed, calling him an idiot.

“You’re such a clueless idiot who doesn’t understand women at all!”

As she angrily berated him, she noticed his slumped shoulders and guilty demeanor.

“Straighten your shoulders! You don’t suit looking so defeated.”

“You can get angrier if you want.”

“Getting angry at you doesn’t make me feel any better. Besides, this isn’t even your fault.”

Rivera thought about the root cause of all this.

“Tell me. What kind of threats did Antonio make that left you so powerless?”

Adrian hesitated.

“It’s… related to you.”

“I already heard that. But what exactly did he threaten to do? Kill me or something?”

After hesitating for a moment, he mumbled.

“…There’s something I’ve been hiding from you.”

Rivera ruffled her hair in frustration.

“I kind of figured.”

“…How?”

He felt overwhelmed, unsure of where to begin.

Recalling the events, she explained step by step.

“Antonio gave me a strange bracelet and said you had another secret.”

“A strange bracelet?”

Worried it might have a negative effect on her, Adrian immediately checked her wrist, but there was nothing there. Rivera shrugged, thinking of the bracelet she had discarded.

“It was a plain silver bracelet, and he said wearing it would keep me from being deceived by you. But it felt off. Considering all the things he’s done, why would he give me a bracelet? It felt suspicious, so I got rid of it right away.”

“Did he say anything else?”

“He said he’d tell me later, but I never got to hear it.”

Relieved that his most closely guarded secret hadn’t been revealed, Adrian soon realized the truth.

Eventually, he would have to tell her. No secret could last forever.

As Adrian hesitated, opening and closing his mouth without speaking, Rivera sighed deeply.

“If it’s hard to say, then don’t.”

He cautiously asked for her opinion.

“Are you sure?”

“Even if I hear it now, it’ll only make me more shocked. I’m not in the right state of mind for that.”

Her mental state was already in shambles. Rivera wanted to deal with things one at a time.

“Instead, make sure you tell me later. If I hear it from Antonio first again, I won’t let it slide.”

“Alright. I’ll tell you myself.”

Adrian’s smile was awkward, as if he hadn’t smiled in a long time.

Rivera wanted to ask Adrian why Antonio had interfered with her relationships. After all, everything had started from there.

“Why did you approach my boyfriends? Why did you tell them to break up with me?”

“I didn’t intend to at first.”

“Then why?”

“They were trying to use you. They wanted to marry into the Iaron Earldom, take its wealth, and then abandon you to bring in another woman…”

“Which one of them did that?”

Probably the twelfth one.

Adrian didn’t want her to think about that man, so he avoided answering directly.

“And… some of them wanted to use you to get close to me. They didn’t have the courage to approach me directly, so they had no qualms about using you.”

Rivera sighed.

“Again…”

“Enough! Stop! Are you going to explain all thirty of them?”

“…Didn’t you want to know?”

“I didn’t want to hear thirty different reasons. You’re usually so perceptive—what’s wrong with you today?”

He avoided her gaze because he knew he was in the wrong.

“Did you also decide what they said when they broke up with me?”

Adrian shook his head.

“No, I just told them to stay away from you.”

“Was that really the best way? Was there no other way to handle it?”

“Between the pain of knowing the truth and the pain of not knowing, the one where you’d hurt less was not knowing.”

“Why did you get to decide that? This wasn’t your place to interfere.”

At her argument, Adrian gave a bitter smile.

“I told you. Because I like you.”

It wasn’t a childish crush. He genuinely liked her, was completely infatuated with her. She was always at the center of his world, and everything he did was for her.

“If I didn’t like you, if I didn’t care about your pain, I would’ve told you everything.”

If he had liked her even a little less, he would’ve confessed everything a long time ago. But he hadn’t because he liked her too much. The mere thought of expressing his feelings made his heart feel like it would burst.

“Why did you tell Antonio to break up with me?”

“To him, you were an escape.”

“An escape?”

“His family was falling apart. They were heavily in debt. He wanted to escape his circumstances by marrying you and leaving his family.”

“What?”

“He wanted to become the Earl of Iaron.”

To Antonio, marriage was just a means to an end.

“So that’s why he confessed to me?”

She had thought it strange when a man who hadn’t confessed in three years suddenly sent her flowers, but she never imagined this was the reason.

“That’s why I told him to break up with you. That wasn’t the kind of marriage you wanted. Then he said he’d break up if I helped save his family.”

“You should’ve refused!”

“I did. That’s why his family is ruined now.”