Chapter 5 (Part 6)

“Your Grace, please rest.”  

There was nothing more she could do, and after tending to him all day, she was exhausted. As she turned to leave, a large hand grabbed her wrist.  

“Just for a moment… stay like this.”  

The Duke’s pitiful voice, like that of a drenched puppy, made it hard for her to shake him off.  

‘I feel like I’m going to collapse too….’  

Fearing she might faint if she kept standing, Therese sat down on the edge of the bed.  

Her eyes fell on his rough, scarred hand holding her wrist.  

‘What’s the point of remembering this….’  

No matter how much she tried to steel herself, memories of the past came flooding back whenever she looked at him.  

Therese had repeatedly failed to conceive an heir. Not because she was physically weak, but because she and the Duke had never spent enough time together for it to happen.  

Even so, Maria blamed only Therese.  

‘You’re not like your mother, who gave birth to a mere girl and died, are you?’  

When Therese finally became pregnant after being constantly badgered, her mother-in-law hurled insults at her once again.  

‘How dare someone like you carry the heir of the Richard family!’  

Therese’s gaze briefly fell on her stomach as she thought about the child.  

‘A child of his and mine.’  

She couldn’t express to anyone how happy she had been upon learning she was pregnant. At the same time, she had been deeply afraid.  

‘My child, will someone as inadequate as me be able to raise you well?’  

She couldn’t shake the fear that if the child were a girl, her mother-in-law might refuse to acknowledge her as part of the family.  

Moreover, the father didn’t want the child at all.  

As she caressed her still-flat stomach, Therese felt both happiness and despair at the same time.  

At that moment, the Duke’s voice pulled Therese out of her thoughts.  

“Do you dislike children?”  

“……”  

Therese couldn’t immediately answer the question, which seemed as though he had read her mind.  

Having experienced a lonely childhood, Therese had always wanted a family of her own—a normal family filled with the laughter of a loving husband and adorable children.  

‘I didn’t know how foolish that dream was.’  

It was something she had desperately wished for, even though it was something she could never achieve—not before her death, and not now.  

“I want children.”  

“…!”  

Therese’s eyes widened at the Duke’s low murmur.  

She had never imagined that he liked children.  

As she hesitated, unsure of how to respond, the Duke continued speaking.  

“Having an heir is also our duty.”  

“…Ah.”  

So that’s what he meant.  

It wasn’t that he wanted children—it was that the family needed an heir.  

It was a very Duke Richard-like statement.  

‘It doesn’t even have to be me.’  

For example, it could be Lady Volez, who had just hurried out, or one of the many noblewomen in the empire who adored him.  

Even if it were an illegitimate child, as long as the Duke acknowledged them, that would be enough.  

‘…Ah. I feel strange.’  

The thought of the child she hadn’t even named made her break into a cold sweat and feel nauseous. The memories she had tried so hard to bury sometimes left her completely drained.  

“I think I should leave now.”  

As she abruptly stood up, the Duke didn’t loosen his grip on her hand in the slightest.  

“I won’t allow it.”  

“…What are you talking about?”  

Therese hadn’t said a word, yet he was angry.  

“All of the thoughts you’re having right now. I refuse to even consider the idea of the Richard family’s heir coming from someone else.”  

Only a child born from Therese could be the heir.  

“…What?”  

Therese faltered at the Duke’s unexpectedly firm tone.  

Then, as he removed his left hand, the Duke looked directly at her.  

“Didn’t I tell you? You’re the only one I see.”  

“……”  

Therese swallowed her words at what sounded like a confession.  

Meanwhile, blood began seeping through the bandages on the Duke’s right arm, which was still tightly gripping her.  

The Duke spoke in a low voice.  

“I don’t want to let you go tonight.”  

His blatant suggestion to spend the night together startled her, but Therese had no intention of falling for the Duke’s tricks.  

‘He doesn’t even like me, and this kind of behavior is just unpleasant.’  

Once, she might have been moved, but not anymore.  

“I regret injuring you by mistake, Your Grace. I will take responsibility until you’ve recovered, but I don’t think there’s anything more I can do tonight. I’ll return tomorrow.”  

“You’re just going to leave while my arm is bleeding?”  

Even as the smell of blood filled the stuffy bedroom, the Duke refused to let go of her hand.  

“Let’s talk after you let go.”  

“If I let go, you’ll run away.”  

The Duke didn’t believe her words at all.  

“I’ll stay here, so…”  

Only after hearing Therese’s resigned response did the Duke release her arm.  

Therese sat beside him with a deep sigh and began rewrapping his bandages.  

Normally, by now, she would have gone out and returned. She still needed to check on Roshan and had a mountain of tasks to complete.  

‘Good thing I sent Snow to deliver a message.’  

Once she finished, the Duke grabbed her hand again.  

“…?”  

Seeing the confusion on Therese’s face, the Duke calmly explained.  

“When you’re flustered, your swordsmanship becomes much less accurate.”  

The Duke’s large hand guided Therese’s hand to his collarbone beneath his robe.  

The intimate contact made Therese feel as though her mouth had gone completely dry.  

“…What is this?”  

Jeremy stared at the trembling Therese, his mind filled with impure thoughts.  

Ever since she had awkwardly tended to him in the bathroom, no, ever since she had stabbed him with her sword at dawn—  

‘Actually, I don’t know when it started.’  

In the steamy bathroom, he had wanted to embrace Therese.  

After accidentally pulling her into the bathtub, he had wanted to tear her dress apart and explore her soft skin.  

Unfamiliar, rough, and greedy desires boiled over in him.  

‘I want to monopolize your gaze.’  

Just imagining her helplessly trapped under him, her warm skin trembling, made his mouth go dry.  

‘If only my arm wasn’t injured…’  

He might not have stopped at just imagining it.  

‘If you knew, you’d think of me as a beast and push me even further away.’  

The two of them still didn’t fully trust each other.  

Even so, Jeremy Richard felt his body respond like a stallion in heat, his arousal undeniable.  

‘So it’s better to let you go for now…’  

But strangely, he didn’t want to part with her.  

It was the same reason he had allowed himself to be injured.  

He wanted her attention, and he wanted those blue eyes to reflect only him.  

‘Even if there are still unresolved issues between us.’  

Therese was undoubtedly his wife.  

So these intimate desires couldn’t truly be considered a sin.  

But he didn’t want to force himself on a woman who feared him.  

Barely managing to suppress the lust spreading through him like poison, Jeremy spoke in a calm voice.  

“Since we couldn’t have our swordsmanship lesson this morning, let’s have it tonight.”  

Therese couldn’t make sense of the Duke’s sudden suggestion.  

“Your Grace, you need to rest…”  

As Therese tried to pull her hand away, he smiled faintly.  

“Are you avoiding me because you see me as a man? Didn’t you say you don’t like me?”  

“It’s not that I’m avoiding you…”  

“Then just listen quietly.”  

As he ran his hand over his protruding Adam’s apple, the heat radiating from his skin beneath her palm was overwhelming.  

“If someone reveals an opening, strike here. It will kill them instantly.”  

His whispered tone didn’t match the terrifying words he spoke.  

The Duke slowly interlaced his fingers with hers, and the warmth of his calloused hands sent a strange sensation through her.  

“The jaw is also a vital point. And this spot is important too.”  

Finally, his hand stopped at the hollow between his nose and upper lip.  

‘Ah, of all places…’  

Therese’s fingers felt as though they might brush against the Duke’s lips if they slipped even slightly. She tried to pull her hand back, but with their fingers tangled together, it was impossible.  

As she remained tense, the Duke spoke.  

“If someone approaches you, stab them here with your sword. Swinging your sword recklessly might get you hurt.”  

“……”  

As the Duke said, even while attacking him, Therese’s palm had sustained small cuts.  

Worried he might notice, a cold sweat ran down Therese’s back.  

‘If I hadn’t trembled at all and stabbed your vital point…’  

In that case, the Duke wouldn’t have just been slightly injured—he would have died on the spot.  

‘Why would you say such a thing, knowing full well what could happen?’  

Therese didn’t want to kill Duke Richard, even though she resented the twisted fate that had entangled them.  

‘Perhaps you’re just a victim too.’  

After all, this wasn’t a marriage either of them had wanted.  

Of course, his past behavior deserved criticism.  

‘But that doesn’t mean I hate you.’  

She thought it would be best for them to part ways and find their own happiness.  

“Are you still that afraid of me?”  

The Duke tightened his grip on her trembling hand, as if trying to take away all her fear. It was as though he had become her knight.  

“It’s not fear…”  

“I am your husband.”  

“…Ah.”  

When Therese raised her head, she met his endless black eyes.