Chapter 8 (Part 8)

He had always stubbornly tried to prevent it by any means necessary.  

Though she was the one who wanted the divorce, Therese felt a strange sensation when the Duke consented. Then, lifting his head, the Duke spoke firmly.  

“But I will never remarry.”  

“…What do you mean?”  

“If you ever meet someone else, that’s fine too.”  

With an even gloomier expression, the Duke continued.  

“I will wait. Until the day you divorce. Even if you don’t, I will remain by your side.”  

“What on earth are you saying?”  

Did he mean that if I divorced him and remarried another man, he would wait for me to divorce again?  

Reading the confusion in Therese’s eyes, the Duke ran his veined hand over her shoulder and arm.   

“You will find it hard to understand me.”

Tears began to stream down the Duke’s cheeks.  

“…”  

“For someone like me, there’s no room for a new love.”

The Duke’s long fingers combed through Therese’s silver hair as he whispered. The trembling at the tips of his fingers made Therese feel like she couldn’t breathe.  

From the moment thick tears began to fall from beneath his silky eyelashes, Therese could no longer think.  

He says he loves me.  

Why is the Duke crying?  

Could this be a dream?  

But the heat emanating from their lightly touching bodies and the trembling of his fingers were undeniably real.  

Then, as if resigning himself, the Duke spoke.  

“Because I am such a monster.”  

“…Sigh.”  

“I will never force you to do anything. So…”  

The Duke abruptly withdrew his fingers from her hair. Then he stepped back from Therese, as if he were some kind of plague.  

Though he quickly covered his face with his hands, his trembling shoulders showed no signs of calming.  

Sadness must be contagious. Witnessing the Duke’s tears, Therese struggled to suppress the emotions welling up inside her. She clenched her fists tightly to keep herself from crying.  

‘I thought I was the only pathetic one.’  

Therese, who had suddenly become the Duchess of Richard through an arranged marriage, had constantly endured suspicious glances from all directions.  

‘Unworthy Duchess.’  

That was how people referred to Therese.  

‘It’s not entirely wrong.’  

Therese knew she wasn’t a perfect lady. For that reason, she had silently complied with Maria’s endless demands in the past.  

‘But Jeremy Richard is different.’  

He was a perfect man born into an excellent family.  

‘So it doesn’t suit him to bow his head and weep like this.’  

To Therese, the Duke of Richard had always been a shining star.  

But now, her star was crying.  

For a moment, Therese felt as if the world around her was shaking.  

‘Perhaps I wanted to believe that the Duke of Richard was flawless.’  

Jeremy Richard was, after all, just a regular person with warm blood like hers.  

She suddenly recalled a trivial moment when they had tea together at a street café. Though he had initially frowned at the unfamiliar, noisy atmosphere, he soon began to enjoy the music played by a street performer.  

‘Yes. He’s not so different from me.’  

And one thing was certain.  

‘Even if he doesn’t shine, I like him.’  

Even if the place where they stood was a sinking ship, Therese wouldn’t be able to let go of his hand.  

Feeling despair rise to her throat, Therese squeezed her eyes shut.  

“This is so unfair.”  

The Duke didn’t respond to Therese’s muttered words, spoken with her head bowed low.  

Her clenched fists trembled.  

Though the Duke claimed he wouldn’t force anything upon her, the truth was quite the opposite.  

He had confessed his love to her.  

Held her tightly.  

Even showed her his tears.  

Did he really think she could follow through with his words?  

“Your Grace, you are truly…”  

In some ways, he was an incredibly cunning man.  

As Therese trembled and couldn’t finish her sentence, he grew restless.  

“Are you all right, Madame?”  

The word “Madame” slipping from his lips caused Therese, who had been barely holding on, to lose all strength. The back she had been trying so hard to keep straight bent, and her legs gave out beneath her.  

‘How can he act like nothing’s wrong after shaking me up like this?’  

“…Madame, Madame.”  

The Duke’s desperate voice called out as he held her waist to keep her from collapsing. When he tilted his head to check her face, Therese covered her face with both hands.  

“Please don’t look at my face right now.”  

Unable to control her emotions, she was certain her face looked terrible.  

As Therese’s shoulders shook with sobs, he begged unconditionally.  

“Did I make you cry again? Please stop crying. It’s all my fault.”  

What exactly had I done wrong?  

The Duke’s confession, followed by his pleas for forgiveness, made Therese feel as though all the events of the past were distant memories.  

“Please show me your face. I beg you.”  

The Duke’s hand gently pulled her fingers away, revealing her tear-streaked face.  

“You are not a monster, Your Grace.”  

Still unable to stop crying, Therese tried her best to speak clearly. Her words caused the Duke’s jawline to tremble.  

“Do I not look like a monster to you?”  

Therese shook her head and spoke in a low voice.  

“Your Grace…”  

The Duke she saw was not as merciless as the rumors claimed.  

He had risked his life in the frontier, fighting monsters alongside his subordinates. All for the sake of protecting the peace of Caspian.  

As the Night Wolf, he had also acted righteously against the Emperor. Without any reward, without anyone’s recognition, he had worked in the shadows.  

The marriage with Therese had been a mistake, but Jeremy Richard was the finest man in the Empire.  

“Madame, what more can I say…”  

The Duke’s tear-soaked face waited for Therese’s lips to move.  

“…Sigh.”  

Suddenly, Therese burst into laughter at the absurdity of the situation. She couldn’t believe the two of them were sitting face-to-face, crying their hearts out.  

‘Miss, never, ever say something like this lightly. Life has a way of making the impossible possible.’  

Sophia’s words from her childhood, which she hadn’t understood at the time, now made perfect sense.  

The Duke of Richard’s confession, his forgiveness, his tears—none of it was something she had ever expected to happen.  

The Duke anxiously observed Therese’s laughing face, just as she had once watched his mood.  

Therese leaned closer and tilted her head back until she could see his chin. When she stood on tiptoe, the Duke blinked in surprise.  

“Your Grace, stop crying now.”  

“…”

When Therese placed her hand on the Duke’s chest and raised her head, his eyes widened as if he had finally realized what she was about to do. Then, as though embarrassed, his body began to tremble like a leaf.  

Where had the man gone who had kissed her lips so many times?  

However, when Therese tightly shut her eyes and leaned in, the Duke did not, by any means, avoid her. His lips gently descended to capture hers, soft and tender.  

Today, their kiss tasted overwhelmingly salty.  

***

The next day, the dining hall of Richard Castle was so quiet that even the sound of breathing could be heard.  

The awkwardness of the previous night had yet to dissipate, and Therese couldn’t bring herself to look directly at the Duke sitting beside her.  

‘I must have been crazy last night.’  

To think she had initiated a kiss.  

Just recalling it made her face flush, and she wanted to crawl into a hole.  

But she couldn’t just leave the Duke crying like that.  

“Madame, the meat is quite tender.”  

“…Yes.”  

The Duke’s face was as composed as usual as he sliced his meat. When she continued to nibble at her salad, he offered her another dish.  

“Try this instead.”  

“Yes, I will.”  

With that awkward exchange, Therese pretended to focus on the chandelier hanging above the dining table.  

‘How can he act so nonchalantly?’  

After confessing his love, crying, and clinging to her.  

He didn’t seem like the man who had held her hand all night while crying himself to sleep.  

As the awkward atmosphere dragged on through the meal, Maria Richard, surprisingly, didn’t utter a single word.  

Maria had returned from a trip with Baroness Ferdian to recover from her neuralgia.  

However, her mood didn’t seem to have improved at all, as her face at the dining table was as grim as ever. She rested her forehead on one hand and glared at Therese.  

Therese suppressed a smirk at her childish behavior.  

‘How utterly immature.’  

As if Therese would cater to her mother-in-law’s whims like Katrina did.  

At that moment, a servant announced the arrival of a guest.  

“Lord Gabriel is here.”  

“Wasn’t he supposed to be at the Academy?”  

Maria couldn’t hide her surprise.  

Her second son, who had been attending Oxford Academy, never came home, not even during breaks. Naturally, Gabriel’s sudden visit caught her off guard.  

Soon, a handsome young man wearing the crimson jacket of Oxford Academy entered through the dining room doors. With his dazzling blond hair and blue eyes, he approached Maria and greeted her.  

“Apologies for interrupting your meal, Mother.”  

“Well, you’re here, Gabriel.”  

Despite her words, Maria’s face showed no sign of warmth.  

Gabriel took a seat beside Maria and politely introduced himself to Therese, who was sitting next to the Duke.  

“Duchess Richard, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Gabriel Richard.”  

“Likewise, Lord Richard.”  

The two exchanged brief glances, pretending to meet for the first time.  

Just yesterday, Therese had taken Gabriel to the guild office in Bazaar and had an extended conversation with him. They had compared the information she had gathered with what he had collected.  

While they hadn’t reached any definitive conclusions, one thing was clear: the disappearance case wasn’t a simple matter.  

‘I need more time, but the Emperor will keep pursuing you, so it’s best to hide somewhere safe.’  

Bazaar was far from a safe haven. At that moment, Therese had thought of the perfect place.  

‘The Richard Ducal Residence.’  

Even the Emperor wouldn’t dare invade such a fortress. There was no safer place than this.  

Thus, Gabriel had informed the Academy that he would be returning home temporarily due to health reasons.  

After a long silence, Jeremy finally spoke.  

“So, Gabriel. You look worse than the last time I saw you.”  

Come to think of it, Gabriel hadn’t even greeted the Duke yet. Frowning at the Duke’s remark, Gabriel replied slowly.  

“I told you, Your Grace, there’s no need to worry about me.”  

With Gabriel’s curt response, no one at the table spoke again.