She’d never felt this way even during her Academy days when she was falsely accused of stealing a ring.
Astaire still hadn’t removed his finger. Rather, he mockingly ran his index finger along the inside of her cheek, as though ridiculing her answer.
She felt her saliva dripping from the corners of her lips.
“Did his tongue sweep and s*ck here like this?”
“That’s… impossible…”
“I don’t need your answer.”
His finger swept thoroughly over her teeth and the flesh of her cheeks. Really, like he was checking whether the Second Prince had kissed her.
Emotion surged up inside Daphne.
To be clear, today was the first time she’d met the Second Prince. And he’d unilaterally pursued her. Not knowing that, the man wasn’t even trying to listen to her and was acting as he pleased.
“You’re clearly the one in the wrong, so why are you crying?”
He looked like he had no intention of wiping away Daphne’s falling tears.
Each word Astaire uttered became an arrow piercing her chest.
“Really… I really have nothing to do with him.”
“How can I believe that?”
He spoke in an utterly cold voice and finally withdrew his finger from her mouth.
Still looking down at Daphne coldly, he bit the tip of the glove wet with her saliva with his teeth and lightly removed it.
His bare white fingers were revealed.
“Didn’t you allow him elsewhere?”
He didn’t hide his sarcasm. Daphne realized what he was about to do and stepped back, clutching her dress tightly.
Stepping back only brought her to a cold wall.
“Did you look at him with those eyes when you were with the Second Prince?”
“N-no…!”
“Then prove it.”
The method of proof he spoke of was utterly shameless.
That’s when it happened.
“Astaire!”
A voice came from outside.
Needless to say who that voice belonged to.
Reina Melanian.
And hearing that voice, Astaire instantly pulled away from Daphne like nothing had happened.
The moment his warmth receded, cold night air wrapped around her body again.
Daphne couldn’t explain this emptiness rising in her heart, even to herself.
She quietly watched Astaire’s retreating figure.
Straightening the clothes he’d disheveled was also her job to the end.
Gone was the fierce look he’d given her, demanding to know when she’d been with another man—seeing Astaire leave immediately when Reina called, she felt an indescribable bitterness.
As expected, that man wouldn’t do.
She couldn’t spend her life with him.
She reminded herself of that fact once more.
* * *
“What reason do you have for seeking me out?”
Astaire spoke without hiding his coldness.
His gaze didn’t even turn toward Reina. He seemed completely uninterested in the conversation with her from the start.
Facing such an Astaire, Reina secretly bit her lip.
“…Just because.”
“If it’s nothing important, I’ll be going.”
“Since when have we only met when there’s business to discuss?”
Astaire gave no answer.
His silence made Reina even more anxious.
She looked around. Soon confirming no one was there, she bent down and moved close to Astaire.
Astaire stepped back two paces and spoke coldly.
“Keep your distance.”
“It’s a delicate matter. What if someone overhears?”
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, and they’d hear well enough from that distance.”
“Astaire!”
Reina’s lower lip trembled, and she clenched and unclenched her fists as she called the Duke’s name.
The Duke looked at her with cold eyes.
“From now on, don’t call me by that name. At least not in places where others might hear.”
“…How can you say that?”
Reina didn’t hide the hurt on her face. Seeing this, Astaire whispered coldly.
At a volume only Reina could barely hear.
Like telling her not to forget, to remember.
“I’m married, and you’re single. No matter how much we’re old friends, we’re not in a position to be informal anymore.”
“…”
“And—”
Astaire, who’d been continuing, suddenly stopped. His gaze was fixed on one spot.
Reina slowly turned around. She looked where Astaire was looking.
And there stood Daphne.
With a somehow pale face.
But that was it.
Daphne said nothing. She just turned around and disappeared into the distance.
It happened so quickly that Astaire had no chance to stop her.
“…D*mn it.”
The man muttered a curse quietly, seeming displeased with the situation itself.
Astaire passed by Reina and chased after Daphne.
“Ah!”
He passed so quickly he didn’t realize he’d pushed Reina. She nearly stumbled and fell.
She barely managed to stand upright on both legs.
What angered her more than Astaire pushing her was something else.
That man going to look after his wife who wasn’t even like a wife.
Every time she saw that retreating figure, Reina felt her insides twist.
She ground her teeth. She clenched her fists so hard veins stood out on the backs of her hands.
Hostility and hatred toward Daphne, and jealousy she couldn’t quite hide, rippled in her eyes.
A vicious expression formed, unworthy of her reputation as “that” Lady Melanian, famous for her lovely, constant smile.
Only the cold night wind knew her true face now.
Then suddenly, Reina smirked.
A good idea had occurred to her.
Reina left the deserted spot and moved toward where there were people. Soon she grabbed a passing palace attendant and said:
“Tell First Prince Carlos I wish to see him. That I have something urgent to discuss.”
“…Pardon? Yes, I understand.”
The attendant looked flustered for a moment at the sudden command-like request, but recognizing who Reina was, he quietly closed his mouth and nodded.
“I’ll convey it immediately.”
The attendant soon disappeared. Probably rushing to the First Prince. Without watching the attendant’s retreating figure, Reina went out to a terrace.
It was a place where she often met to discuss confidential matters with the First Prince.
“How much did you hear?”
Astaire forcibly stopped Daphne, who was walking away silently, and asked.
She tried to shake off the Duke’s arm. But the man’s solid arm wouldn’t let go no matter how much she shook it. It seemed her arm would hurt as much as her hand today.
Fatigue washed over her suddenly. Now Daphne didn’t even have the energy to answer, so she just blurted out whatever came to mind.
“That you two meet even when there’s no business.”
“That’s—”
“Yes, I know. You two have been childhood friends since you were very young. You attended the Academy together, and your parents once promised you’d marry.”
“…”
Even after pouring out everything inside her, this stuffiness lodged in her chest wouldn’t dissipate.
Daphne quietly stared at Astaire, calming her breath that came in gasps from walking quickly.
After a brief silence, the man opened his mouth.
“Are you done now?”
His manner suggested that was all she had to say, leaving her completely speechless.
What did you expect anyway?
It’s already over between us.
The woman this man loves isn’t me. There was no reason for her heart to ache like this just from facing that unsurprising truth.
After divorcing her, Astaire might remarry the woman he loves.
By then, that man would realize too.
That she, Daphne, whom he thought was the lead and put on stage, was actually a supporting character meant to make the couple shine when they reach their beautiful happy ending.
The man surely knew.
He just couldn’t accept it yet.
As he said, divorce wasn’t easy.
The Seyfried ducal couple, famous for being a loving pair, suddenly divorcing? The ripples it would cause in high society were obvious without seeing them.
Astaire wouldn’t welcome such a scandal for his beloved ducal family.
That’s why he was pathetically clinging to her now.
“Why can’t you trust me?”
“Do you trust me, Your Grace?”
She countered the question with a question. Astaire didn’t readily answer “yes” to that.
Seeing that, another corner of her heart throbbed. The very reason she’d had an unrequited love for him was because this man had believed in her during her school days when no one else did.
And yet.
Now he didn’t trust her.
“…Were we ever equals?”
Astaire asked quietly after the silence.
“You’re badly mistaken, Daphne.”
Though he spoke in an utterly cold voice, the hand holding hers was incredibly warm.
This time Daphne couldn’t shake off his hand. She could only take the cruel dagger piercing her ear head-on. She was thoroughly powerless.
“Just because we married through a contract, do you think you and I are equals?”
“…”
“I bought you with money. Make it worth what I paid. Properly, correctly.”
Then she regretted her past self who’d directly asked Astaire to pay off her debts.
She shouldn’t have done that.
She shouldn’t have walked into his swamp with her own feet.
“Don’t forget. Even if you want to run away, you can’t.”
“…Are we even a proper couple?”
“No.”
He spoke without hesitation.
“You’re not my partner. I have no reason to tell you every detail of my affairs.”
“…”
“You just need to do as I say. You’ve done well until now. Haven’t you?”
Astaire spoke while embracing her shoulders encouragingly. His voice mixed with warm breath dampened her ear.
Daphne gripped her dress so tightly the bones on the back of her hand protruded. She didn’t care that the fine dress, carefully pressed for the ball, wrinkled mercilessly. Now, no more.
“Like you’ve done all this time, you just need to love me.”
“…Then what do I get in return?”
“Everything except love.”
Astaire answered with a crooked smile.
“You can have it all, Daphne.”
Except one thing.
Except this man’s love.
Seeing that, she remembered when he’d coldly proposed to her in the cabin.
What had he said then?
“I won’t add a contract condition that you mustn’t love me.”
He’d spat it out in an utterly cold voice. A tone that even seemed mocking.
“Love me. From now on.”
He wanted acting beyond acting.
Probably because of that, even knowing she had feelings for him, he didn’t hesitate to use her heart.
It was quite different from contract marriages in romance novels where the condition was “absolutely don’t fall in love.”
As expected, reality was cold.
A cold sneer rose to Daphne’s lips as she recalled that time. It was a cold smile that now resembled the Duke’s.
“So let’s pretend I never heard that nonsense about divorce from now on.”
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bluemoon238
What kind of ridiculous? I want everything but will give you nothing. No respect, not love, no proper protection, no status, etc. I will support you financially and in return you must sell not just your body, but your heart and soul. Not even close to worth it with such a deal.