When she looked up, he tilted his head towards her.

“Aren’t you coming? If you’d rather stay here, be my guest.”

Yuis bit her lip in frustration and flinched as Edric’s hand brushed lightly over her lips — a touch that was both fleeting and deliberate, making them burn as though they had been scalded.

She felt as though she were dancing in the palm of his hand, completely at his mercy.

Unconsciously, she raised her hand to her lips, but quickly clenched it into a fist. Slowly and cautiously, she slipped her hand into the crook of his arm.

At that moment, Laura and Isaac approached, both looking anxious.

“My lady!”

“Laura.”

“Are you all right? On my way to find Major Lennox, I ran into His Grace first, so I explained the situation to him.”

At last, everything made sense. That was why Edric had come instead of Isaac.

“I apologise.”

Bowing deeply, Isaac apologised to Yuis and then lowered his head once more towards Edric.

“My deepest apologies, Your Grace.”

Before Yuis could even respond, Edric spoke first.

“It’s fine. Go. Oh, and send Noah up.”

After dismissing Isaac and Laura with little more than a laugh, Edric let out a soft sigh that sounded like a quiet chuckle.

Yuis gripped his arm a little more firmly as they started walking together.

Isaac stood there for a long moment, watching the duke and duchess walk away.

It was clearly his mistake. He should have accompanied the duchess wherever she went, as he had been assigned to guard her.

When he heard from Laura that something had happened, he rushed over in a panic. However, by the time they arrived, it was already over.

Yet rather than comforting his visibly shaken wife, the duke had shouted at her.

‘What on earth happened that His Grace would speak to the duchess so harshly when she looked so wounded’

‘If only he could show her a little more warmth.’

Of course, that was not something Isaac could ever say aloud to his superior.

Unable to fully hide the sorrow in his eyes, Isaac turned and headed toward Noah’s room.

After escorting Yuis back to her room, Edric left immediately and headed off elsewhere. This left Yuis alone in the large room.

She sat on the oversized sofa, which matched the room’s grandeur perfectly, and quietly looked around. Everything was luxurious, elegant and extravagant — just like the man himself.

As Yuis slowly lowered her gaze, tears slid down her flushed cheeks.

“A mistress, perhaps.”

The words that had sliced through her heart replayed mercilessly in her mind.

Tears continued to fall, trailing along the ones that had already stained her cheeks. Her breathing grew ragged as she squeezed her eyes shut. Her tightly clenched fists trembled, turning pale from how hard she gripped them.

Her life had been pitiful. It wasn’t that she had ever desired wealth or splendour. She had never desired luxury or glory. All she had ever wanted was to live as the beloved daughter of her beloved mother and father.

But when her family fell apart, even that fragile sense of security vanished like a fleeting illusion.

Still, she told herself it was all right. She convinced herself that she could endure it. Even when she was pushed to breaking point and finally abandoned her noble pride to become a maid at the House of Johannes, she believed that as long as she did her best, she would manage.

But that illusion crumbled far too quickly.

Discarded by her homeland, Yuis Everett was handed over to the Duke of Kalang like a worthless pawn.

Even after they married, Edric showed little interest in her beyond instructing her to fulfil her duties as duchess. In truth, life had become even more suffocating than when she was just a maid.

There was no guarantee that what happened today wouldn’t happen again.

The sorrow she had tried so hard to suppress surged through the cracks and tore mercilessly at her heart.

Small sobs escaped her lips, mingling with her uneven breaths.

She was devastated.

Being told in Edric’s presence that she would make a better mistress than a wife filled her with shame and grief. Once again, she had failed to protect her rightful place by his side.

Edric remained silent throughout their entire journey to Hétar. He had left the room the moment they arrived at the hotel. Even the brief outing she had shared with Laura had caused trouble, and now she was sitting there once again, feeling small and insignificant, trapped alone in this enormous space.

‘Is he meeting the princess of Hétar now?’

The thought crossed Yuis mind faintly.

‘Even in the presence of such a noble, elegant princess… is he still capable of being this cruel?’

As Yuis slowly opened her eyes and stopped her thoughts from spiralling, she saw a tall figure come into view.

The man standing before her had perfect posture and could only be her husband, Edric Descartes.

She blinked in a daze, and her vision gradually cleared. Edric stood motionless, his gaze fixed on her tear-streaked face.

The moment their eyes met, Yuis felt as though she had stopped breathing at the deep blue intensity of his gaze.

After a while, Edric finally moved. Without saying a word, he stepped forward and sat down beside her.

Letting out a quiet sigh, he took a handkerchief out of the inner pocket of his jacket.

Gently cupping her chin with one hand, he began wiping away her tears.

When Yuis turned her face away, Edric’s grip on her chin tightened slightly to stop her from moving. Eventually, she surrendered, closing her eyes and relaxing her body. Once she stopped resisting, his touch softened considerably.

After carefully wiping away all her tears, he placed a cold compress on her swollen wrist and spoke in a low, gentle voice.

“Why are you crying?”

He gazed at her for a moment, seemingly genuinely curious, but Yuis remained silent, her eyes still closed. Even her breathing was still unsteady.

Lowering his gaze to her wrist, Edric’s brow furrowed slightly.

He hadn’t originally intended to approach her, but seeing Laura anxiously searching for Isaac without Yuis at her side had triggered an instinctive reaction in him.

The moment he saw Laura’s panicked expression, he knew that something had happened to Yuis. But he hadn’t expected to find her surrounded by a group of men.

Suppressing the rage boiling inside him, he approached them.

At first, he had assumed they were just a few drunken men bothering his wife because she was beautiful. But what he discovered was far worse.

One of the men had dared to address Yuis by name in fluent Darec. Yuis was allowing herself to be pulled away by him, offering no resistance.

For a brief moment, Edric even found himself suspecting her.

But that thought didn’t last long.

The Yuis Descartes he knew would never scheme to seduce noblemen for personal gain.

In fact, it was more likely that she had fallen victim to the nobles who frequented that house. For a poor, low-born woman, beauty was a curse.

Once he had worked through the situation in his head, Edric managed to control his temper and escort her back to their suite.

However, the bruised wrist and the cheek that had been touched by another man’s filthy hand told a different story.

After ordering Noah to investigate everyone present at the scene, Edric returned to Yuis with a cold compress. He thought that the matter was settled — at least for now.

Those who had dared to insult the Duchess of Kalang would face the consequences, and it was his responsibility to ensure that happened.

However, when he returned, Yuis was crying.

Why?

He had overlooked everything: the lies she had told and the fact that she had deceived him by infiltrating Kalang as the Duchess. All of it.

There was only one thing Edric had asked of Yuis. Yet she hadn’t even managed that. Instead, she had become involved with men from Darec, angering him once more.

Despite him providing for all her needs, she continued to act as though she were wearing ill-fitting clothes.

She never smiled genuinely at him, nor did she ever cry for him.

He found this displeasing.

Yuis remained silent for so long that only the faint clinking of the fully melted ice pack could be heard in the room.

When she finally opened her swollen, puffy eyes, she immediately met Edric’s gaze. He had been watching her the entire time.

As their eyes met, Yuis cautiously broke the silence.

“Thank you… for coming earlier.”

Edric didn’t look away; his blue eyes were still fixed on hers.

“You were the one who said it. You said that you wanted me to protect my place as the Duchess.”

At that, Edric nodded slightly, prompting her to continue.

“I couldn’t even manage that properly, not even on our honeymoon.”

It was not a bad answer. Satisfied, Edric nodded again, a faint smile curving his lips.

He was still angry with Yuis for enduring such humiliation. However, the fact that she had kept her composure for his sake made him feel somewhat content.

However, she still didn’t seem to realise that if she had truly cared for him, she wouldn’t have allowed herself to be humiliated.

“Yuis, you are not just a Descartes. You are the one and only Duchess of Descartes of Kalang.”

Yuis blinked her swollen violet eyes and nodded gently in response. Seeing her reaction, Edric let out a quiet chuckle.

‘She still has no idea what it truly means to bear the name Descartes.’

“Even the King of Darec himself can no longer treat you carelessly.”

It didn’t matter if she didn’t fully understand yet. There was no need for him to explain. As Descartes, she would soon enough come to feel it.

Anyone who dared to tarnish the Descartes name would not be spared, no matter who they were. As Yuis tilted her head slightly in confusion, Edric simply offered her an elegant smile.