Chapter 67
A couple of hours later, Harriet left Ellen’s house after crying so much that her eyes were nearly swollen shut.
“Just stay the night… Please?”
Concerned, Ellen tried multiple times to hold Harriet back, but it was no use.
“I’m fine. Really, Ellen.”
Harriet, repeatedly declining Ellen’s offer, took a deep breath. Though her eyes were swollen, she could still see well enough.
Ellen, looking at her with pity, cautiously asked,
“Then… are you going to inform him about the divorce right away?”
“No.”
When Harriet shook her head lightly, Ellen’s eyes wavered, as if she hadn’t expected that answer. Harriet lifted the corners of her mouth.
“I can’t do that. I’ll end it, but not so simply. He won’t let me go easily either.”
“What are you planning to do…”
“I have my own way.”
It was a meaningful smile. Just before Ellen, sensing something ominous, reached out to stop Harriet one last time, Harriet turned around first.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Miss…!”
Ellen urgently called after Harriet as she walked away. Harriet turned her head slightly but didn’t look back.
“Don’t overdo it.”
“…”
“Okay? I won’t let you go unless you promise.”
Harriet, biting her lip at Ellen’s determined words, nodded.
“Yes…”
It felt like someone had stuffed cotton in her throat, making it hard to speak. Harriet mounted her horse before Ellen could hold her back again.
* * *
“Ma… Madam?”
When Harriet returned to the Ducal Mansion, people greeted her as if they had seen a ghost.
“Why? Did something happen?”
Removing her coat, Harriet asked the shocked butler in a casual tone. The butler, who had been frozen, stammered as he explained.
“Actually… The Master was in a frenzy trying to find you. He even went to your family home, but when he heard you weren’t there, he was almost ready to turn the capital upside down.”
“…He noticed, after all.”
It seemed the gatekeeper hadn’t revealed anything, but Lennox must have been certain that she had overheard the conversation between him and Eugene.
“Madam?”
“It’s nothing. Where is he now?”
“In the study…”
“Harriet!”
Before the butler could finish speaking, a loud voice interrupted from above. Harriet looked up at Lennox with her head held high.
“Darling.”
Lennox, almost leaping down the stairs, grabbed her hand and headed upwards. Harriet, pretending to be confused, followed him up the stairs.
Lennox stopped in front of the bedroom. As soon as the door closed behind them, Harriet found herself trapped, blocked by him.
“Lennox, what’s going on?”
“Coco…”
Harriet looked intently at her husband’s face. It was hard to believe it had only been a few hours since she last saw him; he looked haggard. His eyes, usually calm, were now shadowed with something almost like madness.
“I thought you were leaving for good…”
“Me? Why?”
“Well…”
Lennox, speaking, blinked as if sensing something odd.
“You visited the mansion earlier… following Eugene?”
“Yes, I did.”
The faint hope that it might have been a misunderstanding vanished like a mirage. Lennox bit the inside of his mouth, pondering how to navigate this situation.
“I was there, but I left right away. Yvonne said there was an urgent matter. What’s going on?”
“Right away?”
Lennox, repeating her words, furrowed his brow.
“They said you weren’t at the department store.”
“I wasn’t. I went to a client.”
“A client…”
“But why is the atmosphere at the mansion so strange, and what’s the matter? I heard you were looking for me so desperately… Ah!”
Harriet’s words were cut off. She was helplessly pulled into his broad chest by a strong force.
“Nothing… Nothing at all.”
Lennox sighed in relief and closed his eyes tightly.
His golden eyes turned cold.
Lennox noticed something was amiss after releasing the embrace.
“Your eyes are very swollen. Did something happen?”
“Oh, this.”
His long fingers caressed her cheek. Harriet belatedly realized her eyes were swollen from crying at Ellen’s house. Though he asked gently, his blue eyes held a hint of suspicion. While she hesitated to answer, his persistent gaze bore into her. Swallowing dryly, Harriet replied as if nothing was wrong.
“You know what? Aaron and Yvonne are a couple.”
“…What?”
Lennox, caught off guard by the unexpected answer, widened his eyes.
“So the urgent matter was…”
“Yvonne confessed to me that she’s in a relationship with Aaron and wants to marry him soon. Since I’m her direct superior and senior from the academy, she was worried our relationship might become strained.”
The lie flowed smoothly, even surprising herself. Seeing the suspicion fade from Lennox’s eyes, Harriet rested her forehead against his chest as if leaning on him.
“I couldn’t help but cry out of emotion. They’re the two people I cherish the most. I secretly hoped they’d end up together, and hearing such news overwhelmed me.”
“Ah…”
Lennox, unconsciously wrapping his arms around Harriet’s waist, nodded.
“That’s really wonderful news.”
“Right? I hope they get permission to marry from my parents without any issues.”
Yvonne had once mentioned announcing her marriage to cover the aggressive articles related to Harriet’s birth. Feeling a slight guilt for using her like this, Harriet spoke playfully.
“I didn’t think I’d cry over news like this. It’s ridiculous, even to me.”
“That can happen. You’ve changed a bit over time.”
Changed?
Harriet almost laughed at that comment. The past three years flashed through her mind.
She pretended to be unaffected, but inside, she struggled with betrayal and pain. It began with being abandoned by her first love and ended with relationships that didn’t end well. Each breakup led to the newspapers branding her as a femme fatale or the queen of scandals. Naturally, the gazes she encountered grew colder.
Though she acted indifferent, each incident chipped away at her once towering confidence. Harriet gradually felt unworthy of being truly loved by anyone.
“Coco?”
Curious about the meaningful silence, Lennox looked down at her crown. Before he could reach out to release the embrace and examine her face, Harriet pulled away first.
“Anyway, after hugging and crying with Yvonne for so long, I’m exhausted.”
“Are you going to wash up?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll prepare the bathwater for you.”
Harriet smirked at his gentle voice. Lennox maintained the facade of a kind and caring husband to the end, as if trying to atone for his previous misdeeds.
But to a victim who neither sought compensation nor forgiveness, the perpetrator’s kindness was merely another form of deceit.
“Thank you, that would be nice.”
* * *
It took a while to refuse Lennox’s offer to wash her hair like last time. After bathing alone and coming out of the bathroom, she couldn’t turn down his kind offer to dry her hair with a long towel.
Harriet lay stretched out on the couch, using the low armrest as a pillow, and extended her legs. Lennox carefully dried her black hair and massaged her scalp.
Despite her feelings, her body relaxed and reveled in the comfort. Half-asleep, Harriet almost forgot the situation as her heavy eyelids began to close. Just before they shut completely, a low voice pulled her back from the brink of sleep.
“Coco.”
“Yes…?”
“What do you think about having a child?”
The warm atmosphere instantly turned icy. Harriet’s eyes snapped open. Her heart pounded, and her mouth went dry.
“A child…?”
“Yes. We’re a married couple. A couple that loves each other.”
Lennox, smiling as if her surprise was unnecessary, finished drying her hair. Harriet coughed and forced a smile.
“Well, isn’t it too soon? We haven’t been married for long.”
Though it was a gentle refusal, his reply was firm.
“We both married a bit later than the ideal age. So I think it would be good to have a child sooner than others.”
“…”
Lennox’s words weren’t wrong. Harriet was approaching thirty. Most noblewomen got engaged in their early twenties and married by their mid-twenties at the latest. They had children within two years.
She and Yvonne were exceptions. Her father had overlooked her increasingly delayed marriage prospects because of the incident three years ago. Pretending to consider it, Harriet closed her eyes gently.
“Well… I never thought I’d get married, so I never thought about having a child.”
That part was true. After her engagement with Mikhail broke off, marriage itself became a nightmare for her. She thought it better to remain single for life than to be betrayed again. That’s why she couldn’t deepen her relationships with the men she dated. Deepening the relationship naturally led to thoughts of marriage. However, there were times when she met someone who seemed promising for the future.
“Harriet. I love you. I want to marry you. I want to be happy with you.”
But happiness didn’t last long. Each time, the man ended up addicted to gambling or alcohol. If not, he disappeared for unknown reasons. Without even a last letter or note, he left in a hurry. After such repeated incidents, she eventually reached a state of near-enlightenment.
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Nous_Defions
Now the scheming against each other will begin… Something Lennox, I terribly feel, will lose, no matter what his actions… Harriet has already made a decision… Tsks… So sad…