Chapter 36

Rabiana simply wasn’t feeling well.

Even if their relationship was based on a contract, Alberto was still the husband who shared her bed. That was why the thought that he might have held another woman gave her a slight sense of aversion.

“…Jealousy? That’s absurd.”

They said jealousy was the feeling of having something dear to you taken away by someone else.

Rabiana had never felt jealousy before, and she didn’t believe the confusion she was experiencing now was that.

Wasn’t that right?

There was nothing between her and Alberto, and she didn’t even like him.

The thought that he might be a better person than she’d expected was just a flicker of fondness — it would never become anything more. No. It wouldn’t.

‘Right. Rabiana, there’s no way you’d feel that.’

The name he rarely called her by came out soaked in the strong scent of alcohol. Rabiana’s brows furrowed.

Alberto caught the reflex and let out a faint chuckle.

He gently rubbed the wrinkle between her brows. Rabiana hesitated, then parted her reluctant lips.

“Did you… drink a lot?”

“Maybe.”

“You don’t usually drink.”

“How well do you know me?”

The words, tossed out like the wind, made Rabiana bite her lip.

The offhand comment rippled quietly through her chest.

‘How well do I know him…?’ The words echoed inside her.

She didn’t know anything about who Alberto really was.

So he felt unfamiliar, difficult, and frightening. And now… a little intriguing.

While she’d been asleep, drunk, what on earth had happened?

What kind of conversation had taken place?

Was something bad enough to drive him to drink?

“Did something… happen?”

“My wife gave me a bit of heartburn.”

Alberto’s hair brushed her forehead. Rabiana flinched and closed her eyes.

As Alberto laughed, a faint breath scattered across her nose and lips.

“Because of you, I don’t feel like myself.”

At Alberto’s brief jab, Rabiana grew oddly calm. She was no longer afraid of him.

She mulled over his cryptic words. She couldn’t understand what he meant.

Then the pressure holding her wrist disappeared. The weight that had been pressing down on her shifted to the side.

Only then did Rabiana realize she’d been holding her breath.

“I had to confirm something myself.”

“…”

“Just go to sleep.”

Alberto pressed gently on her eyelids. She couldn’t see anyway, so it didn’t matter, but as his heavy hand settled over her eyes, Rabiana closed them.

But sleep didn’t come.

Her mind stirred restlessly.

***

“What is this even supposed to be…”

Alberto gave a hollow laugh. Rabiana stood behind him, frozen.

She couldn’t make sense of the situation.

When she woke up, the house was completely empty.

No matter how much she searched, there was no trace of anyone in the mansion.

In the living room, on the table, a single note sat beside a bouquet of flowers.

[I’ve gone in search of freedom. You two enjoy the honeymoon. If you stay in that suffocating mansion too long, your wife might cough up a relic too.

— Your loving Cupid]

Alberto couldn’t help but let out a short, muffled laugh, and Rabiana tugged lightly at his sleeve.

“Wh-what’s going on?”

She was completely at a loss, but even she could sense that something unusual had happened.

When Rabiana had woken up and come downstairs, she’d heard Alberto moving around busily.

She quickly realized, by the tone of things, that he was looking for Lex — and immediately grew serious.

Alberto looked at Rabiana holding onto him, then at the snow falling beyond the window.

That Lex had packed everything up and run off was both outrageous and incomprehensible.

There were still business matters to discuss, and it left a sting in the back of his head —

but more than anything, the biggest problem was that it had left Alberto completely stranded.

“Most likely.”

He watched the snow beating relentlessly against the floor-to-ceiling windows as he gathered his thoughts.

“It seems we’ll have to stay a few more days.”

“Ah… a few more days?”

An unprecedented blizzard was falling. Instead of explaining further, Alberto chose another answer.

“Yes. Just the two of us.”

The swirling snowstorm seemed to be an omen of a grim future. It was an uncharacteristically sentimental thought for Alberto.

***

Rabiana sat blankly on the sofa. She wondered if he’d even dismissed the staff, since the house was cold without any heating.

Thankfully, she was wearing the fur coat Alberto had given her, so she wasn’t cold, but she still felt a little guilty that she couldn’t help him as he worked to light the fireplace.

At least some dry logs had been left beside the hearth, but none of them had been split yet.

Thwack!

Thud!

The axe biting into the wood made a harsh sound.

“Hoo…”

Alberto rolled up his sleeves. Swinging an axe was something he’d never imagined himself doing, and even in the chill, sweat beaded on his skin. Damn Lex.

Lex had always trailed after Alberto with an almost one-sided devotion, but he’d never stabbed him in the back like this.

He’d always been a free spirit, but it was all within the bounds Alberto set.

He lived as if there were no tomorrow, yet he was a coward — whenever he caused trouble, he’d come running back to Alberto. But this was the first time he’d truly fled.

Whether he’d planned to leave from the start or whether Alberto’s arrival had spurred him to run off impulsively, Alberto couldn’t tell.

“Utterly useless.”

At Alberto’s muttered complaint, Rabiana flinched.

“Why are you getting up?”

Alberto sensed Rabiana shifting as she unconsciously lifted herself off the sofa and asked curiously.

Rabiana shook her head toward the vague outline she could barely make out. She couldn’t bring herself to say she wanted to help.

If she tried to help like this, she might only get in the way.

She had stood up, feeling guilty, but in the end, she sank back down.

“I… I just… Is there anything I can do?”

“Staying put is helping.”

As expected… She wasn’t even disappointed to hear it. Rabiana bowed her head, feeling like she’d become a criminal for no reason.

At first, Alberto ignored her. But when her head didn’t lift again, he set down the axe and reached out to tilt her chin up with his fingertips.

“Why do you look so down?”

“…..”

“Is it because you can’t go home?”

Rabiana couldn’t clearly see his face through the blur, but she could tell Alberto was paying attention to her.

If he wasn’t, there would be no reason for him to check on how she was doing.

When had it started?

Every little thing Alberto did felt too significant to her.

But surely it didn’t mean anything.

Alberto was simply sensitive to anything that might be a variable, and her subdued demeanor was a variable to him. That was all. It was a purely pragmatic interest — a human reaction.

“Aren’t you going to talk to me?”

What should she say?

“Why all of a sudden since yesterday?”

His question was fair.

Rabiana had been confused since last night — to be exact, since he said she could allow him to drink with other women.

Her heart had been noisy, boiling with anger, only to turn numb as she wondered what business it was of hers.

“Just.”

Something she hadn’t even dared to look at inside herself was stirring, as if it might spill out.

Rabiana quickly parted her lips.

“Just that… I feel like I’m no help at all.”

“You really worry about everything.”

Alberto let his hand fall away, curiosity satisfied. He moved back.

See? Alberto truly didn’t care about her.

What he was interested in wasn’t Rabiana’s state —

It was the reason he didn’t know.

Even though she understood, Rabiana still felt a faint resentment toward him as he moved away. She drew her knees together.

A little while later, the room grew brighter, and a warm heat began to spread. It seemed the fire had been lit.

“I don’t expect anything from you, so there’s no need to feel discouraged.”

Only then did Alberto speak, taking the seat beside the sofa. Rabiana neither nodded nor shook her head. She couldn’t answer at all.

What he wanted — yes, it was only a child.

“If I may…”

Suddenly, she felt curious. If a man like Alberto, who loathed variables to the point of obsession, were faced with one he couldn’t anticipate, how would he react?

“Really, just if. Hypothetically.”

A man so thorough he’d already accounted for the possibility she might be infertile, or that she might bear a daughter.

“If, Your Grace…”

“Yes.”

“If you were to come to like me… then would I be allowed to stay in the mansion?”