I Didn’t Know I Had Two Husbands - Chapter 61

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The palace attendants clicked their tongues when they saw her face. The face that had seemed to be crying looked perfectly fresh. Realizing that Elisa had put on an act, the attendants quickly escorted only Elaria away.

“Allow us to guide you, Your Grace. Please come this way.”

“…Thank you.”

Elaria lowered the corners of her eyes deeply and began to walk. The attendants looked at her with sympathy, then cast sharp glances at the stunned Elisa left behind.

What did family matter in a noble society where rank came first? To dare say to the duchess’s face that she was obsessed with a man. And they knew that the man in question was the duke.

Each of the attendants hurried off, eager to share this interesting incident with someone they knew. Before long, Elisa was left alone in the corridor.

* * *

After returning to the banquet hall, Elaria looked for Lucian. She spotted him in the distance, but there were too many people around him. There were not only men but quite a few women as well, and her stomach began to churn again.

She tried to maintain a calm expression. Then she slowly walked toward him. As she moved, she could feel countless gazes sticking to her.

She would probably continue to receive such attention as long as she lived beside him.

As the duchess, she could not allow herself to be taken lightly. Even things she had once thought trivial might now need to be examined and questioned one by one.

Remembering Elisa from earlier, she pressed her lips together. Then, as if it were only natural, she moved through the crowd and approached Lucian step by step.

Click, click. The sound of her shoes striking the marble beneath her dress rang clearly. As if recognizing the sound alone, Lucian turned.

“Ria.”

He had only given a faint smile, yet she felt as if she had gained the whole world. But the sight of a woman standing beside him and not leaving made her stomach twist again.

Elaria had not known she had such a passionate side.

When he had said he wanted to see another side of her, she thought she had already shown him everything. But she had not.

She stared openly at the woman standing uncomfortably close to him. It was a marquis’s daughter. The woman, holding her chin high, was someone who had once been rumored to be matched with Lucian.

Of course, Lucian had been dating Elaria at the time, so the rumor must have come from others or from the marquis’s daughter’s followers.

Now, she was his wife.

“Luce, were you waiting?”

She boldly used the nickname she had long wanted to call him. For a moment, Lucian’s eyes wavered. Encouraged by his reaction, she stepped naturally between him and the marquis’s daughter.

The marquis’s daughter, pushed aside without realizing it, showed a resentful expression. Elaria actually knew quite a lot about the rumors of high society. It had been possible because everyone had looked down on her.

People are like that.

They are careful in front of those they must be careful around, but in front of someone they consider unimportant, their restraint disappears. Because of that, the tea party members and other young ladies had spoken freely in front of her.

So Elaria knew how childish the marquis’s daughter was. From the way she had been doted on as the youngest daughter despite the marquis’s strained finances, to the fact that only people who said what she wanted to hear remained around her.

That was why she could not control her expression like that.

“Oh my, Lady. Are you perhaps feeling unwell?”

“…Pardon? Me?”

“Your face is red and you’re frowning… Oh dear, could it be that you drank and your stomach is upset?”

Elaria herself was surprised to discover this side of her. Seeing the marquis’s daughter’s face twist at her words made her feel strangely relieved.

To dare cling to Lucian when he was a married man, it was extremely unpleasant.

“Ria, your hand…”

He, who had been silent, held out his arm and called to her. Elaria, who had instinctively turned her gaze at his call, suddenly felt a little annoyed with him.

Why hadn’t he pushed away the woman who had come so close to him? She had been standing near enough that it almost looked like they were linking arms.

Her full lips twisted slightly. Lucian’s eyes widened a little as he noticed the subtle change. The sight of his wife simply staring at him without placing her hand on his arm felt unfamiliar.

Lucian stared intently at Elaria, who was showing a side he had never seen before. Was this how Noctis had felt? Even after watching her for so long, there were still new sides to her.