I Didn’t Know I Had Two Husbands - Chapter 8

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Elaria was attended by the head maid and several maids. After taking off her wedding dress, she had a light meal and then bathed. She soaked in water filled with rose petals and was groomed with beauty salts and rose oil.

Wearing a white slip and a silk robe, she stepped out of the duchess’s room. Ushered by the head maid, she headed toward the duke’s room. It was on the same floor, so guidance was not really necessary, but today she did not have the confidence to go alone. Because she could easily imagine what was about to happen.

Even though she had visited the ducal manor regularly over the course of many years, she had never once been inside his room. They had mostly met at their secret hideout, and occasionally went for walks, or only visited the reception room or study together.

She had been secretly curious about what his room would be like, but she had never been able to say that she wanted to see it. It was partly consideration for him, who was busy, and partly because she had been waiting for him to invite her first.

With the feeling that her heart might jump out of her mouth, Elaria pressed her lips together tightly and followed behind the head maid. After knocking for her, the head maid opened the door. Elaria stood before the open doorway, glanced inside for a moment, then took a deep breath and stepped in.

Lucian, who had been sitting on the sofa in the private sitting room, immediately stood up. Striding toward her, he held out his hand as he had at the ceremony and called her quietly.

“Elaria.”

Every time he called her name, her stomach fluttered. In the past, she had been disappointed that he did not call her by a nickname. She had wanted to feel a little closer to him.

But now, she no longer felt any regret when he called her by her name as it was. Instead, whenever he said her name, it tickled so much that she found herself pressing her upper and lower lips together.

Click.

The sound of the door closing seemed unusually loud. He was dressed similarly to her. Staring blankly at his casually worn silk trousers and robe, she walked forward and sat on the sofa at his gesture.

Lucian sat beside her rather than across from her and silently lifted his wine glass. It seemed he had already been drinking before she arrived, as there was not much left in the glass.

Afraid that her heart might leap out of her chest, Elaria could not say anything. While preparing for the wedding, she hadn’t seen him, so there had been many things she wanted to ask. But now, none of them came to mind.

At that moment, Lucian set his glass down on the table and spoke first.

“…Do you want some wine?”

“Hm? Ah, yes.”

It was their first conversation in almost two years and five months. Elaria shifted her gaze slightly from straight ahead to look at him. As she watched his profile while he poured wine into the glass prepared for her on the table, her heart began to pound even harder than before.

Just as she had seen at the ceremony, he seemed to have lost a little weight, which gave him an even sharper impression. Feeling worried and at the same time embarrassed by her own racing heart, she placed both hands over her chest.

“Here.”

Quickly turning away from the gaze she had fixed on him, she awkwardly accepted the glass he handed her. He refilled his own glass as well and lifted it. The two of them looked forward for no particular reason and emptied their glasses in silence.

After the alcohol took effect, Elaria gathered the courage to ask what she had been wondering all this time. It was rather absurd to ask after the wedding had already been completed and could not be undone, but she had no choice.

He was always busy.

And she did not have the courage to trouble him.

“…Lucian.”

“Yes.”

“Why…”

She wanted to ask why he had sent her the proposal letter, but her throat had gone dry. Only after drinking the rest of her wine could she continue.

“Why… did you propose to me?”

As soon as she voiced the question that had occupied her mind for months, she felt relieved, yet her palms grew damp with tension. Unable to look at him, she turned her head the other way and worried her lower lip between her teeth.

For a moment, only silence filled the room. Waiting for his answer, she finally turned her head back toward him out of curiosity. Then their eyes met immediately, as if he had been watching her the whole time. His deep red eyes, vivid like wine, still had the power to draw her in.

“……”

He stared at her silently, then spoke after a long delay.

“Then why did you accept?”