Chapter 42
The head butler’s face instantly went pale.
“Did… Did the Madam enter that room? Good heavens, this old man must have lost his senses for a moment. Hardly anyone ever goes to the third floor because of your orders, Lord Kallion. I’m sorry. I’ll apologize to the Madam personally.”
At the sight of the head butler floundering as though he had committed some grave sin, Kallion pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed.
The bruise on her wrist seemed to stand out in his mind even more.
Seeing the head butler looking ready to drop to his knees at any moment, Kallion glanced down at the letter he had just read and continued.
“Forget it. I’ll have to dine with Juliana anyway.”
The letter contained words personally scrawled by his father, the head of House Baldomer.
In short, he had heard about their distant marriage and ordered them to behave properly before more rumors spread.
“I’ll speak with Juliana myself.”
* * *
Only an awkward silence filled the dining room.
I sat across from Kallion with a table far too large for a meal between two people separating us.
His suggestion that we have dinner together had been unexpected, but it wasn’t particularly surprising.
Around this point, it was about time both families noticed how distant our marriage was and started applying pressure.
I tried to ignore the suffocating atmosphere and took a spoonful of soup. He was the one who spoke first.
“Like I said before, you don’t need to go out of your way to do things no one asked you to do.”
At his dry voice, I looked at him indifferently. Aware of my gaze, he deliberately looked away before continuing.
“I’m saying you only need to manage the household and make sure the ledgers are prepared on time.”
The fact that he wouldn’t meet my eyes, unlike himself, made me reply bluntly.
“You have a strange way of apologizing.”
Perhaps I’d hit the mark, because Kallion pressed his lips together.
Whether we liked each other or not, we’d been husband and wife in my previous life and had shared a bed. I didn’t want to know him that well, but I could still notice subtle differences in his indifferent tone.
Not wanting to argue with him any further over what happened that day, I let out a sighing reply.
“I know now that the room is important to you, so I won’t enter it without permission again.”
He looked surprised.
‘Did she find out that was Mother’s room? I suppose one of the servants could have told her.’
Thinking that, his expression grew noticeably lighter.
“Thank you for understanding.”
His answer left me frozen in disbelief.
Even though I’d told myself I didn’t care, to thank his wife for understanding his relationship with his secretary.
Had he always been this shameless?
In my previous life, whenever I confronted him about Layla, he had treated me like a madwoman. Yet now he was casually acknowledging it.
Rather than anger, sheer disbelief was more accurate.
I chewed and swallowed my food as indifferently as possible, trying not to let my expression betray any agitation.
Misinterpreting my reaction, he casually spoke again.
“I heard from the main family. It would be best if we had meals together regularly from now on.”
Then, apparently worried I might misunderstand, he graciously added.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s only to reduce unnecessary friction between our houses.”
“I won’t misunderstand.”
At my calm response, he stared silently at me.
I met his gaze directly.
“If you’re worried I’ll misunderstand your behavior and start liking you even more, you don’t need to worry about that.”
You must think I’ll keep liking you no matter what you do. But I’m not the one who’s mistaken. You are.
I met his amethyst eyes coldly.
“I don’t like you anymore, Kallion.”
Silence fell instantly.
It almost felt as though time had stopped.
He stared at me without moving, then asked quietly.
As though he genuinely wanted to know.
“Why?”
Why…?
Did I really need a reason?
Kallion hated me enough to be sickened by me, and I no longer felt even the slightest trace of affection for him.
No, I despised him.
What explanation or excuse did a relationship like ours need?
Perhaps realizing to some extent what my gaze meant, he quickly took back the question.
“No, you don’t need to tell me. I’m truly relieved that you do not hold any more feelings for me.”
With that, he calmly looked away.
There was something terribly unnatural about the gesture, but I had no desire to dig into why.
Against the silence that settled over us again, I calmly continued eating.
Unlike me, he kept staring at me for quite some time.
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