Chapter 47
The women who had been clicking their tongues in pity widened their eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Baldomer and Heister have always had a bad relationship, but just now, it looked like Lord Kallion was angry because of the insulting things being said about the Madam.”
At that moment, Layla, who had been silently listening to the noblewomen’s conversation, drank her wine.
She had felt exactly the same way as the woman.
He had spoken of Juliana as though she were an object, but Kallion had clearly seemed angry at Heister’s eldest son for treating her so poorly.
Layla deliberately drank even more wine where he could see her.
She knew Kallion had been disappointed in her over the orphanage incident.
But even so, he wouldn’t be able to simply ignore her.
To him, she was practically a younger sister.
“Miss Layla, are you alright? I think you’ve had too much to drink.”
Ignoring the attempt to stop her, Layla continued drinking her wine. Then she deliberately pretended to lose her grip on the glass and spilled wine over her dress as well.
Once Kallion considered someone his own, he never abandoned them easily.
That was the kind of man Layla knew him to be.
“Oh my! Layla! Are you alright?”
The woman beside her cried out in surprise.
Only then did Kallion look in their direction.
Layla staggered forward and picked up another full glass nearby.
Before she knew it, Kallion had left Juliana behind and approached her.
“Stop drinking.”
“I’m fine. I’m not drunk.”
“Look at yourself. Why are you acting like this? It’s not like you.”
His voice carried concern along with reproach.
“My hand just slipped.”
Layla’s gaze shifted toward Juliana.
Juliana was watching them with her usual expressionless face. She looked at Layla as though she could see straight through her, with an expression that seemed to call her pathetic.
The sight made Layla’s insides churn, and she deliberately pretended to lose her footing and fell toward Kallion.
Kallion easily pulled Layla by the shoulder into his arms and sighed.
“This won’t do. Let’s get you to your room first.”
With that, he supported Layla.
He didn’t seem to care at all how the others were looking at them.
Before leaving with Layla in his arms, he stopped briefly in front of Juliana.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Leaving only those words behind, he disappeared from the banquet hall with Layla.
The surrounding crowd immediately began murmuring again.
Left alone in the banquet hall, Juliana had to stand straight and endure all those gazes by herself.
“I knew their marriage was loveless, but… don’t tell me Lord Kallion and Lady Sorento are involved like that?”
“Oh, surely not. Layla practically grew up alongside Lord Kallion. She’s also been his secretary for years. She’s capable and pleasant, so of course he values her that much.”
“Whatever the case, it’s true that Madam Baldomer ranks below his secretary.”
Juliana clenched her fists at the whispers she could hear whether she wanted to or not.
Darkin, the head of House Baldomer, also left the banquet hall in anger.
Amid the murmuring crowd, Juliana was the only one left to endure those blatant stares.
A hollow feeling washed over her.
He was the one who had told her to fulfill her duty as the lady of the house. Yet he had casually abandoned his own duty as a husband.
Whether he realized it or not, it was no different from neglecting his responsibilities.
Whatever the two of them did in that secret room wasn’t important.
‘But, Kallion. This is your house’s banquet.’
She had prepared the banquet without complaint solely to establish herself as the lady of Baldomer.
As long as the banquet ended successfully, she didn’t care what he did.
She thought she didn’t care.
But the feeling of being left as nothing more than an empty shell and a mere prop was far more unpleasant than she’d expected.
Perhaps because he was the one who kept going on about her duty as the lady of the house, she’d expected him to at least fulfill his duty as her husband.
What had she been foolishly expecting…?
A hollow laugh slipped between her lips.
Her chest went cold.
The white gloves covering her hands suddenly felt suffocating.
Juliana stared down at them for a moment before casually pulling them off.
Then she strode proudly toward the entrance, leaving the whispering crowd behind.
‘I’ll be back soon.’
The words he had tossed out so casually came back to her.
Don’t make me laugh, Kallion.
Even if you come back, I won’t be there.
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