Chapter 57
III.
At Lloyd’s thinly veiled jab, Kallion’s expression crumpled.
“Layla is my secretary.”
“You two looked so affectionate that I never imagined she was your secretary. Didn’t you also leave your wife behind to take care of that woman at the last Baldomer banquet?”
“What are you trying to say?”
At Kallion’s growling response, Lloyd smiled leisurely.
“I was only stating the facts exactly as I saw them.”
“……”
Sensing the ominous atmosphere between the two men over me, Layla anxiously bit her lip.
Then, putting on a pitiful expression, she forced herself to act as though nothing was wrong and spoke.
“Lord Kallion, please don’t worry about me. I can go inside on my own.”
As Layla turned around after saying that, she staggered. Kallion instinctively caught Layla beside him with one arm and sighed.
Then his gaze immediately turned toward Lloyd and me.
Kallion seemed reluctant to leave, glancing at me as though checking my reaction before speaking stiffly.
“I’ll just take Layla to a room and come back, so wait here for a moment.”
“……”
For some reason, the situation felt like déjà vu.
If there was anything different, it was that he was at least a little more mindful of me?
But ultimately, the result was the same.
He was leaving me alone at the banquet to take care of Layla.
Layla knew Kallion far too well.
She knew he was weak when it came to people of Baldomer. And that because he was so wary by nature, once he gave someone his trust and affection, he became especially weak toward them.
And Layla, who met every one of those conditions, was smiling triumphantly in Kallion’s arms.
As I watched them disappear without showing any emotion, Lloyd whispered to me.
“Are you going to stay here obediently and wait for your husband?”
It sounded like the whisper of a devil.
Or perhaps the salvation of an angel…
After hesitating, I turned toward Lloyd with an expressionless face.
“Let’s leave, together.”
At that, he smiled more beautifully than ever.
“A wise decision.”
* * *
Throughout the ride in Silverstel’s carriage, I stared only out the window.
Belated regret washed over me.
I felt pathetic for accepting his help after so coldly rejecting even the possibility of friendship.
Then Lloyd was the first to break the awkward silence.
“To tell you the truth, I wanted to do this back then too.”
When I looked at him questioningly, he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and continued.
“When I saw you left alone at the Baldomer banquet.”
“……”
The moment I saw the bitter smile on his face, I realized once again that I shouldn’t have done this.
This wasn’t about other people’s gazes or my reputation. One lifetime of him becoming unhappy because he was entangled with me was enough.
“Please drop me off at the Baldomer estate.”
At my cold words, Lloyd frowned.
“Are you really going to go quietly back to the estate?”
“For now, I’m still the lady of Baldomer.”
“For now…”
I had said it without any particular meaning, but Lloyd reacted sharply, like an experienced hunter spotting an opening in his prey.
“That makes it sound as though someday you might not be.”
Caught off guard, I was momentarily left speechless.
I had forgotten.
He was always smiling warmly, but he was a man who hid a keen and meticulous mind beneath it.
That was why, no matter how badly I had wanted to leave him in my previous life, I had never been able to escape his grasp. He would always find me with that gentle smile and lock me back inside his embrace.
Thinking back on it now, perhaps he did have a somewhat persistent side to him.
“Instead of going straight back, why don’t we get some fresh air first?”
The blue-eyed angel whispered gently.
“And get back at your infuriating husband while we’re at it.”
It was quite a sweet temptation.
Truthfully, with my fever making my body burn, I wanted to feel some cold air. I also didn’t particularly feel like obediently returning to Kallion’s estate.
Fortunately, unlike a little while ago when I’d been breaking out in a cold sweat, I could manage my body reasonably well now.
Looking at Lloyd’s smiling face made me weak enough to wonder if this small act of rebellion might be alright.
In the end, I lost to Lloyd’s smile.
“Only for a little while.”
At my deliberately firm words, Lloyd smiled brightly.
“As you wish, Madam.”
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