Chapter 85
He was simply saying that I was the lady of Baldomer.
Just as he had said, since I was Madam Baldomer at least in name, insulting me was no different from insulting Baldomer.
That was surely what he meant.
And yet, strangely, those last four words sounded like something else.
Silence settled between us.
It felt similar to that moment.
That precarious sensation of standing on the edge of a blade.
The heated, swollen atmosphere from when he kissed me, so intense that my skin seemed to sting.
I forced myself to ignore the sensation and avoided Kallion’s gaze.
“If you have nothing else to say, let me go inside.”
I tried to pull my wrist free as I spoke, but Kallion tightened his grip.
“I’m not finished.”
I frowned at the forceful pressure and shot him a sharp glare.
Selfish man.
Whether it was that night when he had made a naked woman bend over and then left her alone before walking out of the room.
Or when he kissed me however he wanted, then threw me out because he wasn’t in the mood anymore.
He was consistently selfish and thought only of himself.
“Look at how you’re behaving right now.”
Kallion’s brow stiffened beneath my hostile gaze.
Looking directly at him, I spoke slowly and clearly.
“You’re the master of Baldomer, and you treat me like this. How can you expect anyone else to treat me as the lady of the house?”
Kallion stared blankly at me.
I didn’t miss the opening.
I coldly pulled my hand free and spoke.
“The person who humiliates me the most is always you, Kallion. No one else.”
With those final words, I turned away without hesitation and walked off.
Watching Juliana’s back as she disappeared into the distance, Kallion swept back his bangs in frustration.
* * *
Kallion stared at the documents in front of him for a long while.
Juliana’s words kept circling in his mind.
‘You’re the master of Baldomer, and you treat me like this. How can you expect anyone else to treat me as the lady of the house?’
She had spoken as though his treatment of her was worse than that of those rude wives of the vassal houses.
Only then did he remember the kiss from the other day.
He hadn’t intended to do it at all, but he had forced her mouth open and kissed her.
He had ignored her struggling, scratching, and biting his lips as she tried to tell him she hated it.
But she had been the one to provoke him by taking off her dress first.
In the end, he had come to his senses and sent her away.
Though now that he thought about it, sending her out of the room after she had stripped off her bodice did bother him somewhat.
But even that had been an act of superhuman restraint for both their sakes.
He hadn’t intended to pounce on her like a beast that had starved for days in that state.
Extremely generous when judging his own behavior, Kallion frowned as though he still couldn’t understand what exactly he had done wrong.
Then suddenly, he began thinking back on everything he had said to her.
‘Sharing a bed on an appointed day? Do you have no pride at all?’
‘You really know how to make someone sick of you. If you’re that desperate for s*x, take a lover. I won’t say anything about it.’
‘There’s no way I’d ever be aroused by you, Juliana. That would not be a fault on my part.’
‘Goddamn Heister. This isn’t a room someone like you has any right to enter.’
‘Were you so blinded by a man that you leaked Baldomer’s information?’
‘Lift your skirt and bend over, Juliana. I’ll give you what you want.’
Kallion stopped thinking there and pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Haah…”
But back then, he hadn’t trusted her.
Then did he trust her now?
“……”
At the very least, he knew now that she wasn’t as foolish and selfish as he had believed.
In an estate where not a single person treated her kindly, she had always taken responsibility for every duty entrusted to her.
Even when she had been sick enough to collapse, she had still attended the banquet as the lady of Baldomer.
A foolishly upright woman who had silently remained at her post even while everyone whispered that she was a traitor who had stolen Baldomer’s confidential information.
For a moment, Kallion felt like an enormous bastard.
He still didn’t trust her completely.
But he had no choice but to admit that, just as she said, he had been extremely disrespectful towards her until now.
Besides, whether they liked it or not, they were husband and wife.
Unless war broke out between Baldomer and Heister, their relationship couldn’t be undone.
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