Chapter 131
Enoch gritted his teeth as he headed alone to the labor site where munitions were made.
He was thinking about Kido.
Why does she seem to be doing so well?
He had been certain that Kido, who was unable to even Awaken her abilities, would live miserably in prison, begging for his help.
Yet instead of begging, she looked at him as though he were vermin to be erased from her life’s record.
He couldn’t understand why she acted without a shred of attachment.
After all the time we’ve known each other, is there no affection at all?
He replayed their history in his mind.
Back when Duke Mare had offered Enoch as a fiancé to secure their family’s position and advance their standing.
“Hello, you’re Kido, right? I’m Enoch Mare…”
“Who do you think you are, speaking so informally to me?”
“I’m a year older than you, though?”
“In terms of mental age, I’m about twenty years older than you.”
When Enoch first met Kido, he had felt something unsettling about a mere ten-year-old girl.
To express it from his perspective as a child at the time, her cold way of speaking and those crimson eyes had frightened him.
As time passed and Kido came of age, she had become a woman so beautiful that even her haughtiness and prickliness seemed like facets of her allure.
“Lady Beatrice. I hear the spring flowers have bloomed beautifully at Melodia Park. Perhaps we could stroll through the grounds together and take in the scenery…”
“You must not be aware of my physical condition. Asking me to walk around a park that spans over ten thousand square meters feels like a clear intent to murder me.”
She was insane.
Even so, Enoch had fulfilled his duties as a fiancé.
His heart as well.
“With love, I offer you these red roses that match the color of your eyes…”
“I’m having an allergic rhinitis flare-up right now. Could you remove those?”
And as a man in his prime, he had been physically devoted too.
“Did you refuse the kiss because you’re worried about me getting infected? I’m a high-ranked ability user, so I’ll be fine. I don’t get sick easily.”
“Ah, I have a seasonal cold right now, and my nose is so congested that if we kissed, I’d suffocate and die.”
She was perpetually afflicted with minor ailments that changed with each season, refusing physical affection on health grounds.
On top of that, she dismissed his expressions of love as mere carnal desire.
“I understand you’re at that age, but with me, it could result in manslaughter, so please show some restraint.”
“This isn’t a man’s lust. It’s my feelings of affection for you…”
“It is the same thing. When the day comes that I’m healthy, you can do as you please.”
Which was essentially saying she would never permit it in her lifetime.
She was a woman who made him walk on eggshells, a woman so unattainable she might as well pierce the heavens.
Not once had Enoch ever found dealing with her easy.
Looking back on those memories, Enoch let out a hollow laugh.
“Hm. There’s nothing I have but irritating memories.”
He didn’t want to admit that he was the only one who had been sincere.
With that proud ego of hers, she couldn’t have actually slept with those men.
A sliver of relief cut through his stubborn pride. Enoch’s fist tightened.
What he wanted was the thrill of conquest.
***
“Number 10 was sent here for adultery, right? Supposedly killed the other party’s spouse for their money.”
“If she’s from the Sloth bloodline, she must’ve been pretty wealthy. Why would she?”
“Greed knows no bounds? And Number 6 apparently slept around indiscriminately with rich people for their money—men and women alike. That’s why she’s got chronic hemorrhoids…”
Viviana whipped her head around when she heard the prisoners whispering.
Still, since Viviana was a high-ranking prisoner, the gossiping inmates pretended they hadn’t been talking and looked away.
For someone who had lived as a noblewoman and only recently arrived at the prison, backhanded gossip about dishonor and false rumors stung.
“Enoch, why did you come so late?”
The moment she spotted Enoch, she rushed to him, wearing a pitiful expression.
“Sister Kido spread vicious lies about me. She said I came in for adultery, fraud, and even murder. And she made you out to be some money-crazed, promiscuous man. How can she be so wicked?”
She pulled a tearful face and threw herself into Enoch’s arms.
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