Chapter 333
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
When the Marquis’s men brought my luggage from the inn, that box of clothes was swept along with it by accident. Then, the day after I arrived here, when the maid asked what should be done with it, I could have just told her to throw it away…
“Don’t throw it out.”
The words had come out before I even thought. The maid didn’t know who had bought the dress, and I even offered an excuse she hadn’t asked for.
“It’s a waste to throw away new clothes.”
So if I’m regretting that choice now, this would be my chance to tell her to throw it away, but…
“Put it back in the box. Don’t take it out again without my permission.”
Why am I like this?
In the end, I chose the most gaudy, clownish dress among the extravagant ones. Just as tiresome as looking plain, looking ridiculous might be, too.
But throughout the meal, the Marquis didn’t look at me even once. It was as if he was deliberately treating me like I didn’t exist.
‘Is he angry and trying to provoke me into placating him? Why should I?’
I kept my mouth shut and focused on eating.
“Dana has missed the Marquis terribly during all this time.”
The only pitiful one was the old woman, who had arranged this dinner in a desperate attempt to realign the broken relationship between the Marquis and me.
“I know this dinner inconveniences the Marquis, who is so busy, but the child was so insistent that I couldn’t refuse.”
For a lie to sound convincing, it needs at least a grain of truth. I barely managed to stifle a scoff, but the Marquis didn’t.
When I openly sneered at the lie, my grandmother shot me a furious glare, urging me to play along and act affectionate toward him.
Why should I? I intended to enjoy watching that old woman fret and flounder all evening on her own.
“After losing her memory, she finds it awkward to approach the husband she once loved so dearly. Please, I beg you, help our Dana recover the memories of how passionately she loved you.”
I lost my memory because of him. If anyone was at fault, it was the Marquis, yet Grandmother was bowing and scraping as if I were the guilty one.
“Oh, by the way, did you see the article about the women’s suffrage bill passing the Commoners’ Assembly?”
The man called my father didn’t fawn over the Marquis. Whether he agreed with Grandmother or not, he didn’t try to force me back into my husband’s arms and instead changed the subject.
“Hmph. As long as I’m here, it’ll never pass the House of Nobles.”
The Marquis scoffed again and launched into a long speech. I couldn’t follow all the details, but the gist was clear that he was boasting about how much influence he wielded in the House of Nobles.
“I didn’t see the article, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
I spoke up at last, taking advantage of a brief lull in the conversation.
“I haven’t been able to read the newspaper for two days.”
I meant to settle the matter while it was on my mind.
“I’d appreciate it if someone would remember to bring it to me tomorrow.”
I said it while looking straight at my grandmother. Right in front of the doctor who had told the staff to give me the newspaper, I was exposing the fact that she’d been blocking that order. It was a small thing, but I no longer wanted to let that woman control me, even in the smallest matters.
“Dana, it’s better if you don’t read the newspaper for a while.”
But to think the one who’d ordered that was the doctor himself.
“Why?”
Without looking at me, he cut into the food on his plate as he answered.
“There’s been a lot of bad news from the front lately. You’ve just come back from there, it won’t feel like someone else’s story to you. I was worried reading those articles might distress you.”
At such a flimsy excuse, I frowned.
“It doesn’t distress me at all. And even if it did, that’s for me to deal with. I’m not a child.”
“Dana.”
Why was the Marquis—who’d treated me like air until now—interjecting?
“I want you to think only of the future.”
At that moment, a sudden intuition struck me.
“Is keeping me from the newspaper not the Doctor’s idea, but yours?”
Now that he seemed intent on hiding it, the newspaper that I hadn’t cared much about, suddenly felt unbearably important.
“There must be an article I shouldn’t read, then.”
What kind of article could it be?
‘…Don’t tell me it’s about that man.’
A man from a noble family close to the royal house, decorated with medals and knighted. He was prominent enough to appear in the papers. But what could have happened…?
“I was planning to die. How could I go on living after losing you?”
The moment his words flashed through my mind, I forgot all restraint and spoke.
“Di–did Killian die?”
“Dana!”
The instant I uttered Killian’s name, my grandmother nearly screamed and a crack ran through the calm expression on the doctor’s face.
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