We’re Married, After All - Chapter 57

I picked up the discarded hood. I had to get out of here immediately. I had to find someone—anyone—to ask for help.

Not someone in this castle. Someone unconnected to the Veloce Count family. Janna? Should I go to Janna?

I visualized a map in my head. If I aimed for Ancona Castle, I could find my way there even after dark. And Janna would be a significant help, even capable of providing proper treatment.

At least… At least we could end this here.

I placed a trembling hand over my chest and took slow, deep breaths. Dark thoughts kept creeping into my mind.

Petios, whose death had been officially announced. Those who were hiding his existence out of respect for his wishes. A patient confined to a room he couldn’t leave on his own. If all of this was orchestrated by Danel, would Petios ever be allowed to leave this place alive? The certainty that he wouldn’t haunted me.

But for now, it’s okay. We can still fix this.

There was still a chance. While Danel’s actions were anything but light, Petios was still alive.

But if Danel truly went as far as to kill his own brother, there would be no going back.

Hurriedly pulling on the hood and fastening it, I opened the infirmary door. I muttered directions to myself under my breath, recalling the path to the crossroads. Not because I feared getting lost, but to calm myself.

However, the moment I stepped into the hallway, all of that preparation became useless. Standing in front of the only exit was someone I knew all too well.

“…Danel.”

Danel Veloce. My husband.

Emerging from the shadows, he revealed himself slowly. His perfectly neat blond hair, amethyst eyes staring directly at me, and his impeccable black suit wrapping his broad figure—he was just as he always was.

I had half-expected this. Knowing Danel’s recent behavior, it wasn’t surprising he would have assigned someone to tail me.

I met his gaze firmly. I didn’t bother asking, “Why are you here?” or, “How did you find out I was here?” Instead, I asked the one thing I was desperate to know.

“What… what did you do?”

Every unanswered question about Danel’s supposed help to Petios was resolved when I considered the possibility that he had imprisoned him.

The bizarre claims of Baroness Rodio and the caregiver. The inheritance of Rafeccia Castle being transferred to him instead of Petios. Everything made sense if it was all part of Danel’s schemes.

“What did I do, you ask…?”

Danel tilted his head slightly, his expression eerily calm.

As he stepped closer, the door handle I was gripping made a loud sound as it turned. Unintentionally, I had been clenching it tightly.

No, that wasn’t it—I was trembling. My hand was shaking so violently that the handle rattled noisily.

“I believe I warned you.”

“….”

“That you’d end up in hell.”

I let out a bitter laugh at his words.

No, you’re wrong, Danel. At this rate, even hell would spit you back out.

I thought about the caregiver and Baroness Rodio, who had tended to Petios daily and yet had made claims no one who knew him would believe.

They had genuinely cared for me and Petios. That’s why they had gone to such lengths to hide him until I found my way here. They didn’t want either the man who fled his wedding due to illness or the woman who had just found him to be hurt.

All without realizing they had been complicit in imprisoning Petios.

Danel took another step forward. Today, the man blocking the hallway seemed especially imposing.

I realized he was cornering me. And yet, I had no choice but to retreat back toward Petios’s infirmary. His low, detached whisper felt unnervingly foreign.

“Are you satisfied? Coming all the way here? Finding what I hid so carefully?”

“What about you?”

“I’m unaffected.”

“What?”

With the same face as always, Danel spoke with deliberate emphasis.

“Nothing has changed. Nothing will change. So, I’m unaffected.”

And then, Danel stepped into the infirmary. It wasn’t until he shut the door completely that I understood the nature of the fear gripping me.

“For someone who has done such things, there’s no way he wouldn’t lay a hand on me.”

It had been over a year since we got married. In that time, I had come to know much more about Danel than I had in my entire life before our marriage. Perhaps twice as much.

I glanced toward the bed. Lying there, seemingly dead to the world, was the most damning evidence of just what Danel Veloce was capable of—and how far he would go.

If someone asked me whether Danel Veloce was the kind of man who could take another person’s life if necessary, I could now confidently answer, “Yes.” It was sad, but true. He was someone who would not hesitate to do so.

Danel seemed to notice where my gaze had landed and spoke up.

“Have I disappointed you?”

“…Are you seriously asking me that?”

“Yes, I am. I want to know—are you disappointed? Because I’ve done this to your fiancé?”

A small sigh escaped my lips. Only then did I realize that I hadn’t yet formed any judgment about the truths that had been revealed to me.

Was I disappointed? Like I had been when Petios fled from our engagement? Like the day I realized that the hunt I’d pursued so fiercely had no meaning? Was that a disappointment?

I hadn’t even considered whether I could handle this or not. The only thought that consumed me was that I had to get Petios out of here. Otherwise, someday, Danel would surely kill him. He would commit an irreparable crime.

But before I could articulate an answer, Danel spoke again.

“But nothing will change for you, no matter what.”