Night of the Abandoned Duchess

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Chapter 16

Kyle sat cross-legged and looked down at the divorce papers she had handed him. On his desk, with the piles of papers set aside, there were only the papers Rosaline had left behind.

“…Damn it. She’s such an unpredictable woman.”

On the first day of the wedding, he thought he couldn’t predict her as she blushed shyly. When did she say that she met him and loved him so much?

He didn’t like that kind Rosalind. No, he didn’t like her. He didn’t like how often she smiled, how often she cried, how stupidly innocent she was towards him, and how she was so obsessed with children…

Nevertheless, the reason he could not readily agree to the divorce was, of course, because of his family’s honor. He couldn’t leave such a blemish on his house, even for his stepfather, who took care of him as he was lost in his childhood.

‘If you don’t have children, you can’t pass on a generation, so whose family?’

It wasn’t just because what she said was right that held onto Rosalind that day. Even though she was right, Kyle still wanted to grab her because he was surprised and shocked by her.

He was confused.

‘Isn’t she supposed to be the family member?’

What was the reason that he wanted to hold onto a woman who was supposed to be the family member?

Better that she might be infertile than divorced? Is that so…?

He needed time to sort out his complicated head, though no matter how hard he tried, Kyle couldn’t find an easy answer.

Perhaps, the simple answer made him even more dizzy.

“It would be better…”

A woman he was sick and tired of.

He hated her from the beginning.

He hated that she was the serpent-like marquis’ daughter, and he was annoyed by the frivolous remarks she said that she had seen him somewhere.

Questions such as whether her face was somehow familiar or whether they had ever met were cheap seduction comments that were fed in at various parties and banquets.

As usual, he would have dabbled in it, but it sounded even worse because it was from the woman he didn’t like. He actually thought he was good at dealing with people as well as women, though strangely, she wasn’t quite as good as Rosaline.

If he had been with another woman, he would have been seemingly soft-spoken, yet he would have gotten mad at Rosalind if those words came out.

‘I… I will try to be a good wife.’

‘I don’t think it’s useless. It’s like dressing the Duke in pretty clothes. And, it’s even better if you think of me every time you wear it.’

Even though he has clearly warned her not to expect more than status as a wife, she was a foolish woman who didn’t even get her place right.

“…That’s good.”

He thought it was a good thing, and he gripped the pen tightly. Now, he just had to sign his signature and stamp his seal over the documents she gave him… It would be all over.

Then, his relationship with that damn annoying woman would end. The shabby face as she shed tears, her smile that smiled at him without pride, and s*x with her who shook her waist like a log without tricks…

It would end like this.

But, his hand didn’t move. Kyle finally dropped the pen he was holding down aloud.

“Is divorce that easy…?”

Muttering so, he ruffled his hair as if in a funny way and wet his mouth with wine.

His wife didn’t understand that it was not so easy to divorce a marriage that wasn’t an ordinary marriage and not involved with interests. It wasn’t that he was angry to the point he didn’t understand, although it was as if he had been hit in the back of the head.

It was so infuriating that the glass he was holding trembled slightly with anger.

“Children playing house must be more sincere than this.”

The image of his wife, who said that she would be a good wife, that she liked him, and that she remembered him, flew through his mind like the wind. When Kyle squeezed his neck again, the fever did not subside.

She was seemingly flirting with him, though she was going to divorce him behind the scenes. Perhaps, her selfish and unruly nature resembled her father, he smirked.

…Even playing with people was the same.

After a certain amount of time passed, he called the chief attendant outside.

“Did Rosaline go to her home?”

“No.”

He frowned.

If not there, where did she go?

“Where the hell did she go?”

“That’s…”

Kyle stared intently at the chief servant, and his mouth opened only after a long silence.

“…The madam went to the convent.”

“A convent?”

What are you talking about?

His expression frowned as if what he heard was absurd.

One of the things Rosalind had been doing for some time was to arrange a place for her to stay.

Even though she had a family, she could not go back to them.

Had her father found out about this, he would have at least grabbed her hair and dragged her back to her husband’s castle.

Considering the credit his father put in this marriage, it was best for her to stay suffocating in the convent for the time being. Because the convent, the realm of the gods, could not be invaded by any noble or made a mess.

In fact, noble women did not visit convents except to make donations or to pray. If there was an exception, it would be when an old, faithful, noble wife turned to religion and spent the rest of her life here.

Rosalind was worried that such a convent would be willing to accept her, but unexpectedly, things went smoothly. The nuns, who had been appreciating her steady donations since childhood, received her generously.

Although it was never with this in mind that she made the donation, Rosalind decided to stay in the convent for a while, teaching the children to write on behalf of the busy nuns.

‘Can you teach children, no matter how long?’

‘I’m not confident, but I hope I can be of some help.’

Among women, it was only in the case of clergy like nuns or nobles who knew how to write. Though it was not forbidden for ordinary people to know how to write, for those who had a hard time every day, writing had been regarded as the exclusive property of high-ranking people.

So, Rosalind thought that if she taught children to write, they would definitely learn more and have more opportunities.

Because of that, she prepared hard for several days for her class.

Rosalind was originally timid. She didn’t like dealing with people, but the thought of the children’s faces cheered her up a little. She’d rather do something. She may have just cried if she had stayed still…

Today was the second class.

She opened her mouth softly, gazing at the children whose eyes were shining. She made several mistakes the first time because she was nervous, but the second time she hypnotized herself that she would be able to do it more skillfully.

“Knowing how to write helped a lot.”

Although the tension choked her throat, Rosalind began to lay her words out as naturally as possible.

“Not many people know how to write. But, if you turn it upside down, it also means that it can be used as a special and precious skill among people.”

“Oh,” said the girls, nodding their heads. She looked at her children face by face and asked a question.

“Shall we evaluate how useful the text is today? What do you think you can do if you know how to write?”

“…I can write a love letter!”

As soon as the words came out of the girl’s mouth with her hair tied high, “Wahhaha,” she burst out laughing.

Rosalind smiled awkwardly at the child’s mischievous remark. It was because there was a person who came to mind when the word ‘love letter’ came to mind. Even though she had never uttered anything about dating, she couldn’t figure out why she thought of that person when she said ‘love.’

As if to calm her trembling heart, Rosalind struggled to clear her voice.

“…Okay. Right. You can write a love letter.”

“Have you ever been in a relationship, teacher?”

“Well, Teacher is also married.”

The children murmured that it didn’t look that way at all. Contrary to the innocent eyes of children, when the word marriage was brought out, it seemed that her heart was pounding again.

What would he be doing?

She had been gone for a little over a week now, had he called Olivia again…? Or, maybe he was holding another woman.

One thing was for sure, he would never miss her.

“Teacher?”

As the high-pitched voice of the little girl suddenly rang in her ear, Rosaline, who had been contemplating for a long time, opened her mouth again.

“Of course, the subject of a love letter does not have to be the person you love. It can also be used for the Gods in heaven. You learned all the letters from the nun, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then, shall we try writing your names first today?”

The cheerful answer rang again, yes, and the children began to write on the parchment.

As she watched the children diligently writing down with their little hands, her smile was flowing. Nevertheless, she was also bitter on the other hand. Because there were times when she longed for a child like that.

She wanted to raise such lovely children in an ordinary and harmonious way with him…

When she came out of Kyle’s castle with her nanny Anna, it was what Anna had said,

‘You know what? From a young age, Miss was a person who must have what she wanted. I thought that was similar to the Master.’

She knew that ‘the Master; Anna was talking about was her father. Perhaps, Rosalind felt a little bit like his father, too. It was a little funny that she looked like her father, who she hated and feared.

‘But, the difference is that you know how to stop, and you don’t look back anymore. I think that’s just great courage and willpower to not give up.’

Don’t look back…

No, actually, Rosalind looked back several times. The desire to return to that house again came to her. Just because she gave out the divorce papers didn’t mean she lost all her feelings for Kyle.

‘So, obviously, you will live a different life from Master Baron.’

The words of her nanny, who watched and loved her for a long time, were of great comfort. Because of that, she gave her the courage not to go back to him.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────