Night of the Abandoned Duchess

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Chapter 25

No matter how hard he tried to keep his composure, if she cried, he would get strangely angry and it bothered him no matter what she did.

Every time Rosalind did something, it felt like she was scratching his nerves… Whatever she did, he overreacted to whatever it was. It was the same in bed. He had no problem with the seductions of other women, and he would move his waist with Rosalind’s nakedness as excited as a beast.

That was why he hated her so much more.

Even though Kyle struggled his whole life to live without great emotional turmoil, she broke him so easily.

“Why is my heart hurting so much? The woman I hated so much left…”

He asked himself.

Nevertheless, there was no answer.

‘…I have to dance. If I can’t dance properly, I might get hit.’

‘By whom?’

‘…Father.’

It was only when she left that he knew that it was Rosalind.

If it wasn’t for that mask, he probably wouldn’t have known about it forever. When he saw the mask, the rare moment when she gazed pitifully flashed through his mind like a flash.

Every time she told her father’s story, she had a look on her face that was confused, and her face hesitantly brought out the story of her parents. That night, the figure of the girl crouching in the corner and crying came to mind.

In a different way, she was also clearly a victim of Baron. The days when he was mean to such a woman, his wife’s face kept tormenting him… The more Kyle remembered her smiling quietly at him, the more he was choked.

Now, why did he keep thinking of her…?

Why?

Because he found out that her pitiful pity was ‘real’?

A woman he thought was on the same side with her father turns out to be a victim of violence? So, does he feel a sense of unity? To apologize for being bad to a poor woman? Or, regrets? Is that really all…?

The questions he asked himself kept coming up and falling apart.

“It was better than not being annoying.”

Why is his realization always one step late?

As if confused, he drank the wine again. Kyle fell asleep only when he was drunk enough. Then, in the morning, he was surprised to find that the spot next to him was empty. Why does it seem like there is nothing that should be taken for granted?

At the thought that he might never see her again, he shivered as though he was terrified and his heart shattered.

It was indescribably strange.

From that day on, Kyle gradually stopped drinking and started looking for Rosalind in earnest.

He had already been scouring for years for a woman who had already crossed by boat and had no idea where she was. However, it was never easy to find a woman whom he did not know which continent she had crossed over, and he had to listen to reports of no significant result with an unfathomable face each time.

After Rosalind’s disappearance, Kyle worked harder than anyone else. Although he was originally busy, he focused on his work even more as if trying to fill her vacancy.

He also slept in a room other than the shared bedroom after Rosalind had left, and every day he drank, he would wake up in the bed they shared.

The fact that he went to the room again as a habit without realizing it made him laugh and annoyed at himself.

On that exact day, he stopped looking for Rosalind like a teenage girl whose mind was turned upside down five times a day. Why the hell was he going to hold on to a woman like that?

However, after a while, he repeated the search again.

Another day, with a drunken face, he called out Rosalind’s name. While he was touching the blanket he had shared with her, Kyle found the clothes that she had embroidered for him.

‘And, it’s even better if you think of me every time you wear it.’

Why couldn’t he forget that expression…?

Now that all he could think of was Rosalind, ridicule flowed out unknowingly.

…Come back. Come back to me.

He clasped it in his hand, though all he could feel was the soft feel of the fabric.

No matter how much he searched, she was nowhere to be found, and no matter how much he grabbed, it slipped through his hand like golden sand. He buried his head in the clothes and tried to call her name, but there was no answer.

But, when he drank and looked for Rosalind, when he opened his eyes in the bedroom with her, when he ordered not to look for Rosalind on a whim, and immersed himself in work. At no time or any other time, he could see her.

The time that seemed to last forever passed.

The long days of four years have passed by in a blink of an eye.

As usual, the butler who approached him as he was sitting at his desk doing his work carefully opened his mouth.

“…It’s the funeral of Marquis Baron.”

“Will she come?”

Even though he didn’t say who she was, Walter knew right away. He saw more than anyone else besides Kyle, the long years he had spent to find Rosalind.

“It’s still her father’s funeral… she would come, would she?”

“She will probably come.”

He smiled and replied bitterly.

“It should be.”

She may or may not come.

Due to Rosalind’s personality, he was sure that no matter how hard her father was, he was sure that it would be difficult to turn away, although the days of searching for her were so long that it felt vague and uncertain.

When he arrived at the funeral home with such an anxious mind, the first thing that caught her eye was that there was a slender woman.

Rosalind? Is it Rosalind…?

Again he doubted his eyes. When what he had been so desperately looking for appeared before his eyes, she was even confused if this was the reality.

Was he dreaming…?

Nonetheless, when he saw another man beside Rosalind, he had to admit that this was real.

At first glance, the man and woman are affectionate enough to feel like lovers.

He thought his blood was going to cool in an instant. No, it could not be expressed in words that simply his blood was going cold because his head felt as if someone was stirring it to cause a concussion.

As the days of four years passed by, his twisted stomach felt like it was about to vomit. The worst moments imaginable came to mind.

Whether it was anger or longing, the complicated entanglement of his heart has been holding his breath. The moment he suppressed his crazy feeling and grabbed her arm and turned, the familiar eyes turned to him.

Soft arms, bright purple eyes gazing at him…

When he touched her hand, he finally realized that she was the woman he had been looking for for four years.

“Mom!”

The child’s words were heard, although they did not reach his head in the slightest. All his nerves were directed only to Rosalind.

Soon, he opened his mouth. It was a word that he very barely spit out, after a long time.

“Talk with me for a moment.”

“No, I don’t want to.”

Like someone Rosalind didn’t really know, she coldly shook off his hand and walked away from his. Until the funeral was over, she didn’t even give him a single glance.

“…I wish we could be together just for a while. I’ll stay in this castle.”

Rosalind said to her mother.

Her father was disgraced towards the end of the investigation, and her mother was left alone. To say she was close, her mother was a bit distant, but she was the one who gave Rosalind strength the moment she took courage.

With that in mind, she couldn’t have left her mother alone with a daughter’s duty, even if it wasn’t necessarily the case. Even though she was in a rush and couldn’t pack all of her stuff, that was something she would have to do later.

“Being a parent, you can’t always show a good side.”

“No.”

Rosalind gently squeezed her mother’s hand.

Her mother’s hands, which used to only feel big, have suddenly become the same size as her own. She couldn’t stand it, and it broke her heart, but she vowed to do better. She gave strength and grabbed her mother’s hand as if she was trying to convey her heart.

“If there are difficulties, we go through them together. We are a family.”

“Actually, I was at a loss as to what to do on my own, but you told me that… Thank you, Rosalind.”

Hearing her mother’s words, she nodded her head at the friendly voice.

And then, there was the sound of the door slamming open. The main character who appeared with the sound of the door opening was Leo. He wandered around the room all day as if amazed at a larger and more luxurious place than he had ever lived in, tugging at the hem of Rosalind’s skirt and asking for explanations.

“Mom!”

Leo, who was quickly held in Rosalind’s arms, glanced at Helen with wonder. Seeing that, she opened her mouth with a benevolent smile towards her own grandchild.

“Did you say your name is Leo?”

“Yes!”

“That’s a cool name. I’m your grandmother.”

She reached out her hand and messed up the golden hair. It was as bright and vivid as the afternoon sunlight. The thick eyebrows and clear lines on his face were oddly similar to Kyle. They both look a bit alike.

It was the words that the Marchioness spit out without realizing it.

Even if she didn’t say exactly who it was, it was obvious who the ‘both’ were. Rosalind recalled the face of her husband, Kyle, at her mother’s words.

‘No, I don’t want to.’

After saying that at the funeral, Rosalind mingled among the relatives. She thought he might be following her or grabbing her, though luckily, he didn’t. She deliberately didn’t pay more attention to him, and nothing had happened since then.

Even when she was talking to other people and working, she could only feel his gaze chasing behind her.

Rosalind thought her heart was sinking in the face of her husband, whom she had not seen in a long time, and she groaned the whole time, but she bit her teeth in order not to show it off.

When the ceremony was over and the funeral was over, she decided that she would live in Helen’s castle. It was her judgment that she could not leave her mother alone.

“Grandmother…?”

Leo nodded his head and smiled.

At that smile, Helen rolled her soft eyes and smiled at the same time. She then put her hand on her grandson’s cheek. It was softer than any foreign silk and was adorable like a flower bud in spring.

“How can you be so cute? I guess this is why everyone has grandchildren. Can you call me grandmother again?”

“Grandmother, grandmother!”

‘Good job,’ complimenting him, the Marchioness urged Leo to say more.

Rosalind, who was watching it with delight, asked her mother.

“Mother, what will happen now? With Father’s events.”

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