Chapter 12
“No. Now, even the things like you constantly leaving the house and casually going out make my suspicion grow bigger and bigger. I think my love has turned into distrust.”
“Distrust? No, Chloe, trust me. You know I would never have another woman.”
Even with shaking eyes, Lucian spoke firmly.
Even though the fiancée sitting in front of him had personally seen Lucian Edmont sharing his body with another woman—
“Roeni, where exactly did you see or hear something like that to say such things to Chloe?”
Lucian’s fierce eyes turned toward Roeni.
“That…”
Roeni bit her lips so hard they nearly bled, then forcefully swallowed.
“I-I also only heard it from someone, brother-in-law…”
It was pitiful watching her barely force out her voice.
“From who exactly? Where did you hear such nonsense and start falsely accusing me, Roeni?”
As the accusations continued, Roeni also seemed to lose her patience, and her voice gradually became sharp.
“Brother-in-law. I only hinted at it to Sister because I was worried. Isn’t it true that it looked suspicious when you started leaving the house once every week late at night, during a time when newly engaged couples normally don’t even want to be apart for a moment?”
Roeni openly made Lucian uncomfortable now, apparently hating how calmly he was cornering her.
“And honestly, that too. How do we know you were really with the Marquis yesterday?”
“Roeni Enrite!”
Unlike his usual gentle self, Lucian raised his voice.
He even struggled to steady his breathing.
‘What a mess.’
Watching everything carefully, Chloe found the slight trembling of his shoulders almost pathetic.
Now cracks would start forming between those two as well.
Though if it were going to stop at mere cracks, she would not have even started this.
Even so, it was still disgusting.
Suppressing those thoughts, Chloe decided it was time to conclude things.
“…I’m sorry. I want to trust you too, but…”
So she doesn’t trust me anymore…?
The meaning of her words made the back of Lucian’s tightly clenched hand turn pale.
“I’ve also started reconsidering our marriage.”
Chloe firmly drove the nail into the idea of breaking the engagement.
+++
The two sisters and Lucian had once loved and cared deeply for each other.
Dinner with the three of them had always been enjoyable.
It was always warm and full of many kinds of love.
But today, after Chloe began confronting them directly, it felt as if a massive storm had swept through.
It was complete ruin.
Of course, Chloe had expected things to become like this.
She had lit a signal flare telling them—
I know everything about you two.
And so, both Lucian Edmont and Roeni Enrite now had uncontrollable storms raging across their faces.
Lucian had gone outside saying he needed fresh air.
Roeni had left the annex in tears, saying she would return to the main house.
Lucian wandered back and forth in front of the annex, brushing back his hair while staring at Roeni’s back as she walked toward the main building.
At this moment, he desperately wanted to stop her and pour out countless words.
But because Chloe was still home, he had to be even more careful.
So for now, he could do nothing.
Soon, Lucian took out a cigarette.
Normally, he only smoked when outside because Chloe hated the smell of cigarettes.
But now, he felt he could not clear his mind without smoking.
+++
In a way, Chloe did not stop the two when they left the annex.
Nor did she find it strange.
As long as Chloe was inside the house, the two of them would not be able to properly talk outside either.
Most likely, the reason they had hidden their relationship for so long was because they had always been this careful.
Knowing that fact very well, Chloe drank warm tea in front of the cleared dining table.
‘Earlier, it seemed like you liked the scent of this tea.
When she returns home, prepare some tea leaves for her.’
That was what Karsein had told Butler Raul before she left the Bloodien Grand Duke’s residence.
He said the leaves were dried from a flower called “Snow Flower,” which only grew in the northern Norzea region.
“A flower blooming from snow…”
While riding back in the carriage with the Grand Duke—
As she touched the bottle filled with tea leaves, Karsein had said this:
‘It’s a flower that always blooms above the snow after breaking through frozen ground. No matter what pain or hardship crushes you, if you endure it, you too will bloom like that flower.’
For some reason, those words made her chest tighten emotionally.
But she did not show it.
Still, now that she was home alone drinking the tea and thinking about it again, Chloe found herself becoming emotional without realizing it.
‘So that you can do that, I’ll help you. So…’
Even now, when no one was around, she almost felt like bursting into tears.
‘Don’t make that expression anymore—the kind where you force yourself to smile while looking like you might cry.’
That was the next thing he had said.
‘I thought I was hiding my expression.’
But for some reason, it had not worked at all on Karsein.
Chloe looked bitter for a moment, then seriously repeated his unexpected comfort in her mind.
Like he said, she wanted to endure this painful time strongly—
And someday truly smile sincerely again.
‘Until that day comes, I need to stay strong. For that, I need to eat well and rest properly.’
Once she thought about taking care of her own body first, she concluded it would be best to sleep now.
After forcing strength into her exhausted body, changing into her chemise, and collapsing onto the bed—
“Chloe.”
Lucian, whom she had not expected to return at all, entered the annex.
But Chloe no longer welcomed him like before.
Rather, her face hardened seeing him naturally enter the bedroom.
“Chloe…”
Lucian stared at his dark-faced fiancée, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Chloe pushed away the blanket and got down from the bed.
Then she stood facing Lucian.
The strong smell of cigarettes told her he had smoked several outside.
“No matter what Roeni said, it isn’t true.
So…”
Lucian stretched out his arm to grab Chloe’s shoulders.
But Chloe once again took a large step away from him.
It was only a single step—
But to Lucian, it felt as though Chloe had suddenly become as distant as the opposite side of the world.
She had been like this earlier too when meeting the Grand Duke of Bloodien.
Lucian still could not accept the clear distance Chloe was creating between them.
“I don’t want you touching my body anymore.”
Meeting Lucian’s damp eyes directly, Chloe spoke calmly.
“Chloe, you haven’t personally seen any of this with your own eyes.”
Lucian lowered his already messy hair halfway over his face and spoke in a hoarse voice.
“Yes. But Roeni was the one who told me. You know what kind of child my younger sister is to me. She’s always too busy worrying about me to purposely say something like that.”
Chloe deliberately said she trusted Roeni more than Lucian.
For now, she had no intention of openly saying—
That she had seen the two of them at the late-night invitation gathering.
Or that she knew they were having an affair.
“What…?”
Lucian’s handsome face stiffened at Chloe’s firm answer.
“Lucian. Once suspicion begins in a person’s heart, it grows uncontrollably. When I first heard from Roeni about your other woman, even while denying it, do you know how painful it was for me?”
“I told you already. It was only a rumor Roeni misunderstood.”
Lucian continued denying it.
Without realizing that every repeated denial became like separate arrows stabbing into Chloe’s heart one by one.
“Yes. Maybe it really is only a rumor.”
“But because I loved you so much, I can’t simply ignore that rumor… or those words.”
“So can you prove it to me?”
