“What is this….”
Helene felt the blood draining from her entire body and nearly collapsed.
Her husband was kissing another woman.
It was the moment she confirmed with her own eyes that her choice had been wrong.
The woman, who had made eye contact with Helene over the Duke’s engrossed back, wore a surprised expression. It was the woman who had given Helene a subtly unpleasant smile.
“Oh my, how rude.”
The woman detached herself from the Duke, picked up her coat from the floor, and left the room.
The Duke wiped his lips and slowly turned to face Helene.
Helene, who had been watching, asked with trembling lips.
“…What is the meaning of this?”
“You’ve seen it all, haven’t you? So you know.”
He brazenly retorted, showing no embarrassment whatsoever. There wasn’t a hint of remorse in his nonchalant expression.
Helene’s eyes fell on his unbuttoned shirt and the marks etched on his collarbone.
“Have you been having affairs all along?”
The man I chose as my husband is this disgusting creature. Helene barely managed to suppress her nausea and stood her ground.
“Affairs?”
The Duke scoffed and straightened his disheveled clothes.
“That term is used when betrayal is involved. And we are not in love, are we?”
Arguing and getting angry would only invite ridicule.
She wasn’t in a position to demand a divorce or publicly shame him. The power she held came not from her royal bloodline, but from the Ducal authority, which she needed.
The Duke sat on the bed, poured wine into a glass, and smiled.
“Perhaps you’re curious as to why I meet other women? It’s because I find no pleasure in an obligatory relationship where the only purpose is to produce an heir. That’s what arranged marriages are like.”
She felt dumbfounded, watching the Duke speak as if it were the most natural thing in the world, without a shred of guilt.
“Everyone is like that?”
“There might be exceptions. Brigadier General Vicente, for example. Ah, perhaps it’s because he doesn’t have a wooden wife.”
For her, being compared to others was the worst insult.
Especially being compared to a lowly maid who couldn’t even reach her ankles.
‘He’s deliberately provoking me. Does he think I’ll show him the ugly sight of me breaking down?’
Helene, with her strong pride, clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her skin, drawing blood, and endured. She tried to maintain her consistently noble demeanor.
“I was merely surprised. I’ve only heard rumors of vulgar stories about people playing around with strange women in other people’s houses, but this is the first time I’ve seen it myself.”
“If the problem is that it’s someone else’s house, I’ll make sure it only happens at home from now on.”
He raised the corner of his lips and gestured with his eyes for her to look behind her.
Helene turned around, her face paling.
“Cynthia….”
Beyond the open door, Cynthia was standing there, looking at them.
‘Why does it have to be her….’
Helene’s cold fingertips were trembling.
As the Duke said, what she felt wasn’t betrayal towards her husband.
It was anger towards the Duke for making her miserable, and shame that her pathetic self had been exposed to someone else.
To someone she had considered the most insignificant of all.
* * *
“….”
Cynthia was looking at the two of them with a bewildered expression.
Still feeling the lingering effects of a cold, she had gone to the medical room and was on her way back when she saw a woman with a disheveled appearance putting on her coat as she came out.
“Are you having a good time?”
At Cynthia’s question, the woman gave an embarrassed smile and nodded.
“Almost.”
Cynthia noticed that the buttons on her coat were fastened strangely. As if she had hurriedly buttoned them up.
She looked like someone who had just spent some intimate time with someone.
‘In someone else’s house? Is this real?’
She had seen the woman’s face, so now she was planning to identify the man and ban him from ever entering the premises again.
Cynthia immediately retraced the path the woman had taken and overheard the Duke and Helene’s conversation through the open door.
Helene, feeling humiliated to the point of fainting, immediately came out, closed the door, and lashed out at Cynthia.
“Where did you learn to eavesdrop like a rat?”
“Can’t I even walk around my own house as I please? At least close the door before you fight.”
Cynthia sighed and took her hand.
‘I thought she was living well as the Duchess, but it turns out she’s living as the protagonist of a dark romance novel.’
It was out of human compassion.
The Duke’s words, like shards of glass, somehow reminded her of Masera’s cold expression, and for some reason, her own heart ached.
“If you’re going to tell the Dowager Duchess, I’ll come with you as a witness.”
However, Helene pushed her hand away with an absurd expression.
It was ridiculous that a fake was daring to give her advice, but even if she told her mother-in-law, she would only be met with the rebuke that ‘it’s because you haven’t done your job properly as a wife.’
“What do you know….”
Not knowing what it’s like to compete and survive in an environment where you can’t trust anyone.
Helene loosened her bitten lips and said.
“Do you want to treat me like a pitiful person no matter what? The reason you try to help others is to find comfort in seeing those who are worse off than you.”
“What are you talking about? I’m the most pitiful person in the world, you know?”
Cynthia, with death flags lurking like landmines everywhere, looked wronged.
At that, Helene warned in a low voice.
“Don’t even think about using this incident to exploit my weaknesses.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about that.”
Cynthia added with a gentle smile.
“I’ll do that if you don’t commit any more sins.”
At the meaningful words, Helene, who had many things to feel guilty about, frowned.
“Who’s your sister? Are you daring to negotiate with me now? How long do you think I’ll keep your secret?”
She must have ruined the negotiations with the Diem residents regarding the relocation compensation; now I see why. There’s no way negotiations would work with that kind of attitude. Cynthia sighed.
“I’m saying this for your own good. You’ll end up completely alone.”
Helene stared at Cynthia silently before leaving.
Cynthia watched her retreating figure and recalled those who had treated her badly in her past life.
When the other person met a tragic death, she thought it was a fitting end for a villain.
But after that happened dozens of times, she realized that there was no ending more unsettling than that.
‘No one ever repented for their sins.’
She had come to realize that the best ending was not dying as a villain, but repenting and atoning for one’s sins as a reformed villain.
At that moment, the Duke, who had straightened his attire, came out of the room.
“Did you see everything? It’s quite the coincidence.”
What are the odds of witnessing a situation where you can exploit someone else’s weakness while passing by? Of course, it was impossible for that to become his weakness.
‘Since that fake princess happened to overhear, Helene, who lives by her own ego, will be quiet for a while.’
Cynthia looked at him with a gloomy face.
“I couldn’t have created that situation.”
“This must also be God’s will.”
He uttered sacred words despite having just engaged in impure acts.
‘Was it as natural as breathing for that powerful man?’
Cynthia sighed, thinking to herself.
“I always thought you were a gentlemanly and wonderful person, Duke.”
Cynthia didn’t blindly condemn him. Of course, she didn’t rejoice in the misfortune of Helene, who was being mean.
“I was very interested in the welfare benefits and regional development strategies that you implemented in the territory. I haven’t shown it, but I’ve always respected you, and you and the Dowager Duchess were my role models….”
However, she knew words that could strike a blow to those with strong pride and high status.
“…I’m very disappointed.”
Seeing Cynthia lower her head powerlessly, Duke Rukanosa felt his heart sink.
