Chapter 95
***
The man’s eyes had grown cold as he asked the question. When Blair hesitated to answer even such a simple question, Edmund asked again.
“Did you have the intimate time you were hoping for?”
Still with her back to the conference room door, Blair narrowed her eyes slightly. Edmund was pretending not to know, probing her inner thoughts. He posed a question open to endless interpretation—whether he simply meant if she had enjoyed her day meeting the Countess, or if he was asking if she had been with someone other than Josephine.
“Of course.”
So she decided to be honest.
“It was a rare outing. It was nice to see a familiar face after so long.”
Edmund, who had been staring up at her without so much as a hint of a smile, lowered his gaze and suddenly let out a wry chuckle. Then he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pants pocket and lit one. With the click of the lighter, the tip of the cigarette caught fire, and thick smoke, like a sigh, drifted out from between his lips.
Silence reigned for a while. The stillness, with not a word exchanged, felt like the calm before the storm. Blair watched Edmund inhale the smoke deeply and exhale it, then shifted her gaze to the ashtray piled high with cigarette butts.
Her eyebrows furrowed involuntarily. Just how many cigarettes was he going to smoke?
“Is the Countess doing well?”
“Of course. Josephine is just as she always was. A kind and thoughtful person.”
“How much so?”
“…Pardon?”
“Enough to introduce a man to a friend exhausted by marital strife?”
Blair, who had been answering while feigning composure, gasped. A man? She couldn’t possibly not know who he was referring to.
Blaire had no intention of meeting Marcel. Yet Edmund had been bringing him up for some time, clearly displeased. He was the man who had even invoked her chastity to express his disapproval of her going out.
She could guarantee it was a baseless suspicion and a misunderstanding. But having just come from a meeting with Marcel—even if it wasn’t intentional—Blaire couldn’t help but hesitate, overcome by embarrassment.
She had no idea how her frozen, startled expression must have appeared to Edmund.
“What’s the point of asking that?”
“Because I might have misunderstood.”
“…Misunderstood?”
“It happens so easily, doesn’t it? Especially between husband and wife.”
“Surely you didn’t order one of your aides to keep tabs on me?”
“Wouldn’t it be wiser to clear up my misunderstanding first? It’s better for you to come clean than for me to figure it out on my own.”
Edmund cleverly turned Blair’s own words right back on her. Those were the very words she had spoken on their wedding night, before they had shed all the fleeting veils that had once shrouded them.
“There’s a difference between me figuring it out on my own and me being honest with you.”
“The result is the same. I found out the truth.”
“No. It’s significantly different. The former could be deception, but the latter shows that I didn’t intend to deceive you.”
She had spoken those words hoping that the bond connecting them was trust, and earnestly wishing that her true feelings would reach him.
Yet that very night, he—who had deceived her—how dare him.
He had no right to even misunderstand.
“I don’t know.”
Blair retorted with a coldness that surprised even herself.
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“…….”
“I’m telling you this because it seems you keep forgetting, Edmund. We aren’t a real married couple.”
His chest swelled as if he were suppressing his anger. Edmund, muttering silent curses, raised his eyes, which glinted white.
“I haven’t forgotten. You keep emphasizing a fact that’s obvious to anyone.”
“You’ve been talking nonsense since last time, so I just assumed you’d forgotten.”
“…….”
“And you’re the kind of person who cares only about facts.”
“Let’s just drop this.”
Edmund crushed his half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray, pushed back his chair, and stood up. The man, his true nature, suddenly laid bare, strode toward her. As a massive shadow completely engulfed her, Blair couldn’t help but flinch once more.
“Don’t ever see a man who shows such blatant interest in you again. Not just one-on-one, but not even in a group setting.”
As his gaze rose sharply, Blair’s head snapped up as well. The look in his eyes as he looked down at her, speaking in a tone that was nothing short of a threat, was overbearing.
Standing stiffly, Blair caught her breath and stared into Edmund’s eyes. The defiance that had been cowering inside her suddenly swelled and reared its head. She had no intention of backing down here.
“And if I refuse?”
“If you wish to expose every disgusting detail of my life, go ahead.”
Edmund added, as if grinding his teeth.
“And my mind is made up. Rather than digging up dirt, you’d be better off quietly obeying your husband.”
“You really do have a serious case of paranoia.”
“Have you already forgotten that it could be taken as a compliment?”
“It’s not normal. How could that possibly be a compliment?”
“Are you curious as to why?”
Blair, who had been firing back without hesitation, finally fell silent. She was suddenly overcome with fear. It was only when she saw the usually calm, rational Edmund’s gray eyes blaze red that she instinctively sensed what he was about to say.
She was afraid of that. She was afraid he might say he loved her now, at this moment.
Because she couldn’t possibly believe it. Because no matter what Edmund said, it would sound like a confession born of cold calculation.
The words of the Duke of Liberte’s will still lingered in her mind. Those cold, unyielding clauses stating that the heir must produce an heir to formally inherit the dukedom.
Edmund needed a woman to bear him a child to achieve his goal. And right by his side was a woman who loved him deeply—a woman whom everyone believed without a doubt to be his wife—a woman who would play that role perfectly.
“I’m not curious.”
Blair swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and lowered her gaze. She felt as if tears were about to spill over.
“I don’t even want to hear it.”
She couldn’t let him whisper words of love to her now. She could never tolerate such a cowardly act. She couldn’t let Edmund shake her to the core again.
Blair managed to hold back her tears and met his gaze again. She decided she had to take a step back from this exhausting argument.
“To clear up any misunderstanding, nothing happened. I was inside the café the whole time, so I couldn’t have done what you’re thinking. I swear.”
The Countess of Gillingham knew that Edmund would not be pleased with Marcel showing up unannounced at their meeting place. That was why she had asked him to keep it a secret.
Not only did she not want to break that promise, but since nothing untoward had happened, Blair had only one excuse to cling to.
“I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you have, or how far it goes.”
“…….”
“Common sense tells you nothing could have happened in a café. I swear, nothing….”
“Happened.”
Edmund finished her sentence in a low, hushed voice. The man, his broad shoulders framed by the setting sun over the cityscape, took another step closer. Her heart was pounding wildly. The two of them were now close enough that their chests nearly touched.
“You’re so naive.”
Edmund let out a scoff through clenched teeth.
“It’s quite concerning. If you’re this naive, I’m afraid some scum with ulterior motives might sweet-talk you into a trap and devour you.”
“Ed…”
“Did nothing really happen?”
“How many times do I have to tell you?”
“I see.”
Edmund muttered and remained silent for a moment. He gazed quietly into her tear-filled eyes, then let his gaze slide along the contours of her face, down to her heaving chest. Blair stiffened as she became aware of the man’s gaze dropping lower and lower.
She hadn’t done anything suspicious with anyone during her outing today, yet under that gaze, which seemed to strip her bare, even that certainty began to waver precariously.
A strange gleam flickered in Edmund’s eyes as they dropped to her toes and then shot back up. With a hint of either self-mockery or sarcasm playing at the corners of his mouth, he said,
“May I check?”
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