Chapter 205

“…Please do.”

Though he wanted, more than anything, to knock on her door himself, he remembered all too well how angry she’d been every time he had shown up without notice.

Now, unless the matter required immediate attention, she always sent Marsha first to confirm whether she would receive him, and surely she expected the same of him.

Ash rubbed his forehead as he watched Melanie’s back disappear down the corridor, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

“Phew…”

Would his wife grant him an audience or turn him away?

A tension he hadn’t felt even during his meetings with the nobles earlier that day now gripped his entire body.

Cold sweat dampened his palms, his heart raced, and he let out a shallow, uneasy sigh.

‘She doesn’t seem to hate me, but still…’

He could tell just by her eyes.

After all, he was the one who had seen those clear, water-blue eyes twist in fury countless times over the past two years.

Yet though she no longer looked at him with resentment, neither did she show any interest.

She no longer cared where he went, what he did, or what he was thinking.

Once, she had eyes and ears everywhere to track his every move. Now she had cut them all off and devoted herself solely to fulfilling her duties.

‘…Nothing proves a heart has left better than indifference.’

If she had been the one to plant the seed of discord between them, then it was he who had cultivated the perfect soil for it to thrive.

He had no one to blame but himself.

As Ash waited for Melanie’s return, his thoughts drifted back to the night before in the cabin.

After confessing his feelings to his wife, he had seen the tension in her small, curled-up form and left her to gather her thoughts.

But when he returned later and found her fast asleep… how hollow he had felt.

I do not want to divorce you.

Please, give me a chance.

Had those words been so trivial to her that they weren’t even worth considering?

Was that why she had been able to sleep so peacefully, her expression gentle and untroubled, as if nothing had happened?

Sitting beside her, staring at her pale, slender feet, he had tried to calm the heat surging through his body alone, sighing into the quiet night.

How ridiculous he must have looked, proclaiming he would give her reason to trust him, only to be consumed by insecurity and impatience.

He was still standing there in the corridor, clenching and unclenching his fists in agitation, when—

“Master, the Madam says it’s alright if it’s only for a short while.”

At the words he had hoped for, his tense body relaxed, and he let out a breath of relief.

“Shall I prepare tea to bring to the Madam’s room?”

“No, it wouldn’t be proper to stay too long.”

He hadn’t come intending to linger.

He only wanted to see his wife’s face, if only for a moment, before ending this weary day.

“Then I’ll have water drawn for your bath, Milord.”

Ash nodded and made his way toward Nina’s bedchamber.

Knock, knock.

“Pardon me for intruding.”

He opened the door carefully.

Through the slowly widening gap, he saw his wife, freshly bathed and ready for bed.

Her calm, rose-pink hair fell softly over her shoulders; her cheeks glowed faintly red, and her lips were dewy with moisture.

In the dim room, she sat against the headboard, a teacup in her hands. The sight made his chest tighten painfully.

“Come in. I was just about to call for you, actually…”

At her words—I was just about to call for you—Ash approached her, a flicker of nervousness in his eyes.

Nina set her teacup down on the nightstand and spoke.

“I’ve been thinking a little since this afternoon. Do you remember the warning you gave Duchess Nord?”

“Yes. I’ve already sent her the gift.”

The poison. Or rather, the drug.

After discovering that the death of Joshua—who had been as close to a father as he’d ever had—was caused by poison, Ash had stopped viewing those who harmed others with such means as human at all.

And yet Marquis Crewe and Duchess Nord had dared to use an aphrodisiac to harm Nina.

‘I hadn’t planned on letting them live comfortably anyway…’

Ash’s sharp, handsome eyes twisted with a cold, savage fury.

“…Because she did such a thing to you.”

The memory of her trembling body, flushed with fever, whimpering helplessly in his arms, burned vividly in his mind.

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