DCEB | CH 15

Chapter 15: Inside the Carriage

“Father, please, Father!”

It had happened after young Eleanor secretly helped a boy escape from the family estate.

“I’m sorry, Father…”

Back then, Eleanor—still a child—refused to accept the Count as her real father. She disobeyed him and, again, was thrown out coldly.

This time, he locked her in a cold storage room where herbs were kept.

He probably didn’t know she’d helped the boy escape, but he needed someone to take his anger out on.

By the third day of hunger, Eleanor finally gave in.

She banged on the door and cried,

“Please save me! I’m sorry!”

But he ignored her more cruelly than ever before.

Eleanor thought she might die there.

For ten days after that, she was given no food or water.

But she didn’t want to die.

She wanted to wait for the boy who had promised to come back and save her.

She wanted to keep the dying wishes of her real parents—who had screamed for her to live.

So, to survive, Eleanor started eating the herbs in the room, even though she didn’t know what they were.

Some of them were poisonous when eaten raw, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was filling her stomach.

She ended up collapsing with stomach pain, throwing up blood as she screamed.

When she woke up again, she was in her room.

Her bright red eyes had turned into an unfamiliar green.

That memory—nearly starving to death—never left her.

Maybe that’s why, even if her husband was someone she didn’t like, she still had enough patience to offer food to someone who was hungry.

“Are you scared I poisoned it?” she asked.

“Don’t worry. I’ll eat it first.”

“That’s not it…”

With that, Eleanor confidently took a bite of the sandwich. The fresh crunch of the vegetables felt nice.

“It’s tasty. My sweet maids made it for me.”

Maybe it tasted even better because she had finally left that horrible house.

‘No poison,’ he must’ve thought.

She had figured he wouldn’t be crazy enough to poison her final meal, but still felt a bit relieved.

She glanced at him and saw that he was awkwardly picking up his sandwich and taking a bite.

He was eating it.

That felt so strange.

One bite. Two bites.

‘He’s really eating something I gave him.’

He finished it in just two bites—seemed like he liked it.

Eleanor almost smiled but stopped herself by biting the inside of her cheek.

Then she felt angry.

‘Why am I smiling? Because of him? Am I losing my mind?’

‘Get it together, Eleanor.

She wasn’t heading to a peaceful home—she was going to another battlefield.

In the past, when she’d made food with her own hands—full of nervous hope—Kylus had only given her cold glares.

He threw the food on the floor and said even dogs wouldn’t eat it.

He even accused her of trying to poison him.

‘Right. That’s the kind of relationship we had.’

She straightened her back, regaining her composure.

After finishing her sandwich in the awkward silence, Eleanor asked,

“Darling.”

“…?”

Kylus’s broad shoulders flinched.

He looked at her in shock.

Ah, it was the title—darling.

Well, too bad. She was going to keep using it for the next year.

‘I’m not going to be considerate of your feelings.’

Eleanor narrowed her eyes and said,

“You need to explain why you showed up at the wedding covered in blood.”

Judging by the twitch in his eyebrow, he had been thinking about that topic too.

She crossed her arms and lifted her chin, ready to hear his excuse—

But then, he suddenly let out a long sigh.

Eleanor froze.

That sigh!

That tired, annoyed sigh from Kylus had always hurt her in the past.

‘Is he about to say something cruel again?’

Even before they could start working together, it felt like the whole partnership was cracking.

“Why? Do you regret agreeing to cooperate now that you’re stuck with your enemy’s daughter?”

She didn’t hold back anymore.

In the past, she would’ve swallowed her pain.

Now, she said what she really felt—sharp and direct.

Kylus blinked slowly.

His lips parted… then he looked away, rubbing his face with one large hand.

Eleanor was ready to lash out again, full of anger—

“That’s not it,” he said in a low voice.

“I’m not sighing because of you. It’s just… an old habit of mine.”

She didn’t understand at first. Then it clicked.

‘He’s explaining. Because I got upset by his sigh… he’s explaining?’

“If it upset you, I’m sorry.”

It was like someone had dumped cold water over her boiling rage.

She was stunned.

This man in front of her was explaining himself.

So different from the man she used to know.

“And about the way you called me…”

“Darling?”

Yeah, that. His expression clearly showed he wasn’t used to it.

He looked familiar, yet so different.

‘He really is different. This version of Kylus is not the one I married ten years ago.’

How could just a few months change someone so much?

“Why? That’s what married couples call each other.”

“You’re going to keep calling me that?”

“Then let me say something too.”

She raised an eyebrow arrogantly, just like always—but now he looked slightly softer, more open.

It made her feel weird.

The Duke who used to feel like a cold, unbreakable wall… now looked young.

Inexperienced. Like a boy pretending to be a man.

“Don’t speak so formally to me.”

“It’s out of respect.”

“It’s creepy.”

He paused.

“…Creepy?”

“Yes. It doesn’t suit you.”

Seeing the shock on his face, Eleanor bit her lip to stop from smiling again.

‘Why do I keep smiling?’

‘No. I mustn’t forget. I died because of this man.’

She forced her face to go cold and said,

“Just speak casually. I prefer it. And now, tell me the rest of the story, darling.”

“You’re doing it again.”

“I’ll keep doing it. We are married, after all.”

She looked away from his slightly annoyed expression.

“So? Why were you covered in blood? Was it just to humiliate me at the wedding?”

“That’s not—!”

He raised his voice in panic, surprising her.

After a moment, he bit his lip and said,

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“Then what happened?”

“There were people trying to stop me.”

“What do you mean?”

She had never asked that question in the past.

“Why didn’t you come to the wedding back then?”

Of course, she’d expected a cold stare or a mocking remark.

But this Kylus said something else:

“We had already agreed to work together. I had no reason to be rude like that. What happened was… unexpected.”

“…So, you’re saying…”

Eleanor swallowed.

“Someone tried to attack you. You had to fight them off, and that’s why you were covered in blood?”

He didn’t answer—but the silence meant yes.

And if he ended up bloody, it must have been serious.

‘Wait a second…’

Her heart thudded.

Could it have happened in the past, too?

Back then, the two families were practically at war.

The wedding had been an insult to her side.

‘What if… he really wanted to come that day, but something stopped him?’

Her eyebrows trembled.

But she shook the thought away.

‘Pointless. Even if that were true, it changes nothing. I died by his hand.’

“There are many people who oppose this marriage,” she said.

“I guess something like that could happen. From either the Emperor’s faction… or the nobles’ side.”

Still, for some reason… her heart felt heavy.