TVDE CH 30

~Chapter 30~

She didn’t want protection thrown at her like this. She tried to appeal to Nathan to be the good brother he always was. She said there was no need to fight.

‘Don’t throw yourself away to protect the duchess from the duke.’

Nathan understood Anthea’s feelings very easily.

“Anne. I put a burden on you.”

This quick-witted man was my heart’s dog, Nathan.

“I’m sorry, Anne. And… I also apologize to His Excellency the Duke for my rudeness.”

Richard couldn’t keep up with the situation and clenched his fist as Nathan’s unexpected action immediately apologized.

“As the Duchess’s brother, I forgot my subject for a moment and behaved arrogantly. As you can see, Ann… Anthea… I intervened presumptuously because I was overly worried about her weak body. I ask that Duke Gwyntede show great generosity.”

Anthea’s heart throbbed as Nathan changed his stance in an instant and apologized sincerely.

‘Ah, my conscience. This man is really dangerous in another sense.’

Just for Anthea, Nathan put away his pride and dark feelings in an instant. Nathan, who returned to the literary youth atmosphere he first saw, bowed down to his waist and sincerely apologized to Richard. In this situation, Richard, who had questioned the two once due to her misunderstanding, had nothing more to say. Anthea was relieved to see that Richard’s displeasure that had appeared a moment ago was replaced by embarrassment. Her pale blue eyes were shaking slightly, and it looked like Richard’s silence was going to be prolonged. Anthea waved her hand to her maid, as if trying to change her mood.

“Julie, can you show my brother the warehouse?”

“A warehouse?”

“Yes, since you can’t go back with an empty carriage, I’ll show you things that can be stored for a long time without being sold in the East.”

“Anne, I won’t look into that separately. I think I need to properly apologize to His Excellency the Duke now.”

“No, brother. I really hope you go now.”

Anthea was determined to separate the two, so she was firm. Nathan, who had lost his temper, soon followed Julie after Richard stopped interfering. Then, when Anthea looked at Ellie, she even hiccuped as if she was surprised.

“Hi! Where are you going to take your master, ugh!”

“It’s not like that. I was going to ask you to close the door and wait in front.”

“Thank you, ma’am!”

Ellie must have been scared that she might ask Richard to guide her like she did to Julie. At Anne’s words, she hurried out of the parlor and closed the door. When they were alone, Anthea felt like she had lost all strength in her body. As she swayed slightly and leaned against her chair, Richard’s fingertips twitched as he watched Anne’s every move closely.

‘Yes. The duke is someone I can unexpectedly communicate with.’

“Let’s talk.”

In fact, Richard responded to Anthea’s words.

‘I never dreamed that in just three days he would reappear wearing a bear skin.’

If all went as planned, Nathan would stay for about a week and return, and Richard, who returns a month later, would hear about the growing scandal among the employees. She thought the subsequent reaction would probably be contempt or neglect. It’s hard for Richard to think about her divorce right away, so he couldn’t get rid of Anthea herself. This was because this marriage itself was the emperor’s order, and Richard himself had no reason to go to such lengths. It was only after Bianca, the real heroine, appeared that Richard became active enough to not hold on to Anthea even if she left and to push for her divorce despite the annoying interference of her emperor. Richard Gwyntede, the male protagonist who was indifferent and had no interest in anything other than subjugating demonic beasts, would learn various emotions due to his steamy mistress Bianca and would eventually even feel his love. Only after she hurt Bianca, was her divorce finalized under the pretext of rumors that Anthea was an evil woman.

‘She wasn’t very good at being a villain, but she was confident that the scandal would grow.’

It may be different from the original, but in the end, they only needed to hear the evil woman’s voice. When the fragile and lovely Anthea added to Nathan’s sweet behavior, even the smallest rumors about her were bound to inflate. Add a spoonful of naughty behavior to the Duchess’ scandal, and you’ve created an easy villainess! As she was about to turn on the happiness circuit, the Duke suddenly returned. If Richard had come back a month later as planned, Nathan wouldn’t have had to risk his life like he did now. If Anthea pretended to be weak and unaware of anything in front of Richard, whom she would only meet a few times, even the smallest rumors about her would be exaggerated. She pretended not to know anything, pretending to be pitiful and fearful, and was confident that she would remain indifferent.

Bianca, the heroine of the original work, was a very lively and bright woman.

‘She may not be as gloomy as Anthea in the original, but she was going to be as pretentious as possible.’

Without Nathan, Anthea would never have revealed her true nature to Richard.

‘No. She may not be fully exposed.’

Anthea took a close look at the blunt Richard, who was quietly looking only at her. She was much more stable than when she had been caught in her bedroom that first night, even when she had wrapped the bear skin around her and seemed to be holding her up. She was in unwavering comfort with no pain anywhere. As soon as her husband was away, she invited her partner for an affair and treated her like a shameless woman. Besides, she showed no signs of displeasure from Richard now that Nathan was away from her. She was waiting for Anthea’s words with her calm eyes that made her look rather indifferent.

‘I know those eyes.’

She ate a snack and went for a walk, but she didn’t seem to be up to anything, but she would wait because the master was calling her. It was like she was concentrating but she didn’t want anything in particular. Anthea wanted to use this situation more efficiently. She might never have the chance to inflate her scandal if Nathan goes back this time.

Half a year later, she had to accumulate at least one more villain point to be kicked out. She didn’t want to miss this opportunity, because Anthea had learned that she was too much to do alone with her clumsy wickedness.

‘Should I point things out one by one and consider the right and wrong?’

Or would she appeal to emotions? Although Anthea was worried, she did not avoid Richard’s eyes. Richard made eye contact with Anthea, who was looking at him intently. As expected, Anthea had no hesitation in looking into Richard’s eyes. They had never looked into each other’s eyes for such a long time other than eye contact where she had to make a split-second decision whether to rip each other to death or beat them to death, igniting hostility. Looking at Anthea’s innocent gaze, Richard felt his tension relax. He couldn’t wait to hear what the other person would say to him, and he focused entirely on getting it into his ears. In fact, the more Richard concentrated, the more Anthea stared at him and she did not say anything. She seemed to be hesitant about something. Her small lips move a few times. Richard’s concentration peaked at her every move, gently tapping with her fingertips. Nevertheless, Anthea only tapped the tip of his lips and slowly lowered her hand to smooth her hair. Although she clearly had something to say, she seemed to hesitate.

Richard’s tightly closed lips also began to twitch. Anthea’s clear eyes, which he was still facing, slightly wavered. As he watched her green eyes, like freshly bloomed tender buds, slowly become wet with her sadness, Richard broke the table he didn’t even know he was holding.

“This wasn’t intentional.” Said Richard, who was hurriedly making excuses in case Anthea was surprised. As a result, Anthea’s mouth finally opened.

“What kind of person am I to the Duke?”

Richard, who was roughly shaking the table that was crumbling in her hands onto the floor, stopped his hand at this question. What was she, she said? His sentiments toward his wife, whom he had only seen for a few hours, were small, fragile, and cute. That was about it.

Before Richard could reply, Anthea let out her words as if she were lamenting.

“I married into a northern ducal family where I don’t know anyone, and I only came into this living room today… Did the Duke seem like a bold enough person to take in a mistress?”

Anthea didn’t have any strength in her voice, unlike when Nathan was around. Instead of being a big criminal, he only looked thin. Anthea showed the sorrow of a delicate woman who had no trace of the fierce shouting to protect Nathan.

“If the duke sees me as a filthy and promiscuous woman who preys on her husband when he is away and attracts a single man.”

Anthea paused her words for a moment. Here, if Richard said that Anthea was right and that she was dirty, she was going to break down with a shocked face. Anthea glanced down and even made a plan to move towards the other side of the broken table. With each word that came out of Anthea’s mouth, he realized how much her words had hurt her.

When no response came from Richard, Anthea calmly made a trembling voice.

“See what you want to see, Duke, and think what you want to think. No matter what I say anyway, you will only see what you want.”

Looking at his blue eyes shaking mercilessly as if he was shocked, Anthea was delighted that Richard felt guilt as she had intended. Of course, her expression did not forget her sorrow.

“I’m alone anyway.”

Anthea, who said she was alone, took her breath carefully, as if trying to swallow the sadness of not being able to rely on anyone. She seemed afraid and tried to hide her trembling fingertips under the table as if she didn’t know what to do. She could vividly feel Anthea’s situation, unable to even rely on her husband, who was sitting right in front of her. The corner of Richard’s tightly shut mouth twitched.