Synopsis:
Odellette, the daughter of a Korean-American author, quickly emerged as a Cinderella of society after being proposed by the Duke of Adelgarte. However, contrary to her much-anticipated start, she is shunned by her husband from the first night, and even if she tries hard to become a good wife, the only thing that comes back to her are cold eyes. Eventually, she dies of illness after a lonely marriage, but when she unexpectedly wakes up again, she returns to her wedding to the Duke of Adelgarte nine years ago! But unlike in the past, the groom-to-be Duke Adelgarte, who suddenly came in, said something shocking to her...
"My lady, please break up with me."
This man who has changed so much. What's wrong with this guy? I don't believe... ...you're back, too?
Prologue
1
The Duke of Adelgarte has returned.
By the time Odellette heard of this, the social circle was already in upheaval.
The flu that plagued her last time had not yet gone down, so for a while, she couldn't leave the room, let alone that house, she saw the telegram that the maid brought her and as if she wasn't interested she nodded indifferently and whispered “I understand”.
The maid had a sad face.
Just until she got married to the duchy, she had a face full of life.
As the youngest daughter of a self-made writer, she was able to marry the Duke, still, Odellette tried hard to adapt to her new life. At first, even those who laughed at her as a suburban hillbilly began to follow her.
Even those who harbored affection for Duke Adelgarte since long ago and those noble ladies who were jealous of her have now become her friends and become her companions whenever Odellette feels lonely.
But Odellette tried to get close to him the most. She recalled that her husband, the Duke of Aldegarte, Cherdian, who always maintained a cold attitude towards her actions, was the one who proposed the marriage. Odellette wasn’t able to imagine that it would become such a tragedy.
He was even often away from the duke's residence under royal orders. From small country war to periphery rebellion, still, there is little time to be with him, and he rarely comes home even when he returns to the capital.
So, if this marriage was really a plan of Duke Adelgarte, in fact, there were rumors that there was a woman he really loved in a place no one knew.
Odellette didn’t believe those words at first. Although she had never seen him before the wedding, at least on the day of the wedding, he didn't look like a man who went through a lot of women.
The man who had opened her veil and kissed her was much bigger and stronger than she thought, but not as rough as she had imagined.
Odellette thought that he looked handsome. He’s such a wonderful, perfect man, she thought that it was only natural that rumors of scandal broke out one by one.
But that was all.
On the night of their wedding day, she waited quietly inside her room, holding a subtle expectation with a nervous heart, but he did not show up.
As she shed tears over whether she had done something wrong, the head maid gently said that the Duke had rushed to the military after receiving a royal order.
However, Odellette, who was filled with excitement after hearing the story of the first night from her peers, did not have that thunderstruck experience.
Of course, there was a relationship after that. When he returned from his journey, he lay down at the end of the bed, not being able to do that, Odellette grabbed his arm and nervously opened her lips.
“Well, I think, we should still have a successor.”
At her words, Cherdian slightly wrinkled his forehead. His expression rattled Odellette’s heart. She remembered the words of her tutor who taught her that a noble woman should not ask her husband to sleep with her. What if he rebukes her for not keeping quiet? She sighed in relief when he reached out his hands to touch her cheeks.
“If you’re uncomfortable, please tell me.”
Her eyes which she had closed tightly as she trembled, slightly opened at Cherdian’s words.
But soon, she closed her eyes once again with the weight that suddenly slid over her.
He was much stronger and well-built than she had thought. Suddenly, she was embarrassed and covered herself with both arms, but he really easily held her arm over the blanket and trapped her with his weight. Then, as he looked carefully at her complexion, little by little he began to savor every corner of her body.
Unlike the stories of other nobles who often told her that they had their worst first night, their first night went smooth and it was good.
As soon as she opened her eyes in the morning, she blushed when she saw that she was in the arms of Cherdian. If things were to go smoothly like this, a successor could be born pretty quickly. When he saw her mumbling and flustered by herself, Cherdian’s expression oddly changed.
Odellette fell into his arms and spoke in an apologetic whisper.
“I, uhm, I, was just thinking we could have a successor quickly.”
As soon as she spoke, Odellette hid her embarrassed face between her hands.
It was then. Cherdian's face, who had just been indifferent to her words, stiffened cold, then suddenly pushed her out of his arms, lifted himself up, and got out of bed.
“I think that will be difficult at the moment.”
“Yes?”
“I will have to be away from the residence. Last night, I only compensated for not having to spend the first night together because of your brother.”
Odellette, who stared blankly at his back leaving the room, shed tears.
It was simply insulting. She shuddered in shame.
Is it because she’s too traditional?
All kinds of thoughts filled my mind but there was no answer. Only the messy blankets and traces left on my body informed me of last night.
Since then, Cherdian was often away from the residence. Despite his cold attitude, Odellette believed that with effort she could win her husband's heart. And most of all, she thought he was as good a man as he helped her family and her brother's career. She couldn’t help but love the wonderful man both in and out who saved her.
So Odellette agonizingly tried to win her husband’s heart. For their first wedding anniversary, she made a new handkerchief with her initials and presented it to him, on his birthday, she presented handmade cufflinks and played the piano piece she was most confident of and played it to him.
Nevertheless, every time Cerdian got his gift, he just looked at it indifferently and kept telling her to leave it on his desk, when playing the piano he looked bored that Odellete felt gloomy.
It wasn’t just that.
She used to write to him almost every day whenever the Duke was away, she loves reading and writing so much that letter was like a piece of literature. Nevertheless, Cherdian never once replied.
I thought there was nothing to say, so I purposely sent him a letter to prepare anything he wanted to eat next time, but the answer was that the chef would take care of it and not to go into the kitchen for no reason. It was also not a reply, but a message from a knight who stopped by the residence for a while.
Is it possible that high-ranking aristocrats don't like their wives to bother them?I thought about it again and again, but there was no answer. On occasion, every time in the social world the news that a nobleman in the society had a new mistress when his wife was pregnant, Odellette became more and more impatient.
Then she read a book that said, "My wife should always be beautiful for my husband,” she immediately took an interest in dressing up.
She, who inherited the faces of her mother and handsome father, who were once rumored to be beautiful in the land, also had great beauty. As she wore the things that were popular among the noble ladies of the capital, she became beautiful enough to stand out in the social world. Those who laughed at her as a country bumpkin began to copy what she was wearing, and some people changed their hair color to imitate her creamy hair.
Although it started as a way to look pretty for Cherdian, she was always interested in fashion, so she worked hard on it even when he’s not around.
However, Cherdian was not happy to see Odellette changed little by little every time he returned home. Her hair, which was simply tied in half, took on an increasingly complex and glamorous look, and her pale pink lips, which used to be only glossy, grew reddish. Her dresses also changed into more colorful and expensive ones.
And one day, when she returned from a tea party with the ladies late in the evening, she was a little embarrassed to see him come earlier than scheduled.
Cherdian was silent. He looked at her silently and sighed lightly. Odellette’s heart sunk. Cherdian opened his mouth to speak.
“You enjoy dressing up differently these days.”
“It was just specially designed to have a tea party at the salon with the ladies."
"It would be better not to go around too late."
“I took knights with me.”
“The capital city is not so safe. Especially a woman like you, wife, will be easily targeted.”
For a moment, Odellete wanted to ask what a woman like her meant. But as soon as Cherdian finished speaking, he moved upstairs.
His cold eyes and cold speech seemed to reproach her. Even his eyes seemed to contain some scorn. She just wanted to look good to him, but she wondered why he had to react like that.
But regardless of her intentions, his complex, cold eyes made her feel ashamed as if she had become an unsophisticated woman. Eventually, tears flowed down Odellete’s, who had been thinking repeatedly.
All the actions and reactions Cherdian had shown to her, no matter how she tried not to be sensitive about it and to accept everything, led her to believe that he hated and despised her. Even the look staring back at her as she sat in front of the dressing table was not the look at her beautiful and lovely wife.
Whenever he saw her dressed up, he would sigh with an ungainly face and leave the room.
Each time she wiped the tears of anxiety and contempt that penetrated deep into her heart.
When she got ready to sleep and went into the bed, Cherdian found her eyes swollen, and again habitually narrowed his eyebrows, then reached out his hand.
Odellette, who took it as a signal with him every night, struck his hand coldly for the first time.
“I’m your wife, not your mistress.”
A complex look passed through Cherdian’s eyes. Tears welled up around Odellette’s eyes, but she wiped her eyes off the back of her hand and put the blanket over her head.
Cherdian stared at such an Odellette. Then, when he heard a sobbing sound from the inside of the quilt, he stretched his seldom trembling hand over the rolled quilt. However, he caught himself and retrieved his hand.
Since then, Odellette no longer clung to Cherdian.
She used to write a letter for courtesy, but it was just a formal letter to announce the family's best regards, and there were no words to pray for peace, whispering sweet regards or love. Odellete was in fact completely out of touch with her beloved writing, as the head maid wrote it for her.
It’s been four years since the two got married.
Next to her husband, who came back victorious from a great war, was an innocent woman she had never seen before.
She was a woman from a land at the edge of the continent, but after losing her husband and son, she lived alone and was summoned to the king.
Although she had heard rumors that the local people had unusual abilities, Odellette was not very interested.
But she looked at Odellette with interest.
“You are really a beautiful woman, as they say.”
She stayed in the residence for a while, then left after receiving a summons from the king who was interested in her unusual abilities.
After that, she heard that she was giving various prophecies to the king, but she had no way of knowing whether it was true.
Odellette didn’t even bother to talk to Cherdian after he returned.
Comments
Post a Comment