“We’ve been married for a long time, but nothing has changed. You are always elegant, and I am alone and anxious. Why? Because I love you.”
“……”
“Because I am the only one who loves you.”
My husband looked at me. With eyes hoping for understanding.
And, he whispered. It’s all because he loved me.
I slowly closed my eyes and opened them again. I felt nauseous.
“……You should have spoken up. Instead of finding another woman, you should have been honest with me.”
“If I had, you would have looked at me the same way. And in no time, you would have accommodated me. Because that’s the kind of person you are.”
Was the momentary blur in my vision due to the shaking carriage?
I pressed my mouth with my hand against the increasing nausea.
“The words I said about loving you are not lies. I don’t love that woman. The only woman I loved is you. But……”
“……”
“I was just occasionally tired. I needed someone by my side.”
By the time he said this, Bake had rested his forehead on his hand, looking defeated.
I didn’t know what face to make at the image my husband had painted of me, so I tensed my hand.
It wasn’t because I understood Bake’s absurd excuse. His contradictory words lacked any persuasive power.
But still, I couldn’t shake off the feeling of emptiness.
It was the same feeling as when the proud life of my father felt meaningless in the past. It felt like the time of our married life, when I had given my best, was being mocked.
The moment I saw the unfamiliar eyes of my husband looking at me, I wanted to ask myself.
Did we ever act like a married couple during that long time?
[This is the time separator]“Are you okay? You don’t look good.”
Leaning his upper body on the sofa, Luzen shrugged his shoulders.
Unable to withstand his heated gaze, Margaret bowed her head deeply. Her emotions were getting the best of her, and seeing his clean face reminded her of her shameful appearance.
“……I’m fine.”
“You look fine. From what I see, you look like you need ice. Instead of doing this, I should ask a servant to get it.”
“Ice?”
The blush circled Margaret’s cheeks, who inadvertently asked back.
Ice was a luxury. She had heard of noblewomen using it to reduce swelling on their faces, but she had never used it that way herself. Surely, her unintended comment must have revealed this fact.
“Craiton may be the richest family in the empire, but I’m not poor. I always have ice in store every season.”
“……”
“Oh, my. Did I look so poor? Well, if you’re the lover of the Marquis of Craiton, you might think so.”
Luckily, Luzen just nodded without much thought.
Margaret sighed a sigh of relief inside and watched Luzen’s reactions.
“……Am I really going to stay at the palace?”
“For the time being, you will have to. However, considering the surrounding eyes, it’s difficult with your original status, so you’ll have to be disguised as a foreign guest.”
Guest. It was a word that came out meaninglessly, but Margaret liked the word. Regardless of her current situation, just hearing the word made her feel like a person of high status.
Assuming that the same thing doesn’t happen again.
“Don’t worry. The same thing won’t happen again.”
Without asking, the quickwitted Luzen gave the answer Margaret wanted.
“It’s not that I doubt, I.”
“You can doubt. Isn’t everyone like that? Even a trivial creature becomes sensitive when it has offspring. It’s natural.”
“……”
“There’s a limit to such comforting words.”
“How could that be!”
Margaret replied quickly. However, Luzen didn’t seem to believe it at all.
“You don’t have to lie. Doubt is natural. Honestly, if you hadn’t doubted, I would have been disappointed.”
“……”
“I like people who doubt. Doubt means, this isn’t it.”
Luzen’s index finger pointed at his chest and then swiftly towards his head. The light tap he gave on his forehead was rather cheerful.
“It means that I’m using this.”
In other words, it meant that you’re not a fool.
Luzen’s eyes curled into halfmoons.
Margaret flinched but couldn’t stop looking at Luzen.
The emperor’s deep colored eyes reminded her of night honey. It was rich, very sweet, and one could even taste a slight bitterness. Just thinking about it made her mouth water unnecessarily.
Luzen’s eyes were drawn into a deeper curve.
“Honestly speaking, I am coveting the child in your belly.”
“……”
The air suddenly became strange.
Margaret hunched over, hugging her stomach. The emperor’s gaze on her was too blatant to ignore, too direct to pretend she hadn’t heard him.
Of course, even if he revealed his intentions, it would be less honest than the words he just casually threw out.
“It’s too early for this. It’s not meant to scare you. I just purely want to know your opinion.”
“……My opinion?”
Margaret’s voice trembled. Her round eyes were moving restlessly, trying to understand Luzen’s intentions.
“If the child is to have an opinion, it will take a while, so I have to ask the birth mother.”
“……”
“Don’t you want revenge?”
“……Revenge?”
“He was a man who didn’t care for you until the end. If you didn’t have any strength, he might have actually tried to kill you.”
Margaret didn’t respond, but she could no longer look Luzen in the eyes. At the same time, Luzen’s lips, which had been stretched wide, revealed teeth that shone pure white.
“I don’t understand why you’re shrinking back. Don’t you realize what you have?”
“I don’t quite understand what Your Majesty is talking about.”
“You’re the only heir.”
“……”
“If something happens to the Earl of Creyton, it’s natural that his bloodline inherits everything.”
Margaret, who had been slowly processing Luzen’s words, suddenly lifted her head. As if she heard something she couldn’t possibly have heard, her face paled.
“Are you suggesting that Be, no. That the Earl of Creyton.”
“Shhh. It’s not something to talk about so casually.”
“……”
“Oh dear. It seems my joke went too far. You’ve become so pale. I apologize.”
Luzen swiftly changed the subject, but Margaret could no longer fully participate in the conversation.
No matter what, she could tell the difference between a joke and seriousness. The emperor was serious.
Margaret’s eyelashes trembled minutely. She was scared that her rapidly beating heart might be heard by the emperor.
This isn’t right, she needed to tell Beike about the emperor’s intentions as soon as possible. Then he could prepare, no. Why would she?
Her eyelashes shook heavily and then stopped. The image of Beike who hurt her to show off to Riviana was flashing in her mind. And more than anything……
Margaret clutched her trembling stomach. The only thing that calmed her anxiety was the existence of her child.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
