The Secret Affairs of the Fake Duke Couple (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5
Victor spoke lightly, but the amount of money she owed was far from trivial.
Half of her debt could buy two townhouses in the capital and still leave change.
The monthly interest alone was overwhelming, forcing her to seek more work.
She was even looking into taking up sewing jobs if she couldn’t secure another tutoring position.
“Victor, you know my situation. I can’t pay back half right away.”
Demanding she repay half immediately was no different from telling her not to repay at all.
“I know. I know you’re trying your best. That’s why, Jane, we’ve been lenient with you this long, haven’t we? Even though your worth keeps sinking lower and lower.”
Victor stepped closer and brushed Jane’s cheek with the back of his hand.
Jane recoiled with a shiver, and Victor clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“Jane, it’s not too late yet. There’s someone who’s willing to pay off your debts—even if your prospects aren’t as good as when you were a fresh twenty-year-old. He’s a wealthy old man, sixty years old. Age isn’t a flaw, Jane. It’s actually better. Marry him, and if he dies? All his money becomes yours.”
It was a proposition to sell herself. She wasn’t even surprised—she’d received similar offers countless times before.
Thanks to her parents blessing her with beauty, many men were eager to take her as a mistress despite her circumstances.
Some even offered huge sums for just one night.
Yet Jane would rather starve for days than sell her body. Once, she’d nearly fallen into a dangerous trap because she’d trusted Victor, but that day she smashed a cup and slit her wrist.
She’d rather die, she’d said.
Since then, Victor had abandoned the idea of forcing her into such a sale. But whenever he sensed she might be forgetting, he’d inevitably make another offer he knew she’d refuse.
Jane lowered her head and let out a bitter laugh.
She’d finally thought things might calm down.
But damn it all—the gods always sent her a new trial on the very days her heart softened.
“I don’t need it.”
“Jane, it’s just a rotting body you’ll leave behind anyway. Warm an old man’s bed and earn thousands of marks—isn’t that a great deal?”
“I don’t want to be in that kind of business. I’ll… find a way to get the money somehow. So leave now. And if you’re only going to make vulgar suggestions like this, don’t come looking for me again.”
Jane turned away. Victor frowned.
“What? Vulgar? Just because I keep addressing you properly by name like a noble, do you still think you’re one?”
Heavy footsteps echoed behind Jane. Then her head was yanked sharply backward.
“Agh!”
Victor grabbed a fistful of Jane’s long hair and shook her. Her body helplessly swayed with the motion.
He leaned his vile face close to hers.
“Listen carefully, you wench. If you want to live, marry that old geezer.”
His breath reeked of something foul. Jane clawed desperately at his hand in defiance.
“I already said I won’t! Ngh!”
“You’re spoiled because we’ve coddled you! Hamuline!”
At Victor’s call, Hamuline began demolishing the house.
He hurled the only table outside and swung a chair around wildly. Cleaned and dried dishes crashed to the floor in a clatter. The vase holding wildflowers shattered.
When the windowpane broke, rain poured in, soaking the bed near the windowsill.
In an instant, the house became a chaotic mess.
“You really lost your mind after scraping together this pathetic little nest of yours. Let’s see how long you can keep up that stubbornness.”
After surveying the wrecked room with satisfaction, Victor finally released Jane.
Jane collapsed onto the carpet, now marked with Victor and Hamuline’s footprints.
“Jane.”
Victor seemed to remember something and crouched down in front of her.
He used his thumb to wipe her lips, then rubbed his lipstick-stained thumb against his tongue.
“Let’s sell you before you go bad, okay?”
Victor smiled sweetly. It was the smile of a demon.
[This is the timeline separator]A long time had passed since Victor and Hamuline left. Dawn’s pale blue light faintly seeped into the darkened house through the broken back window.
“I have to clean up.”
Jane finally snapped out of her daze around the time the torrential downpour began to subside.
She placed her hand on the floor.
“Ugh!”
A shard from the broken vase pierced her palm. Nothing ever went right.
Clenching her injured hand, Jane barely managed to stand. Her dress, soaked by the rain that had blown in, weighed her down. Dragging the heavy fabric behind her, she searched for the lone surviving lamp and lit it.
And immediately regretted it.
“I shouldn’t have lit the lamp…”
The state of the house was far worse in the light than it had seemed in the dark.
It looked like she’d need to spend two months’ salary just on repairs.
“I’m going insane.”
In her despair, Jane burst into laughter instead of tears.
She laughed for a long while. The house was in ruins, and blood dripped from the glass embedded in her palm.
Her life was even more of a mess than her home.
Just then, an excessively neat voice rang out amid the chaos.
No—before that, an unfamiliar scent tickled her nose.
A fragrance reminiscent of a rain-drenched forest.
“You must have lost your mind.”
“That’s right. I guess I really have gone mad.”
Jane truly believed she’d lost her sanity—it was more than enough to drive anyone crazy.
‘Cain’s voice? He can’t possibly be here.’
She bowed her head deeply. At the mere thought of Cain, the tears she’d been holding back spilled over.
She didn’t want to think of him on a day like this. It felt as though the Cain from her imagination was watching her pathetic self.
She didn’t want him to see her like this. She wanted to greet him brightly with a smile if they ever met on the street.
“Either you’ve truly gone mad, or your ears are playing tricks on you?”
Again—it sounded real.
Slowly, Jane lifted her head. There, standing in the exact spot where Hamuline and Victor had been, was he.
Cain Hastings.
Jane blinked several times in disbelief, nearly burning herself as she almost rubbed her eyes without setting down the lamp.
Though her senses returned, the illusion didn’t vanish.
In the doorway, its hinges torn off and hanging wide open, stood a figure waiting for someone.
For a moment, Jane thought she’d seen wrong—there was no way he’d appear in her small, shabby home.
But it really was him.
With striking blond hair, eyes like the sea, pronounced brow ridges, a sharp nose, and an aura that blended elegance with raw intensity—there was only one such man in the entire kingdom.
“You’re not going to tell me you’ve gone blind, are you?”
“…Cain.”
“You should address me as Duke Hastings, Miss Whitney.”
Jane’s eyelids fluttered.
It was Cain—really Cain.
Before her stood the man who embodied her deepest regrets, lingering attachments, and unbearable yearning.
She stared at him, forgetting all propriety.
Compared to seven years ago, Cain had grown taller, broader in the shoulders, and more sharply defined.
Though his icy demeanor felt unfamiliar, his straight features, sharp jawline, and vivid blue eyes remained unchanged.
He’d become even more remarkable.
You’ve been living well.
An indescribable wave of relief and emotion crashed over Jane.
Had she spoken those words aloud, anyone hearing them would have mocked her.
The arrogant man’s gaze swept across the ruined room.
“You abandoned me only to end up in such a sorry state.”
Their reunion after seven years happened at a moment she never expected—precisely when her lowest point was fully exposed.
He stepped decisively inside.
“Pathetic.”
Each word he uttered pierced Jane’s heart like a dagger.
“Tasteless.”
Jane squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again.
“How… did you get here?”
Her voice trembled pathetically.
He—so clean, refined, and dignified—didn’t belong in this place at all.
“You’re asking the wrong question. You should ask why I came.”
“…Please leave.”
Cain’s expression darkened, but he quickly masked it and spoke.
“I came because I have business with you. We’re not on terms where I’d visit without reason.”
Jane nodded.
Cain clicked his tongue as he surveyed the wretched room. The cramped space, with no place to sit, was worse than the stables of the Hastings estate.
“I should… at least offer you tea, but I have nothing prepared right now.”
“You don’t even have teacups, do you?”
Jane bit her lower lip slightly. A bead of blood quickly formed on her parched lips.
He was right. She had neither tea leaves nor teacups. The only drinking glass she’d had was smashed by Hamuline.
“Never mind. I didn’t come here just to drink tea.”
Jane looked up at Cain.
Now that she thought about it, she was burning with curiosity—why would the great Cain come looking for her?
Years ago, after becoming Duke Hastings, Cain had risen to a position universally admired.
It wasn’t just because he’d inherited the title—it was a position he’d earned himself.
Aside from the Queen, there was no one in the kingdom he couldn’t meet whenever he wished. Rumor even had it that the Queen’s private chambers opened for him at his command.
Hastings the Magnate.
Seven years ago, he’d abruptly left the Emberun Kingdom and entered the trading business, eventually building an empire of extraordinary scale.
Not only that—he’d imported foreign technology to establish Emberun’s first railway company and received full authority over the railway enterprise from the Queen herself.
It wasn’t just the Queen who trusted him. Every citizen of Emberun held Cain in the highest regard.
Because five years ago, he’d single-handedly ended the sudden war with the Instan Kingdom.
He was a war hero, an immensely wealthy magnate, and a duke deeply trusted by the Queen.
“Judging by your expression, you’ve heard of my reputation.”
“Yes. You’re often in the newspapers.”
She’d feared he might be annoyed if she admitted she’d actively looked for news about him, but the words were already out.
“I…”
She tried to change the subject, but Cain cut her off mid-sentence.
“No need to explain. I don’t care how you’ve been living.”
Jane fell silent.
In the old days, he’d often acted as if he could read her mind.
Whenever Jane was startled, Cain would smile and say,
〈Because I love you, I just know.〉
How did he know now?
She wanted to ask but held back. She doubted his answer would be kind.
And after all this time apart, she didn’t want to argue with him. Even if she couldn’t hide her current wretched state, she wanted to remain someone he could talk to sensibly.
“I have a proposal.”
“A proposal?”
So unexpected was his statement that Jane reflexively asked.
“It’ll be beneficial to you—since it’s coming from me.”
He was arrogant—but the arrogance suited him perfectly.
He finally moved from his place by the doorway. Jane swallowed hard.
The familiar face wore an unfamiliar expression. Her eyes trembled as she looked at the man who’d once been her fiancé.
She nearly lost herself, sucked back into the days when she’d loved him helplessly—until she barely managed to tear her gaze away.
From the very lips that once whispered “I love you” to her now came a cold, businesslike voice.
“I need a woman to be the mother of my child.”
“A child? Yours?”
So shocked was Jane that her head spun. She instinctively reached for the wall but stopped short.
Her palm still had glass shards embedded in it. Cain’s gaze briefly flickered to her hand before looking away.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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MANGA DISCUSSION
1 Comment
Chapter Comments (1)
Sure later Cain wil regret everything he’s done to jane..he only looked the bad side from opposite but never looked inside
Inline Comments (94)
“D-d-did I… make a mistake? I-I mean, d-did I do something wrong?”
Ohh, this poor kid. It’s never a good sign when a child reacts like this.
“Y-you don’t look strange at all! You’re… you’re pretty. L-l-like an angel.”
Ahhh!! What a lovely child, kids really do give the best compliments.
A thrill of euphoria surged through her.
Really, the best word to describe this woman is witch. There is not a single thing pleasant about her.
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KaykatFTW
I feel like Cain has been working behind the scenes to get Jane back. I bet he sent the loan sharks to harass her too so she woild take him up on his offer