A Change of Husband - Chapter 48

Esperad didn’t head to his office until nearly afternoon.

Lately, he had been buried in work, so staying in his bedroom this late was something that hadn’t happened in a long time.

The attendants whispered with worried faces, certain that all the fatigue he had built up had finally caught up with him.

Among them, there was one person who was too weighed down by emotional distress to even worry about her master’s health. That person was Madam Marce, who happened to be making more mistakes than usual today.

If it had been any other day, Esperad would have finished the paperwork in an hour. But when he finally looked up after barely getting through it, he noticed Madam Marce had knocked over a stack of books and was just standing there blankly. He called out her name.

“…Rosetta.”

“Yes, Master.”

“I believe we have something to talk about.”

“Pardon?”

“Everyone, leave us.”

Esperad dismissed the attendants before Madam Marce could even reply.

Her expression visibly darkened. She seemed to realize she could no longer avoid this.

With the look of someone cornered at the edge of a cliff, Madam Marce stepped in front of Esperad.

“…What is this about?”

“My wife told me that you two had a deep conversation yesterday.”

Normally, she would have explained in detail what they talked about and what conclusion they came to.

But today was different.

Madam Marce kept her mouth tightly shut and said nothing.

It seemed she had no intention of speaking unless he pressed her for answers.

Esperad looked at her quietly, then let out a deep sigh and broke the tense silence.

“I also know what you couldn’t bring yourself to tell Asilie.”

“…W-What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. I know what happened. I found out through another source.”

At his words, Madam Marce’s face turned pale.

She stared at him in shock, then suddenly burst into tears and covered her face with both hands.

“Hhic, hhuuh…”

The sound of her sorrowful crying filled the office.

“I-I’m sorry for such a disgraceful sight… Huuuh…”

Even before getting to the main point, Madam Marce apologized for breaking down in tears.
Esperad shook his head gently, trying to comfort her.

“No, I’m actually grateful for your loyalty and care for the deceased.”

“N-No… Hhuuh… How could I dare… How could I dare to speak of Lady Rihanna like that? Even after seeing how much she suffered… how much pain she endured… Uuhhh…”

Overwhelmed with grief, Madam Marce struggled to speak between sobs.

“Even until her final breath, she couldn’t let go of the guilt… guilt that wasn’t even hers… No matter how many times the late master told her it wasn’t her fault, when it came to that incident, she just couldn’t accept it… and she passed like that. How could I possibly…”

As the story continued, Esperad closed his eyes tightly.

Maybe he had been hoping that Madam Marce would say no—that what he saw wasn’t real.

But what Esperad had found last night in the secret room was a judgment document from the

Royal Council, sent to the Camédici family by the previous Duke Camédici.

When a royal commits a crime, the Royal Council decides their punishment.

In the confidential trial, the accused was Count Mirk, and the victim of his crime was Rihanna Camédici—Esperad’s mother.

All five council members who served as judges unanimously found Count Mirk guilty.

They ruled that all of his actual powers and rights as a royal would be stripped away.

That meant Count Mirk would keep only the name of royalty, without being able to exercise any of its authority.

This was the harshest punishment the Royal Council could give.

Even though Count Mirk received this punishment, he could not object. That was because his crime was so severe that he fully deserved it.

His charge: rape of a noblewoman.

“My lady asked me about it, but I just… I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. Hhic…”

Esperad lowered his head, burying his face in his hands.

Just hearing it was this painful.

The mother he remembered had been warm and gentle.

Just like Madam Marce said, even though she had clearly been the victim, she must have blamed herself.

That thought made his chest ache even more.

“She suffered greatly, didn’t she…”

“She was the kind of person who would only cry when she was alone, afraid someone else might notice. Hhuuh… such a pitiful lady…”

Esperad wanted to go and strangle Count Mirk right that moment.

But he couldn’t, and that made him even angrier. His father had probably felt the same way.

The crime Count Mirk committed was too serious to end with just losing his royal rights.

But even after all that, he couldn’t accept even this light punishment and continued to chase his ambition to become king.

No, he was already making moves toward the throne.

“Bastard.”

The moment Esperad read the ruling, he understood why Count Mirk had worked so hard all these years.

The council that judged the case had five members—three of whom were now dead.

Whether they died of old age or something more suspicious was unclear, but if the remaining two also died, there would be no one left to prove the case.

If all five judges were gone and the official documents stored in one of their homes were destroyed, Count Mirk could erase all evidence of his crime.

That was possible because crimes committed by royals were never made public.

They feared it would damage the prestige of the royal family.

So when such cases happened, only a select few within the council would handle them in secret. And once a conclusion was reached, everyone kept silent.

“He’s probably just waiting until he’s killed every council member involved.”

Count Mirk was ruthless enough to kill off all of Esperad’s fiancées one by one, just to block his succession to the throne.

Surely, he would also try to eliminate the five elders who judged him.

Now that Esperad had started to act, there was a good chance Count Mirk was rushing to finish off the last two elders.

Having confirmed the truth through Madam Marce, Esperad stood up with a hardened expression.

If he had never known, it would be different.

But now that he knew, he couldn’t let things go according to Count Mirk’s plan.

That morning, once again, Asilie didn’t feel well as soon as she woke up.

Lately, she had often felt like the air itself was pressing down on her.

It had happened before and always passed, but the truth was, it was happening more frequently and lasting longer each time.

Her physical condition had clearly been worsening. She’d even had her food carefully tested, just in case, but nothing unusual was found.

With a pounding headache, Asilie couldn’t finish writing her replies to the invitations. She set down her pen and pressed her temples with her fingers.

For a moment, she felt a little clearer, but it didn’t last.

With a heavy sigh, Asilie turned her head.

At the end of her gaze, Esperad sat frowning deeply as he looked through a document.

“As I thought…”

From what she could see, he wasn’t able to concentrate either.

He had been staring at the same document for hours without flipping a single page.

It was clear that he had something heavy on his mind.

‘What could he be thinking about?’

Normally, she would’ve asked right away, but now, she couldn’t.

Asilie stared at Esperad for a long time, her thoughts scattered and confused.

‘This is strange.’

She felt lost.

Her confusion began when she realized she couldn’t imagine her life without Esperad anymore.

If she had never experienced love before, she would’ve called this feeling “love.”

But the love she felt for Esperad was similar to what she had known, and yet, also different.

There was one big difference.

It was obsession.

When she loved Joseph, Asilie always had to watch him from a distance.

She was desperate just to catch his eye, hoping even for a single word from him.

She was eager to be seen, wishing he would notice her.

Even when Joseph wounded her deeply with a decorative sword, slicing her waist, her feelings didn’t change.

Still, Joseph never gave her what she wanted—not even once.

It would’ve been natural to give up, but Asilie didn’t.

His coldness only pushed her to try harder.

Within the Bonaparte household, where no one was on her side, Asilie never took her eyes off him.

She had to know who Joseph met, what he talked about, and how he spent each day.

‘That’s how I found out about Monica, too…’

She had been relentless.

Of course, that kind of behavior wasn’t normal for her.

But because of that, she believed even more strongly that it had to be love.

She had heard before that love could make people act in ways they normally wouldn’t.

And really, what else could explain such ridiculous behavior?

“Haa…”

The more she thought, the more her head throbbed.

Asilie let out a deep sigh and pressed her forehead with her right hand.

Whether it was the stress or the confusion, her forehead felt like it was burning up.

“…Is something wrong?”

Just then, Esperad spoke to her.

She thought he wouldn’t notice because he was lost in his own thoughts, but her sigh must have been too loud.

Asilie looked at him awkwardly and shook her head.

Or rather, she tried to.

If a sudden thought hadn’t crossed her mind and pushed her into doing something reckless, she would’ve stopped there.

“I have a question I want to ask.”

“Ask me anything.”

“What do you think love is?”

This was a very unusual thing for Asilie to do.

And not only did it surprise her, but it also completely caught Esperad off guard.

‘Did she figure out how I feel?’

Esperad watched her closely without saying a word.

But it didn’t seem like she was testing him or that she knew his feelings.

And considering how things were this morning, she hadn’t acted like she noticed anything strange about him either.

Asilie realizing too late that she might’ve startled him while he was deep in thought, quickly tried to smooth things over.

But Esperad spoke first.

“What about you, Asilie? What do you think love is?”

“Huh? Me?”

Asilie looked at him, flustered.

It really wasn’t a big deal.

She just had to say what she thought love meant.

But when she tried to speak, her heart started pounding as if it would burst.

After staring at him for a long time, Asilie finally lowered her head and began to speak without meeting his eyes.

“To me, love was when you couldn’t leave someone alone and had to know everything about them. That’s what I thought it was.”

“When you say ‘was’, does that mean you don’t think that way anymore?”

Esperad’s question made her eyes widen in surprise.

She hadn’t realized it until now—she had been thinking in the past tense.

But when he pointed it out, she finally noticed she had spoken that way.

“…I’m not sure.”

“Then keep talking. When you speak out loud, it helps sort out your thoughts. I’ll just listen. And if you want, I’ll answer your questions too.”

Asilie was quietly surprised that he had picked up on her confusion.

She briefly thought about stopping there, but that thought didn’t last long.

Starting had been hard, but continuing the story wasn’t.

“To explain more clearly, I meant I had to know every single thing that person did during the day.

What they ate and how much, who they met and what they talked about, when and where they slept and for exactly how many hours.”

“You really thought that was love?”

“That’s how I defined it.”

Asilie had planned to end the topic there, but then she realized something had changed.

“…Until now, that is.”

It was strange.

She hadn’t said all that much, but just by speaking her thoughts aloud, it felt like things were becoming clearer—just like Esperad said.

Asilie had never once thought about following Esperad around or digging into things he hadn’t told her.

There was no reason to act that way with him.

And even if she were in a similar situation again, she didn’t think she would act the same toward Esperad.

That’s why it was so confusing to figure out if this was love or not.

But now, she felt like she knew.

She understood her own heart—clearly.

“…Until now, I thought that was what love was.

But now, I think I was wrong.”

Asilie, who had been talking without looking at him the entire time, finally met his eyes for the first time since they began this conversation.

“Esperad… that’s not love, is it?”

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