Living a Scheming Marriage with a Mad Villain - Chapter 103

I stood there blankly, lost in thought, before I suddenly realized it—this man never intended to send me to Veliata in the first place.

‘But why…?’

He clearly said he wanted to help me. He said I could leave whenever I wanted, even offered to find a ship for me himself. So why…?

Reus knew better than anyone that I hadn’t done anything suspicious. So I never once thought he still didn’t trust me.

That’s exactly why this moment felt even more confusing. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out why he was doing this.

“You’re joking, right, Reus…?”

I would’ve preferred it to be one of his usual silly jokes. But even as I desperately hoped for that, Reus simply let out a soft chuckle and continued guiding me toward the bedroom.

“Let’s go back to the bedroom.”

“W-Wait. Wait, Reus!”

I stood my ground with all my strength, and only then did Reus stop walking.

“Uh, well… Dwyn is waiting for me! If I’m any later, it’ll be a problem. I really have to go now, so please stop joking…”

I subtly turned my body toward the stairs, but he caught my hand and spun me back around.

“I’m not the kind of person who jokes about things like this.”

How is that any different from saying he really did cancel all the ships heading to Veliata from Rochester Harbor?

I honestly wanted to scream at him to just joke already.

‘Why is he really doing this to me…?’

My mind had gone blank, unable to think rationally. When I finally came to, I had already passed the bedroom door.

“Reus.”

“Yes, Loelle.”

“About the harbor… You didn’t bring up the ownership just for this, did you?”

Reus tried to respond, but I quickly added,

“I believe that’s not the case.”

That would be absurd. He couldn’t have done all that just to stop me from leaving…

“If you want to believe that, then let’s say that’s not it.”

He did do it… This man must be insane.

“R-Reus, I really have to go. This kind of joke isn’t funny at all.”

I turned toward the door, dragging my stiff, shocked body, but Reus gently stopped me with a soft touch.

“Besides, it’s already too late to board today’s ship, isn’t it?”

“There was a ship today?”

“Mm. There wasn’t.”

I was so dumbfounded that I just stood in the middle of the room in disbelief. Reus slowly pulled me closer.

“Don’t just casually lead me to the bed…”

“But isn’t it time to sleep now?”

His strangely downcast voice snapped me back to my senses.

“Again…! You’re trying to brush it off like this again.”

“I’ll change. From now on.”

“Liar!”

You always say things that sound good, thinking I won’t notice! I glared at him, showing I didn’t believe a word, but Reus simply guided me to sit on the bed.

“It’s late. Let’s talk tomorrow.”

“We talk just fine any other day—why not today?”

“I’ve been working non-stop. I’m tired.”

“Wait… are you talking about Veliata—ah.”

Reus, who had been intertwining our fingers naturally, suddenly wrapped his other arm around my waist and laid down, taking me down with him.

‘Am I doomed?’

I think I’m doomed… No, I am doomed. Without a doubt.

‘So what do I do now?’

It felt like I should cry, but strangely, no tears came. The only thing that escaped me was a tired, hollow laugh.

Even after lying down, we bickered meaninglessly for a bit, but eventually, I fell asleep. And then, morning came.

I sat up quickly and turned my head. What greeted me was… an empty space beside me.

“This man, seriously…”

Still hoping, I checked the bathroom and dressing room, but of course, Reus was gone.

“Where did he run off to this early in the morning?”

Don’t tell me he left the estate early just to avoid talking about Veliata?

I quickly got dressed and was about to go look for Reus when I suddenly remembered my luggage. I decided finding my poor, abandoned bags should come first and hurried out into the hallway—but my bags were nowhere to be found.

“What? Where did the bags go now!”

I walked around the hallway and peeked into some nearby rooms, but still couldn’t find them. Just as I rubbed my forehead, trying to calm down, Millie came running from down the hall.

“Your Grace!”

“Oh, Millie! Great timing. Did you happen to see the bags that were—”

“How could you…?”

Millie, who had never interrupted me before, looked at me with teary eyes.

“How could you think about running away without telling me, Your Grace…?”

“R-Running away? What are you talking about, Millie?”

My heart started racing at the word “running away,” but I tried to play it cool.

It wasn’t running away anyway—it was closer to leaving the world. Why would she think it was running away…?

‘Wait. How would Millie even know anything about it—whether it’s running away or not?’

Did she look through the luggage? But even if she did, just seeing the contents wouldn’t directly tell her I was running away.

It could’ve been a trip, or a visit back to Ivelle, or even going to see Lady Shanette—there were plenty of other reasons.

“You promised you wouldn’t leave… How could you do this, Your Grace?”

“That’s, Millie…”

I never expected to be caught this easily.

This was bad. But now that I was caught, I had no choice but to calm her down… I was about to apologize when she suddenly shouted:

“Even if you had a fight with the Duke, running away is never okay!”

What is she even saying? She mentioned a couple’s fight yesterday too—wait…

“Did Reus tell you that?”

“N-No! The Duke didn’t say anything. But he hasn’t come back to the estate, and you’ve looked sad every day, so we just figured…”

She insisted Reus never said it, but I was sure.

If rumors like that were going around the whole estate, Reus had to be involved somehow.

He didn’t just get rid of the ships—he even used the staff’s attention to keep me from leaving!

‘And the reason he left the estate wasn’t because of a fight—it was to get rid of the ships to Veliata!’

Even in this ridiculous situation, I couldn’t even tell the truth. It was so frustrating.

“They say a married couple’s fight is like cutting water with a knife. I’ll do whatever I can to help you two make up!”

“Millie, what are you talking about? It’s not like that.”

“You don’t have to hide it from me, Your Grace!”

“Reus and I have never had a fight.”

“No couple gets along every day. It’s natural to fight sometimes.”

“What I mean is… we haven’t fought yet. But we’re about to.”

“What?”

“I don’t even know how these rumors started when we haven’t even argued yet.”

“Y-Your Grace… Please calm down…”

“So, where is the Duke right now?”

I smiled as gently as I could, but Millie just pursed her lips and shook her head silently.

After pressing Millie for answers, I went down to the dining room where Reus was.

“Good morning, Loelle.”

Reus greeted me with a calm face, much more composed than I expected.

“Yes. A very good morning, Reus.”

Somehow, I could feel the tension in the air from the staff watching us from afar.

“That’s your doing too, isn’t it?”

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

Of course he’s not sure…

He’s done so much that even he can’t keep track of which thing I might be talking about!

It wasn’t loud enough for the staff to hear, but I still avoided bringing up Veliata directly. Instead, I decided to question him about the rumors first.

“So… the strange rumors going around the estate.”

“Rumors?”

Reus tilted his head with a genuinely puzzled expression. I almost raised my voice, wondering how he could pretend not to know—again.

“There’s no way you wouldn’t know what’s being said in your own estate, Reus.”

“I’ve been busy and away from the estate for a while, so I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about. I’ll look into it later—”

“Lies. Again!”

I couldn’t hold it in any longer and raised my voice. Reus looked toward the staff and spoke with a sigh.

“Oh dear. So the rumors you mentioned must actually be real.”

I didn’t need to turn my head to know what kind of looks the staff were giving us.

“So you’re really saying you know nothing about these rumors, Reus?”

He nodded once, as if it were obvious.

So this is how you’re playing it?

‘I didn’t want to stoop to this level, but you left me no choice…’

But Reus, despite how normal he looked, wasn’t someone you could reason with. So this wasn’t even childish—it was just necessary.

I placed my spoon down on the table with a clink.

“I’ve lost my appetite. I’ll be going.”

“Loelle.”

As I stood and walked toward the hallway, Reus quickly followed and stepped in front of me. I always found it strange how this kind of threat worked on him.

He immediately folded, all flustered, like he’d never acted shameless in his life.

“I was wrong. So, please… eat…”

“No.”

“N-No…”

He stopped mid-sentence and let his arms fall, looking like someone who’d just been deeply wounded. I was surprised by how dramatic his reaction was, but quickly steeled myself again.

‘Who cares what you feel!’

Even that kind of reaction was nothing compared to being betrayed by someone I trusted.

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