kscans

Chapter 123 - The Doting Husband and the Doting King Who Taught Him Love

Eleonora's husband, Adrian, was famous for being devoted to his wife.

I am the daughter of a marquis. I know all too well what a noble marriage entails. Love isn't necessary. It exists to connect houses and produce heirs. I understood that.

At the time, Adrian was the captain of the Imperial Guard. He looked high-strung and always wore a sullen expression at social gatherings. There were no sweet words, just the bare minimum of conversation. Honestly, I thought he was rather plain for a suitor in a political marriage.

And yet.

"Eleonora, is there anything you'd like to eat today?"

"If there’s somewhere you’d like to go…"

He tried so desperately, so clumsily, to grant my wishes. And not to trendy places, but he would go to great lengths to take me to places a person of my standing normally couldn't go. His gifts, his words complimenting my efforts and character rather than empty flattery, all of it was completely sincere.

…How could such things come from that sullen face? I couldn't help but laugh.

However, he made one confession before proposing.

"…There is a woman I am looking after. But I intend to cut ties with her."

A mistress? I was disappointed.

But his frantic denials didn't seem to suggest that at all. When I asked, he said he had never even touched the woman, and that it was another man, the second son of a duke, who was whispering words of love to her.

He was repaying a debt for being saved from a bombing? She lived by hunting for herself in the wilderness? The money he gave her as thanks was used to buy a child?

…It was incomprehensible.

It felt more like I was listening to a report of a bizarre incident than a love story. But one thing was clear, he didn't want to have any secrets from me and was telling me everything.

"This is a political marriage… but I want to love only you. I want to make you happy. If you have no one you love, I hope you will share some of your love with me."

When he proposed so clumsily, well. There was no way I could refuse, was there?


And so time passed, and I saw the dying Ariel.

I trembled. That there were men who would abuse a woman, beat her to a pulp, and enjoy it. And that one of them was the king. It made me feel sick.

But then I saw the Duke's second son, Darius, looking at her with such sorrow, and I was astonished. His voice trembled as he cried for help, begging for his mana to be given to her. He continued to desperately encourage the unconscious woman, gazing at her unresponsive form with such love.

I, who had only known him as a man who gracefully escorted women in high society, thought, "Who is this person?"

Seeing the love he poured into Ariel, I understood. Ah… my husband learned about love from watching this man.

My husband's first love couldn't have held a candle to this level of devotion. I felt more pity for my husband’s crushing defeat than jealousy.

"…No one is looking. Why don't you hold her hand for a little while?" I said to Darius, who was gazing at Ariel with a look of longing.

"Just having someone hold your hand when you're in pain can be a salvation. She is blindfolded… and she's still unconscious."

"But, the contact…"

I took his hesitant hand. I guided it to gently touch Ariel's forehead.

The next moment, Darius shed tears, stroking her hair over and over, and continuing to hold her hand.

That a world like a sweet painting could exist.

It was precisely because I was raised as a noble that I was so weak to this kind of romance.