CHAPTER 95………………………………………
“Really??”
No matter how skilled an actor, once immersion breaks, it’s not easy to revive the emotions. If you rush to deliver the next line without even a moment to regain your feelings, you can only speak while completely falling apart. Just like now, when I’m thrashing about in disbelief, having been lifeless just moments ago as if I were about to die.
“So… ours. You mean, the Duke’s and my child?”
“Yeah. Your constantly changing behavior and attitude, too. Even though you went home early because you weren’t feeling well, you didn’t cut down the time we spent together. And on top of that, your meals were ridiculously smaller than usual, and you’d even doze off whenever we met.”
Ha. Where do I even begin to correct this misunderstanding?
First, from the truth.
“Sorry, but there’s no such thing as our child. I have definite proof that I’m not pregnant.”
He seemed to lose his legs, staggering as he slumped onto a park bench. Was it really that shocking to hear that it wasn’t a pregnancy?
Staring blankly at the ground, he turned his face in a gloomy expression. He reached out one hand, tugging my sleeve downward, looking pitiful like a stray puppy on the street. It was so cute I almost reached out to pat him—but I restrained myself just in time.
“Then why were you so cold all this time?”
I could just say my heart… had drifted, but… the mood had already gone. I knew very well that I had already looked at him with eyes that thought he was cute. I forced my twitching lips down, but saying it was because my heart had cooled didn’t feel convincing at all.
In the end, I raised my hand and gently stroked his head.
“I just had some worries, that’s all.”
“Can you tell me what they are?”
“I’ll tell you later. I haven’t sorted out my thoughts yet.”
He nodded, like a little child. To think I had let such a good chance slip away… Now I realize it wasn’t Ferredil who was the problem—it was me. My own weakness for him was the biggest obstacle.
“Why did you think I was pregnant? Did Susan say something like that?”
I wondered who planted this ridiculous thought that made me collapse in his mind, but there was only one suspect. Ferredil had no other friends.
“No, Alex.”
Alex? Who’s Alex?
When did I somehow make a friend? He usually stuck with me on his days off, so he probably didn’t have time to meet someone new.
“Oh, you wouldn’t know Alex. I mean Kyle.”
To my confusion, he gave me a different name.
“Kyle? The Kyle from the drama? The guitarist who was paired with Gina?”
“Yeah. I’m close with Kyle, so I went to him for some advice. Are you… upset about it?”
So, because I had acted cold for several days, he went running to a friend alone for advice. After agonizing over it for days, he concluded that I was pregnant?
Honestly… should I call it disheartening, or pure?
One thing’s for sure… it’s really, really funny!
“Puhahaha!”
Blushing, he started defending himself without anyone telling him to.
“I said it probably wasn’t true, but Alex… Kyle insisted it was definitely a pregnancy!”
I laughed so hard my stomach hurt, and I plopped down next to him.
How could I not like this man, when even trying not to, I couldn’t stop myself? How could I handle a man who likes me so clearly, even when I try to not like him?
“What would you have done if I really were pregnant?”
“What do you mean?”
He would have proposed immediately, right? Stormed into Woodville Manor to arrange a marriage? Or started with the wedding first?
He kissed my hand and said something that didn’t exist before:
“I would have been happy.”
I see. He would have been happy. His heart, filled to the brim with love for me, showed no gaps. Should I just ask him outright?
Holding hands and walking side by side, I subtly asked him:
“Duke, don’t you have anything about someone of the opposite sex that would annoy you?”
“Not really.”
“Think carefully. Even in love, there must be something you couldn’t tolerate, right?”
“There’s nothing.”
His forehead bumped mine lightly.
“And you?”
“Me? Not really either…”
“See?”
He removed his forehead, walking happily. Unlike recently, his face showed no trace of worry, and it had been a long time since I’d seen him like this, so I kept stealing glances at him.
“Do I have something on my face?”
“No, nothing. Just… looking.”
I needed to remember this face. So that whenever I think of him, I recall this bright smile, not the last sad expression.
I kept looking at him until we reached the manor.
“Ha! So it wasn’t a pregnancy?”
Alex laughed so loudly it could drown out the voices of everyone outside. Naturally, Ferredil’s mood was ruffled.
“Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was? Laughing at it like it’s someone else’s problem—aren’t you being shameless?”
Wiping the tears from his eyes, he apologized.
“Sorry, sorry. I couldn’t help it. It reminded me of Lucy’s behavior in early pregnancy.”
It was the same venue, the bar “Blue,” but this time with a different person. Lucy, who had gone by the fake name Gina, had cut her long hair into a bob and sat next to her partner. Her belly was round and protruding.
“I didn’t know there was a child between them.”
“I didn’t know I’d be unable to drink,” Alex muttered.
Lucy stared at Alex, chewing the dry snack in front of her. Alex avoided her gaze, pretending not to notice.
“Anyway, if you were curious about women’s minds, you should’ve asked me, not him. You’ve come back embarrassed, looking handsome but completely humiliated, Ferredil.”
“I’ll come to you from now on, Lucy.”
Alex slammed his beer on the table, sensing the subtle tension between the two.
“Hey! Even if you’re a friend, you can’t meet my wife alone without permission.”
“Wife? What wife?”
“You’re going to marry me, Lucy.”
“You call that marriage without a proper proposal? This guy asked me to marry him in a lame way after I said I was pregnant. Don’t make this mistake.”
Ferredil’s face stiffened at the memory of the blunder. It wasn’t exactly as Lucy said, but he remembered saying something that sounded equally lame even to his lover.
“Already with that face?”
Lucy shook her head, thinking all men were the same, and changed the topic. Otherwise, Ferredil would freeze like stone.
“So, you two got back together, right?”
As she expected, he brightened up immediately.
“Yeah, seems like it. She smiled again.”
“Just smiling? This simpleton.”
His statement, completely lacking trust, was lightly ignored. Ferredil only looked at the one person he could truly rely on and shared his curiosity.
“But on the day we got back together, she asked me something weird before we broke up.”
“What?”
“She asked if I had any habits that would annoy a partner. Anything intolerable even in love.”
Lucy frowned. Scratching her chin and thinking deeply, she looked very much like Alex, as Ferredil noticed.
“That’s definitely not good.”
“Why? Why is that bad?”
He used the same method as a lover to grab attention with a pause.
Ferredil listened again carefully.
“I think that’s because…”
