~Chapter 7~
‘That feels so good.’
Aveline felt completely satisfied as she watched the man’s shocked face.
The nice female lead in the novel always forgave her husband, even when he just said sorry. It used to make Aveline so frustrated!
‘He probably knelt down and acted all confident, sure I would forgive him. Just showing off.’
But when he heard something totally unexpected, he was left with his mouth hanging open, completely stunned.
‘His reaction is so real!’
Even though she knew it was a dream, the man’s frozen face felt extremely lifelike.
‘Is he going to drool like that?’
Aveline started to worry, seeing him just sit there with his mouth wide open.
“Hey?”
She poked him with her finger.
Thud!
The man fell over exactly in the direction she pushed.
“W-What?”
He just fell over when she barely touched him? Aveline was surprised and quickly ran to him.
“Hey, wake up!”
No matter how much she shook him, the man didn’t move.
“Doctor!”
Aveline finally ran outside and called someone for help.
“He’s just shocked. He’ll be fine after some rest.”
The house doctor checked the man quickly. Luckily, the doctor didn’t ask why the unhappy married couple were together.
‘Well, it’s all just a dream anyway.’
After the doctor left, Aveline was left alone with the unconscious man, feeling a bit ridiculous.
“He’s the one who did something wrong, so why is he in shock just because I scolded him?”
Compared to what he did to Eve, this was nothing.
“People who hurt others are always the most sensitive about their own pain. Tsk tsk.”
Aveline had learned that in real life, before she started staying home all the time.
‘Don’t think about that stuff now. It just makes me sad.’
She tried to forget the old memories and looked at the man again.
“How could someone with such a weak heart cheat?”
Actually, thinking about how much the husband freaked out later in the story, he probably always had a glass heart.
“He can do whatever he wants, but no one else can? What a type. What a waste of a good-looking face.”
No matter how handsome, a bad person was still a bad person. Aveline could never forgive what the heroine went through because of him.
Aveline was grumbling to herself in front of the passed-out man when she started feeling tired.
‘Suddenly, I feel so exhausted. I guess it was too much emotion all at once.’
She dragged herself over to a sofa in the corner and lay down. As soon as she closed her eyes, she was pulled into a deep sleep.
“Miss, wake up!”
“Mmm…”
Aveline slowly woke up as her maid shook her. She blinked, still sleepy, then suddenly sat up as her mind cleared.
“Miss, are you okay?”
Her personal maid, Yoni, looked worried as Aveline stared wildly around her room.
“It’s nothing.”
Aveline calmed herself when she realized she was back in her own room. The dream had felt so real, it made her nervous.
“But why did you wake me up?”
Usually, Yoni never woke her unless Aveline got up by herself.
“Miss, you have to get ready and go outside!”
Yoni handed her a warm, wet towel and urged her to hurry. Aveline wiped her sleepy face, waiting to hear what was going on.
“The Duke of Ribes is here at the house right now!”
“What?!”
Aveline dropped the towel, completely shocked.
Everyone knew Count Herald and Duke Ribes had totally different political opinions.
‘That means there’s no reason for him to ever visit our house in private.’
But now, Duke Ribes had come? Why?
“Why is he here?”
“I don’t know. I heard from Mari that he keeps saying he lost a jewel and came to find it.”
A jewel? Why would he come all the way here to look for his jewel?
After getting into trouble with Duke Ribes just yesterday, Aveline felt uneasy. She quickly got dressed with Yoni’s help.
“Sis, did you hear Duke Ribes is here?”
As soon as she left her room, she ran into Ares, who was running somewhere. He asked her right away.
“Yeah. Is that why you’re running?”
“He’s arguing with Father right now. Why would he come here for a jewel… And what’s wrong with your hair?”
Ares frowned at her messy hair. She hadn’t even brushed it in her hurry. Embarrassed, Aveline tried to smooth it with her hand.
“…Let’s just go.”
Ares turned away, not wanting to say more. Aveline noticed he still had a pillow mark on his cheek.
With messy hair and a pillow mark, Aveline and Ares rushed to Count Herald’s office.
Servants were crowded outside the door, whispering.
“Why is everyone here?”
Ares pushed through and asked. The butler looked relieved to see them.
“Young master, Miss!”
“Is Father inside with Duke Ribes?”
“Yes, sir.”
Ares looked at Aveline and signaled that he would open the door. Aveline swallowed nervously and nodded.
“Father!”
Ares burst into the office as soon as the door opened.
Inside, both Count Herald and Duke Ribes turned their heads at the noise.
“What’s going on, Father?”
Ares pretended not to know anything, even though he did.
Count Herald closed his eyes, frustrated by the twins’ appearance.
“The Duke says he lost a jewel. I have no idea why he came here to look for it.”
“I told you, I was drawn here by my jewel.”
Duke Ribes replied smoothly. He looked as confident and bold as ever, even though he had just barged into someone’s house early in the morning.
“Why our house? Even if we don’t have as much as the Duke, we wouldn’t steal someone’s jewel. It just feels like you’re causing trouble on purpose!”
Count Herald was really upset inside.
He almost never saw Duke Ribes except at royal meetings, and now this man was in his home demanding his jewel back.
Everyone knew Duke Ribes was unusual, but he had never expected something like this.
He wondered how he ended up in such a mess with this crazy duke.
Sure, Duke Ribes was called one of the three most handsome men in the empire—even Count Herald thought he was striking. After today, he probably wouldn’t want to look in the mirror himself.
Still, no matter how good-looking he was, Duke Ribes had a way of making everyone lose their cool when he opened his mouth.
‘God is fair. He’s handsome, but his personality is really strange.’
Count Herald even felt sorry for whichever woman ended up with Duke Ribes someday.
“Ah, I found it.”
Suddenly, Duke Ribes’s eyes curved in a smile.
“Found what? What do you mean, you found—”
Count Herald snapped out of his thoughts as Duke Ribes pointed with his long fingers.
“There. That’s my jewel.”
Everyone in the room—Count Herald, Ares, and the servants peeking in—looked where he pointed.
“There. That’s my jewel.”
Aveline, who was standing just outside the door, felt the air turn icy.
Even her heart felt cold.
‘Did he just point at me?’
Aveline wondered if she’d seen wrong.
“M-Me?”
She looked around and asked, just to be sure. Duke Ribes nodded.
“Why?”
Aveline held back a scream.
“Sis, did you steal something from the Duke yesterday?”
Ares whispered, knowing she’d been with Duke Ribes the day before.
