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Chapter 27

After returning to her room, Chloe changed her clothes and wiped off the sweat on her forehead with a towel. It was snowing heavily outside.

She had heard that it didn’t snow at the capital, but Chloe knew that it was especially cold this year.

When she changed into a comfortable nightgown and sat down on an armchair, she could finally relax. Still, Chloe still pulled her seat closer to the heater because she still felt chilly.

Looking at the heater reminded her of the portable heater that Eric was making. It was going to be very useful. Once it’s successfully completed, many people would definitely want to buy it, and because of this, Eric’s reputation would soar once more.

Chloe likes Eric. Apart from loving him, she likes him. She likes him just for himself. He was an admirable man who made great inventions with his hands as though he’s breathing life into them. That’s partly why she was so happy to have married him back then, and she promised that she would respect him for all of her life.

But what was the result of this? The only time they slept together on the same bed for all five years of their marriage was last night, while he was drunk.

And throughout the night, nothing happened. Nevertheless, Chloe loved that Eric sought her out, and the fact that he refused to let her go somehow proved that he needed her. Chloe couldn’t help but be happy.

She was so ecstatic that she could consider this being happy. ‘Chloe…’ When he called her in a low voice, it felt as though an angel was beckoning her and leading her to heaven.

But there was no heaven. And God is a mere illusion.

The moment Eric woke up in the morning, he was as indifferent as he always was. Rather than a benevolent angel, he looked more like a disinterested devil. This realization made Chloe’s chest hurt once more.

Cough!

Chloe spat out a cough mixed with blood. Trickles of dark red liquid poured out, and she hurriedly covered her lips with a handkerchief, but that wasn’t enough to stop it. As she coughed and spat out, blood was still there.

Cough, cough! Kugh!

Chloe curled up into herself and coughed again. Her body was shaking. Collapsing to the floor, Chloe placed her head between her knees.

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

There’s nothing she could do because she’s sick…

She couldn’t tell her husband. He already hated it whenever she was lying down sick in bed, but it was clear that he would say more hurtful things the moment he would find out she had a time limit.

Chloe thought to herself that she wouldn’t be hurt by such words anymore, but that wasn’t true. It hurts. It’s difficult. Whenever she heard those things from her husband, it felt like the barriers around her heart were collapsing one after another.

What would happen once all these walls would go down?

Would she die?

Chloe thought about it.

Yes. She would.

Suddenly, Chloe laughed.

She had to make sure that the barriers around her heart wouldn’t collapse. She had to strengthen her resolve a little more. She should no longer be hurt by every word, every glare.

‘We’re going to get divorced anyway.’

Chloe rose to her feet. She had to wash off the blood on the handkerchief. If she left this task to Andrea, that in itself would be enough to turn this entire house upside down.

“Is Chloe going out today?”

Eric asked Daniel. At his question, Daniel nodded as he handed him some documents.

“I heard that she is. Andrea said so.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure of the reason.”

Daniel shrugged.

“I guess the Madam’s fleeing for a bit because Your Excellency said so many things.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Eric furrowed his brows.

“I think.”

Daniel smiled as though he already knew. There’s no way that he didn’t say anything. Eric just saying anything towards the Marchioness was enough to offend. Daniel was sure.

“What happened to Gatsby?”

“He’s protesting and using his family’s name while doing so. But I said that we’d take this to court, and he shut up just like that. He said that he’d bring the settlement money.”

“Give that money to Chloe.”

Shocked, Daniel widened his eyes.

“But…”

Though he soon spoke anyway.

“Will the Madam take it?”

“What do you mean?”

“No, I mean, the Madam I know wouldn’t take it.”

“Then leave it in a bank. Tell her that she can use it if she needs to later.”

Eric had answered this, but paused for a moment. He soon added.

“Sure. It’s not needed anyway. I can do everything. There’s nothing to worry about when it comes to money.”

That’s right. No one in the capital had as much wealth as Eric.

The only one who didn’t know this was Chloe. She was the only one who denied this fact.

No, it wasn’t to the extent of denial, but Chloe seemed to have the misconception that Eric was poor. He recalled how she had said, ‘If I pay back all the money that my household borrowed, you can buy one of Monte’s paintings, right?’

His expression became distorted with unpleasantness. At first glance, it was clear how his deep, empty gaze was now colored with anger. Daniel watched Eric’s changes.

“You need to stop having that attitude.”

“What?”

“I believe you should abandon that kind of thinking, that everything could be solved with money. Especially towards your wife. The Madam—no, women in general value time spent with them more than money.”

“Absolutely not.”

Eric denied it.

“Women who see me only for money can fill more than ten carriages.”

“You can’t just generalize everyone like that! Have you ever tried your best to calmly express your feelings towards the Madam? That’s the most important thing. It really is.”

Eric didn’t say anything back. Daniel and Chloe seemed to be saying the same things.

How exactly did she want him to express himself? Eric really, absolutely couldn’t understand what it meant to show his own feelings.

Did she want him to say nice things? If so, then that was something that he characteristically wouldn’t do. He was a crooked person from the beginning—that is, from birth—so he didn’t have the capacity to say things nicely.

And no matter how nicely he’d put it, it was evident that this would just be a futile act of veiling reality with an illusion.

Wasn’t it better now that, even if he couldn’t speak nicely, he still managed to achieve great heights? If he had to choose one or the other, then Eric would still prioritize gaining wealth.

“In the first place,”

Eric spoke as he lit up a cigar.

“If I didn’t have money, do you think Chloe would have married me?”

“I can’t say for certain.”

Daniel was still sure about this.

“But I’d like you to know that your money would not have such a big part in the future of your marriage.”

“Did you hear the conversation I had with Chloe?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

He seemed to have overheard Chloe mentioning the divorce. Eric flicked the end of his cigar.

“I don’t intend to divorce her.”

“But the Madam wants it.”

“Even so. I won’t let it happen.”

A blur of smoke flowed out of his lips. He smoothed over his already neat collar and inhaled another puff on the cigar.

“No matter what she says, I won’t do it.”

“Why?”

Daniel asked.

“Your Excellency, have you even asked her first? If you don’t want the Madam to divorce you?”

Eric didn’t answer right away. No, he couldn’t.

He had so many questions for Chloe. But what did Eric say instead every time? The only explanation he gave whenever turning down the divorce was that there’s no reason for it.

But he knew well enough that this wasn’t enough of an excuse. Was it because he didn’t want to marry the fourth princess? Well, that was a dubious reason.

So he had to ask himself. Why was he so against the divorce?

“Is it because you have feelings for the Madam? Is that why you don’t want to get divorced?”

Eric raised an eyebrow, then he extinguished the cigar, which he hadn’t even smoked more than a few times, on the ashtray. A sharp gaze headed towards Daniel.

“The most important thing now is that none of the achievements I’ve made thus far would be ruined.”

That’s why he kept striving for more. He was someone who hated the thought of his own failure.

“My marriage, in its own way, is also an achievement. There’s no way I don’t know that.”

“That’s right.”

“So, it wouldn’t be good to get divorced.”

Eric lit another cigar.

The dream he had last night kept him thinking. He remembered. The one who had laughed the loudest while he was being beaten as a kid—it was Duchess Rolphe.

…Damn it.

He swept a hand over his forehead.

“I can’t afford to be a failure.”

For the first time in a while, Chloe went out on her own.

Chloe had been stuck indoors with the excuse of wanting to be alone. But in fact, she didn’t want to be alone. It’s just that she had to be.

She was terribly sick.

Perhaps what happened at the banquet had come to her as a great shock, or perhaps it was her own body failing her, but she began to suffer even more since that day. She had yet to regain her strength and be well again.

Every single night, she would fall asleep with her body going through a high fever. She’d wake up a few times during the night, and every time, she would force herself to stop coughing and hide the sounds by biting her tongue.

She desperately wanted to call the doctor, but she couldn’t. Her husband wouldn’t like it. She didn’t want to do anything that her husband would hate.

So, she held it all in. All the pain, all these hardships. Everything.

After a few days like that, Chloe finally felt refreshed once more. That’s why she went out immediately.

Daniel asked where she was going, but she only said that she was going downtown for a while.

She didn’t reveal her real destination.

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