Chapter 77
Vanessa calmly set down the glass of water she had taken a sip from. The man sitting across from her, ‘River Ross,’ felt like a complete stranger.
It wasn’t just that everything he wore was of a quality far too high for a mere Navy petty officer’s salary. It was the atmosphere that seemed to overwhelm the very air. The blue eyes watching her as if observing from a distance, the tall and straight body wrapped in a formal suit, the complexion sunken even more coldly than usual, and the nervous gazes of the staff watching them.
How could she have mistaken such a man for an ordinary sailor? No matter how shabby a shirt he wore, no matter if he was covered in dust, or if he sat hunched on a worn-out sofa in a warehouse sketching with charcoal….
“…….”
Just thinking back to those days made her feel suffocated. The last sliver of hope she had been clinging to sank gloomily. Now, there were no excuses left to hide behind. It was a moment she had to accept.
This man was entirely different from the ‘River Ross’ of the summer rose garden. And now that she knew the truth, she could never return to those days again. Theodore Liam Battenberg. That was the name of the stranger, the Duke. As the daughter of a failing Earl, she had no way to be involved with him, nor any reason to be.
Vanessa quickly gathered her thoughts before they could show on her face. She forced her lips into a smooth, firm smile.
“Aren’t you going to ask why I came to find you?”
“I’d like to ask, but.”
“But?”
“Right now, I just want to look at your face for a bit.”
He gazed at her fixedly, a faint smile touching his eyes. His gaze traveled slowly down the curves of her face—her forehead, the bridge of her nose, her lips, her jawline, and then further down…. As if he were truly trying to engrave her features into his memory.
As if he already knew what she was going to demand.
Her insides felt cold. She hated thinking that way—that he might still have regrets, or that he might regret the deception he had maintained. Vanessa bit her lip again, a spot she had already worried several times. In the end, it had been his choice not to speak until things reached this point.
“I have a feeling I know why you came all this way.”
The man sighed, his low-set eyes fixed on the woman’s lip where a drop of blood had formed.
“You look a bit tired, Vanessa. You should go up and rest. Whatever it is we have to talk about, let’s do it tomorrow.”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t be stubborn.”
“I came here today to ask about your thoughts on the future, River Ross. I’m curious about what kind of sustainable future you have in mind for us.”
“The future.”
A thin smile played on his lips. The meaning of that smile was unclear. Was it a sigh, expectation, or perhaps annoyance? The man, dressed in clothes befitting this gray city of Linden, felt utterly foreign.
Vanessa grew anxious again and pointlessly crumpled the fabric of her skirt over her knees.
“The contract is about to end. I wanted to clarify the principle that we won’t interfere in each other’s lives after that.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
“As you said, we ‘enjoyed each other.’ Now, I want to have a child.”
“…A child?”
“You said you needed an annuity. So, I was wondering… what would you think if there were a child between us?”
She tried not to tremble as she met his blue eyes. The Duke leaned back slowly in his chair, brushing his lips with his fingertips. He remained silent, his gaze sinking coldly.
A silence like a stagnant pool followed. Eventually, a voice that was unnervingly soft covered the dissonance.
“I’m thinking, Vanessa. About why you’re saying such a thing.”
“…….”
“First of all, it’s an unnecessary hypothetical. You’ve been taking your Trinyl regularly.”
“…….”
“I suppose that’s why you came all this way to talk about the end of the contract. Because you saw that medicine.”
He continued matter-of-factly, as if this were something that was bound to happen eventually. As if he had been prepared for this from the moment he handed her the key to the warehouse. Perhaps it hadn’t even been much of a secret to him.
Or perhaps he didn’t think it was such a grand deception. She bit her pale lips.
“And if by some miracle you did have a child, we would have to hurry the marriage. In that process, unnecessary scandal would inevitably follow.”
“…….”
“After that, you’d be plagued for a lifetime by gossip questioning the child’s biological father because of the timing of the birth. And… we would both have to give up the appropriate advantages we could have gained through our respective marriage alliances.”
People believe that loyalty to the state can be proven by a mere marriage. A brief flash of fatigue crossed the man’s face as he spoke coldly.
“After all that trouble and exhaustion, we would slowly become a couple that suffocates one another. That’s what marriage is.”
He sighed as if exhausted by the mere thought, his mouth curling into a crooked smile.
“I believed our views on marriage were quite well-matched, Vanessa Siren Somerset. We both agreed that it is a meaningless institution.”
“…….”
“And I am extremely satisfied with our current relationship.”
With a low breath, the Duke’s eyes softened slightly. For a moment, he reminded her of that man in the summer garden.
“I’m comfortable when I’m with you. I feel like I can breathe. I wondered if I could feel that way in Linden as well, and surprisingly, I do right now.”
“…….”
“Let’s go upstairs.”
Vanessa looked at him with wide eyes.
“I didn’t come here for that purpose. Besides, we….”
“I know, Vanessa. You probably intended to faithfully follow some old-fashioned custom about showing courtesy when making or breaking a relationship.”
“…….”
“There’s still more to say, and the hotel lobby is a place where reporters can easily come and go. I won’t stop you if you need more scandal, though.”
She glanced around anxiously. He stood up from his seat, walked around the long table, and stood beside her.
“We have a contract, and I’ve been faithful to that contractual relationship so far. According to the deal, I believe we’re still lovers.”
“…You agreed to end the relationship once summer was over. To not interfere in each other’s lives.”
“But it’s still summer, Vanessa.”
His words were nothing but a sophistry. Vanessa gritted her teeth and looked at the hand he held out to her. The man with the polite and elegant face felt heart-wrenchingly unfamiliar.
The strange hotel, the faces of strangers, the breathless gazes stealing glances at them…. All the unfamiliar surroundings pressured her.
“Come.”
Vanessa took the Duke’s hand as if giving up and stood. As soon as she staggered slightly when her legs lost their strength, he naturally wrapped his arm around her waist.
While they rode the elevator up, he did not let go of her hand for even a moment. As if she might run away the second he let go. Perhaps even a little desperately….
‘It must just be my imagination.’
As soon as the doors opened, a vast drawing room appeared. A strange silence was maintained until the doors closed behind them and the elevator started moving again.
With an elegant manner, he guided Vanessa inside. The late afternoon sunlight streaming through the large windows soaked into the antique tables and sofas. Very slowly, Vanessa pulled her hand out of the Duke’s strong grip.
“As I said, I need a child. And I understand very well that you… feel negatively about children.”
She barely managed a thin, trembling breath. There was already a child in her womb. A child whose biological father didn’t even welcome the hypothetical existence of, describing it as something like a burden.
Therefore, there was only one choice left. Unless she intended to leave Ingram entirely, she had to end her relationship with the Duke as quickly and cleanly as possible. At least before he noticed the child’s existence.
Vanessa raised her steady gaze.
“I have only one thing to say. I want to end our deal earlier than planned. I want to have a child as soon as possible.”
“You want to have a child?”
“Of course, it doesn’t matter if it’s a man other than you.”
“…You’re going to have a child with another man?”
For a moment, his voice sounded very cold.
“After breaking up with me here?”
A hint of laughter followed his next words. It almost sounded like a question asking if she would dare to live in Ingram after doing such a thing. Vanessa gritted her teeth.
“Our deal ends next month. River Ros—”
“Theodore.”
Her breath hitched for a moment at his soft correction.
