89 - Evil Husband (15th Anniversary Edition) Chapter 89
89
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Aileen tried to stop crying, finding herself in a situation as far removed from the calm, logical conversation she had originally planned as the opposite ends of the continent.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the tears. She was overwhelmed with complex emotions. She had barely mustered the courage to ask him a question, but as soon as she arrived where Cesare was, she was seized by fear.
It was a door that wouldn't open no matter how hard she knocked until her hands were raw. She was afraid that he would ignore her for coming to him with a presumptuous question.
But the door opened. Cesare, who appeared like a dream, took care of Aileen first. The simple question of whether she had been crying was painfully tender.
As she sobbed with overwhelming emotion, Cesare held Aileen in his arms. At the same time, he held her chin so she couldn't hide her face and quietly examined her.
Her eyes, already red from crying in front of Senon, were now starting to swell. If she cried any more, she would really become ugly. But when she heard Cesare's low murmur, tears welled up even more instead of stopping.
"Who has been bothering my wife?"
As tears poured out like a faucet had been turned on, he took out a handkerchief and gently dabbed the tears from her flushed cheeks, repeating,
"Tell your husband."
Aileen couldn't help but grumble.
"Cesare-nim..."
She managed to catch herself before finishing the sentence, but the beginning was enough for Cesare to guess the whole story. A coldness flashed in his crimson eyes. Cesare was silent for a moment before speaking.
"Is it because of Lucio Ghitani?"
Aileen shook her head. Lucio was not the fundamental cause.
"It would be better to go inside and talk."
Cesare lightly picked Aileen up. He carried her as easily as a child and gestured to Senon.
Senon, who had been standing there with the saddest face in the world, saluted sharply. Then he approached the soldiers who were guarding the house. Leaving Senon talking to them behind, Cesare entered the house with Aileen.
It was a space she never imagined she would enter. Aileen wiped away tears with Cesare's handkerchief while looking around the interior.
The small wooden house was located at the entrance of the forest. It was a very modest house to be Archduke Erzeht's villa.
The interior was also empty. There was no furniture like a bed, just a wide table and chairs, and large drawers and boxes that seemed to store odds and ends. It seemed to be a space used only briefly when needed.
She guessed it was probably used when he came to hunt. That was because various types of firearms were hanging on the wall.
'But did Cesare-nim enjoy hunting?'
Cesare didn't talk much about himself. However, because they had known each other for so long, Aileen knew Cesare's likes and dislikes to some extent.
Cesare also sometimes told her about his daily life, but when he said he had been hunting, it was mostly because his brother Leone or other nobles had invited him to attend. She had never heard him say that he was going hunting himself, even after knowing him for more than ten years.
Even magazines that dug into Cesare's life and talked about all sorts of trivial details never mentioned that Cesare enjoyed hunting.
With a slight sense of doubt, she looked at the open back door. Somewhat uniquely, the back door was directly connected to the forest. It was common to have at least a small open space or garden on the back side, but this place was directly connected to the forest.
Judging from the smell of grass emanating from Cesare, he seemed to have been in the forest until just now. Aileen looked at the dark forest spread out beyond the wide-open back door.
The endlessly vast forest was dense with thick trees. The sunlight couldn't properly penetrate the dense leaves, making it dark even in broad daylight.
Looking at the black forest, a faint chill ran down her body. Even though Cesare would protect her even if a wild animal jumped out of the forest, she felt afraid for some reason.
She even had the illusion that the wind blowing from the black forest was mixed with a faint smell of blood. It was when she had forgotten her tears for a moment due to instinctive fear.
"It's a place I sometimes use for hunting."
Cesare, who had been staring at the forest following Aileen, turned his gaze and said.
"This must be the first time you've come inside."
He also remembered what had happened before the departure. She wanted to ask why he hadn't opened the door back then. But she knew that now was not the time to talk about such things.
While she was looking around the interior, her tears had stopped. Aileen opened her lips with flushed cheeks from crying.
"Please put me down now..."
Even though they had come inside, he was still holding Aileen. He didn't seem to have any intention of putting her down.
But Aileen had decided to have a serious conversation with him. It would be impossible to have a conversation while being held like this. Aileen made up her mind and said again.
"Please put me down. Please, Cesare-nim."
Cesare raised his eyebrows at her rather firm tone. This time, he put Aileen down without saying anything and closed the open door.
As the wind blowing from the forest stopped, she felt like her body, which had been frozen with tension, was finally thawing. Cesare pulled a chair and sat Aileen down. And he also brought a chair and sat close to her across from her.
The same chair looked spacious for Aileen, but it looked a little uncomfortable for him. The tall man sat with his long legs slightly apart, crossed his arms, and looked at Aileen. Instead of Aileen, who couldn't open her mouth easily, he spoke first.
"Your senior is still alive, Aileen."
"..."
"If you want, I can keep him alive."
It was as if he was trying to give a candy to a sulking child. Aileen realized that Cesare still didn't know what she wanted.
If she accepted the candy he was giving her, the atmosphere would soon soften. She wouldn't have to be afraid that Cesare would get angry at her.
But if that happened, their relationship would never change. Aileen would continue to live within his fence without knowing anything. With the anxiety that she might be kicked out at any moment.
"...Cesare-nim."
Aileen opened her lips with difficulty. She carefully asked, looking straight into his crimson eyes without avoiding them.
"Do you... still see me as just a child?"
It seemed that it was not the question he had expected. Cesare tilted his head slightly. As if trying to figure out what Aileen was thinking, he stared at her intently for a while. Then he replied in a nonchalant voice.
"If I did, I wouldn't have taken your clothes off."
Aileen shrank the hands she had gathered tightly on her lap even smaller. She tried to cool her burning face and moved her lips.
"I didn't come here to ask for my senior's life."
Cesare quietly waited for Aileen to continue speaking. He waited in silence without urging or sharply questioning her. Aileen worked hard to gather the courage that had scattered into the air again.
"How... did this happen... That is, I woke up and this happened. And the newspaper articles suddenly..."
She wanted to speak logically, but her words were rambling due to nervousness. Still, she believed that Cesare would fully understand what she was trying to convey. He had always listened to Aileen's stories. Aileen expressed what she wanted most.
"Cesare-nim has made me Grand Duchess, so I want to do my best. Not just be a child who doesn't know anything and is only protected."
"I know."
Aileen flinched at the words that fell from him so coolly.
"You have always done your best. Enough to give up your life for my honor."
Cesare seemed calm at first glance. But unlike his calm voice, his eyes were deep and dark like the black forest beyond the door. An unknown darkness hung over his crimson eyes.
"That's why, Aileen. I don't want to tell you anything."
He ordered Aileen.
"Promise me you won't die for me. Then I'll tell you."
Words as deep and cold as the darkness of the forest wrapped around Aileen.
"Whatever it is you want."
