91 - The Evil Husband (15th Anniversary Edition) Chapter 91
91
He looked Aileen in the eye. She had asked to be held, but Aileen was already in Cesare's arms. So it must mean something else, and Cesare seemed to doubt that what he thought was right.
Aileen reached for his uniform to reassure him. With trembling hands, she gripped the hard button and carefully undid it. A pair of crimson eyes watched Aileen's actions intently. When she had unbuttoned the third button, her hand was immediately stopped.
"You don't have to go this far. I'll tell you without you doing this."
Cesare said in a scolding voice, then took a step back from Aileen. Then, as he rebuttoned the buttons Aileen had undone, he said quietly.
"Lucio Ghitani has liked you since you were in college. It wasn't pure affection, and he committed impure acts."
She knew he had been watching her college life. She was always under Cesare's protection.
But she never knew that he knew even the smallest details, even that someone liked her and what they did. Aileen, the person involved, only found out now.
"Leaving traces on the things he gave you as gifts."
Aileen's lips parted involuntarily at the chilling words. She had clearly heard him, but the sentence didn't register. Cesare watched Aileen's bewildered face clearly and said.
"This time, he was going to do something nasty in your lab. Under the orders of Parvellini Duke, while trying to steal research data."
"...Lucio, my senior."
Aileen, whose heart sank at the curse he uttered without hesitation, murmured with a pale face.
"I didn't know..."
"I figured."
Cesare cupped Aileen's cheeks in his hands. He held her head so that she could not avoid his gaze and looked into her trembling eyes.
"Because I wanted it that way."
Her head was spinning. Aileen finally understood why Cesare had tried not to tell her anything. He must have judged it too dirty to reveal to Aileen.
As always, he would remove the foreign substances himself, and he wanted Aileen to live in a clean environment without knowing anything. Within the fence he had created.
"Aileen."
Aileen came to her senses at the quiet voice calling her name. Cesare slowly continued to speak to Aileen, who still had confused eyes.
"I won't tell you everything, but."
His red eyes were filled with Aileen. Aileen looked at herself reflected in his eyes. She looked as if she were soaked in blood.
"I promise. I'll treat you differently than before."
He still wouldn't say what he wanted to hide. He would not allow Aileen to go outside his fence either.
But at least now he would tell her what had appeared outside the fence, he was saying.
It was a small but definite step forward. Aileen moved her lips.
"...I don't know anything. I almost misunderstood Cesare again this time."
She had suspected that he had shot the innocent Lucio. It was a fleeting but definite impure thought that had crossed Aileen's mind.
"I don't kill ordinary people very often."
Cesare gave an answer as if he had read Aileen's mind.
"Then what about Lucio, my senior?"
"Aileen."
Cesare gave a slightly twisted smile.
"If you keep mentioning your senior, huh? It makes me think bad thoughts."
He put a little strength into the hand that was holding Aileen's face. Aileen's cheeks were pressed in, causing her lips to protrude. While acting playful, Cesare added in a chilling tone.
"Like, did my wife have feelings for her senior?"
Aileen's eyes widened. He was seriously mistaken about something. She tried to make excuses with her fish-like lips, but Cesare spoke first.
"I know. That there's no way."
It was a statement full of conviction that Aileen would only look at him. Cesare already knew the truth that she would never dare to have feelings for anyone else.
"But it still doesn't feel good."
He released Aileen's face. Then he tried to move on to another topic naturally.
"Did you get the gift? I got it from Parvellini Duke."
Aileen grabbed Cesare's hand without realizing it. Cesare looked at Aileen's actions silently, then asked briefly.
"Do you want to?"
Aileen couldn't answer easily. The reason she had asked Cesare to hold her was because she was feeling insecure. She mustered up the courage to ask because she wanted to confirm his affection.
But she was coldly rejected, told that she didn't have to go this far. Cesare didn't want Aileen.
'Until now, was it an obligation?'
The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that what she had done so far had been an obligation.
She had heard that newlyweds did that every day, but Cesare and she did it much less often. He even cut it off as if he were cutting it off in the middle of the act, and even if Aileen asked to do more, he refused.
'I acted without tact again.'
Even now, he was trying to hold her out of a sense of duty. Aileen, who had finally realized the reality, slowly shook her head and replied.
"No... I'm sorry, you're busy."
Aileen felt like she wanted to open the back door and run into the forest right away. The forest, which she had thought was eerie and scary, seemed better to run away to than standing here now. She couldn't lift her face properly because of the shame.
Before she couldn't bear the shame and ran into the forest, it would be better to just go back to the Grand Duke's Residence quickly. Aileen took a step back, thinking she wanted to hide anywhere.
"Thank you for letting me know. Then, I'll go home first."
But as much as Aileen stepped back, Cesare took a step closer. She took a few steps back, faltering, but it was the same. Cesare was just leisurely following Aileen.
As he narrowed the distance as if he were driving prey, Aileen eventually hit her back against the wall. Aileen, with her back to the wall and Cesare in front of her, looked up at him with a flustered expression. She mumbled the words she hadn't finished.
"I'll be going..."
"Aileen."
"Yes, yes?"
Her voice came out strangely. Aileen trembled like a mouse cornered. Cesare put his hand on the wall and tilted his head. A dark shadow fell all over Aileen.
He trapped Aileen and casually undid the top button of his uniform. Then, as he undid the rest of the buttons one by one, the shirt inside his jacket was revealed. He said in a nonchalant tone.
"Where are you going after taking off my clothes?"
To be exact, she had taken them off earlier, and now Cesare was taking them off on his own. But there was no time to argue about the facts.
"Well, I mean, home."
"Why?"
"I have a lot to do... Ah!"
As Aileen said what she had to do today in an increasingly subdued voice, Cesare reached out without hesitation. Rip, there was a sound of clothes tearing. It was the sound of Aileen's dress being ruined.
Aileen, startled, opened her eyes wide and looked up at Cesare. Cesare's eyes had a hint of laughter, but they were fierce. His eyes looked like something had twisted his mood.
While she was thinking about what she had done wrong, the top of her dress was quickly taken off. Aileen, who had exposed her upper body in her underwear in the daylight, hurriedly wrapped her arms around her body.
When she looked up at Cesare with wide eyes, he took one hand away. He took Aileen's left hand and brought it to his lips.
"Do you want to go home after hearing all about your senior?"
"Yes? That's not..."
Before she could answer, her left ring finger was bitten. Cesare chewed hard, somewhat painfully, leaving a clear tooth mark right above her wedding ring.
"Don't go."
Cesare licked his finger for a long time, then kissed the hollow of his palm. His long eyes, surrounded by black eyelashes, narrowed. He looked down at Aileen and said in a seductive voice.
"You have to be with your husband."
