Chapter 28 : What He Doesn’t Know Hurts Me
Chapter 28
Edward tilted his head ever so slightly, his sharp blue eyes trailing over me with an intensity that made my skin crawl — as if he were savoring something forbidden.
It was a sensation I had never felt before — something cold, damp, and uncomfortably sticky, like the echo of a nightmare that clings even after waking.
This wasn’t just a cold stare. It was laced with something far darker. A chill ran down my spine, and I instinctively gave a small, uneasy shrug.
“…You certainly have a talent for talking nonsense.”
Unable to endure his gaze, I looked away.
“Of course, I’m joking. But it truly is that surprising.”
Is it really so shocking that Johannes married me?
Everyone — the ladies, and even Edward — spoke as though Johannes’ decision were some tragic miscalculation. As if loving me was a flaw in his otherwise impeccable judgment.
But if they gave it a moment’s thought, they’d understand. Johannes had his reasons — shifting public opinion, silencing rumors…
Still, they all believed with such certainty that he would never choose me. And that made my very existence feel… mistaken.
I spoke up, pushing back against Edward’s arrogance.
“Don’t act like you know everything about my husband. He’s far kinder and more considerate than you think.”
“How long have you known him?” he asked.
“…Excuse me?”
“You sound so confident.”
Edward murmured, folding his fingers as though ticking off invisible numbers.
“He was serving in the military until Duke Schultz’s execution. If you count the time he went missing… what, two months? Three at most?”
“……”
“You look like I just hit the mark.” He leaned in with a half-smile. “Duchess, I’ve known Johannes for over twenty years.”
“And what exactly does that have to do with me?”
I bristled, irritation bubbling just beneath my skin.
Edward sighed and looked around, his eyes scanning the velvet-draped walls. Then, with a fluid motion, he drew the thick curtain closed — enclosing us in a quiet, shadowed corner.
“It’s a compelling tale, isn’t it? That I fell for your beauty. But let’s not pretend beauty is rare among noblewomen.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Ah, forgive me — your reaction threw me off. I’ve repeated myself.”
He offered an apologetic smirk, then leaned closer and whispered in a voice laced with something far more dangerous than jest.
“I don’t believe Johannes fell in love with you at first sight.”
There was a sharpness beneath the softness of his tone — a blade sheathed in velvet.
And I had nothing to say. Because… he was right.
There had been no moment of lightning-struck love between me and Johannes.
What was worse…
Edward Windsor knew Johannes better than I did. That fact alone made my earlier confidence feel like a laughable lie.
“Have you ever felt something strange?” he asked, watching me closely.
I bit down on my lower lip, hesitant.
“I’m the strange one,” he said before I could respond. “If you don’t see it… then there’s nothing more I can say.”
His voice wrapped around me like smoke, unsettling and slow.
“Wow. You folded faster than I expected.”
“…What?”
“According to you, the ever-devoted Duke Schultz is walking this way.”
He gestured casually.
“I never said—!”
My voice rose, but he silenced me with a single, deliberate motion — his index finger gently touching my lips.
Then he leaned in again, his voice dropping lower, firmer.
“I’m serious. If something about Johannes ever feels… wrong, come to me. And more importantly—”
He glanced past me, toward the approaching figure.
—Don’t get too close. Don’t give him everything.
Love him, if you must… but protect yourself.
Run. While you still can.
✦ ✦ ✦
Repetition. Tiresome, dull repetition.
Johannes had never grown accustomed to the mindless chatter of nobles. Their endless prattle, their hollow laughter — it scraped against his nerves like a dull blade.
He endured it with a polite, fabricated smile until, at last, boredom and irritation forced him to close his eyes, just for a moment. When they reopened, the world was no less exhausting.
He was surrounded by masks. No faces — just carefully painted illusions.
These same people who whispered about the fall of House Schultz behind his back now stood before him, dripping with false compliments, as if offering up their fortunes.
“I thought the Duke didn’t even realize she was a woman.”
Baron Verdot — ridiculous in both attire and expression — shook his head, clearly bitter that he hadn’t succeeded in marrying off his daughter.
“The Duchess is truly beautiful. Like a flower meant only to be admired.”
And with that unnecessary comment, his intentions were plain. He wanted to mock the marriage — to reduce it to aesthetics alone.
He couldn’t openly question the duchess’s status in front of Johannes, so he did so with veiled contempt.
“Is beauty all you see?”
Johannes smiled, but it was the kind of smile that held the weight of warning.
“She’s intelligent. Our conversations are meaningful. She’s not some decorative blossom.”
His words were deliberate. A quiet declaration that Edith was in a league entirely separate from Baron Verdot’s helpless daughters — women known in the social sphere for being completely out of touch.
“Of course,” Verdot laughed nervously. “No one would believe the Duke to be so shallow.”
Seeing Johannes remain calm, the baron took a step back.
But, like a man without pride, he continued spouting pointless stories, none of which earned even the slightest flicker of interest from Johannes.
He was utterly directionless. Meaningless.
Johannes exhaled quietly.
Edith had been absent for some time, and the rest of the nobles were doing their best to drive him to madness.
It was all growing unbearable.
“The royal family seems eager to show favor to the Duchess,” one man said. “Sending Prince Windsor… that says a lot.”
“So we should be grateful?” Johannes muttered, loosening his tie, his irritation breaking through.
He hadn’t been listening until now — but that sentence lodged itself in his mind like a splinter.
Baron Verdot, mistaking Johannes’ reaction for interest, grew bolder.
“Actually, it looked like the Duchess was just with the Prince. Alone.”
“Edith?” His voice was sharp.
“Yes, well — surely they weren’t alone alone. Not at this hour…”
Johannes’ brows furrowed.
He had already grown restless from not seeing her, but every time he tried to slip away, someone else intercepted him.
“Where?”
“I’m not sure… I don’t think they left the ballroom. But—”
Lost in his moment, Verdot didn’t notice Johannes step past him without a word.
“D-Duke!”
The nobles watched him go, and murmurs followed in his wake.
“Maybe it wasn’t just for show. Look at how he reacted.”
“Told you. The royal family’s influence means little. House Schultz will rise again. Best to stay on the Duchess’s good side.”
“A commoner-born woman?”
“The world is changing. And let’s be honest… those embezzlement charges? Easy to forge.”
It was clear — these nobles had bought the illusion that Edith and Johannes were a well-matched couple.
And as they watched him leave, they began recalculating their allegiances.
Meanwhile, Johannes had realized what had been gnawing at the back of his mind.
Behind the curtain — barely visible — stood Edward, too close to Edith.
“…Annoying.”
Of course Edward Windsor would gravitate toward Edith Prim. Since childhood, he’d coveted everything that belonged to Johannes.
It was always the same. That inferiority complex — burning, twisted — born from the fact that Johannes possessed what Edward did not: golden hair, blue eyes… the bloodline of legends.
Edward wanted everything that was his. And now…
Johannes’ piercing gaze fell on Edith’s shoulder, barely visible behind the velvet folds.
That’s my place now.
His own thought made him scoff.
True, their marriage was one of necessity. But even so… he hadn’t expected to feel this.
When she had made that remark — the one that implied she could kiss another man — he had answered with startling honesty.
“I’ve never imagined something that didn’t happen. So… I don’t know.”
The next kiss had been instinctive. A reaction, not a decision.
To Johannes, her words were a provocation. One he couldn’t allow to stand.
And so, he acted.
She had looked stunned — confused — and that had only made him more certain.
Wouldn’t it be better if I ensured no man ever dared imagine kissing you?
The way her body froze, the way her lips hesitated… the warmth still lingered on his own.
His tongue brushed over his lower lip, as if to recapture the memory.
But behind that curtain… Edward leaned in toward Edith, whispering, smiling — and worse, sending that smile his way.
“…Hah.”
Johannes let out a bitter laugh.
So this is what betrayal looks like… on the night of our wedding.
