Chapter 3

At that moment, the sound of footsteps stopped. The room was quiet, but the ticking of the clock sounded unusually loud.

Suddenly, his scent became very strong, and something soft touched my forehead. I almost stopped breathing. Lips. They were definitely someone’s lips.

But the moment didn’t last long. I heard footsteps again, walking away, and then the door slowly closed.

I opened my eyes right away and touched my forehead. It wasn’t a dream. The feeling had been so real just a moment ago.

I stared blankly at the closed door. I couldn’t understand any of it.

‘He’s someone who even avoids touching hands.’

I immediately got out of bed. I wanted to ask Cedric directly. No, I wanted to tell him. What did he mean by this?

I opened the door and went to the room next door. His room wasn’t far from mine. As I opened the door, I noticed unfamiliar furniture. I could also hear the gentle sound of running water. I looked around, but Cedric wasn’t there. He was probably in the bathroom. Ignoring my pounding heart, I sat on a nearby chair.

‘Could Cedric feel the same way as I do?’

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have kissed me first. And I hadn’t smelled any alcohol on him earlier either.

If that was true, then maybe what Father said wasn’t right. After all, the smile Cedric showed in the photo was the same emotionless smile he always gave me.

I bit my lip anxiously and waited for Cedric.

‘If the rumor about the mistress is a lie, and he feels the same way as I do…’

Just then, the bathroom door suddenly opened. Cedric came out with wet hair, wearing a bathrobe.

When our eyes met, he paused for a moment and looked at me. Water dripped from his hair. I had never seen Cedric like this before—he always looked neat and tidy.

As I stood up, Cedric spoke.

“Happy birthday.”

When I didn’t respond and just stared at him, Cedric gave me a faint smile.

“I had something urgent, so I couldn’t come earlier. Do you like the gift?”

“It was a wedding ring.”

Cedric nodded while looking at me. But he didn’t say anything more. Feeling nervous, I asked,

“Did you know I lost the ring?”

Cedric slowly walked toward me. With each step he took, my breathing grew a bit faster. Now that I was here, my mind was a mess. I was scared he might say something hurtful.

His scent filled my nose. When I looked up, Cedric was calmly staring at me. There was a slight smile on his face, but I could see a wall behind it—a wall I had never been able to cross.

As I couldn’t take my eyes off him, Cedric slowly opened his mouth.

“I knew, so I found it for you.”

His calm voice echoed in my ears.

If he had a mistress, then why…? I couldn’t understand his words. As I stood there blankly, Cedric stepped back with a smile.

“Could you leave now?”

It felt like his words stabbed my heart. I had come here with so much courage.

Cedric smiled faintly, but his eyes were firm. I couldn’t say anything. He was already rejecting me.

I wanted to ask what that kiss was about, whether the rumor about the mistress was true—but I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I turned and left. Even before I could close the door behind me, it shut completely on its own. I stared blankly at the flickering lights in the hallway.

‘Was it a dream?’

Maybe. On a day like today, I had longed for his attention so badly. Just then, ding, ding, ding—a loud sound rang out. I didn’t need to turn my head to know. Midnight. My birthday had passed.

I dragged myself back to my bedroom. The small hope I had was once again completely gone.

That night, I had a terrible dream. The mistress from the photo was in Cedric’s arms, laughing at me. Cedric kissed her on the forehead.

The next day, I got up right away and searched the nightstand. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find the divorce papers I had left there yesterday.

I immediately pulled the bell cord. A few minutes later, my personal maid arrived.

“Ma’am, are you looking for something?”

“Did you see the papers I left here?”

“Papers?”

“I’m pretty sure I left them on the nightstand, but they’re gone.”

“If we cleaned up, we probably put them inside the drawer.”

“I just checked, and they’re not in there. Are you sure you didn’t move them?”

The maid shook her head. I let out a small sigh and said,

“Can you call the maid who cleaned this room?”

She quickly left the room. Soon, a familiar maid entered.

“Did you call for me, ma’am?”

“The papers I left here are gone.”

“Are you talking about the ones that were next to the ring box yesterday?”

“Yes. Where did you put them?”

Looking a bit nervous, the maid answered carefully,

“I threw them away.”

Her unexpected words left me in silence for a moment. I couldn’t believe it and asked again,

“You threw them away?”

“There were so many scribbles on them that I thought they were trash.”

“You didn’t look at the front?”

“No, ma’am.”

She bowed her head deeply. I turned away, knowing there was no point in saying more—the papers wouldn’t come back.

“All right. You can go.”

The maid bowed again and left the room. I sat weakly on the bed. I had scribbled on the back of the divorce papers whenever my head felt tangled. I didn’t think something like that would happen.

Then, I heard a knock. I turned my head weakly as the door opened. The butler entered and bowed when our eyes met.

“The master wishes to have a meal with you.”

“A meal?”

“Yes, he said he’s not particularly busy today.”

That was unexpected. Cedric never had breakfast with me. He always said he was busy. I slowly got out of bed and went down to the formal dining room.

Even though he clearly rejected me and there were rumors about a mistress, I thought it would be better if I brought up the divorce before he could completely cast me aside.

The divorce papers were gone, but I could still talk about it. I could write them again anyway.

I steeled myself and entered the dining room.

Cedric was swirling his wine glass. His gaze slowly lifted. When he saw me, he gave me a calm smile. If only he hadn’t smiled, maybe I could’ve said the words more easily.

‘Why does he smile like that? It only makes me more confused.’

I greeted him briefly and sat across from him. As soon as I sat down, the servants brought in the food.

I didn’t touch my fork and just stared at the dish in front of me. Should I talk about the divorce first, or ask if he really had a mistress?

But I couldn’t say anything. Especially asking if he had a mistress—what if he said yes? That would be even more painful.

So I gave up on that question. I didn’t want to hear him smiling as he said he had a mistress.

“Darling.”

The unexpected voice made me look up. Cedric was quietly staring at me. How long had he been watching me? That thought crossed my mind as Cedric continued.

“I heard Baron Dert came by.”

The moment I heard that, I felt a wave of disappointment. I answered casually,

“He just stopped by to say hello. It was my birthday yesterday.”

In truth, Father hadn’t even wished me a happy birthday, but I wanted to brush the matter aside. It wasn’t a big deal to me anyway.

“I also heard he gave you medicine.”

“I told them to throw it away.”

Cedric tilted his head slightly, as if curious. Normally, he wouldn’t have paid much attention to something like this. I hesitated a little before saying,

“It’s useless to me anyway.”

“I heard from the servant that it’s medicine to help with pregnancy.”

My face turned slightly red. I couldn’t speak.

“That is…”

“It seems like the baron put in quite a lot of thought.”

“…”

“Isn’t he someone who normally doesn’t care that much?”

“Well, yes…”

Cedric smiled.

“Don’t throw it away next time. It doesn’t seem harmful to your body.”

“But I don’t need it.”

Cedric looked at me with interest.

“You don’t need it? What do you mean by that?”

I couldn’t answer. My pride stopped me from saying it. After calming myself down, I finally spoke.

“You probably already know. Anyway, it’s medicine I don’t need.”

“Then… are you saying you don’t want to have a child with me?”