My Husband Caught Me Having an Affair - Chapter 129

A cold chill brushed down the back of his neck. Ethan asked through clenched lips, “Sorry? What do you mean by that? I asked where Camille is.”

“……”

“Jacques. Answer me.”

“…I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? You clearly left with Camille earlier. You said you were going to have dinner with your wife. Was that a lie?”

“……”

Jacques lowered his eyes with a pained expression.

“What exactly happened? Tell me everything. Leave nothing out.”

At Ethan’s words, Jacques took a deep breath and began to speak.

What he said was shocking. The atrocities Girard had committed were one thing—but even more staggering was the fact that Ethan hadn’t known any of it.

Not just Camille, but the two people Ethan trusted and valued most had kept such things from him.

Ethan swallowed all those emotions and listened to Jacques’s account to the very end.

But when Jacques mentioned that Camille had ordered him to stop the carriage and had ridden off alone, Ethan could no longer contain himself.

“What? And you let her go alone?”

“I tried to stop her, but the Duchess was adamant. She insisted on her riding skills, and even said that if I considered her my liege, I should follow her orders…”

“…So? According to you, she should have arrived at the mansion before you. Where is she now?”

“……”

Jacques’s face darkened again. He spoke with a clouded voice.

“…Shortly after the Duchess departed, it suddenly began to rain and thunder. Knowing how afraid she is of thunder, I hurried on, praying nothing had happened… But when I returned here, Victor told me she hadn’t arrived yet.”

“…So that’s all you know? You have no idea what happened to her after you parted ways?”

“……”

Jacques lowered his head in silence.

A surge of emotion rose from deep within Ethan’s chest. He had forced himself to remain composed to hear the full story, but now the backlash was twice as intense.

“…And you still dare call yourself a knight of Dumont?”

“I have no excuse. It’s all… my fault.”

Jacques spoke with his head bowed. Ethan glared at him with fiery eyes but forced himself to rein in his emotions.

He had to stay calm. Right now, there were more urgent matters than deciding Jacques’s guilt. Camille had to be found—and Mael’s safety, left alone among enemies, had to be confirmed.

“Victor. Send someone to the vice captain. Tell him to summon the knights immediately.”

“Yes, master,” Victor replied and rushed out in a hurry.

Ethan turned to Jacques. “Follow me. I’ll judge you after this is over.”

“…Yes, sir.”

As Ethan stepped outside his office, a thunderclap boomed again from beyond the window. His steps froze involuntarily.

Right now, somewhere out there, Camille was alone.

Until now, it had just been a vague worry. But now, it was undeniable fact.

That previous day when the thunder had struck—Camille had been riding then, too. At least then, Ethan had been there to catch her when she fell. But today…

His chest suddenly tightened. He couldn’t breathe.

He felt the cold sweat trailing down his spine.

“…Your Grace?”

Even Jacques’s cautious voice didn’t register in his ears.

If he were to lose her like this—

If he were never able to see her again—

‘No.’

Ethan clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into his skin.

That must not happen. He couldn’t accept it.

Never.

Ethan forced his frozen feet to move.

***

Ethan departed the ducal estate with three hundred knights.

Of them, a hundred were assigned to search along the road to Mount Shira for any trace of Camille, while Ethan led the remaining two hundred along with Vice Captain Bertrand and rode toward the mountain.

“They said the enemies were watching House Dumont. They’ve probably noticed the knights have mobilized and are trying to contact their main force. But with this thunderstorm, they won’t be able to send a messenger hawk. If we hurry, we might be able to hit them from behind.”

Ethan said to Bertrand.

“Sir Bertrand, take seventy knights and block the retreat path at the other mountain trail entrance. I’ll take the rest and head up toward the hut where Sir Mael and the enemies are, while searching for Camille’s whereabouts.”

“Yes, Your Grace. I will carry out your orders.”

When they were about halfway to Mount Shira, the rain stopped. The knights pushed their horses to pick up speed.

Just as they were nearly there, a single horse, bearing a lantern, came galloping from the opposite direction.

‘…Camille?’

Ethan quickly spurred his horse toward it.

“Camille!”

He shouted, but the returning voice belonged to someone else.

“Your Grace?”

It was Mael. He pulled on the reins and halted his horse.

“So the Dumont knights did mobilize. No wonder the kidnappers seemed to be rushing to flee. Thanks to that, I was able to escape safely.”

Mael’s face was mixed with relief and guilt toward Ethan.

“First, let me apologize. For acting without reporting to you, Your Grace…”

“Where is Camille? Did you not see her on the way here?” Ethan cut off Mael and asked.

Mael looked puzzled. “Pardon? No, I haven’t seen her… Wasn’t the Duchess supposed to return to the estate with Jacques?”

“……”

Ethan bit his lip lightly and urged his horse in the direction Mael had come from.

“Your Grace?”

“Camille is missing! Get the details from Sir Bertrand, who’s following behind! Cancel the operation and send all troops into the search!” Ethan shouted and sped off.

According to Jacques, the thunder began less than ten minutes after they’d parted ways with Camille. Meaning, she had still been on the mountain road.

Jacques had carefully searched the trail on the way down, wondering if Camille might have stopped due to the thunder, but found no trace of her.

It could be seen as a good sign that she had made it down safely—but he couldn’t afford to be optimistic. There was still the possibility she and her horse had fallen down a slope.

At the thought, Ethan’s already rain-soaked body felt even colder.

He rode at full speed and turned onto the mountain path.

“Camille! Camille!”

Ethan shouted with all his might, calling out for Camille.

Eventually, he jumped off his horse and, lantern in hand, began searching the surrounding bushes.

There’s no way she’s here. She couldn’t have fallen in a place like this. That’s what he kept telling himself, but he desperately pushed aside leaves and branches.

Even as he searched for her, he was desperately hoping she wouldn’t be here.

“Camille!”

Ethan’s voice echoed through the dark mountains.

***

Ethan mobilized all two hundred knights and scoured Mount Shira thoroughly. The lanterns each knight carried lit the mountain path as brightly as midday.

Most of the path was flanked by dense bushes on both sides, but some stretches opened to sheer slopes. If Camille had fallen from there, as he feared, survival wouldn’t be guaranteed.

He didn’t even want to imagine such a thing, but he couldn’t skip over those areas either. The knights tied ropes to tree trunks and descended to search the lower slopes.

But fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—they couldn’t find Camille there either. Nor the horse she had ridden.

There weren’t even any signs of someone having fallen.

“If she merely slipped, the rain might’ve washed away the tracks—but if she fell down a slope, there would definitely be broken branches or some kind of trail. I don’t think we need to worry about that area.”

Mael said as if to encourage Ethan, but it still wasn’t proof that Camille was safe.

Even after the night passed and morning came, Camille was nowhere to be found.

The hundred knights who had searched the city and plains had also found no clues about Camille’s whereabouts.

It was as if she had vanished without a trace.

***

As consciousness returned, pain throbbed through every part of my body.

“Ugh…”

I let out a groan without meaning to. My throat was parched dry.

I tried to sit up with a rustle, but the pain was too sharp. All I could manage was barely opening my heavy eyelids.

It was a strange bed, in a strange room.

‘Where am I…’