My Husband Caught Me Having an Affair - Chapter 134
“Jacques said there was no other option in that situation and begged me to save his wife. I couldn’t turn him down. That’s why I chose to go to the meeting point with him. If I had sent Jacques alone, I couldn’t be sure he would return safely.”
I shrugged as I added, “The rest is as you already know. I gave a false name to buy time, and with Sir Mael’s help, we escaped the place.”
Marlon had surely been briefed by the leader of the kidnappers. So lying about what had happened at the meeting point would be pointless.
The only lie I had told was that ‘I don’t know the identity of the spy.’ After all, a lie is more convincing when mixed with a bit of truth.
“Why were you on horseback instead of in a carriage?”
“Sir Mael stayed behind at the meeting point to buy us time to escape. I rode back alone to the Dumont estate as quickly as possible to request reinforcements.”
“You rode by yourself? No one stopped you from descending that dark mountain trail on horseback?”
“Of course they tried to stop me. But no one there could disobey my command. I’m fairly confident in my riding skills too. At the time, I never imagined thunder and lightning would suddenly strike while I was descending.”
After saying that, I looked at Marlon with meaningful eyes.
“And I didn’t expect your response to be so swift either. Honestly, that was outside my calculations.”
“…So, you’re saying you know nothing about the spy’s identity?”
“No.”
“Then who does?”
“As far as I know, only Ethan.”
“Jacques Alide doesn’t know either?”
“That’s my understanding.”
“It’s hard to believe such a critical fact would be kept even from Alide, his right-hand man and head of the intelligence division. Can an operation even function like that?”
“Given how serious the matter is, he must’ve judged it necessary to keep it strictly confidential. Surely, even you must’ve had secret information known only to yourself and not even your intel division? And you’ve probably run operations based on such intel before, haven’t you?”
“……”
In the original story, Marlon ultimately trusted no one, keeping the most crucial secrets even from his closest aides.
Marlon remained silent for a moment. His eyes narrowed so much that they looked nearly closed—but I could tell they weren’t, because a faint glint flickered between his lashes.
I waited calmly for Marlon to speak. It wasn’t an act. Compared to when he first appeared in the room, I felt much more at ease. It was because I had realized something through our conversation.
‘Good. It seems I’m the only one who got captured.’
If Marlon had brought sufficient forces, Jacques and Ines, who had followed behind me, could also have been captured. But all of Marlon’s questions so far were based solely on what the kidnappers had reported to him.
If he had already interrogated Jacques separately, he would have pointed out any discrepancies between my answers and Jacques’s.
He would’ve said something like, ‘That’s not what Jacques told me,’ to test whether I was telling the truth.
The fact that he didn’t meant Jacques and Ines likely hadn’t been captured.
That’s when Marlon opened his mouth.
“It’s a problem. From my standpoint, I don’t know how much of what you say I can believe. It would help if there were a way to verify it, but since there isn’t… this is quite the dilemma.”
As he said that, Marlon looked at me in silence. His eyes seemed calm at a glance, but there was something chillingly unsettling about them.
“I’d prefer not to resort to harsh methods against a woman if possible… but as you surely understand, this isn’t a situation where I can be picky.”
“…Are you saying you’ll resort to torture?”
“As I said, I’d prefer not to resort to such barbaric means.”
Marlon slowly stroked the armrest of his chair with his fingertips.
“Depending on the circumstances, it might be unavoidable. Of course, if you speak honestly before it comes to that, that would be best for both of us.”
“Even if you threaten me like that, I can’t say I know something I don’t.”
“Isn’t it possible you’re claiming not to know something you actually do?”
“Everything I told you earlier is true.”
“And the problem is, there’s no way to verify that. So what choice do I have? I’ll just have to create a situation where you can’t avoid speaking honestly.”
Marlon continued in a slow tone, “Whether you’re staying silent out of loyalty to your husband or for some self-serving scheme… in the end, all I have to do is peel that away. No human is an exception. In the face of extreme pain, any sense of loyalty or resolve is shattered, and even the keenest wit and judgment lose their function.”
The calm voice made my skin crawl. I couldn’t help but swallow hard.
“…That only makes sense if I’m lying, doesn’t it? What if I truly don’t know anything?”
“That’s why torture exists. If, in the very last moment, you still don’t speak, then I’ll know you were telling the truth.”
“……”
“But as I said earlier, I don’t want to resort to something like that if possible. So I’ll give you one last chance. If you know something, say it now. For your own sake.”
“……”
I glared at Marlon, biting my lip slightly.
‘He’s much more desperate than I thought.’
The moment he kidnapped me, I had already expected that he had no intention of letting me go easily.
There was no way his talk of torture was just bluff. Many people had suffered and died in Girard’s underground torture chambers. A man like Marlon wouldn’t make exceptions just because I was a woman.
I didn’t know exactly how much time had passed since that day, but by now, Ethan had probably concluded that Girard was the most likely party behind my abduction.
If it were Ethan, he would do whatever it took to get me back—whether storming the front gate with the knights or launching a stealth attack in the dead of night with elite agents.
In the end, as long as there was evidence that Girard was behind my abduction, the rest would be dealt with somehow. Ethan had the Emperor on his side.
The problem was surviving until then.
Marlon surely knew all of this. Which meant he would try to resolve things as quickly as possible.
Specifically, after extracting what he needed from me, he would bury the body in a place no one knew.
‘…He probably won’t drag me into the torture chamber inside the Girard estate. He can’t risk leaving any evidence behind.’
My back was soaked in cold sweat.
It wasn’t that I had no means of resistance. I hadn’t spent all this time just lying in bed aimlessly.
I had already considered the possibility that Marlon would try to force my mouth open with torture. If things went according to plan, it might even become a chance to escape his clutches.
The issue was, there was no guarantee everything would go according to plan.
Thinking about the possibility of failure made me hesitate to carry out that “method.” Even the last operation had gone sideways due to unexpected variables.
If I failed this time, what awaited me wasn’t just death. To die from torture—compared to that, the illness that killed me in my past life almost seemed preferable.
To be honest, I was scared. My throat was parched, my whole body trembling.
But I had no other choice.
I had to be resolute. I couldn’t let fear of failure cloud my chances of survival.
I opened my trembling lips and said, “…I told you. I don’t know the spy’s name. There’s no way I can tell you what I don’t know.”
Marlon gazed at me in silence. Before long, he said in a flat voice, “That’s unfortunate.”
He struck the floor with his cane, the thudding echo reverberating.
Then the door opened, and two large men entered the room.
“Take her.”
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TOFU_Babe
dang this is crazy!!! I 100% blame Mael for not listening to her!! the very thing he said he wanted (her safety) was put in jeopardy bc of his refusal to go!