My Husband Caught Me Having an Affair - Chapter 92

“Oh my, I had no idea the Duke of Dumont cherished his wife so much. Just talking to another man makes him this wary. The Duchess must have quite a hard time.”

Marlon spoke with a wry smile. His words carried a tone of jest, but his eyes did not smile at all.

Ethan glared at Marlon with an icy, murderous gaze. Marlon, however, did not avoid his stare and met it head-on.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to intrude on the rare intimate time between you two, so I shall take my leave. We shall meet again, Duke Dumont.”

The way Marlon said “Duke Dumont” carried an oddly meaningful nuance. As if, in his eyes, Ethan was still nothing more than a half-fledged boy.

With his hands still clasped behind his back, Marlon turned and walked away.

Once he was far enough, I let out an exaggerated sigh, making sure Ethan could hear.

“What was that just now? Before we came here, we clearly agreed—”

As I whispered, Ethan turned around and grabbed my shoulders. His grip was so strong that it hurt, causing me to frown instinctively.

“What did that bastard do to you?”

“Huh? Nothing at all. This is a banquet, after all. We only had a brief conversation. More importantly, Ethan, that hurts—”

“He’s a vicious man. It doesn’t matter if it’s a banquet or the middle of the street in broad daylight—there’s no telling what he might do. He didn’t touch you, did he? He didn’t give you anything to drink?”

“……”

I was at a loss for words as I looked up at Ethan. His silver eyes burned more intensely than I had ever seen before. But the emotion they held was not anger.

It was fear.

“Tell me, Camille. That man—”

On impulse, I raised my hand and cupped Ethan’s cheek. He flinched.

“It’s okay, Ethan. Nothing happened to me. He didn’t touch me, and I didn’t accept anything from him. Like I said, we only talked.”

“……”

Ethan’s rough breathing slowly steadied.

This was the first time I had ever seen him lose his composure like this.

To be exact, it was the first time I had seen it with my own eyes, though something similar had happened in the original story.

One day, there was an incident where Elodie was kidnapped by an unknown assailant. At that time, Ethan’s first suspect was Girard.

However, the culprit turned out to be a mere kidnapper looking for ransom money, unaware that Elodie was part of the Dumont family. Seeing her dressed in fine clothes, they had simply assumed she was the child of a wealthy noble.

Upon learning that Elodie was the adopted daughter of Dumont, the kidnapper was terrified and immediately released her, begging her not to tell the Duke of Dumont.

When Elodie returned home unharmed, Ethan bombarded her with frantic questions, just as he had done now. Had she been hurt anywhere? Had anything happened to her? Was she truly okay?

It was a moment where Elodie first realized Ethan’s deep love for her and the hidden fear that lay within his heart.

‘But why was he reacting this way because of me…?’

For Ethan, losing someone he cherished was an old trauma. His father had been assassinated when he was a child, and the fact that the culprit was his trusted uncle had been even more devastating. That was why Ethan became so distrustful and wary of others.

And among all the people in the world, the one he was most wary of was Girard. Though there were only suspicions at this stage, it was indeed true that Girard had been behind his father’s assassination.

Of course, Ethan didn’t always react this emotionally to Girard’s provocations or schemes. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to deal with him at all.

Normally, Ethan remained rational and composed. The only thing that could truly rattle him was something that threatened the person he cherished the most.

‘I had sensed it faintly during the Nicolas incident, but this man, really…’

It was a strange feeling. My heart was pounding, as if something was pressing down on it.

I felt sorry for Ethan, yet at the same time, my mind was in disarray.

Ethan withdrew his hands from my shoulders, but upon seeing the red marks left by his grip, his brows furrowed.

“Damn it, I—”

“It’s fine. I can just cover it.”

I pulled up the shawl draped over my arms and covered my shoulders. Ethan looked at my shoulders with a complicated expression.

“…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“……”

He apologized again. And so easily, as if it were nothing.

Originally, I had planned to rebuke him for going off script. But seeing him like this, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“There should be a physician on standby. Go and have them check it.”

“What? No, it’s fine. It’s just a slight mark. It will fade with time.”

“You can’t be sure of that. What if it leaves a scar…”

“It’s not like I was scratched by nails. Why would there be a scar? I’m fine.”

“……”

Ethan’s gaze darkened slightly. I stared at him silently before speaking, “Now that I think about it, it’s a bit hot here. Shall we step out onto the terrace for some air?”

“Alright, let’s do that.”

We stepped out onto the terrace together. When we had first entered the banquet hall, the horizon had been tinged with the colors of sunset. Now, it was completely dark. The vast night sky was filled with countless stars—something I had rarely seen in my past life.

The autumn night air was cool yet refreshing. Perhaps because of this, Ethan also seemed to regain his composure.

I leaned against the railing and let out a sigh. “You ruined everything. We agreed to act as if we weren’t on good terms, but you went and made such a fuss…”

“…A fuss? That’s an exaggeration. It wasn’t that bad,” Ethan grumbled discontentedly.

“Well, it should be fine. There weren’t many people around, and from a distance, it might have just looked like we were arguing.”

With the way he had grabbed my shoulders so firmly, it was more likely that people perceived it as him scolding me rather than worrying about me. Given our existing reputation, that interpretation would be quite natural.

“Do we really need to stick to this ‘plan’ so rigidly? It’s not like we can keep up this act forever.”

“Well…”

I trailed off hesitantly at Ethan’s protest.

Of course, my plan had always been to leave the ducal estate as soon as I adopted Elodie and resolved the Nicolas issue.

So naturally, there was no need to maintain this act forever. People would likely assume I left due to marital discord.

That, too, would fit perfectly with the image we had created.

‘But… is that really the right decision?’

Seeing Ethan just now made me question whether leaving like this was truly the right choice.

I had briefly considered this a few days ago, but this time, the thought carried more weight.

‘No way… No, it couldn’t be…’

But if, just hypothetically speaking…

If I had become as precious to Ethan as Elodie was in the original story…

Would it really be okay to leave him like this?

He had caused such a commotion just because I spoke to Marlon for a brief moment while he was away. If I suddenly disappeared one day, how would he react? I couldn’t even begin to imagine it.

‘And then there’s Elodie.’

Though they were still awkward around each other now, what if their relationship didn’t improve?

Would I be able to leave the ducal estate on my own, leaving Elodie behind?

Of course, that would be the worst-case scenario.

Honestly, I couldn’t imagine Ethan and Elodie remaining distant forever.

I wasn’t necessarily someone who believed in fate, but I did believe that some people were simply meant to be.

Even if their first meeting had changed, I didn’t think it would fundamentally alter their bond.

‘Yes, with time, they will naturally grow closer.’

In any case, I had no intention of leaving the ducal estate until I was certain that they had formed a bond as deep as in the original story.

‘But still… Ah, I don’t know anymore.’

I let out another deep sigh and turned to Ethan.

“But isn’t it strange to question the ‘plan’ only now? You seemed so committed to it just a while ago.”

Ethan gave me a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

“You didn’t even look at me once since we left the ducal estate today. I bet even Victor thought we had a huge fight.”

At my words, Ethan’s gaze wavered.

“That’s…”

“That’s?”

“……”

Ethan hesitated, then suddenly lowered his eyes.

“…It’s because you looked too beautiful today. I couldn’t bring myself to look at you properly,” Ethan muttered quietly.

I widened my eyes in shock at his unexpected words.

And in the next moment, I could feel my face heating up as if it were about to explode.