Reasons for Contract Marriage - Chapter 179

He smiled as he helped Brianna up.

While she sat on the sofa and tidied her disheveled hair, Lucius wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. Then he kept nibbling at her neck and shoulders, as though he was very reluctant to let her go.

Brianna let out a soft sigh. “Luce, if you do this, I cannot fix my hair…”

Pressing his lips under her ear, he asked, “Did you have a good time with your friend today?”

Brianna nodded. “Yes, Lily told me to give you her regards. And to thank you as well.”

Then came his puzzled question.

“That woman? Why to me?”

“She said she had no right to complain even if she resented you to death, but she was grateful that you still continued supporting her. She also said the two of us should come see an opera performance together sometime.”

At the mention of opera, he immediately made a disapproving sound, hmm, as though displeased. It must have reminded him of the day she ran away.

“I still don’t like that woman.”

At his unusually grumbling tone, Brianna burst out laughing. “What is this, you are the one who pushed me to go see Lily.”

“That’s because I thought you’d want to see her again after such a long time. It had been half a year. Honestly, I wanted to interfere, friend or not…”

Once she had secured her hair perfectly, Brianna turned back to look at Lucius. He was staring at her with a rather sulky expression.

From his perspective, it might have been displeasing that his wife kept as a close friend not another noble but an opera singer. Normally, nobles thought that artists existed only for their pleasure, not as equals with whom they could share friendship. Associating with them as friends was seen as disgraceful. Moreover, Lily had been the one who had given Brianna decisive help in escaping.

Even so, it was Lucius who had first told her to go see Lily.

Because he prioritized her happiness over his own position.

Brianna smiled and kissed his lips. “This is why I love you.”

***

The next day, before going to visit Florian, she picked some flowers from the garden.

She made a small bouquet with white flowers at the center. He would like this more than something large and showy.

As they rode in the carriage to Florian’s grave, they did not exchange any special words but simply shared each other’s warmth. Brianna rested her head on his shoulder, and Lucius quietly stroked her hand the entire way.

When they arrived at the gravesite, the caretaker came running out to greet them.

“Welcome, Your Grace. Ah, and today the Duchess has also come with you?”

He also bowed politely to Brianna. He didn’t seem particularly surprised that she had come. He simply looked as though he thought she was accompanying her husband, Florian’s old friend.

“Has there been nothing unusual?”

“What could possibly happen? Your Grace comes so faithfully and often to look after things here.”

At those words, Brianna looked up at Lucius’s profile. During their marriage, Lucius had never once mentioned going to Florian’s grave. Yet, judging by what the caretaker said, it seemed he had been coming here frequently on his own.

“The parents themselves have not come once since the funeral. How can they be so heartless toward their own child…”

Hearing his sigh, Brianna tightened her grip on the bouquet. That meant even on the anniversary, Viscount Robert and his wife had not visited this place.

Viscount Robert, who had been imprisoned for failing to pay his debts, had been pardoned a few months ago. And the Viscountess, who had divorced and returned to her family, was said to be living in difficult but stable conditions. They could’ve visited their son’s grave whenever they wished, yet they hadn’t even cared to come on the anniversary.

“This way, please.”

Led by the caretaker, the two of them headed to Florian’s grave. After telling them to call if they needed anything, the caretaker stepped aside.

Florian’s resting place was set a little apart from the Robert family’s ancestral graves. Since he had never felt a strong sense of belonging to the family, perhaps this arrangement might be more comfortable for him.

On the small headstone before them were engraved only his name and the dates of his life. By contrast, the nearby headstones bore short inscriptions commemorating the deaths of beloved ones. Because of this, his grave looked especially lonely and desolate.

Brianna bent down and laid the bouquet in front of the stone. Then, while gazing at the grave with Lucius, she quietly opened her mouth.

“When he was young, Florian always waited for his parents to come.”

Lucius turned his head to look at her, and Brianna continued, “He didn’t show it, but I knew. He desperately hoped that tomorrow, his parents would come to take him home. He waited like that, but eventually realized they would never come and was deeply heartbroken. And now even after his death, they abandoned him.”

Brianna drew in a rough breath.

“I cannot possibly understand Florian’s parents. Even if it was a loveless marriage, the child did nothing wrong. If they gave birth to him, they should’ve done their utmost to care for him. Instead, they abandoned, neglected, and in the end completely turned away from him. If, if I had had a child, I would’ve…”

The pain of her miscarriage resurfaced, and her eyes reddened.

“…I would’ve held the child every day, kissed them, and told them I loved them.”

When she learned she was pregnant, she’d imagined it countless times. Touching tiny, soft hands, watching the child laugh with a bright giggle, and feeling happiness.

But now such a chance might never come again.

As these thoughts rose, sorrow overwhelmed her all at once. Even after losing the child, she had never once spoken of her grief to the one closest to her, nor received comfort. At that moment, forced to swallow it all alone, the sadness now surged, and hot tears flowed down.

“Brianna…”

Lucius drew her into his arms.

“I am sorry.”

As he stroked her back, he apologized over and over.

“I am truly sorry. That I couldn’t protect you then. If only I had told you honestly that you had miscarried… No, when you told me you already knew everything, even then, I should’ve held you like this. I never meant to say such cruel words…”

Brianna, in Lucius’s arms, finally received belated comfort. Until his chest was soaked through with her tears.

And when her tears had somewhat subsided, Lucius said, “I’ll go to the carriage first. Take your time to say your farewell.”

He gave Brianna the time to be alone with Florian. It was as though he already guessed that this would be her first and last visit to Florian’s grave.

Once Lucius’s figure had disappeared, Brianna sat down in front of the grave, not caring that her skirt trailed in the dirt. It felt as if she were now facing Florian directly.

“Hello, Florian.”

Brianna smiled at him. Since it had been so long, she wanted to show him a smiling face rather than one in tears.

“The other day, he said this. That it seemed you already knew he had liked me for a long time…”

Brianna then bit her lip.

“In truth, you knew that as well, didn’t you? That I was being drawn to Lucius.”

Looking back now, she realized many things about Florian before he left for the battlefield had been strange. Even the conversation they’d shared while watching Lucius’s departure ceremony had been the same.

When she told him that Lucius made her uncomfortable for some reason, Florian had uncharacteristically pressed her with questions. Perhaps he’d already known then that it was a tension born of attraction between man and woman.

The way he had suddenly brought up fireworks that day was the same. Until then, he’d never once mentioned fireworks.

Perhaps he’d already known at that time. That Brianna had once watched fireworks together with Lucius.

And in the will, the only part erased from the letter he had sent to Lucius.

[And Brianna, too—■■■]

Now, Brianna felt she knew what he’d written and then erased.

[And Brianna, too, in truth, loves you.]