Chapter 10

“Ugh!”

Juliana awoke from her nap and looked out the window to see the red glare of the sunset almost faded away. It seemed that she had fallen asleep on a pillow of dusty papers.

“Dinner!”

She recalled that she had asked her husband to spare time for her in the evening. She suggested it earlier but got up late at dinner time because she dozed off.

Juliana slapped herself on the chest as if in reproach, quickly got up and went madly down the stairs.

The servants widened their eyes and whispered, ‘The Duchess is acting very strange today.’

Before entering the dining hall, Juliana, who acted as if she was out of her mind, suddenly opened the door without being able to tidy up her clothes.

“Ugh, ugh…”

“You’re late.”

The food was getting cold, and her husband, sitting at the center of the dining table, was as expressionless as ever.

He stared at Juliana with a look that didn’t indicate whether he was upset because she was late, or if he was truly amazed that she had shown up at dinner.

“I, I’m sorry. I fell asleep for a while.”

“I thought you wouldn’t come,” Evan muttered, looking a little blank.

Before gauging his mood, Juliana fanned herself with her hand, holding her breath, all of which were in a hurry. Then she gulped down the cold water and tried to subdue her embarrassment.

The servants who were standing in line waiting to serve her looked at the Duchess.

Unable to know how her mood would change, the servants, who had been gazing at the married couple with a glaring glance, immediately came to their senses and began serving new food before them.

When the cold food disappeared and freshly cooked warm food began to appear the dining hall quickly filled with delicious smells.

Meanwhile, without even looking at the food, Juliana held her panting breath and drank another glass of water.

Then she looked cautiously at Evan and said, “You’ve been waiting for a long time, haven’t you?”

“It wasn’t that long. About two or three hours…”

You’ve waited so long!

Juliana hesitated. And she glistened her eyes as much as possible and said, “It’s true. I’ve been doing something all afternoon…”

“I’ve heard. You said you cleaned up your room, didn’t you?”

Evan picked up the knife and cut the meat slowly.

Juliana followed him as grabbed her knife too, and muttered some gibberish.

“Yes, I should have cleaned it up sooner. I mean, it took too long.”

Just before Juliana made up another excuse, Evan brought up the topic first. It was an extension of the conversation they had talked about in the morning.

“What you said this morning, can I take it seriously?”

While Juliana was just chewing on the meat and trying to find something to say, Evan emphasized, “That you had a change of heart.”

Juliana, who couldn’t avoid answering, urgently swallowed the water and said, “Oh, that, that sentence is true. That I’m not going to insult you.”

“So will you be genuine to me, too?”

Evan smiled brightly.

The way this handsome man smiled had a really great effect. Even Juliana, who was determined to survive, felt an effect that made her heart flutter.

But Juliana managed to calm her pounding heart and said, “Although the context is different, it’s true that I’m serious about this situation. Like I cleaned up my gift room to end my messy past life. It’s a means to prove to heaven and earth that I have no intention of bothering you anymore. Yes, I mean it in that sense!”

Evan, who was watching more of Juliana’s gibberish as she brandished the knife with a chunk of meat on it, squinted his eyes slightly and said quietly, “What do you want to say?”

“Um. So…”

Juliana glanced at him.

In the meantime, many thoughts flashed through her mind.

In the near future, someone will cause a poisoning incident, and she will be involved in it, and thus drawn into a political battle and imprisoned for an assassination attempt on the Duke of the Empire. It’s important for her to end the relationship with her many lovers, but first of all, it’s more important to run away and get stuck in a monastery or anywhere else as long as it’s far away from him.

And in order to do so…

“Will you divorce me?”

Juliana couldn’t catch the words that popped out. Then she shuddered. Even the meat stuck in her knife was shaking.

Evan’s gaze at her was unusual.

Indeed, it was unusual.

“What?”

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