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“Your Grace, Duke Valentino, why would I play tricks on you? For what?”
“For that Everett family of yours.”
His words just made me laugh. Theodore Valentino was blind. Even after living with me for a year and a half, he still hadn’t noticed anything. Was it because I acted too well, pretending to be a quiet doll?
“Are you… really crazy? I am asking you seriously.”
Theodore asked in an angry voice. I answered with an intermittent laugh while holding my stomach.
“I feel sorry for you. Now you know you married a crazy woman.”
“…What is wrong with you?”
“What is wrong with me? This is how I had always been. Listen, Your Grace, Duke Valentino. I’ll only say this once. I’ve hated those bastards from Everett for a long time. If I can defeat those demons with my own hands, I will have no more regrets in my life. Especially Owen, that vicious piece of human scum. I can never forgive him.”
When I mentioned Everett’s demons, hatred always seeped in my voice. Old grudges clung to my heart like something sticky. This grudge will never go away unless I kill those people.
“You have misunderstood that I’d do anything for Everett. That I’m a faithful servant to those bastards.”
“…….”
“Why didn’t you ever listen to me? I’ve been wanting to tell you many times. You always turned away from me and hated me. Even if you hate me, you should have known at least how much I revile those bastards!”
I shouted in a fit of anger. Theodore only stared blankly at me. It was like looking at something completely unfamiliar.
…Of course it’s like this. I never fully revealed myself to you.
“Have you heard? Did your aides or knights tell you? That Lennon Chester tried to rape me not too long ago.”
“…What did you… just say…”
Theodore seemed genuinely surprised. He stiffened in shock, his eyelids quivering.
I made a resolution with a smile back then in the greenhouse that day. No more hesitation, no more hiding. I would trample and kill the part of me who’s afraid of what would happen if I were to be hated by this person.
“So you burned half of his face. You don’t remember.”
“…….”
“There was a trial, so listen to it in detail through your aide. You would be given enough answers if you ask others.”
“…….”
“Lastly, I never ‘played tricks’ on you. I didn’t even think about doing such a thing. You were the one who approached me first when I was doing nothing.”
As I finished speaking, I turned my back on him with a cold face. I was about to head to the bathroom when Theodore grabbed my wrist. I gritted my teeth and tried to shake him off, but this time he grabbed my shoulders with both hands.
“What happened? That damn bastard…!”
His face was stained with shock and anger. Aside from the shock, what was the anger about?
Oh, did His Grace the Duke Valentino’s strong sense of justice get stimulated by Lennon Chester’s atrocities?
I smirked. I stopped averting my eyes from him and looked straight at him.
“But you know what? …That this wasn’t the first time that bastard tried to rape me.”
“…What…”
“Ever since I was at the Everett residence, he’s been trying to find me alone, making sure my door is locked, trying to lure me to places where no one else is…”
“…….”
“…That bastard has been like that ever since. However… That scum Lennon Chester was my top remarriage partner. Can you imagine how horrible I must have felt?”
Tears streamed from the rage that continued to boil. Along with the resentment that I had to endure those painful years. I struggled to smile and talked calmly.
“…Now you know how much I… wanted to kill those bastards?”
“…….”
People saw only the side they wanted to see in others, and they solidified that image in their minds.
Theodore Valentino did that to me.
And now, I had destroyed that false image.
Now you should know, too. What kind of person is Lily Everett?
I put both of my hands on his wrists that held my shoulders. At that moment, Theodore got startled and his eyelashes trembled. His eyes looking at me were swaying like a candle in the wind.
Smiling like a spring day, I asked in a whisper.
“You knew everything, right? That I had feelings for you.”