Chapter 17
“To assist the Duke of Edmond. As the Duchess, I should at least be familiar with the Duke’s aides, don’t you think?”
“Rachel, assisting the Duke means managing the household quietly. There’s no need to concern yourself with outside matters.”
“I’m disappointed. I didn’t know you were such an old-fashioned prude.”
My words were evidently too provocative, as Leopold’s face turned red with anger.
“For someone who knows exactly what role our mother played in supporting our father, it’s surprising to hear you speak like this. Have you already forgotten about Mother?”
“Our parents were a special case. Your husband, the Duke of Edmond, is a completely different kind of man compared to our father.”
I knew well enough. My father, who considered my mother his life partner, always respected and cherished her.
He was a warm and kind man who prioritized my mother’s opinions in every situation, unlike Stefan, who completely ignored me.
“Don’t worry, Leo. I intend to turn the Duke of Edmond into someone like our father.”
“Don’t waste your energy on something futile. That guy’s already beyond hope.”
For some reason, Leopold seemed furious at Stefan, as if he’d heard some scandal about him that I didn’t know of.
“Spill it, Leo.”
“Spill what?”
“Tell me everything you know about the Duke of Edmond. Then I can judge whether what I’m planning is futile or not.”
With a hardened expression, Leopold began to share what he’d heard. However, his stories were no different from what I already knew.
The scandal with the Princess of Merwin Empire and the broken engagement with Hazel were things I had already experienced in my previous life or had heard during the banquet.
“But the most shocking story is…”
“Is there more?”
“Rachel, don’t be too shocked.”
“Just tell me.”
Leopold grabbed my hand tightly and looked directly into my eyes.
“There’s a rumor that the Duke of Edmond is… a sodomite.”
“A sodomite? What’s that?”
When I asked, wide-eyed, unfamiliar with the term, Leopold’s face turned as red as a beet.
“A so… sodomite is… a man who prefers men over women…”
“What are you even talking about?”
“In other words… he’s not aroused by the opposite sex… but feels sexual desire for men.”
Why on earth would such a rumor spread? Stefan is clearly a normal man.
Considering that I got pregnant by him in my previous life, it’s clear that he’s a perfectly healthy man, both physically and mentally.
Although I harbored deep mistrust and resentment toward him from my past life, I didn’t want to label my husband as a sodomite. That would bring disgrace upon me as well.
“Leo, Stefan isn’t like that.”
“Of course, I don’t want to believe it either. No, I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true. Stefan is a normal man.”
“Then why didn’t you consummate the marriage? There’s talk among the servants in the Duke’s estate that you two didn’t spend the first night together.”
I didn’t cancel the wedding night just to fuel such ridiculous rumors. I let out a sigh of frustration without realizing it, “Hoo”.
“That wasn’t Stefan’s fault. I drank too much and refused to share a bed with him. In other words, I rejected him.”
Leopold let out a dry laugh and looked at me with even more pity than before.
“My naive little sister, you just don’t understand men.”
I shook my head vigorously at Leopold, who was trying to lecture me.
‘Leo, I’m sorry, but I know more than you imagine. It’s not me who doesn’t know Stefan, it’s you.’
I was on the verge of bursting from frustration, not knowing how to convince Leopold. Even if I confessed that I was five years into my marriage and had two children, would he even believe me?
“Rachel, no normal man could tolerate that.”
“Tolerate what?”
“There isn’t a man in this world who would give up his wedding night.”
Leopold’s response was unnecessarily resolute. The more I explained, the more embarrassed I felt, but it seemed this was the only way.
“Leo, listen carefully. Could you embrace a woman who’s drunk and vomiting on your wedding night?”
“…You could just clean her up and then hold her.”
“Would you want to hold a woman reeking of alcohol?”
“…You could wait until she sobers up and then hold her.”
For the first time in 20 years, my proud brother suddenly seemed like a fool.
I rubbed my eyes desperately and looked at him again. Now Leopold just seemed like a stubborn fool fixated on the idea of the wedding night.
“What reason could there possibly be to go to such lengths just to hold your wife?”
“To prove that you’re a healthy man.”
“To whom?”
“To your wife, to your mother. No, to all the citizens of the Merwin Empire. You need to show that you’re a capable man who’s good in bed.”
“What are you even talking about?”
When I looked at him with an expression that showed I didn’t understand a word he was saying, it was his turn to ask questions.
“Rachel, what were you wearing on your wedding night?”
“Well… I was in a slip.”
“Of course, you weren’t wearing anything underneath, right?”
“Th-that’s right.”
“And the Duke of Edmond didn’t even touch you?”
“No, he kissed me.”
“And then?”
“He picked me up and carried me to the bed, but… I ran to the bathroom because I was feeling nauseous, so we couldn’t go any further.”
Maybe it looked like I was trying to defend Stefan again, because Leopold shook his head in disbelief.
“He carried a half-naked woman to bed and didn’t consummate the marriage?”
“Yes.”
“That’s because the Duke never intended to sleep with you from the start.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s a sodomite…”
“I told you he’s not!”
In my outburst, my voice must have been louder than necessary. I heard a rustling sound from the bed, where Remington was sleeping.
Startled, I lowered my voice and whispered urgently.
“Tonight, we’ll definitely consummate the marriage, so don’t worry. And don’t ever bring up this nonsense about the Duke being a sodomite again.”
“Rachel, there’s one more thing you don’t know…”
“What else do I need to know?”
Leopold’s words, which came like a bolt from the blue, fell before me, already on edge.
“Even a sodomite can consummate a marriage. And they can certainly father children, too.”
Suddenly, everything before my eyes went dark.
Was that why Stefan had rejected intimacy with me in my past life? Even after the wedding night, he never showed any desire for me.
On Rita’s orders, we had obligatory monthly encounters, but they were always brief and purely formal.
There was only one night, after a particular incident when Stefan was heavily intoxicated, that he passionately embraced me for the first and last time.
As a result of that night, I conceived twins.
“…That’s all I need.”
“What?”
“It’s enough that he can father children.”
“Rachel, you…”
Leopold, unable to finish his sentence, trembled with clenched fists.
It was bad enough that he felt like he had sold his sister for money, and now his brother-in-law was supposedly a sodomite. His insides must have been rotting away.
‘He doesn’t need to worry so much…’
I have no intention of begging for Stefan’s affection or spending the rest of my life with him. The only reason I married him again, despite returning to the past, was to reunite with my children.
Once I become pregnant, I plan to leave the Merwin Empire immediately.
I haven’t decided on a specific destination yet, but I vaguely hope it will be a country like the Huayue Continent, where women are treated equally.
And I’m well aware that I’ll need a large sum of money to create a new home where my siblings and children can live happily.
To save that money, I’m planning to faithfully fulfill the role of the Duchess of Edmond for the time being.
“Leo, don’t beat yourself up over this.”
I gently placed my hand on his shoulder to comfort him, feeling the tremble that revealed how hard he was trying to hold back his tears. He looked pitiful.
But what came next from Leopold was nothing short of shocking.
“Let’s just get a divorce, Rachel.”
“What? Divorce?”
“I can’t let my precious sister stay with a sodomite.”
“Stefan isn’t a sodomite.”
“It’s perfect timing since you didn’t even consummate the marriage. Come back to Courtney with us, Rachel.”
Leopold, who seemed utterly uninterested in hearing what I had to say, gripped my hand tightly and locked eyes with me. At that moment, his true intentions became clear.
‘If I expose to Rita Edmond that the Duke is a sodomite, it’ll be a scandal. There’s a rumor that her son is involved with his aide, so she’d be too ashamed to demand the promissory notes back.’
Goodness, Leopold was thinking of making Stefan an even bigger villain to rescue his sister from the vile Edmond family.
It might seem like a way to save both his sister and the Viscount Burke family, but Rita isn’t someone to be underestimated. She’s capable of turning truth into lies and lies into truth.
Even if Stefan were truly a sodomite, she could easily frame the person spreading the rumor as a liar. She’s a woman with an exceptional talent for inciting and bribing people.
“…I’m not getting a divorce, Leopold.”
“Why on earth not?”
“Because I have to bear the Duke of Edmond’s child.”
Leopold’s face filled with shock at my words.
