Click.
The door opened, and Natasha entered the waiting room. Chloe, who had been lying down with her eyes closed, slowly lifted her head.
“How are you feeling? Should I ask the doctor to prescribe some painkillers?”
“No, it’s just that my condition worsens whenever I get a little excited… that’s all.”
Despite her words, her face was quite pale.
During the recess to summon an unexpected witness, Chloe’s worsening complexion had been a cause for concern.
“Would you like to smoke this?”
Natasha pulled a pipe from her pocket.
“It’s an herb that helps suppress pain.”
When Chloe’s expression changed subtly, Natasha quickly added, “I’ve been having terrible headaches.”
“…I appreciate the offer, but I’m fine. I’m already on medication.”
If that’s the case…
Natasha promptly put the pipe away.
“That woman’s trial will be scheduled soon… but you’re not planning to attend, are you?”
“With so little time left, I don’t want to waste it on something like that.”
It was a reasonable response. Natasha nodded in agreement.
“The judge has requested her presence, so that woman will be coming here soon. Oh, once this witness is summoned, probably….”
Knock, knock.
At that moment, a knock echoed from the waiting room door. Ivan wouldn’t have bothered knocking, and there was no one else who would have come here.
When Natasha slowly opened the door, the person standing in front was someone she half expected.
“…Natasha.”
It was Mikhail.
And he looked quite exhausted.
“What brings you here?”
“I came to see my wife for a moment. Just for a moment. Please, give me some time to talk.”
“Hmm…”
Natasha glanced over at Chloe. She must have heard the entire conversation.
Chloe shook her head softly. The pain was too severe for her to meet anyone.
“I’m sorry, but my client says she has nothing to say to you.”
“I won’t take up much of her time.”
When Mikhail tried to open the door, Natasha blocked his way.
“I said no.”
Her sharp tone made Mikhail flinch.
“Leave before I call the guards.”
“Fine. Then I’ll speak from here.”
He was stubborn. Ignoring Natasha’s exasperated expression, he addressed Chloe, who was beyond the closed door.
“Chloe. I’ve wanted to ask you for a while, but you kept avoiding me, so I couldn’t. That day… when we saw each other in Mosqueche… you didn’t look well. Are you feeling any better now?”
It was an unexpected topic.
But seeing the rare urgency on Mikhail’s face through the crack in the door, Natasha was surprised. It was a side of him even she, after watching him for years, had never seen before.
“I don’t think that’s any of your concern.”
A cynical reply came from behind her. Chloe’s voice was loud enough for Mikhail to hear clearly.
“…Is your condition really that bad? How serious is it? I asked your doctor, and he said coughing up blood is quite severe. Are you receiving treatment?”
His barrage of questions clearly conveyed his ‘worry.’
“Didn’t you mention any of this to Noel?”
Natasha openly sneered.
“She seems to be having a great time chewing you up, doesn’t she?”
“That’s…! …It’s just part of the legal strategy.”
“Right. You kept your affair hidden and made it look like you wanted to divorce a perfectly fine person by making a fuss. But I guess you are concerned about her health. Sure, of course.”
Ahem, ahem.
Mikhail let out a small cough.
“……If it wasn’t for that, wouldn’t you have divorced by now?”
“You know well.”
Chloe muttered as if sighing halfway. Her voice was drained of energy.
“If you truly care about me, just divorce me quietly.”
“……I can’t do that.”
“Why not? You were the one who didn’t like this marriage from the start, not me.”
Her tone was extremely definitive.
Mikhail unconsciously frowned. What on earth was she talking about?
-You don’t have to try so hard. After all, it’s a marriage of convenience, right?
The memory was still vivid, as if it had been painted. From the moment they first met, it was she who had said goodbye to him.
“Me? What are you talking about? You were the one who told me from the beginning that this was a marriage of convenience and that I didn’t have to make an effort.”
Step, step.
Chloe eventually stood by the door, dragging her heavy body. As Natasha tactfully backed away, the two stood face-to-face with the door between them.
“You don’t have to hide it. It wasn’t intentional, but I overheard something.”
Chloe spat out the words bitterly. Her pretense of ignorance in the courtroom was disgusting.
“On our wedding day, I overheard the conversation you had with your brother. You probably didn’t know I could hear, but… I did.”
-……That woman……no way……
There was a time when she had tried to approach them as they talked, but after overhearing them mention her, she instinctively hid.
-What? Seriously? Are you okay with this, brother?
-What else can I do? I have to be okay.
-But still… maybe you should delay the wedding a bit…
-No. That would only give her more reason to find fault.
-I suppose, but…
-Do you think I’m doing this because I want to get married?
Chloe had stood there for a long time, covering her mouth with both hands, even after Mikhail and Jerome had left.
Just thinking about that moment made her hands tremble.
As someone born from a commoner background, she had lived fiercely to avoid any mistakes. While she hadn’t placed much value on a loveless arranged marriage, she still harbored vague hopes about the partner she would spend her life with.
But all of that had shattered on their wedding day.
“……What?”
Mikhail had a bewildered expression at Chloe’s words.
“You… heard that? No, wait a minute. That’s not…!”
“No excuses necessary.”
Just as Chloe coldly cut him off and turned away, Mikhail shouted.
“That conversation wasn’t about you!”
Chloe froze in place.
“Have you misunderstood all this time? Damn, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but… there was a woman who kept obsessing over me before our marriage. When she heard about the wedding, she sent me all sorts of threatening letters. I took every precaution, but just in case, I doubled the number of guards and thoroughly prepared for the wedding day.”
“…….”
“I thought it wasn’t something a bride needed to know about. That’s all.”
“…….”
“Is that why… on our wedding night…?”
Mikhail couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. It seemed that a moment’s misunderstanding had snowballed into something far bigger.
Chloe had thought Mikhail hated her, and Mikhail had thought Chloe hated him. Days of mutual misunderstanding and resentment flashed through his mind.
“All this time… for what reason…”
Mikhail muttered, sounding defeated.
“For what…?”
“……Even if it started with a misunderstanding, nothing changes.”
Chloe added coldly.
“You cheated, and I can never go back to the time before I knew that.”
Spilled water cannot be gathered again. Faced with her cold reply, Mikhail had nothing left to say, and he left with one final word.
“……I’ll send the physician soon. At least… get a check-up.”
***
“Witness, please state your name and occupation.”
“My name is Yelena. I’m a professional manager.”
Her brown hair fell in soft curls. Though neatly tied to one side, her naturally curly hair stuck out here and there.
But that natural look made her even more endearing.
“Witness, please answer honestly. What were you doing in Mosqueche that day with Lord Mikhail?”
“I went to assess the tourist city Mosqueche in person and gather necessary information. Since it was a highly confidential matter, we moved alone. As for the accusation of adultery—just being suspected of that is disgraceful.”
Her response flowed smoothly, as if rehearsed. It was clear that Noel had prepped her.
When I had seen her in Mosqueche before, she had been lurking around in a cloak, but now, after hearing something, she was brimming with confidence.
‘I’ve seen a lot of this type.’
The psychology of mistresses involved in affairs with married men is usually similar.
They get intoxicated by the thrill of breaking taboos, convincing themselves they’re part of some grand love story.
Not realizing it’s just an illusion.
And when the affair is discovered and they stand together in court, all that love vanishes, replaced by a desperate need to blame the other person and lessen their own guilt.
I wonder how long that sparkle in Yelena’s sharp eyes will last.
“I see. If you really were in love with Lord Mikhail, you’d probably be pushing for him to divorce his wife here and now, wouldn’t you?”
Yelena flinched at Natasha’s words.
“Since you’re not doing that, I guess your relationship really was just business. Or perhaps you’re a generous woman who’s letting the man you love stay married to someone else.”
A married man doesn’t have to love his mistress, but the mistress can certainly love him.
And from what I could tell, Yelena truly loved Mikhail. Whether it could be called “love” was another matter.
‘Mikhail, you bastard.’
Natasha cursed him again internally.
“…….”
Yelena kept her mouth tightly shut. Natasha leaned in and whispered softly.
“…Do you think that man really loves you?”
“…….”
“I’ve seen this so many times in my line of work… the stories are always the same. The wife’s just there because it’s a marriage of convenience, and the one he really loves is you… you know, that kind of thing.”
Yelena clenched her fists. She was probably familiar with the pattern too.
“If he really meant it, he’d have divorced her long ago and started a new life with you. Instead of dragging you into court because he doesn’t want to divorce a wife he doesn’t even love…”
Yelena felt chills run down her spine at Natasha’s snake-like whisper.
“Counsel?”
When Natasha paused her questioning, the judge called her name, confused. Natasha straightened up and smiled as if nothing had happened.
“Let’s continue. Yelena.”
Yelena swallowed hard without saying anything.
“Do you love Lord Mikhail?”
“…….”
“No, let me ask you this instead. Are you certain that Lord Mikhail loves you?”
Yelena’s green eyes trembled under her bowed head.
• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Esraa• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •
