The Secret Circumstances of the Fake Ducal Couple

Translated by: Gon 

Edited by: Yuu

CH-5

Victor spoke lightly, but the money she owed was no small sum.

Half the debt money would have been enough to buy two mansions in the capital.

The monthly interest payments were daunting, and she would have to take on more work.

If she couldn’t find additional work as a tutor, she would have to look into doing seamstressing for a living.

“Victor, you know my situation. I can’t pay half of it right away.”

Asking someone to pay back half of their debt right away was like asking them to not pay it at all.

“I know, I know you’re working hard, and that’s why we’ve let you get away with it, Jane, even though your price is getting worse and worse. ”

Leaning in, Victor brushed the back of his hand across Jane’s face.

Creeped out, she jerked back, and he smirked.

“Jane, it’s not too late. There’s a man who’s willing to pay your debt, albeit in less favorable terms than when you were 20 years old. He’s 60 years old, and he’s rich. It’s not bad that he’s old, Jane. It’s better if he marries you and dies; then all the old man’s money would be yours.”

It was an offer to sell her body. It wasn’t surprising. She had gotten similar offers countless times.

Thanks to her parents’ good upbringing, many men wanted to take her as their mistress despite her circumstances.

Some even offered her a large sum of money for one night..

However, even though Jane starved for several days, she didn’t sell her body. Once, Victor tricked her into doing something dangerous, but she broke a cup and slit her wrists.

She said she’d rather die.

After that, Victor gave up trying to force her to sell herself. But every now and then, just when she’d forgotten, he’d make her an offer she’d certainly refuse.

Jane hung her head in shame.

She thought for a moment.

Damn God, every time she let her guard down like this, he gave her a new trial.

“I don’t need it.”

“Jane, your body will root when you die. You only have to warm up an old man’s bed and get paid a few thousand for it. Isn’t that a perfect business?”

“I don’t want to do business, I’ll find a way to get the money…… somehow, so get out of here, and don’t come looking for me if you’re going to offer me such a vulgar thing.”

Jane turned away. Victor frowned.

“What? A vulgar thing?? You seem to think I’m a noble because you keep calling me by my name.”

Heavy footsteps sounded behind her. Then, Jane’s neck suddenly snapped back.

“Argh.”

Victor twisted Jane’s long hair in his hands and pulled it. Jane’s body shook in response.

Victor leaned his mean face close to hers.

“Listen, bitch, if you want to live, marry that old man.”

His breath reeked of whatever he’d been eating. Jane clawed at Victor’s hand, protesting.

“I told you I didn’t like it, ouch.”

“I’m asking you to come! Hamlin!”

At Victor’s call, Hamlin began to tear the house apart.

He threw the only table outside, picked up a chair, and swung it around. Well-washed and dried crockery clattered on the floor. The vase with wildflowers in it shattered.

As the window shattered, rain poured in.. The bed near the window got drenched.

In an instant, the house became a mess.

“You built a nest the size of a booger and went crazy. Let’s see how long you’ll be stubborn.”

After surveying the mess, Victor let Jane go, satisfied.

Jane sprawled on the carpet, where Victor and Hamlin’s footprints were stamped..

“Jane.”

Victor crouched down in front of Jane, seeing if she had something to say.

He pressed his thumb on her lips, wiping her lipstick, and then rubbed his lipstick-covered finger against his tongue.

“Let’s sell it before it spoils. Hmm?”

Victor laughed softly. It was the devil’s laugh.

* * *

It had been a long time since Victor and Hamlin had left, and the blue light of dawn filtered faintly through the cracked lanterns into the darkened house.

“I have to clean up.”

Jane, who had been sitting in a daze, came to her senses only when the downpour had subsided.

Jane touched the floor.

“Ouch.”

A shard from a broken vase stuck in her palm. Nothing was working.

She clenched her hand and barely pulled herself up. Her dress, soaked in rainwater, was heavy. She dragged her dress and found the lamp that had barely survived Hamlin’s merciless hands, then turned on the light.

And immediately regretted it.

“I shouldn’t have turned on the light…….”
The situation in the house was even worse than it looked in the dark.

It looked like she would have to spend the salary of two months on repairs alone.

“I’m going crazy.”

In the midst of her despair, Jane burst into laughter instead of tears.

She laughed for a long time. Her house was a mess, and her palm was bleeding from a stuck glass.

Her life was more messed up than her house.

Just then, in the midst of all the chaos, an overly neat voice rang out.

No, before that, a scent that didn’t belong in her house tickled her nose.

A scent that reminded me of a rainy forest.

“It looks like you have lost your mind.”

“That’s right. I must be crazy.”

Jane thought she really was crazy. This was crazy enough.

‘Cain’s voice. There’s no way he’s here.’

Jane’s head drooped. At the thought of Cain, the tears she’d been holding back welled up.

She didn’t want to think of him on days like today. In her imagination, she could see her miserable appearance in his eyes.

She didn’t want to show him a miserable appearance. When they met on the street, she wanted to greet him with a bright smile.

“Have you lost your mind, or is something wrong with your hearing?”

Again, she heard it.

Only then did Jane’s head slowly rise. There he was, standing where Hamlin and Victor had been.

Cain Hastings.

Jane blinked again and again in disbelief, forgetting to lift her back and nearly burning herself trying to rub her eyes.

This brought her back to her senses, but the illusion didn’t go away.

The door was off its hinges and wide open, and there someone stood as if waiting.

For a moment, Jane thought she’d seen the wrong man. There was no way he would show up in her small, shabby abode.

But it wasn’t wrong.

There was only one person in the kingdom who had vivid blonde hair, eyes like the sea, prominent eyebrows, a high bridge nose, and a sense of elegance and rawness all at the same time.

“You’re not going to tell me that you can’t see me, are you?”

“……Cain.”

“You should call me Duke of Hastings, Miss Whitney.”

Jane’s eyelids fluttered.

It was Cain, the real Cain.

There he was, right before her eyes, the man she’d missed so much, the man she’d regretted so much, the man she’d missed like crazy.

She stared at him, forgetting it was rude.

His shoulders were broader, and his lines were thicker. He was also taller than he had been seven years ago.

The ice-cold aura was unfamiliar, but the straight brow, sharp jawline, and the highly saturated blue eyes were the same.

He was even more handsome.

You have lived well.

An unspeakable feeling of relief washed over Jane.

If she had said it out loud, everyone who heard it would have laughed at her.

The arrogant man’s gaze swept over the messy house.

“You abandoned me, and look at you now, terrible.”

Their reunion after seven years came when she least expected it, when she was at the lowest point of her life.

He stomped into the house.

“Lousy.”

Each word pierced Jane’s heart like a dagger.

“Tacky.”

Jane closed her eyes tightly and opened them slowly.

“How did you…… get here?”

Jane’s voice trembled badly.

Clean, noble, and dignified, he didn’t belong here.

“Wrong question. You should ask why I’m here.”

“…… Please leave.”

Cain’s expression became fierce. However, he soon erased his expression and spoke.

“I’m here because I have some business to do. We’re not seeing each other for no reason.”

Jane nodded.

Cain clicked his tongue as he looked around the wretched room, a cramped space with no place to sit, worse than the Duke of Hastings’ stables.

“I should offer you some tea, but I don’t have any.”

“Isn’t it because you don’t have teacups?”

Jane bit her lower lip. Drops of blood quickly formed on her parched lips.
He was right. There were no tea leaves, no teacup, and Hamlin had smashed the only water cup she had.

“Never mind, I didn’t come here for tea.”

Jane looked up at Cain.

And then she wondered why the great Cain had come to see her.

Since becoming the Duke of Hastings a few years ago, Cain had risen to a position where he was welcome wherever he went.

It wasn’t simply because he was a duke, but because he had earned it.

Apart from the queen, there was no one he could not meet when he wanted, but it was said that even the queen’s bedroom door opened when he wanted.

Hayes Company.

After abruptly leaving the Kingdom of Embleon seven years ago, he dabbled in trading and built it into a massive business.

He imported technology from abroad, built a railroad company in the Kingdom of Embleon, and was given full control of the railroad business by the queen.

The queen wasn’t the only one who trusted him. Everyone in the Kingdom of Embleon looked up to Cain.

This was because he had ended the sudden war that erupted with the Kingdom of Instan five years ago.

He was a war hero, a great businessman, and a duke trusted by the queen.

“Looking at your expression, you must have heard rumors about me”

“Yes, you appeared in the newspapers often.”

She was afraid he’d be annoyed when she admitted looking at news about him, but she couldn’t take back what she’d already said.

“I……”

She was about to change her words, but Cain cut her off.

“You don’t have to tell me, it’s none of my business how you lived.”

Jane closed her mouth.

In the past, he’d often acted like he was inside her head.

When she’d freak out, Cain would laugh and say.

 

How does he know now?

Jane wanted to ask, but she held back. She didn’t think she’d get a good answer.

And she didn’t want to blush after all these years. She wanted to remain a woman who could communicate with him, even if she couldn’t help the mess.

“I have a proposition for you.”

“A proposal?”

Jane caught her breath at the unexpected words.

“It’s an offer that will help you, since it’s an offer that I make.”

He was arrogant. But that arrogance suited him very well.

He, who had been standing still in the doorway, finally moved. Jane swallowed.

A familiar face with an unfamiliar expression. Her eyes trembled as she looked at the face of the man who had once been her fiancé.

She was barely able to take her eyes off him because it felt like she was being drawn back to the times when she loved him unconditionally.

Cain’s lips, which had whispered to her that he loved her, stood in a business-like manner and spat out a cold voice.

“I need a woman to be my child’s mother.”

“Child? Yours?”

Jane was so shocked that her head spun. She reflexively tried to touch the wall but stopped.

The glass was still stuck in her palm. Cain’s gaze fell on her hand.