When You Turned Your Back On Me, We Became Strangers

**Chapter 33**

“Hurry up! Anna is causing a scene, and everything’s a mess!”

“Have a maid do it! They’d do a better job.”

Anna said urgently to Theo. However, there were no maids in sight.

“If there are no maids around, then Kavan can do it.”

Theo nodded toward Kavan as he approached with heavy footsteps, visibly anxious.

Kavan was none other than the steward. He had been standing at a distance, observing the scene, until Riley had called him over before she left.

“Please help. It’s quite a mess.”

Riley smiled at Kavan. Her gaze shifted from Kavan to Anna’s belly. A sense of something being wrong made Anna’s eyes dart toward Riley.

As she stared at Anna looking at her belly, Riley raised her gaze to meet Anna’s.

“Theo, I’ve heard some strange things lately.”

“What kind of things?”

“I was taking a walk because I couldn’t sleep at night…”

Kaban’s hands, which had been cleaning up the table, began to tremble. Riley noticed his pale face and tilted her head in curiosity.

“I think I heard a woman’s voice from the dormitory of the male servants.”

“That can’t be true. Especially a woman’s voice?”

Theo shook his head firmly. At Riley’s words, Anna’s eyes flickered nervously.

Riley, looking quite troubled, whispered.

“Right? I thought maybe there was a secret affair. I heard some suggestive sounds. It was something I couldn’t even bring myself to say out loud.”

“Such disgraceful things happening in the Duke’s residence!”

Theo’s face turned red with anger, and veins bulged on his neck.

Riley quickly turned her gaze to Kavan and asked, “Oh, Kavan, did you hear anything strange?”

Clatter. Crash!

Kavan, startled while clearing the table, accidentally knocked a plate to the floor, shattering it.

“Why are you so surprised? Anyone would think you were involved!”
“W-What do you mean by that?” Kavan stammered, sweat trickling down his sideburns. Riley approached him, wiping the sweat away with her sleeves.
“Oh my, I was just joking. But judging by your reaction, you must’ve heard something too? It’s not a big deal, but you should be careful since there are many eyes and ears around.”
Riley smiled at Anna. Kavan gulped and quickly nodded.

“Absolutely! I’ll make sure to keep an eye on things!”

“Good to hear. If the steward says that the Duke’s residence will surely have a brighter future. Theo, it seems you’ve trained your subordinates well.”

Riley clapped her hands with a satisfied expression. Then she approached Ren, who was in a mess, and said he needed to be cleaned up.

“Riley, you’re not thinking of taking him to your private quarters, are you?”
“Why? Is there a problem with that?”
“You…! Do you even know where you are? Not only do you bring another man into our home, but now you want to be alone with him in your quarters?”
Riley, still holding onto Ren’s arm, turned to face Theo.
‘Seeing the three of them together is quite amusing.’

She glanced at Kaban and Anna cleaning up the broken plate, then tilted her head as if she didn’t understand his outrage.
“What’s the problem? You shouldn’t be saying such things to me. Surely, you’re not suggesting that what’s allowed for you is forbidden for me, right?”
Theo’s face flushed with anger. His veins bulged, and his eyes turned bloodshot, making him look utterly ridiculous.
“Riley!”
“Theo, I’ve understood and accepted you. I’ve even graciously welcomed Anna, who’s carrying your child.”
“That’s…!”
“You’ll understand, won’t you?”
With that, she linked arms with Ren and headed towards her private quarters without looking back. Theo called out her name, but Riley and Ren disappeared inside.
“Theo…”
Anna tried to grasp his arm, but he harshly slapped her hand away, glaring down at her with a stern expression.
“Anna, enough is enough. If you cause any more trouble again, you’ll be thrown out of the duchy.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. What about your child?”
“The child can just be placed under my care, right? So don’t get the wrong idea. If it weren’t for the child, you would have already been thrown out of here.”

“Theo!”

Anna screamed at Theo’s words, her whole body trembling with rage.

However, ignoring her, Theo stared at the annex where Riley and Ren had disappeared. Unable to hold back any longer, he quickly called out to Kavan.

“Kavan, go to the Duke’s residence and bring me a set of clothes.”

“Pardon?”

“Didn’t you hear? I said to find the clothes I didn’t wear and bring them to the annex.”

“Ah, understood.”

Kavan glanced nervously at Anna, then wrapped the broken plate in a tablecloth and headed toward the duchy.

Seeing Kavan enter the Duke’s residence, Theo turned his steps toward the annex, leaving Anna behind.

Left alone, Anna stood there, tears streaming down her face.

As Theo approached the annex, he began to knock on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

It was more of a pounding than a knock. When there was no answer, Theo knocked harder.

“Riley, answer me!”

“……”

“What on earth are you doing in there?! This is my house…!”

Bam-!

Before Theo could finish his sentence, the door to the annex swung open.

“What is it?”

Ren, drying his hair with a towel, looked at Theo. His upper body was completely bare. Theo’s eyes widened, and then he tried to push Ren aside to enter.

“Trying to get in? That’s not going to happen.”

“What were you doing with Riley? Don’t you know she’s my wife?! How dare you in my house!”

“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but they say you see what you want to see.”

Ren, who had been unmoving, stepped aside as Theo tried to push past him.

Crash!

Theo, who had been thrown to the floor by his own misstep, looked up to find a shadow looming over him..

“You really look ridiculous right now.”

“You really do look pathetic, don’t you?” Riley said, holding a shirt that Ren could wear. She was dressed perfectly in her elegant gown.

Theo’s face turned from red to a mixture of crimson and purple with embarrassment. Though he quickly got to his feet and brushed himself off as if nothing had happened, but the humiliation was evident on his face.
“Your Grace…” came a hesitant voice from behind. It was Kaban, who had returned with the clothes. Theo snatched the garment from him and handed it to Ren, who was in the process of undressing.
“Ahem, isn’t it disgraceful? Cover yourself with these. It’s unsightly,” Theo muttered.
Ren, still drying his hair, looked nonchalantly at the clothes thrust toward him. A sly grin spread across his face as he turned away from Theo and approached Riley instead.
As Ren took the shirt from Riley’s hands and began buttoning it, Theo clenched his fists.
It was a clear display of disregard for him.

“Unsightly? I don’t think I’m someone you’d call that. Perhaps it’s your eyes that are the problem. Ah! That must be why you turned to another woman instead of Riley,”

As he fastened the cuff buttons, he tilted his chin a bit towards Theo.

“…I don’t think there’s any need to explain the situation at the Duke’s residence to you.”

“I’m not really curious either. My only interest is in Riley.”

Ren smiled with his eyes narrowed and handed a bow tie to Riley. With an innocent expression, he slightly bent down to meet her gaze.

“Isn’t it about time you did this on your own?”

“Yeah, I always forget.”

He playfully replied and leaned into Riley. She smiled as she adjusted Ren’s tie.

“Riley, do you even realize I’m here?”

“Of course, you’ve been standing there watching since earlier.”

“But you haven’t even glanced at me! What have you been doing with that man?!”

Theo shouted and tried to approach Riley. She turned her head slightly to glance at him while tying the bow tie.

“Wait, I’m busy with something else right now. Why are you whining like a child?”

“Riley!”

“Theo, have some dignity. Aren’t you embarrassed in front of our guest?” Riley scolded, her expression was filled with disappointment as she looked at him. Her scolding made Theo chuckle bitterly.

Dignity… Does she really think I have any left?’

Though Theo was angry at her words, her changed demeanor only made him more restless.

The woman he thought was his was slipping through his fingers. Today, her silvery hair and green eyes seemed unusually beautiful.

‘Right, her face was worth admiring. No one could compare to her.’

Theo found himself unable to tear his gaze away from Riley, noticing things he hadn’t before—her slender waist, her ample bosom, her perfectly proportioned figure.

Just when he was deep in thought, Ren finished tying his bow tie and then turned, standing between Theo and Riley, blocking Theo’s view. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.