When You Turned Your Back On Me, We Became Strangers

If happiness wasn’t going to last this long, I should have enjoyed it a little more. Reilly closed her eyes tightly at what was happening in front of her.

The sight of Theo confidently introducing her mistress to me was so unfamiliar that I couldn’t believe it.

“……What is this?”

I was stunned to see Theo standing in front of me, smiling sweetly at another woman. Riley’s face quickly took on a shade.

“Riley, don’t worry. Anna is merely a mistress. You are my wife, You are the only one who can carry on the Prinz family name.”

 

Reilly seemed to understand why he was so obsessed with children. I didn’t want to believe it, but I needed it because I had the name and power of my family, and nothing else.

 

Still, I couldn’t let him go because I loved him so much.

 

“……Since when, since when, since when?”

 

“Oh, you didn’t know. It’s been over a year.”

 

More than a year has passed since Anna’s words narrowed down Reilly’s eyebrows. A year has passed since she got married. That meant that it was a relationship that had been going on even before marriage.

 

“Madam, you are the only one I love.”

 

It was a lie, an obvious lie. But she couldn’t say anything to him, couldn’t scream at him, “Why did you deceive me?” or “Get the hell out of here.

 

She had no place to go back to, no courage to let him go.

 

“You don’t mean to put her in this house, do you?”

 

“Of course not. I’m thinking of having her live in two separate houses so She can take care of herself.”

Two houses. Theo casually drove a nail into Riley’s heart. Anna smiled and looked up at him, a shameless attempt to show her she had the upper hand in her arms.

“Take care of yourself, Duchess Riley.”

 

“I, um, I don’t feel well, so I’m going to go inside now, I’m feeling dizzy…….”

At Riley’s words, Theo quickly approached her and inspected her body, clearly anxious that something was wrong with her.

Riley couldn’t help but feel a tinge of mockery at his attitude.

‘The child……. A child was important to you. A child that would be born to me…….’

Leaving Anna standing in the doorway, he picked her up and carried her to her room. He took my hand and kissed it, his eyes tender as always.

“Ma’am, you’re all I have.”

Even though she knew his words were false, she believed them. She covered her eyes and plugged her ears, hoping he meant it, that I was the only one who he loved, even though she couldn’t believe her eyes.

After that, Theo visited Anna every day.

But he didn’t stay overnight. He fell asleep next to me, as always, and Riley knew it, but she didn’t care.

Her stomach started to grow bigger and bigger.

* * *

Riley who was eating in her room, soon stopped eating. She pulled out a tissue, spat out what was in her mouth, and looked at the food on her plate.

Lately, food had been tasting strange. Today, she couldn’t stand the taste and smell of the food anymore and got up from her seat.

‘Once again, it tastes strange.

Riley pushed herself to her feet and made her way to the kitchen. When she saw no sign of the maids, she scratched her head.

As she entered the living room, she saw Anna sitting at the table, making herself at home.

Theo and I had made a pact that Anna would never set foot in the Duke’s house. It was just Theo and her.

Anna, who was drinking tea in the living room, smiled when she spotted Riley staring at her.

“Ma’am, why aren’t you eating and why are you…….”

Setting down her teacup, Anna rose gracefully from her seat and walked over to Riley. Judging by her clothes and jewelry, Theo had bought her just what she wanted this time.

“And why are you setting foot in my house?”

“My dear, did the Duke not tell you? He asked me to come and look after his wife, as she’s growing heavy.”

Even though she didn’t know what that meant, Anna still had a smile on her face. Riley gave her a short, mocking look.

“Did your husband ask you to do what maids do? I’m grateful, but you have no self-respect for accepting.”

I walked past Anna, who stared at me with a hardened face and headed back to the kitchen. I inspected the food but saw nothing unusual.

“How the hell do they make food these days?

I asked myself not once, but twice. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I once had a stomachache so bad that I had to rush to the doctor.

 

Riley looked at the ingredients with a frown, but they looked ordinary enough.

 

“Oh,” she said, “I’ve put some kind of potion in your food that’s supposed to be good for you.”

 

“…… Is this what you prepared?”

 

“I guess you didn’t like it, I worked hard to prepare it…….”

 

Suddenly, Anna, who had been following, lowered her head and shuddered. The suddenness of her behavior made Riley scrunch up her face.

“Anna, what is it?”

“The Duke…….”

At the sound of the Duke’s voice calling to her from behind, she quickly ran to him and hugged him. She sobbed, tears pooling in her eyes.

“My lady, I have specially prepared some food for you to eat to make you feel better……. She didn’t like it, said it was disgusting, and turned the kitchen upside down.”

 

“Yes, it smells disgusting.”

 

Riley said without batting an eye.

 

“I think you’re being harsh, Riley. Anna was thinking of you…….”

 

Without batting an eyelid, Riley pointed to her plate and said to Theo, “I’ll take a spoonful.

 

“Well, you eat it.”

 

Anna stared at Riley in surprise. Theo walked over to her without question and sniffed. He picked up her spoon and tasted it, his expression still calm.

 

“……ha, ma’am. What the hell is wrong with the taste?”

 

“You don’t think it’s weird?”

 

Riley blurted out. She could still smell the strange odor and taste the disgusting taste in her mouth. But Theo’s expression didn’t change, as if he wasn’t lying.

 

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of my own food from now on.”

 

“But Riley, didn’t Anna even prepare your food for you?”

 

“……So, who asked her to do that?”

 

Theo said as if she was being too sensitive. Anna shook her head, grabbing Theo’s shirt in her defense.

 

“Can’t you just be a little generous?”

 

“How am I supposed to be generous here? Tell me, handmaidens are plentiful, and why did you even let her set foot in this place?”

 

“That’s not what I meant, Riley, I did it all for you.”

 

I gritted my teeth at the word “for my sake. I took a breath, trying to think of the child in my belly, and Theo’s lips pressed together as he turned to face me.

 

“Do as you please. Whatever Anna does, I don’t think it’s in your heart.”

 

With that, Theo stalked out of the kitchen, leaving Riley behind.

 

* * *

 

Anna came and went from the ducal residence every day. All in the name of looking after Riley.

 

“It’s just that the Duke isn’t around much.”

 

Riley realized what Anna had said to her. It was that Theo slept every night, not in the main house, but in an outbuilding and study where Anna was staying.

 

“She doesn’t know why he sleeps in the outbuilding.

 

She’s probably under the impression that he doesn’t leave her side because he loves her. Riley had banned Theo from the bedroom shortly after he brought Anna home.

 

It was a story that didn’t need to be told, so for old-fashioned reasons, she didn’t tell anyone else. She felt goosebumps all over her body at the mere touch of Theo’s hand.

 

“It’s for the child’s sake that we sleep separately for a while.”

 

“I’ll just sleep next to you.”

 

“No. I don’t think I can sleep with you.”

 

Theo stiffened at Riley’s words of determination. Worried that something might go wrong with the child in her womb, however, he decided to go along with her.

 

“The Duke is supposed to be with you in times like this, isn’t he?”

 

Riley didn’t answer Anna’s question. It wasn’t really worth answering. Every time she teased her mouth in front of me, she seemed to be studying me, trying to figure out how to get on my nerves without getting tired.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well, and yesterday the Duke came to my residence……. He even brought flowers, how romantic of him.”

 

Anna knew what Riley was sensitive about, and Riley was beginning to show her what she was thinking.

 

I could see it in the way she looked at me.

 

The confidence and superiority in Theo’s mind.

 

Even though it didn’t matter much to Riley.

 

“He whispers to me every night that he loves me.”

 

Anna, who knew no shame, babbled endlessly. Riley drank her tea in silence, unmoved by Anna’s provocation.

 

When she didn’t respond, she didn’t give up. She continued to talk to Riley about the duke, making her feel bad.

 

When Anna’s steaming tea had cooled, Riley smiled at her and asked.

 

“So what did he give you this time?”

 

“What?”

 

“After spending the night with you, the Duke always gives me something I want. “As if He is paying me back.”

 

Riley set her teacup down and patted her stomach. The corner of Anna’s upturned mouth twitched.

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