Night of the Abandoned Duchess - Chapter 17
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Chapter 17
“What is teacher’s name? You told me, but I forgot!”
Rosalind, who had escaped from her thoughts, answered the child’s question clearly.
“Um, my name is… Rosalind Alicia.”
‘Wow, that’s a pretty name!’ At that, she laughed at the innocent voices of her children. She didn’t use the last name, Spencer, as a promise that she would never go back.
“…No, that’s wrong. Isn’t it Rosalind Spencer, not Rosalind Alicia?”
However, at that moment, she could hear a low, deep voice in her ear. Rosaline’s smile stopped at the corner of her lips at the familiar voice of a man, and her eyes widened in the unexpected situation.
As she turned her gaze, Kyle was leaning obliquely against the doorway, looking at her. Unlike the dazed Rosalind, who lost her words, he was staring at her with a pretty brazen face.
“Am I wrong?”
“Why are you here…”
He cut off her words at will.
“I was wondering what you were doing. It seemed that you were pretending to be teaching children in a convent.”
She looked straight at him.
“It’s not pretending.”
The children’s eyes shifted to them as Rosaline and Kyle spoke.
“I am in class. Let’s talk again when we’re done.”
Staring intently, he eventually turned his back and left.
Perhaps, because she had seen Kyle, Rosalind made several mistakes that day because of the tension.
…It was infertility.
He murmured lowly.
He didn’t like children that much. It was his wife’s urging to have children, and he wanted children because it was his duty to carry on the generations.
At first, he was terrified to see his child from such a father’s bloodline, though as time went on, somehow, he realized that it wasn’t that bad either. He never felt embarrassed or ashamed to see his own child in Rosalind because he never attaches much importance to a child, anyway.
Maybe, it was because he didn’t like children, and rather than because she could be infertile, he was more outrageous and angry that she had left him and left the house.
“I came here as I heard that my wife is here.”
The old Priest’s eyes softened at his words. He still looked at him as if he needed further explanation.
So, although reluctant, Kyle opened his mouth again in a stiff voice.
“It was just a couple fight.”
“It’s a forbidden territory, I can’t take you in even if it’s the husband…”
“I’m thinking of donating about ten thousand gold as a donation.”
At that moment, the Priest’s words soon disappeared, and after a while, he was escorted to the place where Rosalind was. They had converted a room in a convent, which was being used as a space to teach the orphan children.
“Um, my name is… Rosalyn Alicia.”
Ha.
The moment he heard that, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. She seemed to be the one who had already signed and filed the divorce papers. Turning vehemently at the request to leave, he watched his wife giving the class through the window.
Rosaline was a cowardly woman. She attended all the social parties, though from her awkward expression he could tell that she didn’t like meeting and hanging out with people.
Hence, he was very surprised that such a wife taught children. Rosalind’s face and her figure through the window were quite skillful. And, she even threw jokes, and laughter burst everywhere.
His wife, standing among the children as fresh as the spring sunshine, looked a little different. As he gazed at her, it got him annoyed again.
The fact that Rosalind had a look he didn’t know was quite hurtful to him.
As time passed and the class was over, the children got up one by one. Some glanced at him, who was waiting, while others stared at him as if in a strange way, and handed him greetings with a smirk of what to do.
However, Kyle only stared intently at Rosalind, ignoring the children’s greetings.
She was waving her hand affectionately to each of the children before beginning to discuss something with a young priest who entered the room.
The Priest was wearing monotonous attire, though the neat appearance and elegant feeling made him look more like a young and handsome man than just a priest.
Rosaline had a thin smile on her face as she casually talked to the Priest. Kyle, who had been staring at her, wondering what the hell she was doing, couldn’t stand it any longer, and he intervened.
“I think the class is already over. Isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
The Priest, who responded lightly, finished the conversation and greeted Rosaline.
“Thank you. How grateful I am that you are teaching children like this.”
“No. I am even more grateful that the children follow along.”
He felt as if he was the only one popping out from the soft, flowing air.
“I’m going to leave now.”
Saying so, the Priest greeted Kyle as well, but he did not accept it. Instead, he opened his mouth as if waiting for the priest to leave.
“It is surprising that you are doing volunteer work to teach children over here in a place like this.”
As Rosalind didn’t respond to Kyle’s words, he continued speaking as if to himself or sarcastically.
“You like children, so it’s not surprising.”
“What are you doing here?”
“From my point of view, infertility is not the problem, but cheating.”
His voice was blatantly twisted. Hearing those words, she burst out laughing with an absurd expression on her face.
“Cheating…?”
“Isn’t it? The two of you were very friendly.”
“The Priest?”
The voice that answered, as if it had nothing to do with it, was just indifferent.
“I do not believe in God.”
“I believe in God.”
“Can such a person break an oath she made before God so easily?”
As she was about to raise her voice, Kyle’s voice rang low in her ears.
“Is a divorce that easy?”
Then, she realized what he was saying and bit her lip.
On the day of the wedding, they swore to God that they would be together for the rest of their lives until their hair was gray and their eyes were closed, and eternal serenity embraced them.
The vow, which she had cherished like a wish throughout her married life, was very special and precious to her because it was the first and last promise they made as a couple.
“It was not an easy decision.”
“You looked pretty relieved for something like that.”
“I guess so, huh?”
Rosalind quickly turned her around as if she didn’t want to deal with him. As her body turned like that, Kyle grabbed her wrist and squeezed it tightly. Then, he pushed her body hard against the wall.
Suddenly, she swallowed her gasp as if flinching. Why? It bothered her more than the slight pain she felt on her wrist, that was the fact that his body was pressing on her like he was locking her in.
“What are you doing now?”
A characteristic twisted voice pierced through Rosalind’s feeble voice.
“You are my wife.”
“I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“No, it doesn’t matter what you think.”
He got closer and closer as if she could barely breathe him in. Kyle lowered his gaze and scrutinized her arrogantly and closely.
When the distance was less than half a hand, she could see him slowly curling up one corner of his mouth.
Isn’t it?
Rosaline struggles to get out of the strangely tense tension, but his hand tumbles into her dress as though to ridicule her. He stared intently at her and slowly rolled up the skirt.
His hand, which invaded the inside of Rosalind’s spread dress, climbed up her slender legs and grabbed her thigh lightly. The mischievous hands were unstoppable as if they were playing a prank on her.
“This is a sacred church!”
“Our oath was also sacred. Isn’t it?”
‘It’s an oath we made before God.’
His voice was low and cold as though he had been angry.
At that moment, Kyle leaned slightly and placed his lips on the nape of her neck. As he gently rubbed and sucked on the nape of her neck, an instinctive gasp came out.
His lips were tickling her fragile skin.
“What are you going to do if I don’t sign the divorce papers?”
“Why are you doing this to me? You don’t even love me.”
“Marriage and love are two different things.”
To his words, Rosalind responded with an unshakable, clear voice. Her figure, which had just flinched, was just straightforward.
“No. It’s the same for me. At least to me, every single moment of our over a year of marriage was the same.”
She looked quite determined, overshadowing the colorless thin body that seemed to be about to break. Their gazes met in the air, and he stared intently into the face of his wife, who was exhaling.
Silence passed, and Rosalind’s face, which had been pouring out emotions, suddenly became cold.
“So, don’t touch my body anymore.”
Soon after uttering those words, she shoved his body away, and he lost strength.
As she walked away, leaving her husband, she bit her lip unknowingly.
She couldn’t figure out why the hell he was doing that. Today Kyle seemed to be angry. Was it because of the family’s honor like he said before? Or, did he want to torment her in this way…?
Whatever it was, she hated it.
Rosalind began to move her feet more diligently, trying to forget the thoughts rushing through her head.
“Shall we check if everyone wrote it well?”
The children’s eyes lit up at Rosalyn’s words, and they nodded. They were covering the paper with their arms, and some of the children were reaching out towards her as if for her to look.
The various faces were cute and made her smile.
As she did so, Rosalind passed among the children for a while, correcting spells. Suddenly, when she looked away, she could see a tall man staring inside through the window.
Kyle, who had come the last time, had come again.
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