If I Disobey the Duke - Chapter 267

Mark (2)

Soon, his long eyelashes trembled. His hand gripped her ankle, but his strength was weak. He put her legs down from his shoulders.

Lily hurriedly stepped back behind the bed and covered her legs with her dress. Her heart pounded as she hugged her knees as if defending herself.

The corners of her eyes were moist. It was because she had wandered somewhere on the border between her fear and unfamiliar excitement and returned. She couldn’t deny the fact that she felt the slightest bit of attraction from her aggressive husband.

“…”

He struggled with himself, breathing deeply and flexing his fingers before rubbing them against his eyes. “…I’m sorry. After all…”

It was like pouring a bucket of ice on a running stallion. As the fury that had soared to the limit subsided, the void remained. His hand that covered his eyes trembled.

…What line was he about to cross? His eyes were terrifying.

When she raised her voice to Marius, she was terrified of the man who was not her husband.

He stepped back from the bed. He was determined to keep her as far away from him as possible. He leaned his back against the door that had been slammed shut.

Vlad turned his head away from her as he sat crouching on the bed. “Just now…  I was too harsh.” He burst out laughing at how pathetic he was.

It was only when his head went cold that he became clearly aware of what fueled him. Possessiveness, inferiority complex.

Marius. Yes. He was an elegant man. To that extent, he had no choice but to admit it. A precious and clean man with no aspect of his soul depleted after only imagining hardship. A man who had only walked a flawless path, had no greed, and had no experience of hating anyone.

There was no corner that overlapped with Vlad himself.

Even he was obsessive about it. Although not comparable to Vlad himself and Ingrid. Knowing his temper, nervousness like a blade cut through his consciousness and came out.

He was astonished at himself. To instill fear in his wife just because of that. How ugly he was.

How dare he bring such an ugly feeling? Even if he had been in denial for the rest of his life, it seemed that his dirty bloodline was unavoidable.

Vlad was silent for a while, covering his mouth with a large hand. His wide chest fluttered. There was a distinctly subdued atmosphere.

Lily grabbed her lap and looked into his face. “Now… Have you calmed down?”

His handsome eyes narrowed. Remorse flowed like smoke from the top of his head. “I didn’t want to threaten you. I just…”

“No. It’s not just that I was afraid….”

She put her chin on her knees and hugged her ankles. “I was talking about this room.”

Vlad looked around the room at the unexpected answer. Now the shape of the room caught his eye.

Although they were medical tools, the ones hanging on the walls were quite ugly in shape. The chains connecting the restraints on the bed were so old that the paint had peeled off. In fact, the appearance of the operating chamber was not much different from that of the torture chamber.

Vlad took a deep breath.

“And it’s the first time I’ve seen you so angry that you didn’t stop even though I said I didn’t like it. Of course, I’m not saying I hate you either. Or that I lied about hating the prince, but it’s just too sudden….”

“I am not mad at you. Ignoring the words that came from you is something I really did wrong. No matter how many times you said… That’s right.”

It was something that should never happen again. Hate. He knew better than anyone how she never said those words.

He wanted to slash his head with an axe. Just a little while ago, he had completely denied his entire life, engraving control like a tattoo on his soul. He didn’t want to believe that he was a man who so easily fell to his knees.

Lily hesitated, and she lifted her head to face her. She was still nervous, but somehow her expression was more relaxed than before. “Unless that makes you angry… What is it?”

Silence passed between the two for a moment.

After licking his lips a few times, Vlad let out another short sigh. “I was jealous. Of Marius.”

Jealousy. It wasn’t a feeling that could be put into such a simple word. He couldn’t even put his thoughts into his mouth until just before he broke the wall.

Lily, not knowing what was going on in his head, simply blinked. “…Are you jealous?”

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