Married To The Mad Vampire Lord
Chapter 242: "Didn’t mean to hurt you."

Chapter 242: "Didn’t mean to hurt you."

Belle paced in front of the large window of the piano room, looking out onto the street, waiting and hoping to see the familiar figure of her husband who had not returned since morning. She was beginning to get restless—not because he was late, but because he had left the house angry for what she did.

Was he still mad at her? Would he stay away from the house because she had allowed Evenly to stay?

Those thoughts ran through her mind as she looked out the window every now and then. The moon was big and bright in the sky, and the light shone down on the street, bathing it in silvery color. She had never seen such a look in his eyes since they had married, and even without asking, she knew she had hurt him with her words and actions, words she did not mean deep in her heart.

At that moment, it had seemed like the right thing to do, when he had looked hellbent on throwing Evenly out the door. He had put her in a tight spot, where she couldn’t just stand there and watch him throw the woman out. And knowing him quite well, she had known he didn’t just plan to send her away, he might actually kill her. He understood that if Evenly got caught, it might lead to them being caught by the people here. It could implicate them.

She’d felt it in her gut that Rohan wanted to end the woman’s life, and she had acted to save it.

But now that she had time to think about her words, she realized she could have handled it differently—done it in a way that wouldn’t hurt him. Being a man who was still learning about emotions and feelings with the return of his heart, he might be more vulnerable to words than a normal person who had lived all their life with feelings.

He was new to it, and her words must have hit the tenderest spot.

His own parents had turned their backs on him and wanted him dead—and now, her telling him she would leave him without a second thought if he threw Evenly out... it made it seem like he was something easily discarded.

Belle wished she could turn back time and choose different words. But she knew it was too late. All she could do now was hope he would return, and that she could apologize.

What if he didn’t?

Would Rohan leave her because of this? Would he think of her as the same as those who had abandoned him in the past?

"Belle," came the voice of Lady Clifton from behind, causing her to swirl around and see the woman standing by the door of the piano room with a remorseful expression. Both hands were held in front of her, fingers wringing anxiously, a gesture so unlike the woman Belle remembered as confident and elegant in Nightbrook.

Just like Belle had noticed the first day she arrived, Evenly looked leaner and paler than before. The glow she once carried had dimmed tenfold. Though she was still beautiful, that beauty no longer shone the way it used to. She must have gone through a lot, all because she had chosen to interfere that day, to stop Cordelia from hurting her.

Guilt wrapped around Belle’s heart and squeezed. She had been a coward who had run away from everything.

"Evenly," Belle murmured, her voice soft as she looked at the woman standing there. "Do you need something? I’ve assigned a maid to assist you. She will—"

"I just wanted to let you know that if I had known I would cause trouble between you and your husband, I wouldn’t have come here," Evenly muttered remorsefully. "I wasn’t thinking clearly when I took on the journey... I’m sorry for causing a rift in your relationship. I think it’s best I leave," she said quietly, still holding her hands in front of her, her head bowed.

Belle had not spoken to Evenly again after Rohan had walked out of the house. She had been so worried that she had forgotten she had a guest who might feel bad about everything. Now, hearing this from her, Belle walked toward her and took the woman’s hand in hers.

"It’s not your fault at all. It’s a normal thing for couples to have a little disagreement. My husband will come around, and I will make him understand. You don’t have to leave. You can stay for as long as you have nowhere else to go." Belle gave the lady’s hand a gentle squeeze when she looked at her with teary red eyes.

"I feel terrible. I should insist on leaving, but if I do that... I really don’t have anywhere to go. But if your husband still doesn’t want me here, I will have to go, Belle. Your marriage is perfect and... you are expecting a baby soon. Don’t let me come between the both of you. My marriage is over and done with. I won’t ruin another person’s just because I’m afraid to be alone in the world," she said, fighting back the tears that hurt her throat.

She hadn’t wanted to come here, but she had believed that she would be welcomed by Belle and her husband for the meantime. However, now that it turned out things were different, it would be best she leave, or she wouldn’t be any different from Cordelia, who had ruined her marriage and taken control of her husband and his money and made it into hers.

She had indeed taken Belle as a friend, and as a friend, she would do her best to protect her marriage, even if it meant leaving and stepping into a world she knew nothing about and being a creature that fed on blood.

Belle began to part her lips to insist that Evenly stay, but the woman shook her head.

"It’s fine, really. I can manage. And I think your husband is right about wanting me gone. I can’t control my thirst yet. Whenever I get hungry, I am not myself. It’s best I stay away," she mused with a smile that looked bitter, but she tried to make it appear happier as she changed the topic quickly before Belle could insist she stay back.

"Congratulations on your baby! How much time before the due date?" she inquired curiously, looking down at Belle’s stomach, where, as if the baby was listening, he kicked and rolled in her womb.

Belle was not certain how much time remained before her due date, as Rohan had said demon babies choose their own precious time to come out. It could be five months or more. She had been pregnant for more than seven months now, but she calculated it based on the human pregnancy and answered Evenly, "I’ll be due in two months."

She sat and talked with Evenly in the piano room for a while, and the woman decided to retire to bed, saying she would leave first thing tomorrow morning, even though Belle tried to talk her out of it.

When Evenly left her alone, Belle resumed her pacing, looking out the window again. The clock rang midnight and yet Rohan wasn’t back, and she dozed off on the piano bench, unable to keep her eyes open any longer.

It was a terrible dream, that Rohan had left her in Bimmerville and never returned, that startled her awake by dawn, her heart pounding and her back aching from sleeping while sitting. She was just rising from the bench when, through the window, she caught sight of a winged figure descending from the sky. Her eyes lit up with relief as she recognized her husband, who landed and strode into the house.

She hurried out of the room to meet him halfway, and when she finally saw him climbing up the stairs, four at once, she almost cried from the relief of seeing him. She stopped in her tracks at the top, watching him come up, hands pressed against her stomach as the life inside her rolled like he was excited too.

When he climbed up to the last step, Belle flung her arms around him and hugged him as close as her stomach would allow it.

"I’m sorry... so sorry..." she cried, tightening her arms around his neck, not noticing how he wasn’t holding her back, or how his eyes were dark and hard, or how he stiffened the moment she touched him and went completely still, like a rock.

She threaded her fingers into his thick, silky hair, pressing her lips to his neck. "I didn’t mean what I said. I would never have left you, even if you sent me away. I was just trying to save her life. I never told you about it, but she saved me in Nightbrook.

She was turned into a vampire because of me. She tried to fight the vampires who wanted to hurt me, and they injured her so badly... I just did what I did to repay the favor of her standing up for me.

I’m so sorry," she cried earnestly, tears streaming down her face and sliding down his neck into his shirt.

Something seemed to shift in his aura at her words and tears, it was like a veil was lifted from him, and he was seeing clearly again. Rohan’s eyes slowly began to soften, the black shrinking back to its normal size. And his heart, which had stilled its beating the moment he felt betrayed by her words, resumed its steady rhythm within his chest.

His hands, which had remained at his sides, finally moved and wrapped around her waist, fiercely pulling her close as he buried his nose into the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent to calm the storm still churning inside him before he would tell her what he knew she wouldn’t like.

She had hurt him like no one else ever had, with nothing but words spoken in the heat of emotion that pierced him deeper than any blade. He had felt a needle jab straight into the heart he had only just begun to rediscover. And he’d been angry, angry at her, angry at himself for being such a fool to trust again.

But now, with her back in his arms and her apologies washing over him like balm, the consuming darkness inside him began to fade, scattering like sand in a windstorm. How this small woman could wound him so deeply and yet heal him just as fast... was something he still didn’t understand. And so, he held her tighter.

Their baby inside her chose that moment to shift, the thump reaching him. The roll and kick came again, this time harder, as if the baby wanted to kick at him, and he felt his wife make a sharp inhale but did not pull away from the hug. She held on to him like a lifeline.

"Never ever say words you do not mean to someone. It... it hurts that person when they believe you mean it. Words have the power to destroy more than a blow or a blade, Isa. Never," he whispered into her neck, tightening his embrace.

He had believed the words because he had been unable to read her heart. It had hurt him and pushed him to take this very step, one he knew, if he told her, she wouldn’t like. But he had to, in order to get them back to where he knew they would live without hiding who they were, or having the fear that they might get in trouble if known by others.

He had to take them back to a land he knew as home.

Belle nodded her head at his words. "I didn’t mean to hurt you..."