My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 203: Ashamed

Chapter 203: Ashamed

For Leonor, her dreams were always a place she didn’t fully understand. Whether they be full of horrors, sweetness, or hours of a lusty evening, she always woke up from them feeling thoughtful. For hours, no one could bring her down from the planet she floated to.

Desmond had witnessed her wake herself up from a dream and become inquisitive for hours on end. At times she shared what they were about but he was even more curious when she felt she shouldn’t share anything at all.

However, that morning, Leonor woke up feeling embarrassed.

In her dream, Desmond went underneath the blankets and did something he had never done before. It felt like a scene out of a lewd novel.

She didn’t know how to handle experiencing such a thing even if it was only a dream.

The most alarming thing she remembered was how good it felt. That was what stuck out to her the most. Her eyes would drift shut and she could feel it even more.

However, she started thinking harder and began to recall the conversation with the marchioness. The trip back to the room was a bit hazy but she started gathering pieces of what happened.

Leonor sat up straight, the comfortable wine colored blankets falling off of her body clad in a disheveled nightgown.

She continued thinking.

When she pounced on Desmond was when she started to get extremely hazy. It was never something she would have done if she was sober and she knew that too well.

His words of her being too precious to take something so important from her struck her and she had to place a hand over her heart. She had been in the wrong to try to force her husband to take her when she was so inebriated.

The bits and pieces she could remember clearly, she saw the strain on his face as he resisted the lust inside of him. He wanted her so badly but he had good morals.

Desmond had been slowly waking up but when he felt the blankets shift and Leonor sit up suddenly, he rolled over and placed a hand on her lower back even though she wouldn’t look at him.

"What is it?" he asked. "Are you going to get sick?"

Perhaps she was sick from drinking so much. It would be understandable considering the marchioness was insistent on drinking the evening away with his wife.

He couldn’t blame her if she couldn’t say no to the pressure and continued drinking to try to be a good guest. It was an instance he wished Leonor stuck up for herself just a little bit more.

Leonor’s hands were over her mouth as she tried to accept what she had done. Even if she was drunk there was no excuse to try to push Desmond’s buttons. If he was any less of a man he would have taken her and something so important to her would have been lost in the haziness of alcohol.

She finally turned to her husband, but she wasn’t met with anger. His eye communicated concern. His slight frown did the same.

"I’m so sorry," Leonor gasped. "The way I behaved last night was so unbecoming. I wouldn’t blame you if it pushed the progress we’ve made with one another much further back."

Leonor lay back down heavily and it caused the room to slightly spin. It was lucky most of the alcohol consumed was over a long period rather than all at once or she would have been in much worse shape.

"Even if that’s not what I want," Leonor uttered.

She placed her hands over her eyes, pressing the heels of them inward to try and rid herself of the slight headache and all the shame threatening to spill forth.

Their bodies drifted apart while they slept but Desmond closed to space between them again and he slid one arm underneath her while the other went around her waist.

"That isn’t what I want either," he admitted. "It made me want you more but it made me realize you’re being influenced by another’s words, so I’m not entirely sure if we should take the next step knowing you’ve been pressured. I would be disgusted with myself if you ever had regrets."

Leonor slowly removed her hands from her face so she could look at her husband and gauge his expression.

"Just what did the marchioness tell you last night?" he asked.

The duchess grimaced thinking of the way Letizia revealed all of her secrets after a few glasses.

"She cried, Desmond," Leonor said. "She said the house at the edge of the property is the marquess’ mistress and the one who provided him with children since the marchioness can’t."

Desmond’s eye widened.

"I would never–"

She knew her behavior would have claimed she believed otherwise but she had to stop Desmond there before he could think her opinion of him was so low.

"I know you wouldn’t," Leonor assured him. "My actions were..." Leonor became nervous. She could no longer look at him as she spoke. "Marchioness Letizia told me the only way to ensure a man will never stray from you is to give him your body whenever he asks and to..." she began to mumble as her hands went over her face in shame. "Go down on him as much as he wants."

To Leonor’s shock, Desmond erupted with laughter and he put a hand on his forehead.

"Are all noblemen like this?" he asked in disbelief between fits of laughter. "I wasn’t born into this ridiculousness. They can’t all be like this can they?"

He was speaking loudly and Leonor got nervous. She rolled over and put a hand over Desmond’s mouth.

"They’re all like this," she admitted. "Every single one of them. I remember the parties my parents would host and many nobles left with a different partner. They traded wives like a child traded snacks or toys. It’s absolutely horrifying."

He kissed her hand so she removed it.

"You found a man too selfish and far too possessive to let another even look at you inappropriately," he said. "You’re mine for as long as I live."

Leonor lay on top of Desmond and wrapped her arms and legs around him as much as she could.

"That’s what I wanted," she admitted. "I couldn’t handle a life like that."

They simply held one another for a few moments longer as the situation they found themselves in sunk in.

Realizing it was so late, Desmond decided to put on a robe and find the marquess. They were meant to leave that day but he decided to ask the marquess if they could bother them for one more night.

To his amusement, he found Herbert in the same state as him.

"My lord, I believe I may have to extend my stay for one more day if that’s okay with you," Desmond said.

"Her grace?" Herbert asked.

"Too much to drink," Desmond explained, gently getting back at Leonor for the trouble she gave him the night before.

"Letizia as well," the marquess admitted with a laugh.

"I ought to get breakfast sent to her grace," Desmond said. "Perhaps you ought to do the same."

There was a glint of something in the duke’s eyes, but Marquess Herbert couldn’t quite tell what it was.

It was nice to have a lazy day before they would travel for another day to a new region.