My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 213: Transformation

Chapter 213: Transformation

Leonor preferred to have a slow morning before seeing the nobles. That way, body and mind would be primed and proper to face their judgmental gazes.

Since they had been traveling all day, Leonor stopped the travel party an hour before they were set to arrive.

At first, she lied that she had to use the bathroom but Beth quickly came to her lady’s side and found the real reason for her stress. She was worried about how she looked after what was likely their longest day of travel. It was far enough not to need to camp somewhere but too far to expend supplies and not push through to their final destination.

She didn´t prefer to be seen as high maintenance, but it was a risk she would have to take to feel she presented herself accurately to someone so close to Alma, her mentor.

When she was ready enough and had slipped into a dark purple dress that she felt wasn´t so flat and convenient for travel, Leonor climbed back into the carriage with a pleased expression on her face.

¨My apologies, your grace,¨ she said a bit sarcastically, knowing she´d been caught.

Desmond’s eyebrow raised at her and a small smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth.

"Am I supposed to pretend I don’t see the change in my wife’s clothing?" he asked. "Shall I ignore that you no longer have a piece of hair sticking up where you were napping on my lap just before?"

"Yes, you’re supposed to pretend," she said. "I always look this dignified when I’ve traveled an entire day in the back of a carriage. I always wear this much jewelry and such a stiff corset when all I’ve done is sit there all day."

She gave him a pleased smile and he responded with a sarcastic scoff.

However, he noticed the jewels she had put on. They were a new set from Montville.

When he first picked out all of the jewels for her to silently convey that he respected how she was feeling, he wasn’t sure if she would ever wear them. He had never seen her wear anything overly decorated before.

Each time she wore them, his heart squeezed and it felt like she was accepting his affection a little bit more.

"But isn’t your necklace beautiful?" he asked her. A candle had been lit in the lantern on the carriage wall so they could see each other even if it was dim. "The sapphire looks just like your eyes."

Despite the darkness, it did still shine. The gemstones from Montville were second to none.

"I will never get used to wearing something like this," she admitted. "Even for only a couple of hours at a time. I feel like a princess."

Even if her words didn’t mean anything, he thought of past conversations he had fueled by jealousy. Particularly, those surrounding the then Crown Prince now King.

"You narrowly missed that title," he mused. "Much more narrowly than you could have imagined."

Leonor fixed her sleeve as nonchalantly as she could despite the topic making her uncomfortable.

"I know how close I was," she said. "Whether or not it was for my safety, being forced to be a Royal would have been a prison for me and he knows that."

Desmond became quiet but his jaw was tense and when Leonor looked at her husband again, she could see that he hadn’t yet said all he wanted to say.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

He seemed heavily burdened and she was worried.

"I’m surprised Stephano never told you," Desmond began, his voice quiet. "There was a time before you and I reconnected that I was jealous of the relationship the two of you had. He was able to bear witness to your growing up into the woman you are today. Those are years I will never get to have with you."

"All we did was exchange–"

"Letters," Desmond said. "I know. I also know it was ridiculous to approach the King with venom when you were visiting with him and only jealousy could seep through the prison of my own creation. I wasn’t thinking clearly then."

Leonor lifted her skirts and hoped the path remained clear as she shifted herself forward and joined her husband on the bench he sat at. When she was settled next to him she slid her hand underneath his arm and requested his hand.

"I hope that yesterday puts any jealousy you’ve ever had to ease," she admitted. "I have given you more of myself than I have given to anyone else. I will be your problem for the rest of your life now and I hope you’re prepared."

The last few words she spoke were lighthearted and she smiled at Desmond when he finally looked at her and tension in his jaw was released.

"You have an incredibly insecure husband," he reached his free hand towards her cheek and as he held onto her head, he kissed the top of it. "Even if I know you’re mine, I will always think you deserve so much better."

She melted into his touch.

"As long as you trust my feelings for you, we won’t have any issues," she said. "I will defend you in front of anyone who dares doubt you and make you feel bad about the sacrifices you made for all of Castille."

Telling her that he knew that much after he heard her telling off a gossip in the tea house the time he followed her into central Piedmont was on the tip of his tongue, but he wasn’t able to get it out.

Before much more could be said, he could feel that the carriage was slowing down. They likely entered the gate leading up to the count’s manor.

Leonor let out a light sigh, knowing it was time for her people-pleasing nature to come forth.

"It seems we’ve arrived, your grace," Leonor said, addressing him in the same way their sarcastic banter started before.

"Yes, your grace," he responded. "It’s time for me to show yet another family the wife I keep at my side by giving her beautiful sapphires and a spacious place to live."

Leonor’s eyes widened and she dropped the act.

"Desmond–!"

However, the carriage door was open for them. The time for speaking softly was upon her. She would have to punish him later for getting the last word in.