My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 25: Vindicated

Chapter 25: Vindicated

Leonor couldn’t feel anything else except for the point at which their lips touched. She was petrified to enjoy something to that degree.

At once, it felt like he was finally giving her the answer she had been so desperately seeking. Perhaps the feelings weren’t one-sided after all. The effort he put into seeing her and making sure she was happy suddenly clicked. It all made sense.

She began to wonder how she had gotten so lucky. God above never granted her something so wonderful.

"Good heavens!" a voice sharply whispered, interrupting the moment shared between Valerio and Leonor. "What have I just walked into!?"

Right away, the pair knew that it was the Prince interrupting them. Valerio’s face lit up with a blush across his cheeks while Leonor hid her face in mortification. It wasn’t all that difficult considering Valerio’s chest was so close to her.

However, it didn’t help her racing heart. Since he had been working hard that evening, his masculine scent permeated her nose and she felt it was a shame to be interrupted.

"Guards are coming," the Prince said. "Best get inside, my lady."

"Goodnight, Your Highness," Leonor muttered, still completely mortified at having been caught kissing someone. She could only imagine the judgment being cast her way. Valerio wasn’t her betrothed nor was he hers to claim in the first place.

After years of being taught to remain pure and untouched, all it took were a few words for their lips to meet. Then she pushed for a bit more.

The Prince was quick to leave but Valerio remained for a short while more.

Leonor handed him his cloak and he made sure she climbed up the vine safely. Once on the balcony, she turned to look down at him. There was something more in her expression than normal. He was unbelievably relieved that she didn’t seem regretful after kissing him.

"What you said before," Leonor said. "I know what you mean." She squeezed the stone balcony as she looked down at him, wishing he would take her away. Her thoughts were consumed entirely by him as well. "Goodnight, Valerio. Please don’t get caught."

"I won’t, Leonor," he said. "Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see you again. Sleep well."

Despite wanting to linger much longer, Leonor knew she was risking a lot. She had to go inside and get into her nightgown or she would certainly be caught. Even though her heart felt greedy, she knew there were limits. She still had to have self-control even if it wasn’t what she wanted.

All at once, everything felt beautiful.

In the darkness of her room, she hummed as she slid open drawers and picked out a comfortable light pink nightgown. Getting her boot off her swollen leg made her sweat but she giggled at the thought of the man who was the reason she walked all that way.

Every thought was his. Before she could take it back, her heart was his as well. She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

Leonor hardly slept a wink as her mind was consumed entirely by Valerio. If she fell asleep for a moment, even her dreams were full of him and she would wake up, wishing she could love him freely and feel safe.

She lay in bed for an hour, watching the sunrise. The golden rays filtering into her room looked just like his hair. Francia soon arrived to get Leonor bathed and dressed for the day. It was Sunday so she had to go with her father and sister to church for the first time since she was injured.

Her leg was aching from the night before but she wouldn’t allow herself to walk any differently than normal. Her father would be furious if he found out she was limping because she had done something she wasn’t supposed to.

The ride to the church only took a half hour, but each time there was a lull in the conversation, Leonor found herself staring out the window and taking in the town. She couldn’t stop thinking about the night before and a smile would pull on her lips.

Spring had awakened the town and the people seemed as elated as the plants to get out and see the sun. It was a beautiful day with a light breeze that cut down the sun’s warmth. The shade was cold, but walking around was the perfect temperature.

She thought of Valerio in lighter clothing and how much of him would be visible the way he was sword-fighting. She bit the inside of her lip, trying to get a handle on her thoughts.

"What are you smiling for?" Anna Maria asked from where she sat in the carriage next to her father.

Anna Maria had been observing Leonor the entire carriage ride. Her older sister behaved strangely and seemed to smile whenever she was lost in thought. It was suspicious that her older sister would have anything to smile about after being hidden away for a month while she recuperated.

Anna made up excuses for her sister’s absence at tea parties and other outings. Seeing her so happy about something irritated her a lot.

Leonor felt two sets of brown eyes land on her blushing face but she was feeling determined.

"Can I not enjoy a beautiful day, sister?" Leonor asked. "Are you ridiculing even that?"

The Count put a stop to it quickly.

"Don’t use that sort of tone with your younger sister," he snapped, correcting Leonor’s behavior. "You’re supposed to set a good example for her."

"Yes, my lord," Leonor muttered and bowed her head.

Her sapphire eyes fell to hands that had learned what the hands of a working man had felt like. She could still remember his callouses brushing against her palms.

However, she no longer had a reason to smile. Her father had taken that away from her as usual.

"You ought to visit a confessional booth after mass," the Count said, eyeing his daughter. "Get whatever ridiculous scenarios you have created out of your head. You’re too much like your mother. She never shut up about things that would never happen."

Leonor could never bring herself to get over her father’s disrespect for her mother’s memory. She felt a lump form in her throat but had figured out ways not to let it show.

That was one thing the Count always hated about her mother. She was a daydreamer who loved to focus on fantasy and scenarios rather than what was in front of her. She was a free-spirited mage meant to be loved thoroughly but she was stuck with a wet blanket of a Count as a husband. It was no wonder she daydreamed like she would rather be anywhere else.

Leonor sat through an uncomfortable mass with her family. Each time she had to stand or kneel made her leg ache but it was her reminder that there was someone out there who cared about her pain. Someone wanted to hug her if she felt bad and celebrate with her when she felt happy.

Why was life so complicated that she wasn’t allowed to have him?

Just as her father ordered her to, Leonor visited Father Herbert after mass. As she said a quiet prayer, the father appeared before her across a thin wooden screen.

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned," Leonor said. "It has been two months since my last confession."

"Go on, my child."

"I’m finding it so much harder to follow my Lord’s instruction, Father," Leonor confessed in a hushed tone. "There is resistance in my heart whenever he opens his mouth. I am supposed to honor my father but I find myself in disagreement. What he says is oftentimes wrong. Do I honor my heavenly or earthly father?"

She bit her lip, knowing she had said too much.

However, the priest came back with a surprising response.

"As long as you, a child of God, continue to follow the path of your heavenly Father, you will not be led astray," he stated as if it were simple. "Continue on a charitable path, pray every evening, and choose to do good. God will not turn away from one of his children."

"Amen," Leonor responded.

The priest responded in much of the same way and stepped out of the booth.

She felt vindicated by the priest’s words even though she didn’t tell him the full truth. Her heart was speaking for her.

That evening, rain began and she wondered if Valerio would see the Prince in such weather.

However, at the knock on her door, she knew who it was.

Without further thought, she pulled the blonde man into her room and kissed him the second the door latched behind him.