My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 317: No Room For Secrets

Chapter 317: No Room For Secrets

For a while, all Desmond and Leonor could do was sit in the middle of the hallway as they embraced one another.

Leonor’s face was buried in her husband’s neck and she vented all of her worries out through the tears that fell viciously, soaking his collar but not caring one bit. Her hands were balled into fists as she clung to his outer coat, hoping that it wasn’t a dream and if she held on tightly enough it would be true.

Desmond lifted a lock of his wife’s hair and pressed it against his face while his other arm held her tightly with the same desperate fervor she was giving him. Her scent was the same as always. It made him feel every emotion imaginable at once.

His precious wife was in one piece despite all of the destruction in Coeurvalle and the surrounding area. His worries were dashed the moment he saw her running down the hallway. How exactly the dragon had met its demise didn’t matter to him at that moment. His world was only her and that’s exactly how he wanted it.

It took a while for Leonor to calm down but eventually she did and pulled away enough to show him her watery eyes, swollen from crying.

He pulled his gloves off and tossed them to the ground. He carefully wiped away her tears.

"You must have been through a lot while I was away," he said. "Are you alright?"

Even if there were no visible wounds, the stress of experiencing what was as vicious and intense as the frontlines of battle for someone who had never experienced that sort of situation before must have been difficult. She must have been so afraid.

"So much has happened, Desmond. I don’t even know where to begin," she admitted.

However, she pulled herself away from him, putting distance between the two of them and creating coldness where there was once warmth.

"You must be so exhausted," she said. "Where were you hiding that even Eve couldn’t find you?"

"The Commander of the Knights of Eirenguard didn’t trust anyone who had been in Castille for a significant amount of time," Desmond admitted. "He chained me to a post in a tent for weeks. I was only let go when a dragon appeared overhead. I will need to attend to Stephano early in the morning but I needed to see you first."

Leonor looked horrified at his admittance but she didn’t want to overreact. He was there. That’s all that mattered.

She grasped her husband’s hand and stood up, pulling him up with her.

"Then let’s lay in bed," she insisted. "See if you can get a bit of sleep."

Desmond relented, allowing her to lead him wherever she wanted to take him.

"I want to talk to you," he gently argued. "If you’re not tired let’s keep talking to one another."

Leonor felt a bit of dread squeeze her heart. She knew that if they talked for any significant amount of time she was going to have to confess the news that he needed to know above anyone else. She subtly brushed her hand over her stomach as if smoothing out her nightdress, but paranoid that the fetus only a mere few weeks old could be seen from the outside when it certainly could not.

"Then that’s what we will do," she said lightly as she brought him to the room.

When they were near the bed, Leonor gently pushed him to the edge of it and began helping him out of his traveling clothing. It was certain he hadn’t had a bath in a long time but it didn’t bother her at all. He was rid of his cloak, outer coat, scarf, shirt, undershirt, boots, socks, and pants. Only then was she satisfied enough to climb into bed and wait for him to settle in with her.

She noticed his hair had grown out a few inches on half of his head. Despite having shaved it off insistently when he was acting as the duke, seeing the beautiful blonde color reminded her of Valerio and she smiled faintly. The family Valerio wanted but Desmond did not was going to come to fruition. She hoped that Desmond was more Valerio than he realized.

When Desmond was leaning against pillows he had stacked up to support his weight, Leonor cuddled up to him. She took a spot against his chest and shoulder. She fit against him as if she was made to be in that spot. Her gaze went to his face and she reached up to touch his cheek. He was a bit wind burnt and red. She willed it to calm down.

"Before the dragon arrived, we were having a confirmation ceremony," Leonor began. "Count Braulio is indeed my father."

"I need to meet this man more formally," he admitted. "I’ve only seen him from afar. Since he is a piece of you, I hope that we can get on better terms."

"I hope so as well," Leonor said. "He is a very kind man. I can see what my mother was drawn to, although it breaks my heart to see how gentle and tender he is to his new wife. When he was with my mother he was merely a baron but because of Countess Micheline’s status, he was boosted as well."

The name Baron Braulio de Marro instead of count itched something within Desmond but he wasn’t quite sure why.

"I hope that the confirmation settles your heart," Desmond said. "Where did you go when the dragon was spotted?"

He wanted to hear that she was safe and sound the entire time but he knew with Leonor there was always a caveat that would surprise him.

"When it appeared overhead, Stephano allowed us to go into the tunnels underneath the palace where a safehouse of sorts was built for the Royal Family," she explained. "But when I heard that the Mages’ Quarter was in ruin I had to go check on the students. Stephano showed me to another tunnel and..."

Leonor started to seem somewhat guilty.

"And what else?" Desmond wondered.

"That’s where the dragon seemed to fall from the sky, although I’m not entirely sure why," she continued. "There I raised a shield over the beast and suffocated it to death. I wasn’t quite sure what else to do in that situation."

Desmond immediately sat up straighter, taking his wife with him and staring down at her in shock. His concern was etched more deeply and dramatically by the shadows from the candle lit at their bedside.

"You stopped the dragon?" he asked in disbelief.

"I seem to have only finished the job someone else started," she admitted.

Desmond chuckled lightly, though it seemed to lack humor.

"The job that Cian, Quinn, and I started," he realized. "We caught it in mana and I sliced its stomach but it somehow still escaped."

Leonor looked at him in disbelief, though there was a small smile on her face. Even with an entire kingdom between them, they were still connected.