My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 71: Whatever She Wants

Chapter 71: Whatever She Wants

Words were caught in Leonor’s throat the moment she heard her husband’s gravelly voice. She managed to walk into the room but she couldn’t utter a word at the sight of him.

Perhaps she had prematurely hunted him down. What if he finally showed his true colors to her? Gideon said he was busy after all.

Even though it felt like she had thought long and hard about her decision to go there that evening, she was questioning everything when the duke quickly angled his face downward and gestured for one of the chairs in a sitting area across from the grand oak desk he sat at.

His deep forest green chair looked like a throne and she thought of a similar chair at her previous home. The count gave her the most lectures from that very chair. It was one he sat in when she kneeled before him, begging him not to marry her off to someone who was supposedly so volatile and repulsive to look at.

Leonor swallowed hard and found her voice.

"Did I come at a bad time, your grace?" she asked in a hushed tone. "I can come back another–"

She was already leaving but the duke stopped her before she could go.

"Not at all," he said firmly, trying to keep the sudden nerves out of his voice. "Please sit down."

She didn’t realize his response was because he hadn’t worn bandages in a while. They were starting to make him feel suffocated and he wanted his already damaged skin to breathe before he would subject himself to them again.

He wished he had more foresight to lock his door while alone. Since he had been in the estate, he hadn’t needed to.

He hoped the darkness of evening cast over his office and the candelabra lighting his office was enough to keep his true appearance hidden from her.

Desmond never expected her to go to him without having to call for her. Her expression each time she was in the garden seemed content.

He realized he couldn’t tell her he saw her or that black cat in the garden. It would be too much of an imposition on the freedom she was experiencing while she was there.

"To what do I owe this pleasure L–" he realized his mistake and corrected himself. "My lady."

She noticed the slip of his tongue and tried to keep her expression in check. It brewed more thoughts inside of her, but she wouldn’t address them outwardly.

Leonor went to great lengths to keep her posture straight and her hands neatly folded in her lap so she wouldn’t have to show him that her hands were shaking. She had started to get used to him while they traveled with one another. Yet the week of being away from him brought back her nerves.

Her throat felt dry. She swallowed before summoning the courage to ask a question that had been eating her alive since she realized he wouldn’t see her while she was there.

Thoughts of being beaten while forced to be in the same room as her father alone came rushing back. It was so many years ago but she had never been more frightened. Breaking her leg wasn’t as terrifying as facing a powerful man alone.

"What is the purpose of me being here if you never see me, your grace?" she asked. "I would like to know what I’m supposed to be doing so I don’t fall short of your expectations."

There was a quill he held that nearly snapped in half as he suddenly closed his hand into a fist.

How was he supposed to tell her she had exceeded his expectations already? He wanted her to be comfortable and that was it.

His plan of taking her as his wife lacked much foresight but he acted so quickly because he didn’t know how Leonor was faring having to live under the same roof as her father.

In his thoughts, he was getting ahead of himself. He straightened his already straight posture and hoped he was hidden enough.

"Whatever you want to do," he explained in a quiet voice that barely reached Leonor. "I will support your every endeavor. Gideon manages the estate, but if that’s something you wish to do, I will find someone to teach you."

It stung a little bit that the man who had taken her from her family home to marry her didn’t give any indication that he wanted to see her more than that.

Leonor bit the inside of her lip. She didn’t know if she wanted to get to know him more because she hadn’t been around him enough yet if they could have at least a friendship within the confines of their marriage.

She was feeling incredibly lonely but she couldn’t admit that to him. Would he care?

She didn’t want to beat around the bush for much longer.

"What was the reason you had for marrying me?" she asked more directly.

It seemed the first question was overshadowed by the second so she figured she would ask it again with a better approach.

She couldn’t see his face, especially not from the distance she sat away from him, but she knew he was looking directly at her. It made her feel pinned to the chair. She wondered if she had angered him.

Desmond stared at Leonor intently. He should have expected her to ask such a question considering her curious nature. She was always interested in learning more. Rarely did she leave a stone unturned.

Why should her marriage have been different?

He realized he couldn’t tell her he simply needed a wife. It would make the situation seem as if anyone would have done it for him.

Desmond decided he had to go with a different approach.

"For a year I lived with his majesty," Desmond explained. "I had to see for myself who was the woman he spoke so highly of." He let out a gentle sigh and his next words struck Leonor in her heart. "He hinted that you didn’t belong in a place like that. I’ve seen the way the count treats people. I would have to agree."