My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 75: Not Alone

Chapter 75: Not Alone

Dark shadows cast across the duchess’s large room as a single candle remained burning.

Before she went on a walk with Duke Desmond, she thought she was exhausted. When she returned to her room, she expected to find sleep easily. Unfortunately, her thoughts seemed to compound the more she was by herself.

At the forefront of her brain was guilt from two different sources.

The first was Desmond and how unfairly she had judged him because of the words of others including her father. Count Mikael truly believed he was sending her to hell by giving in to the duke’s request and allowing them to marry. She believed she wouldn’t make it more than a few days before he would show his true colors.

Where was the cold man who was unable to keep a lid on the natural volatility inside of him? He was quiet and misunderstood. There was something so unbelievably gentle about the man.

The second source of her guilt was Valerio. It would always be Valerio.

She was married off against her will at first, but she believed the duke’s home was a safe place for her. Since she wasn’t uncomfortable or held against her will, she felt she was betraying Valerio by not fighting against someone who wasn’t him.

After Leonor healed the blossom that night, she couldn’t bring herself to look inside the locket.

Her heart wasn’t changing towards Valerio, but she couldn’t bring herself to look directly at her reminder of him. He would be so hurt if he knew what she was doing at that moment.

The comfortable bed she lay in and the security in her life was because of a man who wasn’t the one she fell in love with. She couldn’t even imagine the horrors Valerio would be experiencing if he was still out there.

She wanted so badly to try and seek him out. If the duke ever found out, there was no doubt he would be betrayed. After he showed her so much kindness, he didn’t deserve a wife so occupied with someone else.

Her eyes started to water but with her mouth squeezed tightly shut and her eyebrows knit together, she managed not to cry.

Leonor fell asleep that way. She convinced herself that she wasn’t allowed to cry because it was she who had fallen more comfortably into the life handed to her while Valerio was somewhere suffering.

Despite the thoughts accompanying her to sleep, Leonor woke up feeling quite refreshed. Even though she slept fewer hours than she normally would, realizing her husband wasn’t the monster everyone claimed took a weight off her shoulders.

Not only did he say she could do whatever she wanted, he would allow her to get to know him more even if it was only piece by piece. Eventually, she would have a better understanding of the man she had no choice but to marry.

Leonor went through her day as usual. She walked, read, and ate, but she no longer felt as alone. Being around someone else had recharged her enough to keep going.

When she made it to dinner, Leonor was shocked that, when she finished her meal, as she pushed herself away from the table, a rough voice reached her ears from the dimly lit hallway at the western entrance of the room.

"Would you like to go on another walk, my lady?" Desmond asked.

He caught her off guard and she turned with a timid smile on her face.

"I would," she responded. "Shall we go somewhere else this time?"

Another routine was established before she could even realize it.

While Desmond wouldn’t join her for meals, he warmed up to her in the form of walks at the end of each day. Only then was he comfortable enough because the shadow of night would hide his face from her.

From the moment she approached him, he couldn’t keep himself from her. It almost felt like he no longer had a choice even though, after each walk, he was in shambles at how his life would never look just the way he wanted it.

They only shared a few sentences each time, Leonor was forming her own opinion of the man.

He was honorable and strong. Pain was a constant in his life but he didn’t often complain about it. The only time it was ever mentioned was if she asked about it first and he addressed it like it was something that didn’t bother him.

It almost made her feel bad she wasn’t an enchanter or a healer.

On one such walk, they finally made it to the courtyard at the heart of the large estate.

Leonor didn’t know it but Desmond had been avoiding that place because he didn’t want her to know that he had watched her before she asked if they could get to know one another.

Since she wanted to know him, he stopped actively watching her.

He couldn’t bring himself to breach her privacy in such a way. She was so carefree and happy during those moments that Desmond felt they would become sour if she knew the reason he asked Gideon to put her in the garden in the first place.

The route they took was less direct than the way Leonor normally walked through that garden. They went around the perimeter which meant the walk was longer. First they went along her wing of the estate and at the middle of the walk, they were in the lowest part of the garden that started to become the trees that led up to the back wall of the entire estate and the mountains it was built against.

As usual, they would stop somewhere in the middle of the walk and simply observe their surroundings for a while.

Even though it was a place extremely familiar to Leonor by that point, the view at night as the crescent moon finally showed itself was nice to observe at night.

Leonor stepped forward but her sapphire eyes were on the mountain and stars. She didn’t realize how close she was getting to the edge of the pond but the duke stepped forward and held out a gloved hand so she wouldn’t fall in in case she misstepped.

She looked down at his protective hand when she realized she was lost in thought while looking up at the mountain.

"Oh, I apologize," she muttered. "I wasn’t paying attention."

"Just..." he began. "Don’t fall in."

Realizing they were close to one another, Desmond was the first to step away and he walked towards one of the stone benches that sat across from the edge of the pond and sat down.

It was a nice place to sit and contemplate for a while. He put those benches in mostly for himself.

Leonor’s hands were folded together behind her back and she turned towards the duke once more even though he was much further away that time.

"Could I introduce you to someone, your grace?" she asked timidly.