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Friend (2)
“Tristan?”
Tristan’s complexion was noticeably paler. Looking into the sky, he came to his senses and shifted his gaze to Lily.
He struggled to suppress the jealousy deep in his stomach.
Lily having sex with her husband. It was an event that would have happened anyway.
Leaving one more mark on the woman who had remarried twice didn’t change much.
But it was the first time her relationship with her husband had left her with a relaxed smile instead of tears and bruises.
Her morning should have started with tears. That was the opening he was looking for.
“It doesn’t matter. It means you haven’t seen his face, right?” His voice cracked at the end of his sentence.
Lily looked at him nervously. “I want to stop talking about this… Tristan. I’m here to ask you another thing.”
Tristan realized something else.
She couldn’t see his face, but he did.
Did you do it in the dark?
If not…
“Did you do it blindfolded? Is that what he ordered? You followed it like a fool?”
“Tristan!” Her emotions burst out. “You… you’re really weird. You’ve changed. Why did you become like this?
“It’s you who has changed. Before this marriage, you always told me everything. I also told you everything.”
“Hey, I’ve never had a conversation like this with you. I’ve never asked you… anything like that.” Lily moved further away from him. “Why did you go to the maid’s quarters at that time? You know you shouldn’t do that. You should be glad I figured it out first, or else…”
“I haven’t changed. It’s just all for you, Lily.” Tristan sighed. He was at a loss for words for a moment, rubbing his face. “Lily, you’re so naive… I have no idea how you’re being treated by your husband. It hurts so much that I… couldn’t sleep all night. I was worried…”
His voice was trembling in a mess.
Lily’s green eyes fluttered in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Tristan. I’m doing just as my father wants me to. Now you don’t have to worry…”
“Poor Lily. I knew that. Even when you’re served by those filthy things, you don’t say anything. You don’t know much about the world…” Tristan, who had been biting his lips as if hesitating to speak, opened his mouth with difficulty. “Your husband collected you. The maids’ quarters confirmed it.”
Collected…?
Lily couldn’t understand what he meant.
She frowned slightly and shook her head.
Tristan ruffled the back of his hair. “Those abominations roaming around in that castle! They’re the ones the whole world has abandoned. For a man who has collected ominous things to keep in the estate, don’t you know you’re just an appealing trinket too? You…”
“…!”
Lily’s breath caught painfully. It was crystal clear what Tristan meant.
She was a commoner with a curse that made her noble husbands die.
As Lily froze like a stone, Tristan approached her step by step.
Lily sighed and took a few steps back, hiding her arms behind her back.
It was a defensive posture that she adopted for fear of being caught by her arm.
At that action, something even hotter in Tristan’s stomach soared. “Lily. If he had thought of you as a proper wife, those things wouldn’t have served you. He just collected you like an interesting ornament.”
The empty side of the bed came to her mind.
Yeah. On the surface, she did seem like a plaything.
Her stomach churned. Her whole body lost strength, and her shoulders swayed slightly as she bowed her head down.
After a precarious silence, she murmured slowly, “I… I know.”
“What?”
“But what’s wrong with that?”
Lily’s voice was not weak, nor was it wounded.
The person who would easily resign herself was gone.
Tristan’s face distorted in bewilderment.
“T-thank you for your concern. But Tristan…” Heat gathered around Lily’s neck and eyes. Lily clenched her teeth to contain the burning sensation. “I didn’t know you thought so.”
Tristan flinched.
“About my maids. Just because you don’t see them as people, you say what you want. They treat me nicely so I’m doing the same. Since when on earth…?”
Her breathing was shaky.
Tristan had a hunch that he needed to do something right away. “Calm down, Lily. I’m not the one to blame. Do you know that the blood of a terrible monster flows through him? He’s been possessing you by controlling your brain with magic.”
He had thought Lily would start listening to him again, and was startled by the look on her face.
Lily was glaring at him. “Don’t be rude, Tristan.” Her vivid, green eyes were contemptuous. “It doesn’t matter who he is. At least he’s a much better person than you are now.”
The real abominations were the people who whispered and pointed fingers without knowing the whole story.
Lily knew those types well, and she was well and truly sick of them.