Chapter 85
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85
Vanessa calmly set down her water glass after a single sip. The man sitting across from her, “River Ross,” felt like a complete stranger.
It wasn’t just that everything he wore was of the finest quality—far beyond what a mere navy sergeant’s salary could afford. It was his very aura, an imposing presence that seemed to dominate the air around them. It was the way his blue eyes quietly observed her, his tall frame clad in a perfectly tailored suit, his expression colder and more subdued than she had ever seen it. It was the tense, watchful gazes of the staff hovering nearby.
How could she have ever mistaken a man like him for an ordinary sailor? No matter how shabby his shirt had been, no matter how covered in dust he was, or how he had slouched on the old sofa in the warehouse, scribbling away with a piece of charcoal…
“……”
Just thinking of those days made her chest tighten. The last shred of hope she had clung to dissolved, sinking into a heavy, bitter pool in her stomach. There were no more excuses left, no more room for denial. This was the moment she had to accept reality.
This man was entirely different from the “River Ross” of the summer rose garden. And now that she knew the truth, she could never return to those days. Theodore Liam Battenberg. That was the stranger’s name. He was a Duke, a man with whom the daughter of a declining earldom had no reason, and no right, to ever be involved.
Vanessa quickly masked her thoughts before they could betray her. She forced her lips into a smooth, practiced smile.
“Aren’t you going to ask why I came?”
“I’d like to, but…”
“But?”
“Right now, I just want to look at your face for a while.”
He gazed at her, a faint trace of a smile in his eyes. His gaze drifted slowly over the contours of her face—her forehead, the bridge of her nose, her lips, her jawline, and down her neck—as if he were trying to engrave her features into his memory.
It was almost as if he already knew what she was about to say.
A chill ran through her. She hated the thought. She hated the idea that he might have regrets, too—that he might feel even a sliver of remorse for deceiving her all this time. Vanessa bit her lip, hard. In the end, it had been his choice to remain silent until things reached this point.
“It’s not that I don’t have an idea of what brought you all this way, but…” Staring with heavy eyes at the tiny bead of blood forming on her lip, he let out a soft sigh. “You look tired, Vanessa. You should go up and rest. Whatever you have to say can wait until tomorrow.”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t be stubborn.”
“I came today to ask what you think about the future, River Ross. What kind of future you envision for us.”
“The future.”
A faint smile played on his lips. Its meaning was impossible to read—was it resignation, anticipation, or irritation? Dressed in clothes that perfectly suited this gray city of Linden, he felt utterly alien to her.
Anxiety flared within Vanessa again, and she unconsciously clenched her fists in the fabric of her skirt.
“To be precise, I came to inform you that our contract is nearing its end. I’m here to make the terms of our parting clear.”
“How incredibly considerate of you.”
“As you said, we ‘had our fun.’ And now, I want to have a child.”
“…A child?”
“You said you needed a pension. What if… just hypothetically, there was a child between us?”
She forced herself not to tremble as she met his blue eyes. The Duke slowly leaned back in his chair, tracing his lower lip with a fingertip. He remained silent, his gaze turning icy cold.
A heavy, suffocating silence stretched between them. Then, a voice that was almost unnaturally soft broke the tension.
“I’m trying to understand, Vanessa, why you would say such a thing.”
“……”
“First of all, it’s a pointless hypothetical. You’ve been taking Trinil regularly, after all.”
“……”
“I suppose that’s why you came all this way to talk about ending our contract. Because you found the medicine.”
He spoke calmly, as if this were an inevitability he had always expected. As if he had prepared himself for this moment from the second he handed her the key to the warehouse. Perhaps, to him, it had never been much of a secret.
Or perhaps he simply hadn’t considered it a grand deception. She bit her pale, bloodless lip.
“And if, by some miracle, you did have a child, we would have to rush into a marriage. An unnecessary scandal would inevitably follow.”
“……”
“After that, you would spend the rest of your life plagued by rumors questioning the child’s paternity, since the birth wouldn’t align with our wedding date. And… we would both forfeit the political advantages we could have gained from our respective marriages.”
“People actually believe that loyalty to one’s country can be proven by a mere marriage, you see,” he murmured, a brief flicker of exhaustion crossing his face. “And after all that annoyance, we would slowly end up suffocating each other. That is what marriage is, after all.”
He sighed, looking weary at the mere thought of it, and curled one corner of his mouth into a smirk.
“I believed our views on marriage aligned quite well, Vanessa Siren Somerset. We both agreed it is a meaningless institution.”
“……”
“And I am perfectly satisfied with our relationship as it is now.”
With a soft exhale, the Duke’s eyes softened slightly—just enough to briefly evoke the man from the summer garden.
“I feel at ease when I’m with you. It feels like I can finally breathe. I wondered if I could ever feel that way in Linden, and surprisingly, I do.”
“……”
“Let’s go upstairs.”
Vanessa stared at him, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“I didn’t come here for that. Besides, we…”
“I know, Vanessa. You probably intended to faithfully follow some old-fashioned custom about showing courtesy when ending a relationship.”
“……”
“But you still have more to say, and a hotel lobby is a place where reporters can easily slip in and out. If you want to invite more scandal, I won’t stop you, but…”
She glanced around anxiously. He stood, walked around the long table, and stopped right beside her.
“We made a contract, and I have been faithful to it. According to our deal, we are still lovers.”
“…But you also agreed to end the relationship once summer was over. We agreed not to interfere in each other’s lives.”
“But it is still summer, Vanessa.”
His words were pure sophistry. Vanessa clenched her teeth, staring at the hand he offered her, then up at his polite, elegant face.
The unfamiliar hotel, the faces of strangers, the prying eyes… The sheer foreignness of her surroundings pressed in on her.
“Hurry.”
Resigned, she took his hand and stood. Her legs buckled slightly, but before she could stumble, his arm slid naturally around her waist to support her.
As they rode the elevator, he never once let go of her hand, as if he feared she would bolt the moment he released her. There was an almost desperate quality to his grip.
It must be my imagination.
The moment the doors slid open, a spacious drawing room was revealed. A tense silence hung in the air as the doors closed behind them.
With practiced elegance, he guided Vanessa inside. The warm glow of the setting sun streamed through the large windows, bathing an antique table and sofa in golden light. Slowly, Vanessa slipped her hand from his firm grasp.
“As I said, I need a child. And I understand perfectly well that you are entirely opposed to the idea.”
She drew a shallow, trembling breath. There was already a child growing inside her. A child whose own father viewed the mere hypothetical of its existence as nothing more than a burden.
There was only one choice left. Unless she intended to flee Ingram entirely, she had to end her relationship with the Duke as quickly and cleanly as possible. At the very least, she had to do it before he realized the child existed.
Vanessa lifted her chin, her gaze steady and clear.
“I only have one thing to say. I want to end our arrangement earlier than planned. I need to have a child as soon as possible.”
“You want to have a child?”
“Yes. And it doesn’t have to be with you.”
“…You want to have a child with another man?” For a fraction of a second, his voice was incredibly cold. “After leaving me?”
A trace of amusement colored his next words. It sounded like a challenge—as if asking whether she truly believed she could survive in Ingram after doing such a thing. Vanessa bit her lip.
“Our arrangement ends next month, River Ro—”
“Theodore.”
His gentle correction made her breath catch in her throat.