“I have put up with it so far, but I no longer want to continue in a meaningless marriage. So please help me. I ask you to do so
The sight of the Duchess's eyes, shining with tears, clouded Victor's eyes. Maybe he was right.
Perhaps the Duchess's heart had not completely left Ethan. Perhaps this is the reason why she chose the dress that Ethan chose for her after a long wait for their rare outing together. Maybe she was giving her husband one last chance.
“Bon voyage,” said the house staff in unison, bowing their heads.
Victor found himself following Ethan.
“Sir,” Victor called urgently.
Ethan turned around indifferently, “What’s the matter?”
“I need to talk to you urgently. Can you spare a minute?”
Noticing the seriousness in Victor's expression, Ethan looked at Camille.
“Wait for me in the car.”
“Okay”
After Camille walked away, Ethan asked, “What’s going on?”
“Did you notice the dress the Duchess is wearing today?”
“How about that?”
As expected, Ethan seemed to have completely forgotten that he had once chosen this dress.
“It's the dress you picked out for her yourself, right after your wedding, when you went to the store together.”
“……”
Ethan's brow furrowed in confusion.
Honestly, he couldn't remember it at all.
“Did I do that?”
"I did. She wore it a lot for a while after that."
“So what?”
“The fact that the Duchess is wearing this dress after all these years is a no-brainer to see if you recognize it or not.”
"To test me? Why?"
“The Duchess was always disappointed that you rarely showed her any attention. She even mentioned that she wanted a divorce because of it. She told me this with tears in her eyes, saying that she could not live with a husband who no longer loved her.”
“……”
Ethan frowned deeply, then suddenly looked at Victor.
"Wait. Camille told you that? When? Why?"
“That's not important now. What matters is that she will undoubtedly give you one last chance tonight.”
"Chance? What do you mean by that...?"
"Listen to me. Don't underestimate this outing. Tell her that the dress I chose for her is a dress she knows, and compliment it on its fit. This will definitely make her reconsider."
“……”
Ethan remained silent, his expression uneasy.
Victor approached with uncharacteristic sternness.
“Do you really want to let the Duchess go?”
“What? No, that’s not it, but...”
“Then, please, pull yourself together and be nice to her just for one day. I beg of you,” Victor said, bowing deeply.
Ethan looked at Victor with a puzzled expression.
***
As the cart drove, Ethan remained silent.
He looked at me every now and then for some reason, but he didn't start any conversation. This silence did not bother me; I expected it from the beginning, and I was busy remembering the names I had memorized over the past week.
Suddenly, Ethan broke the silence, “This dress.”
“Yes?”
“The dress you are wearing today”
"Oh, this? What about him?"
“It's… well...” Ethan hesitated after starting his sentence.
I tilted my head curiously, “Okay?”
"...You took good care of it. It's a very old dress, but it shows no signs of wear," Ethan muttered, making me furrow my eyebrows.
"What?"
“……”
Ethan fell silent again, and didn't say another word.
I recalled his words in my mind.
“Do you know what this dress is?”
"Sure. Did you think I wouldn't?" Ethan's voice had a strange tone of annoyance.
So, there is a story behind this dress.
I suspected there was something strange about it compared to the other dresses. Honestly, I was surprised that Ethan recognized him. A man who does not show interest in his wife remembers one dress out of thousands? It was hard to believe.
This is not a wedding dress, so what is?
While I was thinking, something came to mind when he mentioned the “old dress.” Could this be the late Duchess's dress?
Ethan lost his parents when he was young. By the time he married Camille, he was already single. If this was the former Duchess's dress, it would make sense that Ethan would remember it. Although he lost his parents early, he seemed to have deep feelings for them.
In the original story, there were moments when Ethan saw Elodie and remembered his parents.
Is he upset that I wore it without permission? Given his worried looks and uncomfortable demeanor, it seemed like a reasonable hypothesis.
But if it wasn't Camille's dress, it wouldn't be in the wardrobe, right? Unless the late Duchess left it as a last will and testament to her future daughter-in-law.
Maybe it wasn't to Camille's taste, so she never wore it and left it in the wardrobe. But seeing me wearing it suddenly would have worried Ethan, and understandably so.
What should I do? I think I'm right.
I looked at Ethan again.
His troubled expression seemed to confirm my suspicions.
“Um, does it bother you that I'm wearing this dress?” I decided to ask him frankly.
Ethan's frown deepened, "Why do you think that? I never said it bothered me."
“But your expression says it all. You look very upset.”
“When did you do that-” Ethan, who had been speaking in annoyance, suddenly fell silent.
Why does he act this way? She asked as he frowned and remained silent for a long time.
"It's a misunderstanding. It never occurred to me. Quite the opposite," Ethan finally spoke up.
“What do you mean by the opposite?”
Ethan muttered something under his breath, but it was too quiet for me to hear him clearly.
"What? What did you say?"
“I said it looked good on you,” Ethan repeated reluctantly.
My eyes widened and I stared at him.
“You mean... it's okay for me to wear this dress?”
“It's your dress first and foremost. You don't need my permission to wear it. You can wear it whenever you want.”
“My dress?”
Ah, since the late Duchess left it to me, it's mine now, I thought.
It seemed logical, but there was still a possibility that I had made a completely wrong assumption.
“Should I confirm that again?”
"But this dress is special. It's not something I bought myself," I said, trying to elicit Ethan's reaction.
His eyes seemed to twinkle slightly upon hearing the word 'special', or maybe this was just my imagination.
"What's the difference? In the end, you're the one wearing it," Ethan said in a calmer voice.
'So, I was right,' I thought. If this dress had been just one of many Camille had bought, Ethan would most likely have responded with confusion.
“Did you keep him hidden all this time because you thought I didn't like him?”
“Well, hmmm...” I paused, unsure of what to say.
Maybe Camille didn't wear the dress because it didn't suit her taste, but I couldn't say that under the circumstances.
“Not exactly. As I mentioned, it is a very expensive and special dress, so I thought I would only wear it on important occasions,” I explained.
“And today is such an occasion?” Ethan asked.
"Well, yeah. It's the first time we've been out together in a while," I replied. According to Ethan, our attendance at the event was to show people that the relationship between the Duke and Duchess of Dumont is still strong, and to refute the rumors about Camille and Liam.
Accordingly, it was a really important day.
Why is he asking this when he said it was important? I asked, tilting my head and looking at Ethan.