# 39
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'How I wish I had such an encounter just once before I died.'
Ariana longed for face-to-face time with Kenneth once a week because there was so much she couldn't easily say.
It was only at moments like these that she felt completely comfortable and at the same time prepared. So, she practiced talking to herf before the meal.
‘Kenneth, I know that what my family did is unforgivable no matter what I do. I shouldn't have invited you to the opera.'
'But I was always praying for your safety…'
'But now, there's no point.'
However, he doesn't trust her, and always harasses her with his whims.
Instead of babbling like a clown, Ariana focused on the food in front of her.
The food was as elaborate as in a duke's palace, but the sensation of it inside her mouth was strangely dry.
Moreover, with Kenneth's displeased look, chewing and swallowing was more difficult than I expected.
'If I'm bothering him so much, why doesn't he eat on his own?'
Dinner continued in cold, icy silence. But Ariana's eyes lit up when she saw the dessert finally presented in a tall glass bowl the size of her fist.
'Truffle.'
The candy she would eat a little after her brother Quentin finished eating it.
While she was pregnant with Baby, it was the sweet she craved so much despite her pregnancy sickness.
[The baby's taste seems to be similar to mine]
Despite the insane nausea and hunger, she was happy with this discovery and laughed foolishly.
But she was afraid that the Duke, who was always busy, would criticize her if he saw the Duchess aimlessly eating sweets.
So she endured and endured until she was exhausted, and her pregnancy sickness slowly subsided.
It is as if the child gave up after ing for food due to hunger.
'At that time, I was happy because I no longer needed to worry about other people's opinions...'
But when thinking objectively, there was nothing more foolish.
Fearing people's hatred, she neglected the child she should have protected.
'Bibi didn't live long anyway. I had to feed her what she was craving in my belly.'
This time, if she becomes pregnant with a child, she will eat without limits.
Ariana enthusiastically began eating the cream and small fruits with a dessert spoon.
When the sweet-sour fruit juice and sweetened cream touched her tongue, she felt as if the pain of those days was melting with the sweetness.
While she was eating greedily, she heard a voice carrying a sarcastic laugh.
“You really still have childish taste.”
Ariana suddenly raised her head from her position of tightly gripping the bowl.
When she realized that his blue eyes were watching her as she ate greedily, she felt heat rise to her face.
After being repeatedly mocked by Kenneth, she no longer wanted him to criticize her for such a trivial matter. Ariana quickly put down the bowl and spoon.
A look of displeasure appeared in his blue eyes.
“It's not over yet.”
“It's okay. I'm full and I'd better stop.”
Ariana wiped her lips with a napkin as if her appetite had disappeared.
Kenneth looked a little upset as well.
Even if she ate a little more, it wouldn't ruin the appearance of her clothes, but receiving such looks made her feel silly and sad.
“If you've finished eating, it's time to work.”
“Yes. Tell me.”
“Did you hear from Roger that the atmosphere in D.C. is different from the South?”
No, you didn't hear. Roger talked nonchalantly about the opening of the hotel and the necessary social events and then left.
Kenneth's documents were also for business purposes, full of numbers and dry information.
“The South has more religious events than D.C. There are a lot of small charity gatherings.”
“I see...but the capital isn't free of them, is it?”
Although Kenneth's faith was not strong, Ariana regularly visited church.
“The capital's charity gatherings are just a display of the families' fortunes, aren't they? And they're not the only entertainment there.”
“Umm...”
"But in the South, these gatherings are still the most influential. The actions of the noble couples in them are also important."
Simply put, if she couldn't imitate the perfectly harmonious couple at Southern charity gatherings, she had to face the consequences.
Ariana nodded hard.
“I will do my best.”
“It doesn't end with effort.”
Kenneth got up from his seat, and in strides, approached Ariana in the blink of an eye.
He rubbed Ariana's cheek with his thumb in a movement that carried some emotion, as if he were pinching an imperfect child with hateful tenderness.
Fortunately, there were no other guests in the dining room.
When Ariana tried to dodge her face to the other side, he grabbed her face with his other hand to make her face him.
“Sir Duke, just a moment-”
“You have to do it perfectly, of course.”
"Yes!"
“You have no choice.”
“…If you were going to do this, why didn’t you bring your next wife instead of me?”
Ariana regained her composure from her confusion and spoke to him.
She wanted to keep a polite distance after sorting out her feelings, but his continued provocation made her stomach boil with hot, sticky anger.
For the first time, she mustered up the courage to speak harshly to this man.
“You would have left me at the palace and come with someone suitable later. If you had done that, you wouldn’t have needed to bother with my deficiency.”
“I agree with you, Ariana.”
Kenneth laughed softly, as if her sarcasm was nothing more than a soft cat's paw.
“I also think that presenting an ungrateful woman like you as a duchess is worse than taking a mistress.”
“Ah...”
“At least the mistress will be grateful if you keep her alive, and she will know how to say nice words.”
Kenneth looked at Ariana's face with half-shadowed eyes. But beneath his appearance, much more intense emotions were churning within him.
'How stupid.'
She was ing for dinner time on Wednesday, and now when the opportunity presents itf, she's trying to run away from it like it's worthless?
He had arranged a time to eat together, waiting the whole time to see what she would say. But this foolish woman kept her mouth shut.
But more than this anger, it bothered him that she ate less voraciously than he expected. He couldn't notice her well in the presence of others, but now, the amount she ate was pathetic.
So, no wonder she felt exhausted and achy at the slightest tension… He thought harshly, but something hot rose inside him.
How could her thin hands, holding the cutlery, evoke such complex emotions?
At least, when she was eating dessert, she looked more serious, which lightened his mood.
It was nice to see her cheeks flushing pink as she looked happy with a trifle.
But even that didn't last long, as she dumped her immediately after his comment, which got on his nerves.
Every little thing about her stirred his emotions.
That was the most annoying.
His feelings fluctuated sharply with every change in Ariana.
His thumb, which had been rubbing her cheek as punishment, touched her lips.
Her red mouth opened slightly spontaneously, exposing the tip of her tongue.
Her tongue, which had just been licking the sticky white cream, touched the tip of his thick finger.
“Sir Duke…?”
Ariana tried to shake her head, but he wordlessly pressed the tip of her tongue against the flesh of his finger.
Even though it was trivial, her tongue was trying to avoid it as if it were heavy.
Ariana was getting more and more flustered and flushed, but she couldn't say anything for fear of showing more embarrassment.
Kenneth remembered how she greedily swallowed the cream and small fruits.
He remembered well the sounds she made with that mouth.
But he quickly pressed the middle of her lips to close them.
He felt heat rising up his spine, but now was not the time.
Not to mention the location problem.
“Ariana, try hard not to make me regret taking you.”
“Ah...”
“It is said that Southerners admire ideal husbands, but are tolerant of changing wives.”
With a final hidden threat, the hand that had been caressing her small face moved away. When Kenneth left the dining car, Ariana quickly grabbed a napkin to cover her mouth.
Out of anger, Ariana prayed inside herf.
Baby, can't you just come naturally?
It can't be, right...
'Okay, that's okay.'
Since the exhausting meal time was over, she also had to attend to her duties on the train while Kenneth was absent.
You must now start looking for a way to secretly escape from the Duke's Palace in the future.