20 A painful recollection (2)

''What do you need from me, duke?''

Dante stared at his wife, whose countenance seemed colder than before. If her gaze felt like she was staring at a stranger, then at this moment, he could feel hostility emitting from her, which had never happened in their marriage.

This was the first time he felt hatred from his wife.

'Why do you hate me?' he wanted to ask, but he held himself back as he felt the question was kind of stupid.

There were many reasons for her to hate him like his affair, his behavior toward her in their marriage, and now his unexpected second child.

At the moment, it dawned on him that his wife had never hated him, even after everything he had done to her.

She smiled, laughed, and now avoided his presence, but he had never caught hostility in those blank eyes.

Or maybe she has, but she hid it well from him. He did not know and did not want to know.

Pushing away those thoughts, Duke Hayes steeled his heart that appeared to waver when his wife was near, and he did not like it one bit, because he would never be able to divorce her and bring annalise into his life.

''Annalise is pregnant with my child, and I want to marry her as my second wife.'' He said those words that seemed weird coming out of him. No, he somehow forced himself to say those words to his wife.

As to why, he did not know. Many things became unknown, and unsure to him ever since his wife changed her behavior.

Now that he had said those words, he waited...waited for her to do anything, scream, throw things at him, cry, curse him, but nothing...nothing came from her.

Her cold countenance did not change, and her blank gaze did not change. She did not seem shocked and which made the duke stunned a bit.

'Or did she expect it?' He wondered for a second, but he could not think, as her usual soft sounded in the pavilion.

''And what does the duke want me to do?'' She asked.

''I-I want you to be aware, and I also want to prepare a small wedding for us. I cannot allow a hayes blood to be raised in poor conditions.''

''Lies,'' An instant chuckle came after the Dante's reply. It was cold, so unfeeling..not like the gentle wife that he knew.

''You need that excuse to bring her into this duchy. Is that right, duke?'' Blue eyes peered into his red ones. As always, they penetrate through his flesh and seem to be looking at his soul for the truth and not the excuse he spouted just now.

''You can provide the money, luxury, mansions for her to raise the child, but you did not want that,'' Isla repeated some of her words in her tragic second life. In a way, she is expressing what the Isla of her second life wanted to convey to the duke.

''Duke, you can not lie to me. You want me out of the duchess seat, don't you?''

Dante stared at the smile on her lips. It resembled her chuckle, so unfeeling and cold, yet she seemed amused, like she was watching a fool prancing around, and that fool was him.

''No…'' He wanted to reply, but Isla did not allow him.

''Another lie again, duke.''

Like a devil whispering into his ears, she continued tormenting him with her soft twisted words. One thing Isla had learned ever since she changed her behavior was that her husband did not like it.

Like now, he would have told her about annalise's pregnancy without hesitation, but he did not. Instead, he seemed unsure of what to do, which was not like her husband in her second life. The duke she knew was decisive, brutal, and cold to a woman like herself.

Him, initiating to touch her was also not like him.

Him, hesitating on anything that concerns annalise, was also not like him.

Her actions that were not similar to her second life must have affected him in a way, and she liked it. No...she enjoys it. Just because she did not take revenge on him for her precious son's death does not mean she would not toy with him like this.

'I will take this as a debt for our son's death, Dante,' She smiled contemptuously at him.

''She took you from me, and now her child takes you as a father...my child's place. How amusing, duke.''

''Somehow I feel sorry for you in playing in the palm of a woman like her,'' Isla sneered at his ashen face, then slowly stood up with her hand on the table.

''You can have as many weddings as you want, duke. I don't care. However, I want one thing from you, and that is, never let her path cross mine in this duchy,'' She warned, and her gaze promised untold things that she might do if she catches annalise in her sight. ''Or else I would not be responsible for my actions.''

Dante stood still as his eyes never left his wife, who was walking from him. Somehow, he felt that her back had turned away from him, and never once did she look back at him.

''Our child remains the heir...I can promise you that,'' He said, loudly to her.

For some reason, he wanted her to look back at him. Those blue eyes must face him even if they express hatred for his existence.

Isla paused at his words, and the rumors in her second life about the male lead becoming the hayes duchy heir after her son's death came to mind.

'Something that her son had touched even if it was in my second life would never go near my son,' Isla scoffed and continued walking without looking back at the lost duke.

Just like she walked away from him now, she and her child will walk away from his life and this duchy very soon.

>>>I remembered while writing this book, I tried to see things from Isla's perspective. How she enjoys Dante's indecisiveness when it comes to her, Do you support it? Please answer in the comment section below 👇. As always, Vote Vote Vote, my dear readers<<<