The Villainess Just Wants to Study

Chapter 43 ~ Each Other

WARNING: This chapter contains scenes of violence. Read at your own discretion.

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Dylan burst through the doors with wide eyes. An audible breath heaved from her lips the moment she laid eyes on her adoptive father. 

The Duke was sitting back in his chair, tapping his fingers on its arm. Dylan could see from the look on his face that he was furious. The panic inside her was becoming difficult to control and her hands trembled slightly. 

"Dylan," he said calmly. 

"Father," she replied in a shaky voice. "What is—"

"Dylan," he said, in a slightly sterner tone, as if he wasn't calling her name for her to respond.

Her gaze flickered to the side. Lucas was seated across from the Duke. He glared downward, his face twisted with rage.

'Why did you come early?'

Closing her eyes, she let out a deep breath. "Please allow me to speak to my father privately," she said. "Sir Cadence, escort Lord Lucas to his carriage and wait for me there."

Lucas rose slowly from his chair, an expression of great annoyance overclouding his face. He arrived early with the hope that he could spend extra time with his sister. The Duke, however, looked at him and treated him like a bug. 

It was clear that he did not want Lucas hanging around Dylan. How much did the Duke know? Was he intentionally trying to keep Dylan away from her biological family? The mere idea made him furious.

He gritted his teeth while he stared at Dylan; then forcing himself to calmness, he said, "I shall wait for you outside then."

Cadence hesitated a moment, not wanting to leave Dylan alone. She smiled at him reassuringly, those brown eyes shadowed with fatigue. This was a family matter—one she did not want anyone else to witness. Then, just as she had asked, the two men left the room.

Dylan saw the Duke's facial expression, an expression of controlled anger and fury, an expression he had never shown her before. She knew he was mad. He started to walk toward her, eating away at the distance between them with long strides. 

The Duke grabbed Dylan's frail shoulders and shook her violently as he shouted into her face, "How could you? How could you?"

"Father!" she begged, wincing in pain. "Father, let go!"

"Tell me," he yelled, then slapped her face. "Tell me why you're hanging around with him!"

The blow from the back of his hand so powerful she staggered backwards, falling to her knees. The pain stung her eyes to tears and made her catch her breath.

'Like father like son.'

The Duke quickly stepped back in realization and relaxed. An expression of momentary guilt flashed across his face as he looked at Dylan on the ground.

He dropped to his knees beside her, his hands on her shoulders. "Sorry," he apologized. "You're the only person I have left—you're not going to leave me, right?"

Dylan's eyes were overflowing with tears. Her face was slack and expressionless, and there was no colour in it at all. She knelt there motionlessly, trembling slightly under his touch. 

"You and I only have each other," he said, pulling her into a hug. 

Her body was cold and stiff. She didn't put her arms around him and she didn't lean into his embrace. It was like hugging a corpse.