The Villain's Terminally Ill Wife

Chapter 9

"So, what were you trying to tell me?"

Richard approached me and asked after he closed the door to the balcony.

I decided to breathe for a moment to clear my head. Fresh air rushed deep into my lungs and exhaled them several times.

"I don't know where to start. I have to go a long way back......"

"The ball just started. There's plenty of time."

Richard spoke with ease, urging me to talk. I got a little impatient hearing him say it like that.

"Then I'll go back to square one."

"Yes. Go on."

I had no choice but to confide in Richard about my past.

"My mother, the Duchess of Tristan, remarried Father when I was three. And sadly, my mother died when I turned 10."

Richard sighed gently and gazed at me with a look of sympathy. Despite not being a part of the story, it seemed Richard empathized with my pain.

I understand why he feels sorry for me.

Richard, like me, lost both parents at a young age. Hearing my story, he must have felt the same way as me.

"Since then, the head's position, which was supposed to be mine, has been entrusted to Father because I was too young. From that day on, he became the Duke of Tristan, and I became the scoundrel of the family."

I didn't go into detail and only give him a brief summary, but Richard seemed to understand what kind of situation I was in.

Especially because we were in the same situation where the heir who had the right to inherit the position is still alive. Originally, I would have the right to succeed as a Duchess after my mother, but sadly, I was too young.

In that situation, Father took away the title under the pretext of protecting me. But he was merely an acting Duke, and in effect, I had the right to succeed him and inherit the dukedom. That meant once I became an adult, I could always take back what my mother left behind.

How alarming and outrageous would that have been for him. I wasn't even his biological daughter.

Having said that, it's still impossible for me to take away the title and dukedom held by him after I directly became an adult.

I had to go through a trial for that to happen. But I didn't have the stamina to endure the long, tedious trial.

Most of all, I was on the verge of death.

That's why I couldn't change anything and remained the same way as Diana was in the novel. As a result, I didn't realize that I was becoming lethargic like a frog in boiling water.

"And, well, the next thing you know, Father lost all our fortune due to gambling, and owed you a lot of money."

"We should have paid you the debt and yet...... You even take care of a weight like me."

"I get it."

Much to my surprise, Richard quickly understood even without me explaining everything.

Should I say I'm glad that he saves me the trouble of explaining? Or perhaps he just pretended to understand because he doesn't know how to respond?

"Richard, you brought me thinking that I would become the Duchess of Tristan, but the truth is I'm a Duchess of nothing. Do you understand what that means? Do you understand how happy he must have been when he sent me off to you?"