# 23
---
The answer came immediately.
"Hi buddy! I'm Theo!"
It was Count Theo Gassen.
What did he mean by “friend”?
Chloe was surprised by the fact that her husband and Count Gassen were friends, and was surprised again that it was the nobleman who had boldly jumped in front of their locomotive.
Thinking about it, Count Gassen was the son of a duke. He was also the subject of some shameful rumors, that he often appeared at parties where drugs and women were sold in abundance...
Chloe coughed in vain, remembering what she had seen in the headline of a popular gossip newspaper that the maids in the North were constantly reading.
“Can’t you open your car door? You see, my car has broken down. I think you are also going to the Duke’s Palace. Let’s go together.”
Count Gassen approached the window of the stopped locomotive, shook the door, and waved his hand. Eric frowned.
“I'll just ignore you and leave.”
“Man, seriously! Don't do that! It's been so long since I've seen you. Why are you so cold? Oh, and your wife is here too! Nice to meet you. I'm Theo Jacin.”
He greeted Chloe spontaneously, and Chloe smiled and returned the greeting.
“Nice to meet you, Count.”
“Oh my God, that nickname is heavy. Please call me comfortable. You can call me by my name.”
“Ah…”
She sighed without realizing it.
She wasn't used to this kind of familiarity. Of course, it was because she had been trapped in the Northern Manor for a long time.
“Thank you for your concern, Count.”
She answered calmly. Theo's eyes turned to Eric for a moment, and he felt as if their eyes met.
Ahem! Theo let out a dry cough and spoke to Eric again.
“What, won’t you open the door for me? If you leave me like this, I might freeze to death here.”
“You shouldn't say that. There will be no one to be sad if you freeze to death here.”
“Are you going to keep talking like that?”
Theo shrugged and shuddered, then turned to Chloe.
“Ma’am, listen to me. No, this man intended to invest in my factory. That’s what he told me. But at that time, the Gozer Kingdom also offered an investment. Which one should I choose? Of course the kingdom. If you had asked anyone passing by in the street who he would choose, the answer would have been the same! So I asked him to understand. Why is he still so upset?”
“Who said I was upset?”
Eric shouted. Angrily, he played with his styled hair and muttered an obscene word. Fuck! Then he kicked the carriage door.
"Get up. I'll take you there as long as you keep quiet."
“Then you'll need something to cover my mouth.”
“Do you want to freeze to death?”
“I get it, I get it. Your mood is really something else.”
Theo climbed into the carriage with a friendly smile on his lips. He shook the snow off his shoulders and wiped his hands with a handkerchief. Then he offered to shake Chloe's hand.
“Hello again. I’m Theo.”
Chloe glanced at the hand that was being extended to her, and quickly only caught it by the fingertips.
“I'm Chloe Aslan.”
Theo tried hard not to let a smile form on his lips. Then he spoke to Chloe, and spoke at length again.
“The lady is as beautiful as I heard. There is a reason why this man hides his wife so carefully that you cannot be seen.”
“Theo Gassen.”
“Ah, you know. Whenever he talks about you, ma'am—”
“Theo!”
In the end, Eric shouted, interrupted the conversation - which couldn't even be called a conversation - and ended the matter. Eric put his elbow on the car window and put his hand on his forehead, and said quietly.
"Shut up."
His tone was so threatening that anyone could hear his malice.
But Theo did not despair. He whispered to Chloe as he peeked at her husband.
“It must be hard living together, hahaha!”
An embarrassed smile spread across Chloe's face. Then, I knew it was going to be an uncomfortable trip all the way until they reached their destination.
* * *
They arrived at the estate of the Duke of Aintry.
Theo went down first, then Eric. Now it was Chloe's turn, but she hesitated for a moment. This was because there was a space between the car and the carpet. If she went down like this, her shoes would get dirty with mud. Chloe pondered carefully what to do.
“Why don't you come down?”
Eric asked her. Then he noticed what Chloe was worried about. He looked at the floor and saw about three inches of the carpet.
“I can't believe such a mistake was made on something so basic.”
He glanced at the carriage driver who was calming the horses, but quickly sighed as if there was no escape. Then he approached Chloe.
“Please hug me.”
"…Yes?"
Chloe's eyes widened, not understanding what Eric was saying. Eric spoke in a slightly tense tone.
“I can't kneel in front of you and give you my knee to step on, can I? So please hold on to me.”
The moment Eric wrapped his arm around Chloe's waist, she couldn't help but say, "Hmm." Then he picked her up and put her on the carpet.
It happened in an instant. So, Chloe was stunned. But Eric didn't look well.
“I will go with the Count. So, wife, you must greet the others as well.”
“...Yes, I understand. Thank you.”
Chloe remained frozen in place, staring at Eric's back as he began to turn away from her.
She felt her waist touching him very warmly for no apparent reason.
* * *
“I think you forgot that my wife is the daughter of a duke.”
Eric said this while frowning at Theo who was flirting with many women. Then he answered, holding a glass of champagne in his hand.
“You mean I was rude earlier?”
"Yes."
“In that sense, your wife was rude to me too.”
He remembered how Chloe continued to speak in a deadpan way even though he asked her to call him by his name spontaneously. She also only held his fingertips as if she was refusing to shake his hand.
Eric clicked his tongue, responding as well to see if it bothered him.
"It's because she hasn't met a lot of people. It's her own way of expressing herf."
"What's wrong? Why are you so nice to your wife?"
Theo's eyes were wide, as if he was truly shocked.
“But your intense gaze seems to soften when you look at your wife. Am I wrong?”
"You are wrong."
Eric growled.
“I'm sick and tired of the same thing.”
He loosened his tie and drank the champagne.
"It's been like that since I first saw her. What a terrible woman."
Eric ruffled his hair and said this. When he first saw her… Theo narrowed his eyes.
“Are you talking about your academy days?”
"Yes."
Eric nodded.
“She's driven me crazy ever since I saw her at the academy. She always looked at me with those eyes.”
The way you looked at him,
With pure eyes, as if she couldn't imagine anything impure, enough to break through.
The Southern Academy was always sunny, and it stood tall under the bright sunshine. She wasn't even protecting herf from the heat with her hand. She wasn't even frowning – as if there was no other light shining brighter than her. She looked at him with eyes brighter than sunlight. It is still the same now.
Her gaze was as clear as falling snow. Pure. Clear. And that's exactly why it made him so mad.
“You don't love me.”
How could he love her?
A noble woman like her,
How could a lowly person like him do that...
Fuck.
Eric took out a cigar and put the matter out of his mind.
“If you don't love her so much, why don't you divorce her?”
Theo sensed Eric's mood and said this. Then he lit his cigar.
“I heard that your wife came to the capital for a reason... which is a divorce.”
"What?!"
Eric was very angry. As for Theo, he was shocked and grabbed the other man by the shoulder.
“Hey, hey, calm down. You’re in a duke’s palace.”
“Do I look like I can keep my cool?”
Eric raised his voice. Without thinking about the cigar anymore, he stared at Theo angrily.
“Are you going to believe these ridiculous statements? Then I have to say that I am not good at choosing friends. To have a stupid fool like you by my side.”
“Why are you so aggressive? It's just something I heard, you know...”
Theo felt frustrated and stopped talking. Finally, Eric took a deep puff of his cigar. Dry smoke filled his lungs deeply, and he exhaled it with a wrinkled forehead.
“But really, isn’t that what it is?”
Theo looked at Eric and tried to read his expression. Eric looked away from Theo.
Last night, Eric agreed to Chloe's request for divorce.
This was not something to be said in a moment of anger. He had already intended to say he would accept the divorce from the moment Khloe said, "It's already over."
“Don't talk nonsense.”
Because he didn't really think about divorce.
“This will never happen.”
* * *
Oh, my God!
Chloe was breathing hard. She leaned against the wall and put her hand on her chest.
The anxiety she felt when her mother was cleaning out the bookshelf where her diary was hidden, that kind of tension was shaking her body.
She looked around hurriedly.
No one was looking at her. But at the same time, everyone seemed to be looking at her. Everyone seemed to know what kind of unethical behavior I had just committed. So she hurried towards the balcony.
to open.
As soon as she got out of the balcony and closed the door latch, Chloe collapsed.