Chapter 20

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“As you requested, I submitted your work to the art exhibition. Is there a problem?”

“You… !”

Ryan contorted his face horribly.

Facing Ines’ calm dark green eyes, somehow his stomach was twisted.

He was so angry.

Why was Ines so calm?

“I, what I wanted…!”

“It must have been that my paintings would be submitted with your name alone. I know.”

In response, Ines promptly looked around.

Those spectators with their eyes wide open will spread the news of what happened today to the social world. So, what she had to do now was….

‘But I have no reason to obey you, do I?’

To provoke Ryan as much as possible to occupy an advantageous position.

With that judgment, Ines opened her mouth. 

“But I don’t want to do that anymore.”

“What?”

“Can’t you understand? I no longer want to sacrifice for you.”

Ines gently bent her eyes. It was a clear laugh.

At the same time, her lips were slightly raised.

“How long are you planning to live dependent on me?”

Those words that she secretly whispered only to Ryan, not to be heard by others.

“Like a parasite.”

In an instant, Ryan’s reason was cut off.

“You are crazy!”

At the exorbitant remark, the audience, who watched the confrontation between Ines and Ryan with great interest, gasped.

“Wow, what did the Count just say now?”

“How could he say such a vulgar thing!”

Of course, even the nobles who hung out with Ryan said harsh words behind him.

However, at least for the sake of appearance, it was common to be careful with words and actions. However, Ryan, whose head became white in anger, poured out abusive language again.

“How dare you try to knock me down?!” 

Ryan inflated his chest and approached Ines threateningly.

“An insignificant b*tch like you!”

But Ines still had a calm face.

Ryan frowned.

“What the hell is this relaxation?”

Ines usually gave up quickly when Ryan put pressure on her with his voice raised like this.

“I’m sorry, I must have offended you because I wasn’t paying attention… Please forgive me.”

It was Ines’s habit to say such a thing.

However, the present Ines was different.

Ines, who was making eye contact with Ryan, smirked briefly and whispered to him.

“Ryan, why don’t you take a look around?” 

At her words, Ryan looked around with a puzzled face. Dozens and hundreds of pairs of astonished eyes were all set on Ryan.

They were the spectators who watched this situation from the beginning.

For a moment, Ryan’s mind flashed as if he had been hit with cold water from the top of his head.

“Hey, what is this…… ?!”

And among the spectators, of course, there were also aristocrats who were famous in the social world.

An icy silence passed.

“…”

“….”

‘Sh*t!’

Ryan bit his molars tightly.

‘I made a mistake. How the hell am I supposed to turn this around?’

Even so, the current situation was too unfavorable for Ryan. No matter how angry he was, the act of threatening Ines in front of all the spectators…

At the same time, Ines took a step forward.

Clank. Clank.

The sound of heels hitting the marble floor echoed clearly.

Ines, who reached Ryan’s nose, raised his gaze and looked up at Ryan.

“And Ryan.”

Ines’ voice calling for Ryan was calm and unsuitable for the current situation, which was chaotic.

“I.. Ines.”

Ryan tried to appease Ines by suppressing his anger.

“You know? It’s because I was just excited, I…… .”

”No.”

But Ines shook her head and cut off Ryan’s words. 

“Don’t make excuses for being excited.”

“What do you mean… !”

“You always treated me like that right after we got married. Don’t you agree?”

Towards the frozen Ryan, Ines continued to speak again calmly.

“Until now, I have endured all because I loved you, but I cannot endure forever.”

“Ines!” 

“Never forget that you have become Count Brierton thanks to your insignificant wife.”

A sharp remark flowed from between Ines’ lips.

Ryan doubted his ears.

“Ines. So, what now…?”

“Without me, could you have been called Count Brierton?”

Her calm voice pierced Ryan’s ears like a whip. Ryan looked at Ines with a blank face.

Ines in front of him just felt unfamiliar.

‘That woman with a cold and calm face..…… Is it really Ines, my wife?’

Ines wouldn’t do that.

As if she could only passionately love him and always lowered her head and would be happy as if she had the whole world with one light expression of affection.

But why……

At that moment.

“What the hell is this noise?”

A cold voice was heard.

Enoch, who was looking at the paintings of other painters, came back after hearing the commotion between Ryan and Ines.

Blood drained from Ryan’s face.

“Wait, the Duke of Sussex?!”

“I put both Count Brierton and the Countess’ paintings in my art exhibition.”

Enoch looked at Ines and Ryan alternately with a calm gaze.

“That means Count Brierton and the Countess are equal artists to me.”

“…”

Ryan swallowed dry saliva.

Enoch’s blue eyes, as cold as the sea of ​​ice, were fixed on Ryan.

“And I don’t want to see anyone do any harm to my artists.” 

Ryan felt suffocated. The intense tension strangled his neck.

“And even more so if it’s a dispute between the artists I pick and choose.”

“Ha, Your Excellency, but I…!”

Enoch added sternly.

“I don’t know how long Count Brierton will be able to remain an artist from my point of view, so I have no choice but to protect the Countess a little more.”

Ryan widened his eyes.

That meant, the disputes between Count Brierton and his wife.

Enoch trusted Ines much more than Ryan.

For a moment, Ryan swallowed his breath.

‘Wait a minute, Elton, who first reported this incident in an extra edition, didn’t it belong to the Duke of Sussex?!’

Enoch glanced at Ryan, who had hardened.

Enoch’s eyes were contorted with disgust. 

“In addition, oppressing people like that and wielding verbal violence. I think it’s very low.”

Enoch spoke sharply and looked back at Ines.

Ines had a seemingly blunt face, but he paid attention to her hands.

Her hands trembled thinly.

And to hide the fact that she was trembling, she held her hands tightly together.

Enoch’s eyes narrowed.

‘She must have been afraid.’

In front of all these people, she confronted her husband and was threatened by him.

Even if she had a strong personality, it must have been difficult to endure…

Enoch reached out to Ines with a polite gesture. 

“Looks like the Countess needs a break.”

“….”

“I will guide you to the break room.”

Ines, who was looking down at the hand that was extended to her, carefully placed her hand on Enoch’s.

“Thank you, Duke.”

The voice that answered that way was so small that it seemed as if it would go out at any moment.

“….”

For some reason, Enoch felt uncomfortable.

Enoch wrapped his arms around Ines as if to protect her, and gave orders to the staff who were guarding the area.

“Take Count Brierton out.”

“Your Excellency? Your Excellency!”

Ryan was terrified and called for Enoch, but to no avail.

The exhibition hall staff rushed in and held Ryan’s arms firmly.

Ryan struggled hard.

“Let me go! Let go, you know who I am!” 

Ryan’s desperate shout echoed through the exhibition hall.

In a way, even though the nobleman was being dragged away by commoners, no one in the audience helped Ryan.

They just looked at Ryan with a mysterious expression of interest and disgust. So Ryan was forcibly kicked out of the exhibition hall.

***

After entering the lounge, it became easier to breathe.

Ines put her hand on her chest and let out a long sigh.

“…..ha.”

Enoch approached the refreshment table, poured a glass of cold juice and placed it in Ines’s hand.

“Drink. It will calm you down a little.”

Ines bit her lips.

It was because the hand holding the glass was still trembling slightly.

‘I’m pathetic.’

She drank the glass of juice and swallowed a sense of shame about herself.

Her mind seemed to ease down slightly when something sweet and cold went in. Enoch glanced at Ines’s expression.