Chapter 200: An Assault to Her Ears

It wasn’t the duchess with a low alcohol tolerance that got the women in trouble that evening, surprisingly.

The conversation flowed smoothly after the first glass or two. It flowed even better after three and four, but Leonor began to pace herself, feeling her face was hot and body heavy.

The women were at it so long that Desmond and Herbert eventually made their way to their wives when it was past dinner.

"Will the two of you be joining us for the evening meal?" Herbert asked the women.

Letizia had gotten more haughty the more she drank and, the moment her husband finished speaking, she responded with a huff.

"I don’t believe I will," she said. "I’m comfortable where I am."

Leonor silently apologized to Desmond in the way her eyes communicated with him. She smiled faintly.

"I will follow our gracious hostess’ lead this evening," Leonor said. "We’ve been having an easy conversation."

Leonor’s words were slightly slurred and Desmond could tell right away she was a couple of glasses from her limit. He worried about something bad happening if she made it to that point.

Rather than behaving like the overprotective husband he was, Desmond held his words back.

Considering the casual environment they were experiencing, the duke strode forward to his wife and, from behind her couch, he kissed the top of her head.

"Be careful," he said to her. "I will see you later."

"See you," Leonor responded with a small smile and a pat on the hand that had found its way to her shoulder. "Could we please have a light dinner sent our way? We’ll turn into raisins if we don’t eat soon."

Marquess Herbert loosened the scarf around his neck and unbuttoned his collar.

"Of course, your grace," the marquess responded, but then he paused for a moment. "If this is what we’re doing this evening, I ought to show his grace something stiff from the northern country," he said. "We’ll be on our way to my study."

Letizia seemed unamused by this but she didn’t say anything else until the men were out of the sitting room and the doors were shut to preserve the warmth.

"The way he walks around without a care in the world," the marchioness scoffed and reached for her crystal glass sitting on a stone coaster on the wooden table in front of her. "How shameless."

"Excuse me, my lady?" Leonor asked in disbelief.

The duchess hadn’t heard such a disdainful tone from the marchioness before that moment. She had certainly been reactionary to her husband but it never got to the bounds of contempt.

"Unbelievable how he can have his mistress live at the edge of our lands and walk around in front of guests, requesting our presence for dinner as if we have that sort of relationship any longer," she snapped. "It’s quite embarrassing. I live in a glass house and he’s throwing stones."

Suddenly, the marquess and marchioness’ reactions from the day before made much more sense to Leonor. The disrespect would have been too much to bear.

Even someone as awful as Leonor’s father didn’t take mistresses. It made people believe he was genuinely in love with the late countess when she was living.

For him to have never taken another partner furthered this claim.

"I’m so sorry to hear that, my lady," Leonor responded, not entirely sure how to comfort someone else in such a situation.

The marchioness grabbed her wine and downed the rest of it without another thought. As she spoke again, she held the empty glass against her bosom as if she were perhaps caring for a baby.

Her following words furthered this theory.

"It’s my fault for not being able to provide him with a child," the marchioness sobbed, causing Leonor’s eyes to widen.

The duchess could no longer hold back. She was simply reacting humanly as anyone else would. She felt guilty for a situation that was not her own.

It made her feel like she had somehow betrayed Letizia by treating the marquess graciously.

Not knowing what else to do considering the woman had started crying enough that her shoulders were shaking and tears fell from her eyes, Leonor quickly got up from her spot on the couch and walked around the low coffee table so that she could comfort the marchioness.

"You need not feel that way," Leonor tried to comfort her. "That is the reality of noble women. Circumstances are entirely out of our control no matter how much it hurts us. This heartlessness is not made for humanity. Just know that you’re not the only woman in your position feeling like this."

To Leonor’s surprise, the woman leaned into her, wine glass and all, until her cheek was pressed against the younger woman’s shoulder and her free hand went to her face.

It took a while for the woman to calm herself down. It was just in time for their meal to be delivered to them.

Plates were placed on the table full of easy finger foods, but the appetite Leonor had before was long gone. She was stressed out over what the marchioness had just revealed to her.

It seemed the interruption was enough for Letizia to pull herself together. When she saw maids, the marchioness managed to pull herself up. She placed the glass on the table before wiping her eyes with one of the cloth napkins provided.

The room was empty save for the two noble ladies once more and all that could be heard was sniffling as Letizia became slightly more coherent, though no less shocking.

"If you want to avoid the sad reality of my existence, I will give you a couple of pieces of advice," Letizia uttered.

"Please, my lady," Leonor responded, trying to remain proper but her curiosity was starting to eat at her.

"First, whenever your husband wants to bed you, you must give him your body," Letizia began, shocking Leonor to her core. "No excuses. He married you and you are his, after all."

Leonor found herself unable to take this conversation at face value and she reached for the wine again, having to stretch herself out to grab the glass the maid had topped off when she was giving them their snacks.

Nervously, the duchess sipped down more wine. Letizia didn’t seem to be finished and the Leonor couldn’t imagine what else she was going to say.

"Secondly, suck him off whenever he wants it," Letizia finally said. "That’s how you keep your husband out of another’s bed. You have to go on your knees whenever it’s requested. After all, that’s the way I found my husband with his mistress when I have never done that for him in my life."

Her tears started again, but Leonor was relying heavily on her wine at that moment. She didn’t know how to simply be after hearing something so shocking.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read