19 A painful recollection (1).

Isla stared at the man whom she had not seen for months. He looked the same as the day she got married to him, though his peerless appearance was not any of her concern.

He took the initiative to visit her in the pavilion, which meant he needed something from her.

'What could it be?' Isla wondered.

As she pondered about the duke's behavior, her hand unconsciously went to her small bulging belly, and she began to rub it. This had become her habit anytime she was lost in thoughts.

'Baby,' She looked down with a small smile as if greeting the unborn child. Then, as though lightning suddenly struck her mind, she stilled and recalled an event of the past that she had forgotten.

'Baby..' She was not thinking about her precious child but another child...annalise's child...the male lead of the novel.

This should be around the time that her husband unexpectedly discovered the existence of his second child...no...his first child as the male lead was three weeks older than her own child.

At that recollection, her gaze...if possible...turned colder than before as another painful past event resurfaced in her head.

It was another day that her husband was in the duchy for the first time in the afternoon after going to the imperial palace without visiting his lover.

When he did that, she did not think much about it, but after a week, then a month, and two months...hope began to form in her heart.

Maybe...just maybe...his relationship with the mistress suddenly deteriorated. She assumed then and became lighter and happier that her husband could finally notice her one-sided love.

After his affair was exposed to everyone, she behaved the same, only that her smile was nowhere near her lips, and the pain could not be hidden from her eyes.

The saddest thing was that her husband never spoke to her after his warning. He warned her, his wife...his pregnant wife, for another woman. It was very saddening for her to bear his betrayal.

They promised to the heavens to be faithful to each other, but it did not take a few years for him to turn to another.

Was she not beautiful enough?

Was her body not tempting enough?

Did she not handle her duties as a duchess well enough?

Many negative thoughts always roamed in her heart, and it became depressing to her well-being.

Her only saving grace was the little creature in her belly...her only family in this painful world. If people thought she would hate the child in her belly because of her cheating husband, then they were wrong.

She still loved her husband, even if he did not look at her. He gave her a gift, and that was the baby in her belly. A piece of herself and him was growing in her belly, and it brought a smile to her face when she thought about it.

''My lady, his grace has arrived from the imperial palace,'' Her maid, Amelia, came to inform her.

''He's around?'' She stood abruptly from the bench in the pavilion. It was not her fault that she could not get used to his presence in the afternoon when he always arrives at night at a very late hour.

''My lady should be careful,'' Amelia protectively warned the duchess, but the latter was not listening.

A happy smile graced her lips. She held her puffy skirt and hurried out of the garden.

Just maybe...Just maybe... She prayed to the heavens that her assumption might be true, as her husband never went to that woman for the past two and a half months.

But...as always, reality had to be so cruel to her. She was stupid to hope that the heavens that never answered any of her prayers concerning her husband would answer just because he stopped going to his mistress.

Because he stopped visiting her for some time did not mean he would not go back to her again. Unfortunately, she did not understand and childishly hoped in her heart.

When she met her husband, she noticed the latter was rather in a good mood, but she did not think much about it.

Her husband was here with her, and that was what mattered to her.

''Duchess, I need to speak to you in my office,'' He said to her and went inside the castle.

Her husband initiated speaking to her. How could she not be happy? Normally, he would ignore her presence, but now he talked to her and wanted her in his office.

Excited about that, she also followed after him but made sure she was not looking unpresentable for him. Her clothes might be lavish for her pregnancy, but it was not tight for her belly. She made sure to have trending but comfortable clothes after the discovery of her pregnancy.

Upon getting to the door of his office, she took a deep breath and opened it to enter.

After the door was closed, she looked at her husband, who turned to face her with his usual poker face.

They stared at each other until she couldn't take the silence anymore.

''What is it, duke?'' She asked softly.

Her husband continued to stare at her before he decided to open his lips and state his reason for calling her into his office.

If possible, Isla wished she had never gone to greet him. She wished she had never listened to him.

She wished she had never stepped into his office to hear his words.

''Annalise is pregnant with my child, and I want to marry her as my second wife.''

Frozen.

Her mind, body and soul…every cell of her body was frozen. She hoped his words that she heard were just an illusion.

''W-What?'' She managed to speak with wide eyes. What did he say just now?!

Again, her husband talked like nothing was wrong with the situation, ''I am having another child on the way, and I cannot allow a hayes blood to be raised in poor conditions.''

''Lies,'' Instantly, she whispered in disbelief.

''You are lying, duke. Tell me that you are lying?!'' For the first time, she expressed her true feelings to him. Every time she hid her pain behind a bright smile. If the duke knew or if he did not, she would never know. However, the fact that he did not reach out to her, said a lot about her importance to him.

''You can provide money for her to raise that child outside! Must you marry her into this duchy?!'' she yelled crazily at him. It was always that woman. That woman was before her in everything that concerns her own husband and now her unexpected child wants to take her husband away. Why?

Just why must she continue to endure this unfairness from her husband and that woman?!

Is she not his wife? She is also a human being with feelings, but her husband does not see them...Why?

Isla wished someone could tell her the reason, because she couldn't continue to tolerate this indifference from her husband. She loved him more than anything in this world, but he was blind to that love.

''What about me?'' She voiced her thoughts as heavy tears like a waterfall ran down her face without stopping, '' What of my child...our child, duke?'' Now her precious child would not receive the love that belongs to him alone, because of that woman.

''She took you from me, and now she wants you to be the father of her child, my child's place...what sins did I commit to suffer like this?''

She asked her husband, but she never got her answer as she fainted that day because of the stress.

'And days later you got married to her as if my yells, my grievance, were nothing to you,' Isla finished the story in her heart as she raised her icy gaze to this man called her husband.

He never listened to her unless he would not have married annalise as his second wife. The least he could do was to raise that child outside. He should have never brought annalise and her child into the duchy.

But he did not do that...and in her second life, it finally dawned on her that her husband had never cared about her.

She, his wife, was never placed in his heart.

>>>🤧I hope I managed to convey the second life Isla's sadness to you guys🤧. If you cried, say 'I' in the comment section. As always, Vote Vote Vote, my dear readers.<<<