Wicked Husband-Chapter 111 - 110

That desire was still important, but it wasn’t everything. Eileen genuinely wanted to create medicine. She wanted to use the knowledge she had accumulated as a pharmacist to make a positive impact on the world.

I’ve always been on the receiving end of help.

Now, she wanted to be the one offering it. Fully understanding her own feelings, Eileen finished her sentence slowly.

"I want to keep trying without giving up."

Ornella remained silent. As the pause stretched on, Eileen hesitated and added a few tentative words of explanation.

"Of course, I’ll also do my best to fulfill my duties as the Grand Duchess..."

As she continued to speak, Eileen felt herself circling back to Ornella’s criticisms, unable to break free. Worse yet, her words began to sound condescending, as if she were lecturing. Unsure how to remedy the situation, she eventually fell silent, biting her lip.

While Eileen wrestled with her thoughts, Ornella was not at peace either.

"No one can replace me in my research."

"I want to keep trying without giving up."

What a foolish woman. Of low birth, with not a shred of noble refinement. The kind who looked as if she might collapse in tears at the first harsh rebuke.

And yet, despite the relentless pressure, Eileen stubbornly refused to give up, clinging to her resolve. This made Ornella’s insides churn, the urge to vomit rising until she felt she might burst. Eileen reminded her of things she had long since discarded.

"You are the only daughter of House Farbellini."

These were the sacrifices she had made to live as the daughter of a noble family and to repay her father’s love. She recalled a moment from her youth when, innocent and naive, she had approached her father with a poem she had written, expressing her desire to become a poet.

"Get your head straight, Ornella. What good is it to know how to scribble a few verses? This empire is overflowing with great poets who could replace you in an instant."

"The daughter of House Farbellini is the one who commands those poets to write for her. Do you really want to kneel before other women and offer them your poetry?"

"You are more precious than any son. Become the most noble woman in the empire. Let no one command you."

It would be a lie to say her father’s words hadn’t hurt. But she understood he spoke out of love, and that made it bearable.

Ornella loved her father deeply. She knew how much he cherished her as his only daughter, and she had strived to repay that love.

Even when she felt like she was losing her mind, she endured. When she screamed and shattered things in fits of rage, and it still wasn’t enough, she turned to a man. After drowning her thoughts in fleeting pleasures, life would feel tolerable again.

Yet outside, she wore the mask of the perfect lily of Traon. Her father treated her outbursts as if they were the tantrums of a beloved cat.

"Thinking you can live however you want—that’s what’s truly abnormal."

Ornella opened her mouth, the urge to throttle Eileen pulsing through her veins.

"I am a daughter of House Farbellini. That comes with responsibilities—responsibilities you don’t seem to understand, Eileen."

The way Eileen acted as if she had choices was infuriating. Here she was, occupying a position everyone else coveted, yet behaving as if she were unaware of her place. It made Ornella want to lash out.

"Do you know why I wanted to marry His Grace, the Grand Duke? Because in my life, nothing is truly within my control. Even my marriage is predetermined. So I figured, if I had to marry, I would marry the best man. He’s the only one who can elevate me to the most noble woman in the empire."

Even as she resented her father’s love, fearing the loss of it, she couldn’t rebel against his wishes. In the end, she had always lived according to his will.

A storm of emotions swirled within her, and Ornella found herself speaking truths she never would have dared to express under normal circumstances.

"I have lived by my father’s commands, and I will continue to do so."

As Ornella shot her words like arrows, Eileen felt an unexpected sense of kinship with her.

It seemed laughable—what common ground could there possibly be between the daughter of Duke Farbellini and the daughter of Baron Elrod? Anyone overhearing such a notion would surely scoff.

Yet Eileen couldn’t suppress the emotions that welled up within her. Ornella, declaring that she would live by her father’s commands, was yearning for his affection. Eileen understood that longing all too well, as she had lived it herself.

She recalled the lengths she had gone to earn her mother’s love—actions she believed were the best she could offer at the time.

Ornella seemed proud of her sacrifices for her father’s affection, but Eileen knew that her contentment was far more complex. She saw a reflection of her former self in Ornella.

What if her mother had told her to give up botany and pharmacology?

The answer was already clear. The moment Eileen had received her mother’s letter, she had abandoned university and returned to the capital.

"..."

Ornella’s eyes narrowed, and Eileen realized too late how she had been looking at her. She hurriedly averted her gaze, but it was too late. Ornella, with her sharp awareness honed by years in society, could already read the emotions in Eileen’s eyes. She surely knew what Eileen had been thinking.

Eileen braced herself, fearing Ornella might lash out, furious at the audacity of someone like her showing any sense of empathy.

Yet, instead of shouting, Ornella simply grasped her teacup and quietly swallowed the now-cold tea.

She didn’t empty the cup. Taking just a single sip, she set it down and locked eyes with Eileen again.

"I’ve said more than I should have. I’m sure you’re busy, too, Eileen."

It was as though Ornella had swallowed her turbulent emotions along with the tea. Now, she wore the same serene, elegant smile Eileen had come to expect from the Duke’s daughter and the Emperor’s betrothed.

***