I Left my Cheating Husband and Married a Beast

Chapter 28

Shanur asked again if she was okay, and only after answering him thoroughly was Beloni finally able to get into the carriage.

‘My father is connected to His Highness’s curse.’

She didn’t know exactly how, but it didn’t seem to be in a good way.

That would explain why he was afraid of Shanur and felt guilty.

‘But what does that have to do with me?’

Shanur was cursed when he was five years old, which meant Beloni was either a newborn or hadn’t even been born yet—probably still in her mother’s womb.

There was no reason for Shanur to want to kill her back then.

‘It’s not like I put the curse on him. Why does he want to kill me?’

Beloni fell deep into thought. If she considered everything, it wasn’t as if she had no connection at all.

Because only she could break Shanur’s curse.

There was no proof, but if that was true, everything made sense.

The Marquis had something to do with the curse, and Beloni, as the only one who could lift it, was linked to it. Because of that, Shanur might want to kill her.

There were plenty of clues, but no clear answer.

As she let out a quiet sigh, her eyes met Shanur’s.

Realizing he was still looking at her with concern, Beloni pushed her thoughts aside and smiled.

“Thank you.”

“Hm?”

Shanur, who had been observing her, reflexively asked back.

“For saving me. My prized face almost got scarred.”

She spoke playfully, but Shanur’s expression didn’t look good. Beloni blinked, confused.

“Your Highness…?”

“Why would you say it like that? You could have seriously hurt your eye.”

Shanur checked her face again, making sure there was no injury.

“A cut on the skin can heal, but the eyes are different.

It would have been really bad.”

His words weren’t about appearance, but safety. Beloni was caught off guard—she was used to people worrying about her looks rather than her well-being.

In her past life, she often fell sick due to the stress of running a business.

Since she was already thin, she lost even more weight when she was ill, making her cheekbones stick out. She didn’t look good at all.

During those times, Ian, her husband, spent more time outside, saying he would take over some of her work.

Beloni had thought it was out of concern for her—until she overheard a conversation between Ian and his mother.

“Ian, stop going out so much. Do you know how annoying it is that she gets sick and expects me to do housework? Can you believe she told me to help?”

“Mother, just bear with it. She looks terrifying when she loses weight.

Please make sure she eats well.

Her looks are the only thing she has going for her, and now even that’s gone…”

Ian had avoided her because her appearance had suffered while she was ill.

The shock was so great that Beloni remained sick for several more days.

And just as if to confirm that she hadn’t misheard, Ian only returned to her once she had regained her weight.

After that, Beloni unconsciously became obsessed with her appearance.

Even after realizing she would never be respected or loved as a wife, she couldn’t completely shake the habit.

“If I get a scar… I’ll look ugly.”

Beloni muttered in confusion.

Shanur paused and looked at her before taking her hand and placing it on top of his mask.

“You’ve seen it before.”

Beloni nodded.

She had only seen his bare face once—on the day she first came to clean. He had forgotten to wear his mask, and she happened to see his uncovered face.

“Was my face ugly?”

“No way!”

Beloni quickly denied it, startled.

She wasn’t lying.

Even though half of Shanur’s face was darkened by the curse, he was still incredibly beautiful.

The contrast made his unique features stand out even more.

“It’s the same. No different.”

Just as she had never thought his face was ugly, he wouldn’t think a scar would make her ugly either.

Beloni brushed her fingers against the cool, hard mask and asked softly,

“…I’m not ugly, right?”

She leaned in closer to him, her face near his.

Shanur stared at her for a moment before replying in a low voice,

“…My eyes aren’t cursed.”

It was as good as saying yes.

She hadn’t expected him to call her pretty, so Beloni simply smiled.

She removed her hand from his mask and sat back properly.

“Anyway, this is a problem. The position of Grand Duchess is too thrilling—I’m already sad about leaving in a year.”

“Something happened?”

“Oh. I used my Grand Duchess power to completely crush the butler and headmaid.”

Excitedly, Beloni shared how they had reacted.

Shanur listened with a faint smile.

“They were never in a position to treat you poorly in the first place.

It was just the circumstances that allowed them to.”

Thinking about the time she spent at the Marquis’ estate, Beloni nodded.

“That’s true. They even embezzled money, so there was no way they’d respect a neglected noblewoman.”

“Embezzled? Was there even money left to steal in the Marquis’ estate?”

“They took about 30 gold coins per month.

I caught them once, and that’s when they started hating me.”

Shanur rubbed his chin in thought.

“Thirty gold each? That’s 60 gold total… How much was the estate’s monthly income?”

Beloni found his question odd but answered anyway.

“Around 300 gold. But with debts to pay, only about 200 gold came in.”

“Where was it coming from?”

“Oh, well…”

Beloni tried to recall.

It had been seven years since she managed the finances, so her memory was blurry.

“I don’t remember. Why?”

“It just seems odd. I never heard of the Marquis running a business.”

The Marquis had failed so many ventures in his youth that he had long since given up.

His only income came from a few inherited shops.

“Now that you mention it…

There was always exactly 100 gold coming in from somewhere.”

She mumbled, recalling something.

“But I can’t remember where from.”

That was strange.

Even small shops had ups and downs, yet this 100 gold had always been steady—year after year.

Back then, they were struggling so much that she had simply been relieved to have a stable source of income.

“…This doesn’t seem normal, does it?”

“Probably not.”

Shanur nodded.

“I’ll look into it.”

“Please do.”

Normally, she wouldn’t have thought much of it. But now that she knew the Marquis was involved in Shanur’s curse, she couldn’t ignore anything happening in that house.

Both of them fell silent, deep in thought.

Then Beloni suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, Your Highness.”

“Hm?”

Shanur turned to her.

“Thank you for the flowers.”

“Ah.”

Only then did he recall that he had given her a bouquet.

He had seen a flower shop while heading out and, on impulse, bought a bunch of statice flowers for her.

He had been curious about how she reacted, but after running into Ariel, he had completely forgotten about it.

“They were even prettier than I remembered.”

Shanur hurriedly turned his head away.

Her face, glowing with happiness as she smiled, was shining too brightly.

Later, when he arrived at his office, he noticed something unfamiliar—a white vase filled with statice flowers.

He picked up a single bloom, bringing it to his nose.

The scent lingered softly in the air.

Just like this gentle fragrance, Beloni’s smiling face filled his mind.

…Maybe he should give her flowers every day.