Married To The Mad Vampire Lord-Chapter 145: Breakfast hall_Part 1

"When I saw you, I thought—I will give you the comfort I never had from people. I will make you not feel lonely like I am admist so many people. I thought we had things in common—cruel partners who make us miserable. Only for me to realize I was the only one."

Her voice quivered and shook as she continued, "Though people call your husband mad and insane, he seems to treat you well enough, more than I had expected, judging from how the rumors made him sound. You were excited to see him. He even walked you back to the chamber, while mine was busy having an affair with a vampire..."

She broke down and began to sob brokenly, and Belle sat up on the bed and turned to her.

Without hesitation this time, she moved closer and pulled the woman into a hug.

"I am sorry..." Evenly apologized as she hugged Belle back. "It’s just too much to bear that... I want to say the words out. He used to love me so much until I lost his child by accident. It was an accident—I slipped on the stairs. After that, he seemed to hate me because no baby wanted to stay within me anymore. I keep losing them, even when I was being careful. And now... now the doctor said unfortunately I can’t have a baby anymore. He hates me and blames me for everything...

"But I guess it’s my fault. If I wasn’t so clumsy, if I had been careful enough—oh Lord, I wish I had died with the baby..." she sobbed brokenly, and Belle stroked her back and whispered,

"It’s not your fault, Lady Clifton. You did not wish for the accident, and if he loves you enough, he would never blame you for it."

"I know...He doesn’t love me anymore. It hurts to know he doesn’t. He told me to smuggle and carry a case of gold coins from the house so the elder Lord Clifton wouldn’t see it because he wanted to give it to the vampire he has been seeing. The vampiress even approached me on my way here and told me very soon I would be thrown out of his house. I will be an embarrassment to my family if he throws me out.

"I can’t afford to not be married to him, and I tried to make Lady Cordelia understand that I will overlook their affairs if she did not make him leave me. She’s the worst of her kind—she laughed at me and called me a pathetic loser..."

Belle’s hand froze mid-stroke. "Lady Cordelia?" she asked, taken aback by the direction of things. Why was it always Cordelia trying to come between married couples?! ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

"Yes. She is having an affair with my husband. I don’t know when it started, but he seems to be head over heels for her—to the point he wants to give her a huge sum of money. Josh used to blame me for losing his sons, but he had never threatened to throw me out until he began his affair with the vampiress..."

It took a while for Belle to finally console Evenly, who had told her how she caught her husband kissing the vampiress earlier when she walked to where they were to meet. It was still a surprise to Belle that Cordelia would be interested in a human, when she had been pushing herself onto Rohan just days ago.

Could it be that she was doing it for the money? After all, her family had gone down in debt.

Belle had not suggested nor advised Evenly to go back to her father’s house to spare herself the heartache, because she knew that would not help in this day and age. Falling out of marriage was the worst disgrace one could ever have on them—a stain that would forever remain, with people mocking you for it.

Some were never even accepted by their families again after falling out of marriage, and so Belle watched her words of advice carefully.

Though Nightbrook was different from Aragonia in many ways, the society’s way of thinking was similar. A woman only had power when she had a man, a husband.

Belle did only what she could, which was to listen and console.

They did not get to sleep for long, as they both talked through the night until dawn.

Belle felt like she had just closed her eyes when the bells of the castle began to ring to wake everyone up. It was finally the day of the hunt many had anticipated and trained for.

Servants rushed into the chambers, helping the guests prepare for the day. The sky had barely even finished brightening, as there were too many people and they couldn’t afford to waste time.

After their bath, their hunting attires were already laid out neatly on the beds.

Belle was taken aback to find that it wasn’t the outfit she had brought with her. Instead, it matched those laid on the bed for the other ladies to wear after their bath. it had been tailored under the king’s arrangement for every invited guest, just like every year, explained Evenly when she noticed the look of surprise on Belle’s face as she looked at the outfit.

"We get to keep it even after the hunt." Evenly added with a smile as she went to check out her own outfit on the bed.

After what happened last night, Evenly had begun to act more friendly and even insisted that Belle address her by her name now. The two other women had added Belle to their dislike list because she was getting close to Evenly, after they had already warned her to stay away, but Belle did not care about what they think or say.

"I have never seen an outfit like this before..." Belle commented as a maid came forward to help her dress.

The outfit was unlike anything she’d worn before: sleek black trousers paired with a long-sleeved shirt, both fitted yet easy to move in. Over it was a dark flock coat that stopped just above her knees, the fabric rich and smooth.

On the shoulders of both the coat and shirt, four vivid red stripes stood out boldly. She was helped into the outfit along with sturdy black leather hunting boots. Her hair was pulled back into a practical ponytail.

Just like her, the other ladies in the chamber wore the exact same outfit, their hair tied in the same style. Once they were done dressing, they barely had time to linger in the chamber before the servants reported,

"It’s time for the breakfast gathering in the hall, my ladies. Please follow me."

The four of them followed behind the servant on the way to the hall.

As they walked down the long corridor of the room they had stayed in, Belle noticed other groups stepping out of their chambers, and just like them, they wore the same outfit, only the colors of the stripes on their shoulders were different. While theirs were red, the others varied in color.

While Lady Benedict and her friend walked together, Belle walked with Evenly, who had woken up looking as if she had not cried last night and as if nothing was wrong. It seemed the lady was used to putting on a face so that no one would know she was hurting inside.

"Are you all right?" Belle finally asked when she noticed the other two were walking ahead of them and wouldn’t be able to hear their conversation. She had wanted to ask since they’d woken up, but those two women were like hawks watching over baby chickens—no doubt they gossiped for a living and spread rumors around.

"Yes, I am. I’ve always liked hunting since I was young, so I believe I’ll put my mind in the right place today and not worry about my husband. I quite like the hunting attires this year, it’s more advanced." Evenly switched the topic as she looked around at the other ladies. Thinking about it only made her emotional and teary; today wasn’t a day to appear weak.

Belle decided to also follow up the switch of topic. "Are the attires changed every year?" she asked curiously. In Aragonia, it was frowned upon for a woman to wear attire remotely similar to that of men, but it seemed it was totally normal here to wear trousers with boots.

"Yes. In the early years, the women still wore dresses for the hunt. I was young then and had not come of age to join the hunt. By the time I was old enough, it had been changed to trousers. Last year was all grey, with loose trousers that almost looked like a skirt. But this year, as you can see, it is more tight and fitted. What weapon are you planning to use?" she asked Belle, who was now looking around as the men walked out from the other side of the corridor where their rooms were located.

"Crossbow. What about you?" Belle questioned as she craned her neck subtly in search of someone with dark blue hair among the crowds of men.

"Well, I can use any weapon, but since we are only allowed to use one, I am thinking of picking a Jaeger rifle. Last year, Lady Cordelia won using it. If I could, I want to beat her this year in the female section hunt," came the determined voice of Evenly that made Belle look at her, but she said nothing about her wanting to win.