Reborn With a Money-Making System: Ruined Actress to Nation's Treasure-Chapter 165: Do I Love Him?

I nodded slightly at him and said, "I feel better now."

My voice sounded a bit hoarse after I cried too loudly this morning, so I had some difficulty speaking to him.

But sadly, my hoarse voice only made the maids even more suspicious. From the looks in their eyes, it was clear they thought my voice sounded this way because I had moaned too loudly in my husband’s room last night.

Damn it. This misunderstanding was so embarrassing. But still, it was much better than letting them know that I had been drugged last night and almost violated by my husband’s brother.

"Let’s give them some space," Henry suddenly said as he chased the gossiping maids out of the dining room. After patting my shoulders gently a few times, he also left.

"Henry was very worried about you last night," Lando said while spreading strawberry jam on the toast before placing it on the plate in front of me. "He even wanted to kick me out of the room and let Dr. Mina take care of you instead."

I let out a soft laugh. "He probably thought you would do something bad to me." I took a small bite of the toast before continuing, "But I’m glad it was you who stayed with me last night."

I looked straight into his eyes. "Husband, I promise you, no matter what happens in the future, I will always stay by your side."

After everything that happened last night and the sudden mission Penny gave me this morning, I finally trusted my husband completely, and there was not even a tiny bit of doubt left in my heart.

I believed he would never become the kind of jerk who would leave his wife just because she was no longer young and beautiful. I believed he would stay with me, even at my worst.

Because of that, I also promised myself that I would do the same for him. No matter what would happen to him in the future, I would never run away, even if one day he went bankrupt!

"Thank you." Lando gently patted my hand and pushed the bowl of soup closer to me. "Now eat first. Don’t think about bad things anymore."

I only smiled in response, swaying a little as I ate the warm chicken soup. We finished our lunch in silence, and when we were done, an idea suddenly came to my mind.

"Husband, since we don’t have anything to do today... how about we take a picture?" I asked with bright eyes.

Lando raised one of his eyebrows, confused. "Like the photobox?"

I shook my head. "No, no, no. Not like the photobox. I mean the official wedding photo!" I held his hands and said eagerly, "We still don’t have a proper wedding picture!"

The only photo we had taken was from the photobox, and the quality wasn’t that good to be kept for a long time.

"Maybe... we can do it later," Lando murmured.

I looked at him in disappointment. "Why? Don’t you want to have a wedding photo with me?"

"It’s not that," he replied gently. "I just don’t want to tire you out today. You need more rest so you can feel better tomorrow."

Ah, he honestly had a point. My voice was still hoarse, and my face was still a little pale. But since I no longer felt dizzy or weak, I felt like I could handle it. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"But, husband... I actually can’t relax if I don’t do anything," I admitted softly. "When I stay still, my mind keeps returning to what happened last night."

I wasn’t lying. That was truly how I felt when I did nothing. Therefore, I tried to find other activities so I could forget about those kinds of things.

My psychiatrist once told me that my way of dealing with problems was by running away—by spending my money on shopping or even doing extreme things.

But today, for some reason, the only thing I wanted to do was take pictures with my husband.

I didn’t feel like spending a lot of money. I didn’t feel like doing scary things like bungee jumping either. Who would have thought that I would really find someone who could slowly become my medicine?

Still, I knew I had to be careful. Relying too much on someone usually never ends well. But for now, I chose to believe that nothing bad would happen between Lando and me.

"Alright, let’s take a wedding picture," Lando finally agreed, probably because he felt sorry for me. "I know a good studio. They also provide makeup and wedding outfits for rent."

"Oh? How do you even know a place like that? Did you do some research?" I teased him.

I was actually just joking, because that kind of knowledge could easily come from his friends or employees. But to my surprise, he suddenly nodded.

"Yes, I once looked for good studios for wedding photos," Lando admitted shyly. "I just... saved the recommendations until you wanted them. Don’t worry. I also made sure their makeup looks beautiful."

I gasped, covering my mouth with both of my hands. What Lando did was truly beyond the bare minimum.

He even paid attention to the kind of makeup I liked when he searched for the wedding studio.

"Husband... you can’t keep being like this," I said with a small pout. "You’re making me fall in love with you."

Lando’s eyes widened, and his whole body suddenly froze.

[Lando’s favorability has increased by +5%]

Oh. It had been a while since I last saw that message. I thought I needed a lot of physical contact to raise his favor, and since a kiss on the cheek didn’t work much anymore, I thought I would have to do more.

But who would have thought that just words alone could raise his favorability by five percent!

And now his favorability had reached 84%!

"You... you love me?" Lando asked softly.

Oh... I see.

Now that he asked that question, I finally understood why his favorability suddenly went up.

At first, I had only spoken without thinking too much. But when he asked so seriously, I realized that maybe those words didn’t come out for no reason.

My face grew hot, and from the reflection of a flower vase, I could see that my cheeks had turned very red, as if I had just been hit by tomatoes.

Do I love him?

The answer was actually a bit complicated.

At first, I only saw our relationship as a friendship, a bond between two abandoned people finding comfort in each other. But after Lando said he wanted to be my real husband, my feelings slowly began to change.

It was like... I felt comfortable around him, and when I felt stressed, I had to talk to him so I could calm down again.

For the time being, I felt that he was my stabilizer, but deep down in my heart, I had also thought about embarrassing things about him a few times, like... something sexual.

I guess... friends don’t usually think about things like that toward their friends, right?

The room went quiet after his question.

I didn’t answer right away.

Lando was still looking at me, his eyes full of worry and hope at the same time. It made my heart beat even faster. I could feel the heat rising to my face again, and this time, no vase was needed to tell me how red I must look.

"I..." I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

Why was it so hard to answer?

I wasn’t someone who liked to lie, especially not to him. But I also wasn’t brave enough yet to say those three words out loud.

When I was still trying to gather my courage, I suddenly heard Lando say, "I love you."

I held my breath for a moment and immediately locked eyes with him. Instead of looking shy, he looked extremely serious, like a soldier who had been sent on a dangerous mission.

"Maybe you think this came out of nowhere, or maybe you think this is just bullshit," Lando took a deep breath, then said again, "But Helcia, last night, I was really scared."

"I treasure you so much that I don’t want anything bad to happen to you." He squeezed my hands slightly and spoke with such gentle eyes. "What I feel in my heart... I don’t think it’s just affection for a friend. It’s more than that."

"I want to protect you, cherish you, and make sure you are always safe by my side," Lando finished in a hoarse voice.

I swallowed hard and didn’t say anything, because it felt like Lando was not done speaking yet.

"What I feel right now... I believe this is what people call love, an affection between husband and wife." His voice was calm, but I could see the slight tremble in his eyes.

"I don’t know when it started," he continued quietly. "Maybe it was when I saw you smiling for the first time. Or maybe it was when I saw you crying and felt like my chest was being torn apart."