He Pretended To Love Me For Her

Chapter 2

Gisela's POV:

I never would have guessed that Leopold, the man who was always so gentle and warm day in and day out, could be this heartless.

Earlier today, before he left for the royal palace to attend to state affairs, he'd pulled me tight into his arms and pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

But now, staring at his icy, unrecognizable face, I couldn't stop myself from shivering all over, a bone-deep chill spreading through me.

The sharp edge of his sword pressed against my neck, digging harder and harder into my skin. I could feel it cut clean through my skin, warm blood trickling down past my collar and soaking into the velvet of my formal gown.

I bit down hard to fight through the searing, stabbing pain, my voice rough and hoarse when I finally spoke. "Anastasia is my best friend. I would never hurt her."

He lowered the sword slowly, the sharp blade letting out a soft ting as it settled back at his side, but his eyes were still thick with suspicion. He issued a strict, non-negotiable order: I was never to come within half a step of her ever again.

It felt like that sword had driven straight through my heart. A bitter, stinging ache flooded my chest, and my vision blurred until I could barely see straight.

Before long, the estate's herbal physician hurried into the room.

He took Anastasia's wrist to check her pulse, then turned, bowed deeply to Leopold, and delivered his report. "Marquis, Lady Stuart is pregnant. It seems the extreme heat today, combined with her accidental consumption of a cold herbal potion, shocked her system and caused her sudden fainting spell."

I let out a small, shaky breath of relief and turned to look at him. His pupils blew wide in a sharp, sudden shock, a jumble of complicated, grief-stricken emotions swirling deep in his eyes.

I clenched my fists on instinct, my breath catching and stuttering in my chest.

But in the blink of an eye, that familiar soft, affectionate look settled back on his face, like the sharp blade, the cold indifference, the bitter suspicion had all just been some terrible hallucination of mine.

"I misunderstood you just now, Gisela," he said to me, guilt flooding his eyes.

He stepped forward and lifted his hand, meaning to brush a gentle finger over the cut on my neck, but I flinched away on instinct.

Leopold's hand hung frozen in midair. The tension in the room thickened so fast you could practically cut it with a knife.

Just then, Anastasia stirred awake, her voice soft and dazed as she mumbled, "What... what happened to me?"

I dropped my gaze, stepped around Leopold to her side, and spoke quietly, "Congratulations. You're pregnant."

She froze completely for several seconds after hearing that, then lifted a trembling, disbelieving hand to rest lightly on her stomach. "I'm going to be a mom?" She jolted, trying to sit straight up all at once.

I quickly moved to shield her stomach with my hand. "Hey, future mom, you've got to take it easy, alright? No more of your usual skittish, impulsive antics."

She nodded quickly, already bursting to share the news. "I need to go back to the castle and tell Philip. He's going to lose his mind when he hears this."

I turned to glance at Leopold on instinct, and caught him staring daggers at my hand resting on her stomach, his gaze heavy, dark, and clouded with unreadable tension.

I dropped my head immediately, a bitter ache spreading slow and thick through my chest.

We'd known each other ten whole years, and this was what I amounted to in his eyes? A dangerous threat he had to guard against, like some rampaging wild beast he had to keep locked out.

Suddenly, Anastasia gasped and grabbed my shoulder. "Wait, you have a cut on your neck! Who did that to you?"

I didn't want to drag her into my mess, so I brushed it off casually. "It's nothing. When you fainted earlier, I was rushing out of the way in a panic when I accidentally nicked it on something sharp."

She was about to press for more details when a tall, broad-shouldered figure burst into the room, his voice rough with barely concealed panic. "Ana? Are you alright?"

A bright grin spread across her face right away. "Philip? What are you doing here? I was just about to head back to the manor to find you."

Philip pulled her into his arms, his eyes soft with adoration as he scanned her from head to toe to check she was okay. "I rushed over the second I finished my work for the Knights' Order. The moment I walked through the door, I heard you'd passed out out of nowhere..."

I stepped back quietly and slipped out of the bedroom, not wanting to intrude on the couple as they celebrated their wonderful news. But no sooner had I gotten back to my own chambers and changed into a clean corset dress than Leopold pushed the door open and followed me in.

"Gisela, I'm here to apply healing ointment to your wound." He kept his gaze lowered, hiding every one of his churning, tangled emotions behind his lowered lashes.

I was just about to turn him down when a thought crossed my mind. He'd probably just watched Philip and Anastasia being all sweet and loving together, and was feeling bitter and out of sorts seeing how happy they were.

I let out a small sigh. "Alright then, thank you, Marquis."

He moved as gently as he possibly could, but the cold herbal ointment still sent a sharp, stabbing pain lancing through my raw, broken skin the second it touched the cut on my neck.

We sat in heavy silence for a long stretch before he finally broke it, his voice low and slow.

"Anastasia and I grew up together at the aristocratic academy. Everything happened so suddenly just now, I was too panicked and overstepped..."

I didn't buy that flimsy, hole-riddled excuse for a second.

I lifted my eyes to look at the man bent over carefully tending to my wound, and the question I'd been holding back for so long finally slipped out. "Marquis, do you really love me? Truly?"

His movements froze abruptly for a beat, then he pulled on that familiar soft, gentle smile. "Of course I do. More than anything. I promise."

"Then after all these years, why won't you ever let us have a child of our own?"

He picked up dabbing the ointment on my wound like he hadn't skipped a beat, his tone just as warm and gentle as always. "You were badly injured when you were younger, and your body was left weakened. I couldn't bear to let you go through the agony of carrying and giving birth to a child. But once you're fully nursed back to health, we'll have a little baby of our own."

Before the words even fully left his mouth, my personal maid Agnes pushed the door open with a soft creak, carrying a cup of herbal tonic.

"Madam, it's time for your conditioning tonic."

Leopold reached out to take the glass, blew gently on the liquid to cool it down, and held it to my lips. His voice was as warm and soft as the afternoon sun. "Come on, let me feed you." His gaze was brimming with such intense, tender affection that it looked like I was the only person that existed to him.

I could barely tell if the soft, loving demeanor he was putting on right then was just a carefully acted performance. Maybe after all these years of living side by side, he'd actually felt even a tiny sliver of real affection for me?

My thoughts were swirling all over the place, a total jumble. I parted my lips slightly and knocked back the entire bitter tonic in one gulp.

He looked satisfied and pushed himself to his feet. "You get some proper rest lying down. I'm heading to the palace to get scar-fading ointment from the royal physician. There's no way I'm letting that cut on your neck leave a scar."

The second he stepped out of the room, I spotted a family crest pendant lying quietly on the pillow. It was his most prized possession, one he wore close to his body every single day, never taking it off.

Once, when he'd dropped it by accident, he'd blown his top on the spot and practically turned the entire castle upside down looking for it. Luckily, it had only been misplaced in the study that time.

I picked up the pendant, hesitated for a moment, and decided to head out to give it back to him.

I'd just rounded the corner of the corridor when I heard his personal knight's voice clearly coming from up ahead.

"Marquis, do you plan to keep having Madam drink that conditioning tonic on schedule? The royal physician made it clear ages ago that taking this concoction long-term will take a serious toll on her body. Worse still, there's a high chance she'll never be able to get pregnant!"