Lay Your Eyes on Jasmine - Chapter 72.2

Chapter 72.2

Richard smiled wryly, taking a deep drag from his cigarette before exhaling the smoke. He didn’t feel drunk despite the alcohol and couldn’t sleep, so he wandered away from Nysa and Risha, who were knocked out, and ended up here.

The Grand Duchy of Liovanni. It was his first visit. A year ago, he had no reason or interest to visit. The change in his circumstances was palpable.

How pathetic and insignificant he had become.

This unfamiliar, naked sense of defeat. He had always been the victor, the strong one. Now, here he was, desperately wanting to catch even a glimpse of the woman who didn’t want to see him, not even her shadow. It was laughable.

But he couldn’t bear it anymore. He had only just realized his feelings.

“Hahaha.”

Damn, I miss her.

He rubbed his forehead with the hand holding the cigarette. His eyes were dry. His head throbbed, and his chest felt heavy, as if he had been up for seven days and nights. Richard now understood that this recurring pain wasn’t physical but emotional.

He lowered his hand, revealing a twisted smile.

The cigarette fell to the ground and was crushed under his shoe.

“I can never give up.”

He couldn’t. If this wretched feeling was love, Richard decided he would accept it.

—

Jasmine was briefly disturbed by her friend’s ice-cold, bloodshot eyes and her greeting in a voice barely above a whisper, but she served her the hangover soup without a word.

Marian sat quietly and began to eat voraciously. Her stomach must have been in turmoil. After all, she had been drinking wine straight from the bottle, and her head must have been pounding.

Jasmine clicked her tongue.

“Are you okay?”

“No. I feel like I’m going to die.”

Jasmine couldn’t tell if Marian’s pain was from the hangover or something else. Probably both.

It had been three days since Marian had stayed at Jasmine’s house. During that time, Marian had cycled through crying, zoning out, drinking again, complaining, dealing with hangovers, and spending half a day like a corpse before falling back into depression.

Watching her friend, so full of sorrow and anger as if she had suffered a great loss, Jasmine couldn’t even begin to imagine what it felt like. What would it feel like if a beloved husband cheated on you? Wouldn’t it feel like the sky was falling?

It might be different in a mere marriage of convenience, but if you married someone you loved dearly and they betrayed you, it would be hard to stay sane.

If it were her.

Inevitably, she thought of the only face of a man she had ever associated with marriage, both in the past and recently.

She frowned at the thought. If Jasmine ever faced such a situation, she wouldn’t let that basta.rd husband get away with it.

She’d hire an assassin in secret or personally rip him apart limb by limb….

Jasmine’s eyes gleamed menacingly before she startled herself and cleared her throat.

‘Why am I getting so emotionally involved? I’m not even married or engaged. Hahaha.’

“Hey, Marian. But if you don’t go home, won’t your husband…”

A fierce glint flashed in Marian’s eyes as she stuffed bread into her mouth with a face like she’d bitten into something bitter. Jasmine broke out in a cold sweat but managed to continue speaking.

“…Didn’t he say anything? I mean, you stayed out all night, so he must have said something.”

“I don’t know. Actually, we had a huge fight before I came to your house.”

“Oh, I see. That’s not surprising.”

Jasmine laughed awkwardly.

“The next morning, a letter came. I ripped it up and threw it away.”

“What did it say?”

“Told me to come back, of course.”

“Did he apologize?”

“Ha, not at all. He insisted he did nothing wrong and that I was overreacting.”

Jasmine knew Sir Soyer’s personality well, having been caught in the middle of this couple’s tumultuous fights a few times due to her own colorful romantic history.

Even in this situation, he probably just coldly wrote, ‘Come back.’ His patriarchal demeanor made him treat Marian as if he were his boss rather than his wife.

That’s why it’s even harder to believe. Do men really think with their heads and lower parts separately? They love you and still want to fool around in bed with another woman?

Such cases were so common in social circles that it felt like a regular event, and she thought Sir Soyer was different.

Then again, he and Marian had been together since their academy days, over ten years. A period of boredom was bound to happen. Just hearing the word boredom left a bitter taste. Jasmine sighed and propped her chin on her hand.

So why am I still stuck like this after seven, no, almost eight years?

‘I wish that damned boredom would hit me too.’

Thinking for a moment, Jasmine asked, “Then what does he say about his strange and suspicious behavior?”

“He just says he’s been tired lately. Seriously, does that make sense? Is he saying he’s already going through menopause or something?”