this gives me a vibe I'm going to disappear grand duke. They married politically, FL loves ML, ML hates FL because his father is cunning. And this novel is smut.
Part of my blending issue is that I've been reading spoilers lol But I do think Kyle's explanation is mentioned when Rosaline visits her parents in the first 10 chapters or when he's thinking about her because I remember it fairly well like I read it vs read an amazing cuppa.jo summary
So Albert is now friend zoned? Does Kyle even have a valid excuse for sexually objectifying her and treating her like trash when they were married? Not a fan of characters like him getting a second chance. It seems like he genuinely fucked up. I wish she'd just move on and find someone better.
Ah I didn't have time to write summaries before I lost access to the last chapters lol. But there are only 3 chapters left in the main story after this. More or less, she accepts his proposal and they live happily ever after haha. Then the last chapter shows Kyle meeting Rosaline and the beginning of the marriage from Kyle's perspective. I'm not going to read the side stories since there are other novels I'm more interested in so this will be my last update!
Rosaline did see him and his cousin walk into a luxury hotel together, but she leaves after that, so we don't see what happened after. When he came back the next day and Rosaline asked him where he was all night, he said he was working late at the palace. Whether that's true or not hasn't been confirmed, but I don't think he cheated. Seemed more like his ahole cousin just scheming behind their backs.
Rosaline tells Albert that Kyle found out everything, but fortunately, he's a good father to Leo. Albert says he also wants to help out with her father's murder investigation. He knows someone at the palace who can help. Rosaline asks why he's doing so much for her, and he confesses his feelings. Rosaline is speechless, but she had long guessed that his feelings towards her were more than friendship. She tells him she only thinks of him as a friend.
At Kyle's castle, Rosaline is telling Leo a bed time story with a dragon and a princess. He falls asleep before it ends, but Kyle asked what happened. She replies that in the end, the princess stabs the dragon and runs away, leaving the dragon alone to regret for the rest of its life. She says she doesn't want to talk to him anymore and once Leo wakes up, she'll go. Kyle tries to apologize again. Rosaline asks if he's apologizing about Olivia again and replies that it's not his fault that she pushed Leo, and it was her own misunderstanding what happened back then.
"But I mean, that's what I thought. If I had asked about it back then, it wouldn't have been this hard for so long. But four years ago, I couldn't ask. I was scared. It's scary to hear the truth, so can I ask you if I'm nothing? That was the most scary and terrifying thing."
He apologizes again for hurting her, but she thinks that she didn't just leave him because of Olivia. If they had been a normal married couple, they could have resolved their misunderstandings. She realized that the problem wasn't with Olivia or her infertility. The problem was "us".
Kyle continues groveling. "But even knowing that, I can't let you go until the end. I can't do it without you now. Looking back, in the beginning, just looking at you made me angry, nervous, stuffy, annoyed. It was only after you left that I knew it was called love. Rosaline... I realized it too late."
He asks her if she can hate him by his side. It was ok if she didn't love him like before. He didn't dare ask for her love. He wants the three of them to live together, and he would spend the rest of his life with a heart of atonement.
Rosaline replies that she always felt abandoned, even on the nights they embraced each other. All she had left was the facade of the duchess. And now she needs time to get used to all the changes. He implores again if she can adapt by his side. They didn't have to live as a couple again, but as a family of three with Leo. He tells her to take time to think it over. She says she doesn't know if thinking about it will make a difference and then walks away. Kyle sent beautiful clothes and accessories to Rosaline again, but she refuses to wear them. She doesn't want to feel anymore indebted to him. In the past, she wanted to look pretty for him and purposely chose dresses that were flashier and more revealing than she liked. Now she just wears modest dresses. They're back at Kyle's estate, and Leo is running around playing. Kyle stares at her and remarks that she never wears the clothes he gave her. She replies "I don't have to look pretty anymore." In response, Kyle mutters "even if you don't want to look pretty, you're beautiful... whatever you do, no matter what you do." He walks up to her and caresses her cheek. She asks why he's staring and he says "it's exciting."
He thinks to himself that she always had a pretty face in his dreams. During their marriage, she would always show him a calm smile, but he turned his back to her. But now, it seemed so easy for her to turn her back on him. Touching her cheek now makes him realize it isn't a dream. When she asks what he's excited about, he replies "that now is reality... and I'm happy." Rosaline just furrows her brows and doesn't respond, and then leo intersects to say he's hungry. He takes turns feeding Rosaline and then Kyle, and then tells them to feed each other. Kyle tries to feed her, but she just turns her head away in embarrassment. Leo just continues eating.
At some point later, Rosaline visits Albert's relatives' house for dinner. She meets his relative Selina, and they get along well. Sevina says that Albert has told her a lot about her and how beautiful she is. Her and Albert are both kind and warm without the pretense of nobles. As they're eating, Albert says he has something to tell her once they're done.
In the carriage, Albert is reading documents while Rosaline is trying to secretly cut her ropes with a piece of glass she picked up from the ground when she fell. However the glass is a bit too small, and she's struggling and accidentally cuts her wrist. When she moans in pain, Albert asks what's wrong, but she just plays it off that she hurt herself when she was pushed down earlier. Her escape efforts are cut short when he apologizes before blindfolding her.
Rosaline asks why he wanted to take revenge and if he was going to kill her. He replies that at first, he did want to kill her, but it's true that he likes her a bit. So now he's thinking of just taking her instead, and every time she sees him, she'll think of her lost son and the father he killed. He explains that her father pushed his father out of power and caused the downfall of his family. Rosalind tries to persuade him that her father may have sinned, but Albert shouldn't hurt innocent people (I think she says she'll pay for her father's sins but asks him not to hurt anyone else. Dialog was unclear). She thinks that she wants to escape as much as possible but if Leo or anyone else got hurt because of it, it would be better to die here.
Albert starts to aks if she wants to die, but suddenly the carriage seems to be attacked. Albert steps out to check and Rosalind tries to cut her ropes again. The carriage is toppled over, but she manages to cut her ropes and peeks outside. Men are fighting, and it seems like they were attacked by thieves. She tries to take the opportunity to run into the bushes, but someone grabs her wrist. Turning around, she's shocked to see Kyle. He urgently directs her to run up a road and says he'll send his friend Dustin with her. However, she sees that he only brought a couple men with him and is afraid he'll be outnumbered. As he's telling her to hurry and leave, someone appears behind him. Rosaline screams as a sword comes at Kyle. He manages to block it but the man is pressing him hard. Kyle turns his head and tells her to go and call more soldiers. She still hesitates because he's severely outnumbered, but he keeps just yelling at her to go (why do authors always do this ? What does she think she can do here??). Dustin comes over and urges her to run. She finally starts running, but Kyle suddenly yells her name. Looking back, she sees a knife flying at her. Kyle throws himself in front of her and is struck in the arm. Rosalind trembles and screams his name. She starts to ask if he's ok, but Dustin grabs her and tells her there's no time. They just have to trust in Kyle and his abilities. They reach a horse, but Rosalind refuses to get on. She tells Dustin to call the soldiers, but she can't let Kyle die for her. He asks her what she can do to help, but she just says she can't leave him and runs back.
Kyle and Albert are fighting. Albert's side is injured, but Kyle feels himself losing strength in the arm that was stabbed. He thinks that when he investigated Albert, it was suspicious because he couldn't find much info on him, and then Rosalind suddenly disappeared, only leaving a letter. However, Kyle wasn't fooled because he knew she would never leave Leo behind. Assuming something had happened, he immediately sent out people to look for her.
Albert tries to goad Kyle, saying he's no different from himself, blinded by a woman. Kyle just retorts that he's not a murderer like him. Albert sees that Kyle is struggling and continues to goad him. But Kyle only wonders if Rosaline made it out safely and thinks he needs to live so he can see her. Suddenly, Albert screams and collapses. Kyle raises his head to see a shaking Rosaline standing behind him with a rock. Kyle quickly subdues him and then turns to her. She tearfully tells him she couldn't leave him behind. Kyle is touched but quickly moves to tie Albert to a tree with Rosaline's help. He tells her they'll wait for the soldiers to arrive. However, seeing her injuries and ragged clothes, he's angered and suggests they end it now before the soldiers come.
