If I was Going to Regret it Anyway

The daughter of a viscount, Eleanor Townsend lost her parents at a young age and had been receiving sponsorship from the Duke of Griffith. This sponsorship led to rumors that Eleanor must be the Duke’s illegitimate daughter. Suddenly, the Duke declares that his heir, Daryl, must maintain a one-year marriage with Eleanor, or he won’t inherit the title. Daryl approaches Eleanor and proposes a contractual marriage for just one year. “If you want to repay my father’s favor, you’ll have to accept my offer. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have to go through this absurdity.” He was a cold and arrogant man. Throughout their contract marriage, Daryl’s tongue had been like a poisoned blade, cutting through Eleanor. “Don’t delude yourself into thinking you’re a real duchess. Live as if you were dead for a year. Don’t speak to me.” She endured it, waiting only for the day when this marriage would end. However, why is it that the one who never took her side, not even once, is now trying to hold onto her? **. “You’re the one who said it only needed to be a formality; you’re the one who asked me to marry you in the first place; you’re the one who brought me a contract stipulating a divorce after a year; you’re the one who coerced me into paying the favor the former duke had given me.” “……Eleanor, back then, I was.” “You told me not to delude myself into thinking I became a real duchess, and live like dead for a year. You practically treated me like I didn’t exist the entire time.” “……” “It was a lonely life, many, many times more lonely than the one I lived alone in Townsend Street, but I put up with it, because it was a promise, because I thought it was my way of making amends for the trouble I’d unwittingly caused you, and so I put up with it, because it was only a year, and I can’t put up with it any longer, and I don’t want to.” The calm way she spoke to Daryl contained all the truth Eleanor had kept bottled up inside for a year. “Now please leave.” “……” “If you don’t leave, I will.”