What She Overheard in Her Own Marriage novel Chapter 416

"Finnian..." Noelle turned from the sofa at the sound of his steady footsteps. She stood up slowly, her tear-streaked eyes still glistening with vulnerability.

Finnian looked at her and gave a stiff nod. "Get some rest."

"I'm sorry..." Noelle took two frantic steps toward him. She reached out, only to pull her hand back tightly against her chest. She whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Finnian paused and looked back at her. "Noelle, there's no need to apologize. There's nothing to be sorry for between us."

Noelle froze, her gaze turning vacant as she stared into his eyes. "Was... was giving Aethelstan to me really Rafael's idea?"

Finnian nodded, his voice dropping to a somber timber. "Yes. I don't know why he said those things to me back then. Maybe he had already found out about his illness and kept it hidden from all of us. Thinking back on it now, when he pulled me aside that day, he must have known what was coming."

A look of absolute devastation washed over Noelle, and she began to tremble weakly. "So that's how it was. Rafael arranged everything so perfectly for me, yet as his wife, I never even noticed his health was failing. It's all my fault... If only I had paid more attention."

"There's no point in dwelling on that now," Finnian replied, his face an unreadable mask. "He's gone. The only thing you need to focus on is safely delivering his children. Don't let him leave this world with regrets."

It was as if Noelle's outstretched emotional lifelines had been severed with a single, brutal slice. A violent chill wracked her body, and she slowly sank back onto the sofa. If his previous actions had offered her a sliver of hope, listening to his conversation with Josephine upstairs had utterly annihilated it.

Noelle looked up at him with fragile desperation, silently begging for just a few words of genuine comfort or affection.

"I'm heading home. Stay here at the estate," Finnian said flatly, turning on his heel and walking out of the grand hall.

Left alone, a suffocating weight pressed down on Noelle's chest.

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