Dara turned her head on the pillows as Jiyong walked through the doorway that joined her suite with his: It had been two days since she'd been injured, two days and nights of drifting in and out of wakefulness. Each time she had awakened, he was sitting beside her bed, keeping a silent vigil, his fear for her etched deeply into his drawn features.

Now that she was fully conscious, she would have liked to hear him talk to her in that same tender tone he'd used these past two days, or to look at her with love burning in his eyes. Unfortunately, however, Jiyong's features were perfectly composed and completely unreadable this morningso much that Dara wondered if she'd only dreamed the tender, tormenting sweetness of his words to her when he believed she was dying.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, his deep voice conveying only polite concern as he came to stand beside her bed.

"Very well, thank you," she returned with equal courtesy. "A little tired, that's all."

"I imagine you have some questions you'd like answered about what happened two days ago."

What Dara wanted was for him to put his arms around her and tell her that he loved her. "Yes, of course," she replied, wary of his unfathomable mood.

"To be brief, a year and a half ago, Bertie caught one of their kitchen servants a local peasant named Jean stealing money from his purse. She admitted that she intended to give it to her brothers, who were waiting for her in the woods directly behind their house. Bertie and his mother had already hatched a scheme to have me killed, but until then neither of them had any idea where to find someone to do it. Rather than prosecute the maid for stealing the money, Bertie made her sign a confession, admitting to the theft. He paid her brothers to get rid of me the night I met you, and he kept the maid's confession to ensure her silence and her brothers' cooperation.

"You ruined their plans by riding to my rescue in that suit of armor, but one of the brothers he one I shot managed to crawl to his horse and escape while I took you to the inn. "Bertie tried again four days after we were married, but this time the two men he hired took his money, and instead of killing me, they doubled their take by handing me over to the press gang. As my aunt pointed out,"

Jiyong added sardonically, "it's difficult to hire good people when one hasn't much money."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and then continued: "When I 'came back from the dead' a week ago, Bertie reminded the maid that he still had her incriminating confession and he used it to blackmail her brother into trying to kill me again. That time he shot at me in Brook Street the same night you slept in the governess' room."

Dara gazed at him in astonishment. "You never told me that someone shot at you that night."

"I saw no reason to alarm you," Jiyong said, then shook his head and gruffly added,

"That's not the complete truth. I also had it in the back of my mind that you might have been the one who fired that pistol. From the standpoint of size, the gunman could have been you. And you had told me that very day that you'd do anything necessary to get out of our marriage."

Biting her lip, Dara turned her face away from him, but not before Jiyong saw the pain and accusation in her eyes. He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and went on:

"Three days ago, a footman named Nordstrom died from drinking the port that was in the decanter at our picnic he same port you repeatedly tried to make me drink."

Her gaze flew to his face, and he continued in a voice of harsh self-accusation, "Psy is not an assistant bailiff, he's an investigator whose men have been stationed all over Hawthorne since we came here. He investigated the incident with the port, and it looked as if you were the only one who could possibly have poisoned it."

"Me?" she cried softly. "How could you think such a thing!"

 "Psy witness was a scullery maid who's worked here off and on when we need her for the last year and a half. Her name," Jiyong finished, "is Jean. She poisoned the port, again at Bertie's instructions. I think you already know everything else that has happened since then."

Dara swallowed painfully. "In your mind, you accused and convicted me of trying to murder you, based on evidence as flimsy as that? Because I'm the same approximate height as someone who shot at you in Brook Street, and because a scullery maid said I must have been the one who poisoned your wine?"

Inwardly, Jiyong flinched at her words. "I did it based on those things and on the fact that Olsen, who is one of Psy's men, followed you to Youngbae's house on two separate occasions. I knew you were meeting with him in secret, and that combined with everything else made the evidence against you seem very damning."

"I understand," she said bleakly.

But she didn't understand at all, and Jiyong knew it. Or perhaps she understood too well, he thought grimly. No doubt she clearly understood that he had failed in his promise to trust her and that he had repeatedly rejected the love she offered.

She also understood, he knew bitterly, that she had risked her life twice for his sake and in return he had rewarded her with callousness and mistrust.

Jiyong gazed down at her beautiful pale face, knowing perfectly well that he deserved her hatred and contempt.

Now that she was fully conscious of the true depth of his heartlessness and stupidity, he waited, half expecting her to banish him from her life.

When she didn't, he felt obliged to say the things she should be saying to him. "I realize my behavior to you has been unforgivable," he began tightly, and the sound of his voice filled Dara with dread.

"Naturally, I don't expect you to want to remain married to me. As soon as you're well enough to leave here, I'll give you a bank draft for a half billion won. If you ever need more"

He stopped and cleared his throat as if it was clogged. "If you ever need more," he began again, his voice rough with emotion, "you have only to tell me. Anything I have will always be yours."

Dara listened to that speech with a mixture of tenderness, anger, and disbelief. She was about to reply when he cleared his throat again and added,

"There's something else I want to tell you. Before we left Seoul, Filbert told me how you felt when you thought I was dead, and how you reacted when you came to Seoul and had all your illusions shattered. Most of what you heard about me was true. However, I would like you to know that I did not sleep with Sulli Choi the night I saw her in Seoul."

Pausing, Jiyong gazed down at her, unconsciously memorizing every line of her face so that he would have it before him in the empty years that lay ahead of him.

In silence, he looked at her, knowing she represented every hope and every dream he cherished in his heart. Dara was goodness and gentleness and trust. And love. She was flowers blooming on the hillsides and laughter floating through the halls.

Forcing himself to finish what he had come to say and then get out of her life, he drew a long breath and said unsteadily, "Filbert also told me about your father and what happened after he died. I can't wipe away the hurt he caused you, but I wanted to give you this"

Jiyong held out his hand and Dara saw within it a long, flat velvet case. She took it from him and with trembling fingers unfastened the latch. Lying on a bed of white satin, suspended from a fine silver chain, was the largest ruby she had ever seen. It was cut in the shape of a heart. Beside it, in another shallow tray was an emerald surrounded by diamonds in the shape of a heart. Beside the emerald was a magnificent, glittering diamond. The diamond was cut in the shape of a tear.   (Jiyong is so sweet, remember the story of the necklace given by Dara's father, the one that she have is cheaper as compare to her half sister which is the expensive one, and now Jiyong gave her the most expensive necklace in the world hehe...)

Biting her lip to stop her chin from quivering, Dara raised her eyes to his. "I think," she whispered, trying to smile, "I shall wear the ruby on Queen's Race day, so that when I tie my ribbon on your sleeve"

With a groan, Jiyong pulled her into his arms. "Now that you've said all those other things," she whispered when he finally lifted his lips from hers several minutes later, "do you think you could possibly say 'I love you'? I've been waiting to hear that since you began and"

"I love you," he said fiercely. "I love you," he whispered softly, burying his face in her hair. "I love you," he groaned, kissing her lips. "I love you, I love you, I love you"

At last! ... next update would be the epilogue already hehe...