Altezza glanced at his wife while Adaline seemed to maintain her blank expression. Altezza couldn't guess what the woman was feeling right now. Whether she was angry with him or not. Whether that blank expression was because she genuinely had no ill thoughts or because she was very good at hiding her feelings, Altezza didn't know. But Altezza would question that when they were alone.
At ten o'clock, Adaline chose to retire because she felt tired and Altezza followed her. "Are you very tired, Madam?" He asked when they were alone.
Adaline was taking off the blanket Altezza had put on her earlier. The mountain air was indeed very cold compared to Manhattan. That's why she put on a sweater and socks. Adaline chose to climb into bed and cover half of her body with the blanket.
"Pretty tired but not too much. Why?" She asked when she felt comfortable in her position.
Altezza walked closer. He got into bed and slipped under the same blanket.
"It's about what Antony and Gian said earlier. Can you explain everything to me?"
"Explain about what?"
"Everything," he requested gently. "About what I don't know. About your meeting with that woman. About what Antony said earlier."
"Do you want to hear everything?" Altezza nodded. "Do you want the honest version or a lie?"
"Honest, as honest as possible."
Adaline took a deep breath. She found a comfortable position and began to recount the beginning of her encounter with Jovanka. About how Joanna accidentally introduced them and how it led to the photo she received.
Altezza was clearly shocked to hear this. He felt slapped in the face and also felt guilty for deliberately deceiving his wife. Altezza was about to interrupt and give his version of the story, but Adaline stopped him.
Eventually, Adaline's story ended with Jovanka vaguely mentioning her 'ex-lover'-which of course Adaline knew was Altezza-asking her to come back with him and saying he would divorce Adaline after the child she was carrying was born.
Silence filled the room. Altezza couldn't even find the right words when Adaline finished her story.
"None of that is true," Altezza protested softly. Adaline only responded to her husband's words with silence. "By God, I never intended to go back to her. I never even mentioned your pregnancy, let alone divorcing you.
"I did say that I had achieved my dream. But that's all. I know I lied. I omitted the part about meeting Jovanka when I came home late that night-referring to when I said I went to the club with my friends-and I also lied about not being able to come home because of work issues. (Referring to when Jovanka was poisoned). But that was all because I wanted to protect your feelings. Because I didn't want to hurt you."
Altezza reached for Adaline's hand. He squeezed his wife's hand tightly. "Everything she said is just nonsense.
"I told you, didn't I, that there's nothing between us? There's no love left in my heart for her. Everything I did for her yesterday was just out of humanity. Because no matter what, as you once said, we were together for six years."
"Impossible for me to ignore her when she needed help," Altezza said with regret in his voice.
Adaline didn't respond. She didn't dare to look at her husband's face either. It was Altezza who took the initiative to lift Adaline's chin and make her look up.
"Look at me, Love. I'm not lying. I swear, there's no longer any feelings for her in my heart. Forgive me," he pleaded with a pitiful expression.
'And who is in your heart now? Is it me?' The question almost slipped out of Adaline's mouth, but she held it back.
Adaline reached for Altezza's hand and removed it from her chin. Adaline put on a smile, but Altezza knew that the smile didn't reach her eyes.
"I don't need to forgive you," Adaline said softly. "As I told Jovanka before, I will never burden you.
"I won't make you choose between the two of us. If you want to go back to her, I won't hold it against you.
"I won't force you to always be honest about your actions either. Because I know, you must have thought about everything before acting. So you don't need to feel guilty towards me and you don't need to apologize," she replied almost expressionlessly.
"But why didn't you tell me all this?" Altezza demanded.
"Because you never asked," she replied simply, and it pierced Altezza's heart. Had he been so indifferent to Adaline all this time? Or was it because he thought his past with Jovanka was over, so he assumed that Jovanka would never touch Adaline?
Altezza was foolish. When he assumed that Adaline would never know Jovanka and their past affairs, fate accidentally brought them together. And even more foolishly, just to spare his wife's feelings, he lied and only ended up hurting her more.
"Perhaps Jovanka truly regrets it and wants to mend her relationship with you," Adaline suddenly said in the midst of the silence that enveloped them.
"Darling... I've told you that I no longer have any feelings for her. Even if she insists on wanting to fix everything, it's too late. Because I've closed that door since she left me."
Altezza knelt before Adaline. His hands touched her knees, his head tilted up, seeking Adaline's full attention.
"I've told you that I want to fix our marriage. Won't you support me?"
Once again, Adaline smiled. "I always support whatever decision you make. Whatever you think is right, I believe it must be right.
"And I've also said from the beginning that I want this marriage to be done properly."
"But..?"
"But now, don't ever ask me to do what I can't do. Don't ever ask me to give what I can't give," she continued softly.
"What do you mean by that?" Altezza gazed at his wife, puzzled by her ambiguous statement.
"Someday you'll understand what I mean," she replied. And that was the end of their conversation that night.