Sched tightly twisted the oar.

A strange impulse flared up like a flame.

“Your Excellency…?”

“Stop.”

He barely spat out his reason through rough breaths.

He turned his gaze to the dying flames.

“Let’s go back…”

Sched hurriedly turned the bow due to an inexplicable sensation.

Disembarking impatiently, he extended his hand out of an ancient habit for Riana to get off.

The moment Riana placed her hand on his again, he felt a shiver instantly spreading from his fingertips throughout his body.

Startled by the unfamiliar sensation as if electrocuted, he let go of Riana’s hand he was holding.

Then her body, getting off the boat, staggered and tilted over.

Belatedly realizing his mistake, Sched tightly grabbed her arm.

In an instant, Riana’s fragrance, now closer, washed over him like a wave.

Ah, damn it.

The scent that pulled out memories buried deep inside was dizzily intense.

Simultaneously, as her delicate eyelids lifted, spring-like pale green eyes met his gaze.

It was a face so beautiful he wanted to break it, so lovely he wanted to ruin it.

And he realized that the same memories were contained in that cruelly beautiful face.

In an instant, his boiling blood turned into an intense impulse, and he pulled Riana forcefully.

Her white body stumbled into his arms.

As he embraced her slender waist, a fresh scent reminiscent of lemon blossoms brushed his nose.

A rough heartbeat filled his ears.

His eyes slowly but persistently scanned her.

The heated temperature between them, pressed together, pooled and grew even hotter.

Finally, his gaze settled on her softly closed rosy lips.

The round eyes looking up at him also seemed captivated by his red lips, frozen in place.

Her small, tense fingertips grasped his collar.

At that faint strength, Sched felt drawn to her as if sensing an immense gravity.

The two’s breaths slowly drew closer.

As their gazes met, each other’s forms became gradually clearer, and as their breaths began to intertwine bit by bit.

“Your Excellency.”

Riana hurriedly turned her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

The hand that had grasped his collar slowly lost strength.

“I should go now.”

She pushed away his arms and stepped back.

Sched’s arms fell limply, and Riana slipped away as if fleeing.

[This is the timeline separator]

Riana buried her face in her knees.

Her heart felt like it would burst.

When she closed her eyes, his face appeared.

The gaze looking at her under those deep eyes was breathtakingly intense.

The firm arm around her waist and his warmth all seemed to be seducing her.

The moment his breath drew closer, Riana leaned into him all too naturally.

Blinded by him, she was drawn in as if enchanted by his breath.

In that moment, she too dreamed.

A dream that only the sinless and pure could dream.

‘Why on earth…’

Riana could not understand the man who shook her.

He was someone who shouldn’t shake her.

No, he couldn’t be that person.

The countless people sacrificed because of her, the Lupuses, and Sched’s comrades.

In the end, she was a traitor who betrayed Sched’s trust and sold him out to the guild.

There were countless sins piled up between them.

‘This shouldn’t be happening.’

Such emotions shouldn’t seep into this dirty and terrible relationship.

Riana touched her hot lips with trembling fingertips.

Perhaps this is what he wanted?

Did he want her to waver like grass shaking in a storm?

Did he want her to suffer like this?

Ah, maybe so.

Riana knew he was an intelligent and cold person.

Perhaps this was his method of revenge.

Just as she loved him and abandoned him, maybe he too was pretending to love and planning to cruelly trample her swollen emotions…

It was like him.

After all, love would be one of the greatest wounds Sched Lester could inflict on her.

“Duke Sched Lester is, of course, a good person, but he’s an unfortunate person to be with you.”

Riana recalled what Eclas Bitel had said.

He was right.

Sched is a good person.

A person good enough to crumble her resolved heart.

That’s why she can only be unhappy.

“Think carefully about which choice is wiser.”

She recalled the proposal Eclas had made.

Though she still couldn’t understand what he was thinking when he made such a proposal, perhaps going along with his plan might be good for everyone.

[This is the timeline separator]

Thud, the shirt that Riana’s touch had lingered on fell to the floor.

The shirt that fell onto the cold marble floor was abandoned in a tangled, disheveled state, just like his mind.

A solid naked body was reflected in the mirror inside the bathroom.

The meticulously sculpted muscles bulged rigidly with raging emotions.

Sched pulled on the twisted bath rope.

A curtain-like stream of water fell from the white carved marble sculpture.

Cold droplets flowed down over the taut muscles.

The stream of water cooled his heated body, washing away the passion that had gripped him.

However, the thoughts firmly coiled in his mind simply wouldn’t wash away.

He recalled Riana’s figure as she fled.

So, that incident was an impulsive variable he himself hadn’t expected.

Of all things, the lake had been too calm. Because of that, all his senses were focused solely on her.

Small gestures, gently flowing gazes, even hair fluttering in the wind caught his eye. Those tiny movements captivated his gaze.

Perhaps it was problematic that a peach-colored vitality had returned to her cheeks, which had always been pale, after so long. That rosy hue was transparently and redly erotic.

Was the problem that the boat rocked too much? His chest churned as if he would get seasick on the calm lake.

The gentle breeze shook him like a storm, and the spring sunlight was too hot, making his body feverish.

Nevertheless, he tried to endure.

Even if the world tempted him, he tried to resist.

But when her eyes sparkled with the light of the past, his patience shattered.

The seething passion surged like a tidal wave, captivating him.

Her breath drawing closer, the hot temperature, the soft skin.

However.

“I should go now.”

The swollen emotions burst emptily, pierced by a cold thorn.

The place of emotion that had dominated even his reason was now filled with a complete void.

Unquenched thirst left traces on his body, and unfulfilled desire left hunger in his soul.

“Damn it.”

He muttered quietly as he pushed back his wet, disheveled black hair with a damp hand.

He lifted his wet eyelids.

A large body was reflected in the foggy, murky mirror.

Even through the haziness, the clearly remaining scars were visible.

The sharp and rough marks left behind reminded him of reality.

Large scars that couldn’t exist on nobles who received healing from priests.

The symbol of a slave that he could never erase in his lifetime.

Back then, when he couldn’t receive help from priests even after suffering major injuries on the battlefield.

The wounds that healed into rough scars have now become marks that even sacred power cannot erase.

Right. He endured all these wounds for Ideana, and Louise Ideana betrayed him and sold him off easily like an object.

He recalled the clear evidence of hatred engraved on his skin.

He closed his eyes and recalled the past resentment engraved in each scar.

First, he traced the scars left on his body, and then he traced the scars left on his soul.

He dug up all the ill-fated connections that remained like fragments in the deepest parts.

Only then did everything start to fall back into place.

Anger, betrayal, hatred, revenge.

He faced the mirror with cold eyes, repeating his purpose to himself.

But he didn’t realize.

The mirror he faced was foggy and blurred, while the calm waters of Lake Anteros had reflected him clearly and transparently.

[This is the timeline separator]

“How about starting to do some work little by little now, Riana?”

Werner’s errand, visiting Riana after a long time, was about her return to work.

Riana stared at him for a moment without answering.

“Did His Excellency order it?”

She didn’t want to rebel against Werner’s words.

She just thought the timing wasn’t good.

After what happened yesterday, she felt awkward about seeing Sched.

She even had some petty suspicions that Sched might have reinstated her because of that incident.

But Werner shook his head.

“No, it’s something that came up in discussions between me and the head maid.”

Sched hadn’t mentioned anything separately about Riana.

However, as the head butler in charge of household affairs for the Lester family, Werner could exercise this level of decision-making authority.

“…Of course, I know you’re not fully recovered yet, but there’s just too much work.”

Werner added.

Dividing roles according to the environment here, repairing and cleaning the old and aged mansion, throwing out old things and bringing in new ones, equipping necessary facilities, tending the garden…

Bringing fewer staff than at Müncher Castle, the main house of the Lester family, and trying to handle more work was no small struggle.

Sched said to do it slowly and steadily, but how could one rest with work piled up right before their eyes?

Although quite some time had passed since coming to Paradel, there was still a mountain of work to be done.

“I’m not trying to give you difficult work. It would be fine to just do things like preparing water or towels for the master. What I mean is… I believe you understand.”

Werner smiled awkwardly, hiding the rest of his words.

Riana knew what he was trying to say.

Probably complaints about her had started to spread among the servants.

“I understand well what you mean, Head Butler. I will return to work.”

Riana nodded obediently.

She didn’t bother blaming the servants who hated her.

‘It’s natural for them to talk…’

Riana sneered.

No matter what her circumstances were, there was no way it would look good in the eyes of those around her.

“Then, starting from this evening, I’ll ask you to take care of bringing towels and water bottles.”

“Yes, Head Butler.”

As Riana bowed her head, Werner hurriedly left his seat.