On the table where the only moving thing was the faintly flickering candlelight, Ansel’s two fists slowly clenched.

“No, forget it.”

Having said that, he got up just like that. A large shadow covered the table.

“I don’t care anymore.”

“W-What do you mean?”

Was it because she had shrunk like a frightened animal? Her voice came out suppressed as if she was being choked.

His gray eyes, like thick smoke, were staring at her face as if they would swallow it up at any moment.

“Just accept me now. If there is even a little bit of that night’s feelings left in you.”

“Sir Ansel…”

Her eyes trembled beneath. Her body went limp as if she had been drenched in rain.

It was because of the illusion that this silent dining room was turning into a summer night street with drizzling rain at his words.

The fragment of her heart that she had unwittingly shown him that night had become a fatal weakness, driving Eloise to the edge of a cliff.

There was nowhere to run, and only a deep darkness below.

Eloise knew it was too late to answer that the feelings he had caught that night had already disappeared. Not even a trace remained.

The feelings she had tried to hide somehow were already caught in his grasp, struggling.

“I don’t want to…”

So that was all she could answer.

Feeling the merciless desire and pouring affection rushing towards her like a tidal wave, she still looked straight into his eyes and repeated.

“I don’t want to, Ansel.”

“Why?”

He asked back like that, without frowning or getting furiously angry.

Of course, Eloise had a lot she wanted to say.

‘I can’t trust your heart.’

‘Who was the woman who came to the mansion last time?’

‘Were you with her that night when you didn’t come back?’

‘We can’t be together. You know that too…’

But all these words were missing the point. So in the end, the essence was…

“…Because of you.”

“I defied my family’s wishes for you. I don’t care if I’m thrown into the mud, as long as I have you. Don’t you get it? If not you, then I…”

“Have you already forgotten what you did to my family?”

She asked in a weak but clearly resentful voice. But there was not even the slightest disturbance in Ansel’s pupils, blacker than the night.

The man looking down at her so quietly that not even breathing could be heard was like a huge wall.

It seemed like it would engulf her at any moment.

“Don’t you feel sorry for my elder sister… for Sarah?”

“I don’t feel sorry.”

“…What…”

At the cold immediate answer, Eloise turned pale.

If this man was being sarcastic to her for not complying with his words, it would have been better.

If he knew his answer would make her angry, at least he would have been aware of how vicious his actions were.

But…

“Marriage is a matter to be decided carefully. It’s quite common to change one’s mind before the ceremony, and in some cases, it’s fortunate.”

He truly did not look the least bit sorry.

Eloise felt not only taken aback but as if the world in front of her eyes was crumbling like sand at his unparalleled arrogance.

“It was a polite proposal following traditional procedures. Your family gladly accepted it. I don’t remember giving any insulting humiliation in the process that would make me feel sorry.”

“The breakup is the problem! In such a unilateral way…!”

“There were sufficient reasons for the breakup, Eloise.”

His pale eyes slowly lifted towards the ceiling and then shot down at Eloise like an arrow.

The elegant but contemptuous gaze typical of a nobleman holding back anger was so sharp that it sent chills down her spine.

“I think I showed enough courtesy. For the sole reason that you are their daughter.”

“…”

Eloise’s eyelashes trembled like leaves shaking in the wind.

She bit her lip, unable to say anything. He was talking about her parents now. Without even trying to beat around the bush.

“Were my parents rude to you? Did they seem like materialistic people…?”

Then Ansel lightly shrugged his shoulders. It was a clear affirmation.

Wanting to hold the wedding nearby, noticeably rejoicing at the gifts he had prepared, asking if they could live together at Fairmont House – did all of that seem so rude and materialistic to him?

Yes, it might be so.

Eloise thought it was natural that she couldn’t dare expect his understanding.

Because he was of noble birth. Even frequenting that old house must have been quite an ordeal for him.

“…But you were the one who deceived us from the beginning. Aren’t you ashamed?”

“I’m not ashamed. Didn’t I say it? It was bound to end up like that anyway.”

“You can’t say that if you know how much that deception hurt my elder sister! We are in a different position from you. If you knew the humiliation she suffered, the burden of marriage on her…”

“That’s for her to bear.”

Through his clenched teeth, they gritted with a creak.

Surprisingly, he didn’t even pretend to sympathize.

Occasionally, while stealing glances at Ansel’s side profile, she had the absurd thought that he looked like a sculpture that had just been born from the artist’s fingertips.

If she ran her fingertips over his cheek, it seemed like it would be as firm and smooth as the surface of cold marble.

She even wanted to quietly put her ear to his chest to see if his heart was really beating.

It was all a fantasy from a green age, but the heart part was still a question.

Until she could split open his chest and check for herself, she didn’t think she could believe he really had a human heart.

While Eloise was having such futile thoughts amidst the shattering disillusionment falling like shards, Ansel’s picturesque lips parted again.

“I paid the price too. No, I’m still paying it. I’m begging you like this right now. As if blinded by a damn illusion that’s just out of reach…”

“…”

His low voice trembled slightly. It was impossible to tell if it was an outburst of blind desire or anger.

Eloise turned her gaze away, lacking the courage to face him or the strength to get up and leave this place right away.

“…I didn’t know you would be so angry. Getting you involved in that matter, making you come all the way to a place like this alone, it’s all my fault.”

“Of course I would be involved! I’m the second daughter of the Bailey family.”

“I’ll take care of everything. So please, now…”

The moment she realized his voice, which had sounded like a sigh, had suddenly become clear, and his scent had thickened like a summer forest after rain, Ansel was standing right next to Eloise.

His eyes, as if enchanted, seemed a little wet for some reason as she turned to look.

Just like on that rainy night on the dim streets of Northtown.

Just like in that distant memory where they stared at each other endlessly, swaying on the slow current above the rose-colored sunset-dyed lake.

“Come to me now, Eloise. Accept me. Let me have you.”

His breath, reciting words that could be either a plea or a demand, touched her cheek.

An extremely earnest passion. Surprisingly, Ansel was trembling like a frightened child.

He, who was always aloof, looked pitifully unfamiliar today.

Eloise bit her lip with a heart full of mixed emotions.

The moment her clenched fingertips turned white, the sound of something falling shook her consciousness.

It was only then that she realized Ansel had knelt at her feet.

“You can take everything else away…”

The two legs wrapped in the long chemise were tightly grasped by his firm hands. The place he touched was extremely hot.

The arrogant man who said he had nothing to be sorry for to her elder sister and parents melted away, leaning his cheek against her knees like a snowman placed under the afternoon sun.

“I ruined it. I know. I know, but… I can’t live without you.”

“…”

“Stay by my side. From now on, I’ll do everything as you teach me. I’ll be your faithful servant…”

When Ansel, who had confessed fervently, lowered his lips to her knees as if making a vow, Eloise had to weakly inhale.

Her whole body tingled as if she had been electrocuted.

As if she had accidentally swallowed something very ticklish. It seemed to be sucked deeper and deeper to a point where it could no longer be spit out.

“I’ll turn everything back. I promise. Even your family’s situation…”

But at that moment, his words rang like an alarm, and her distant mind became instantly clear.

The family’s happiness found again after the breakup was all a facade.

Mrs. Bailey, who had been as steadfast as could be, became unable to hold back tears well and could be heard sobbing at night.

Was that all? The eldest daughter, who had difficulty with crowded places, had to move forward into the scandal shaking the village, pretending to be unperturbed.

Even if it was a precarious walk like walking on a railing.

From the moment the family’s fortune declined, marriage became a heavy task, burdening the young eldest daughter’s shoulders.

It was no one’s coercion, but she lived inevitably crushed under the shadow it cast.

For Sarah, who had come of age like that, enduring everyone’s pointing fingers was like a natural duty.

Because she couldn’t be broken by those rumors and criticisms, and end up really looking like a discarded, withered woman as the rumors said.

She used to say that in order to protect the family’s future, she had to appear as a flawless bride-to-be.

Even if her insides were festering with wounds, those seeking a bride usually didn’t try to look into her inner self, so she was fortunate.

“No.”

There was no way Ansel Blaine could know that desperate heart. If he had known, he would never have done such a thing…

“You can’t turn it back.”

Eloise pushed him away with trembling hands.

She, who had wanted to act as if nothing had happened, as if she would forget if she closed her eyes, was now reciting the exact opposite.

“That can’t become something that never happened.”

“I’ll compensate for everything. Tell them to say what they want.”

“You are…”

Now she couldn’t tell if he was treating her family as materialistic, or if he was the materialistic one.

Eloise, who threw a blank gaze into the air, muttered.

“You were more terrible than I thought. How did I not know that?”

“…”

“But one thing is clear to me now. That there are feelings you can love but not forgive.”

Having finished speaking, she got up and left the dining room just like that.

She felt miserable, like a bloody byproduct of her heart being cut and chipped away in all directions.

Looking back, it was always like that when she was with him.