Cedric gently fastened the necklace around my neck and stepped back slightly.

However, the distance between us remained close.

He softly caressed the ruby hanging on my neck with his fingertips as he continued speaking.

“How could I ever be angry with you?”

I quietly gazed at his lips, from which a low, deep voice flowed.

Those beautiful lips hesitated for a moment. In that brief instant, a shallow breath escaped.

“You know well that now, if it’s your wish, I have no choice but to do anything for you.”

“…What on earth do you mean by that?”

Cedric’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Do you want to pretend as if nothing happened? Or do you truly think it was nothing?”

As he asked this, Cedric’s face showed a hint of disappointment.

For a moment, he stared elsewhere while touching his eyebrow.

When his eyes turned back to me, there wasn’t even the slightest tremor in them.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t agree with either of those thoughts.”

After saying that, Cedric slowly lowered his head towards my ear.

And at a distance where our breaths almost touched, he whispered again in a low voice.

“That night, we clearly embraced each other, and that fact hasn’t changed.”

For a moment, it felt as if my thought process had completely stopped.

If I understood correctly what he just said, could it be that on that night we…

“Could it be… that we spent the night together?”

“…”

“You and… me?”

When I asked half in disbelief, Cedric blinked his eyes slowly.

After a moment of silence, another shocking statement flowed from his lips.

“We did.”

Cedric and I exchanged puzzled glances for a moment.

“Don’t tell me, Rebecca… you don’t remember anything from that night?”

…Good heavens.

Only then did everything start to make sense.

I had been internally furious, wondering what kind of mistake I had made that night to be watched so closely like a criminal…

‘It wasn’t just an ordinary blunder.’

There was no way the always rational Cedric would have made the first move to spend the night together.

Even if he had been wavering towards me lately.

On the contrary, I often tend to follow my emotions rather than reason, and I had been secretly excited seeing the handsome Cedric…

‘I must have pounced on Cedric under the influence of alcohol, damn it.’

I felt like I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide immediately.

It was just a few days ago that I had proudly rejected Cedric’s confession, saying I didn’t like casual love.

And then to seduce him and spend the night together.

What kind of woman would Cedric think I was now?

‘Wow, I thought I had finally shed the image of being obsessed with bed matters like my former wife.’

A bitter laugh escaped involuntarily.

Moreover, if I said I couldn’t remember anything from that night, my image would plummet even further.

But I couldn’t tell a lie that would soon be exposed either.

Glancing at Cedric, I saw he was still watching me intently with eyes full of expectation.

Oh, whatever.

I finally squeezed my eyes shut and parted my lips.

“That’s right, Cedric. The truth is, I don’t remember anything… not a single thing from that night.”

Even after my stammering confession, there was no response from Cedric for a long while.

‘Is he very angry?’

I slightly opened my eyes to check Cedric’s expression.

But for some reason, Cedric’s complexion was much brighter than before.

It was as if the dark clouds that had been surrounding him for the past few days had suddenly cleared.

“Then when you said it was a mistake… was it all because you couldn’t remember that night?”

Cedric’s eyes sparkled with hope as he asked.

Ah, right. I did say something like that.

By this point, I felt I couldn’t blame Cedric if he saw me as a crazy woman.

‘…It’s not entirely wrong, I suppose.’

I cleared my throat and opened my mouth again.

“I can’t remember, but I felt like I must have done something terrible to you while drunk. Like making a drunken scene, or throwing up or something…”

Of course, what I had actually done was a historic blunder beyond all of that.

I couldn’t possibly voice such inner thoughts out loud.

That would be as good as declaring that night’s events were a mistake, and it would crush Cedric’s pride once again.

And fortunately, that judgment seemed to be correct.

Seeing the corners of Cedric’s mouth curl up.

Eventually, he let out a long sigh mixed with relief.

“To think you weren’t denying that night, but simply couldn’t remember… I’m rather relieved.”

“…”

“I’m truly… relieved.”

Cedric murmured softly, as if comforting himself.

After a moment of silence, he gently took my hand.

“Since you don’t remember, let me tell you again.”

“…”

“Before we embraced each other that night, I said this to you.”

With each brush of his long fingers, a pleasant warmth spread across my palm.

“Cedric…”

I unconsciously whispered his name at the tickling sensation that reached even my heart.

However, Cedric simply gazed down at my hand as he continued speaking.

“That after that one night, you would become the only person who could either save me or completely ruin me, but I would never regret that moment.”

The blue gaze that had been fixed on my hand now turned back to my face.

“My feelings haven’t changed even now.”

Cedric emphasized once more, meeting my eyes.

“Even if you torment me, even if you use me, it would be the same.”

“…”

“Of course, it would be painful… but that too would be for me to accept.”

He wrinkled his nose playfully, but the smile at the corner of his lips somehow looked a bit sorrowful.

“This feeling isn’t just a momentary wavering, Rebecca.”

That must have been an answer to what I had said when I rejected him before.

“Of course, the fact that I finally embraced you should be proof enough…”

As I stared at him blankly, he continued speaking.

“If that’s not enough, give me a chance.”

“…A chance?”

“Yes, a chance to heal your wounds.”

Those blue eyes steadily fixed on me.

At that moment, meeting that gaze that even evoked trust, I had to admit.

That I was helplessly shaken, to the point of wanting to believe his words without a second thought.

Cedric spoke again, as if driving in the final nail.

“I will make you believe in love again, and in me.”

The corners of his lips, which had regained their composure, curved into an arc.

“By any means necessary, without fail.”

It was a very clear declaration of war.

Meanwhile, in a shabby inn room in a northern city alley.

The noisy sounds of the market flowed in through the dilapidated window frame.

Camilla was pacing around the window, constantly biting her thumbnail.

The area under her eyes was dark and reddish, and her hastily tied-up hair was a tangled mess.

However, Camilla paid no heed to her shabby outward appearance.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say she didn’t have the presence of mind to care.

Right now, her mind was filled only with thoughts of her husband, who had just notified her of divorce and left.

‘How could he talk about divorce to me? This… this is terribly wrong…’

Camilla kept biting her nails and anxiously rolled her eyes.

He was a husband who had always been generous with her, no matter how self-centered she acted.

‘He, he must have just said it out of anger? There’s no way he would really abandon me. He cherished me so much…’

She tried to comfort herself like that.

However, the look in her husband’s eyes, staring at her like an insect, and his harsh words invaded her mind again.

Then, the anxiety rising from deep within her lungs began to choke her even more strongly.

“No, no… My husband can’t abandon me. He, he cherished me to the point of looking pathetic… There’s no way such a person would ever abandon me!”

No one could take away her position as the mistress of the Dmitri family from her.

‘Camilla Dmitri, not unless I voluntarily give up that position myself…’

She had planned to step down from the position of Countess Dmitri when the time was right.

After securing enough wealth to make a fresh start with Henry, and a romantic love story that would allow her to maintain her status as a socialite star even after repeated divorces and remarriages.

Only after all of that was prepared.

But…

“Everything has gone wrong, all of it! Aaargh!”

Camilla screamed, tearing at her jet-black hair.

One failed investment, and the astronomical debt that resulted from it.

What she lost wasn’t just the affection of her husband, Count Dmitri, and her reputation in high society.

Henry Bart, whom she believed to be the only love of her life.

Now even he was distancing himself from her and trying to return to Robelia.

‘Robelia. Why is it that you, who never put in any effort since childhood, take everything away from me? Why do you always get to have everything?!’

Kyaaak!

Just as Camilla was screaming, unable to contain her anger, it happened.

Click—

The door opened, and a man stepped in, taking off the hat he had been wearing low, and leaned casually against the doorframe.

Camilla blinked slowly at the man’s sudden appearance.

“He-Henry…?”

A tear dropped from Camilla’s eye.

Henry, who had been coldly observing Camilla’s face mixed with joy and desperation, closed the door and came inside.

“Tsk, that temper of yours. Why are you so angry again?”

“You finally came…”

Henry pulled up an old wooden chair, crossed his legs, and sat down, looking at his wristwatch with a bored expression.

“What’s this urgent matter you said you had to discuss?”

“He… Henry, I missed you so much…”

Henry coldly pushed away Camilla’s hands as she tried to rush towards him.

“I don’t have time, so just tell me what you need to say. If we waste any more time, it might raise unnecessary suspicions with Robelia.”

“Unnecessary suspicions… with Robelia?”

Camilla’s face turned vicious in an instant.

To think he would worry about such things now, after spending so many nights with her, regardless of Robelia’s suspicions.

She knew Henry had a materialistic side, but she never dreamed he would treat even her coldly because of it.

Camilla suddenly found Henry’s face, which had been so lovely to her, disgusting.

“Now that I’ve lost all my assets and am left with only debt… I’m no longer needed, is that it?”

Camilla’s jaw trembled.

Henry had no answer.

He just coldly turned his head away.

That silence, which was surely an affirmation, pierced deep into Camilla’s chest.

Camilla’s body swayed greatly, betrayed by her long-standing love.

“I, I’ve done so much… to have you, Henry…”

As Camilla, who looked like she might collapse at any moment, caught sight of the fruit knife on the table.

At that moment, her eyes, which had been grinding her teeth, flashed with murderous intent.

“You… you bastard!”

It happened in the blink of an eye – she grabbed the fruit knife and lunged towards Henry’s back.