‘Considering she hasn’t said anything until now, she might be biting her lip.’

Odette, who was trembling and nervously biting her lip, reminded him of a rabbit in front of a trap.

And if one were to draw an analogy, Walter was the predator about to seize the prey by the scruff of its neck.

“Relax. You won’t get eaten.”

His languid baritone tickled Odette’s ear, and his warm breath skimmed her delicate skin.

As his nose brushed against the curve where her shoulder met her neck, the next moment, she felt Walter’s lips brush against her collarbone.

Although she saw nothing due to her tightly closed eyes, all her senses vividly registered Walter’s actions.

This was her first experience of such a kind.

She had felt it when they kissed, but Walter was overwhelmingly seductive.

From the base of her ear down, Walter’s lips bit her slender shoulder line and the moist contact continued. Odette unwittingly clenched her hand.

‘Is this… how everyone does it?’

Odette knew what Walter meant by ‘a mark that doesn’t easily fade.’

She was inexperienced, not ignorant.

Until now, Odette had thought the two were not much different.

However, a firsthand experience was entirely different from mere knowledge.

This was unlike the intense kiss that blurred her vision, and also unlike the polite touches Walter sometimes offered.

‘He just needs to leave a mark…’

Why was Walter kissing various spots on her neck and shoulders?

With each brush of his breath, heat seemed to rise on her skin.

Even his touch on her lower back made her breath dampen.

At some point, Odette had gripped Walter’s collar.

It was the action she had chosen, unable to wrap her arm around his shoulder.

As her cheeks flushed from the strange sensation, Walter’s lips, which had lingered near her collarbone, started moving downward.

Odette’s lips unwittingly parted.

“It’s done.”

And Walter removed his lips. Naturally, the arm that had embraced her followed.

As he buttoned up her loosened clothes and hid the mark, Walter said,

“It must have been hard for you to hold back. Good work.”
“……Ah, no. You’re more….”

Odette couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

Feeling Walter’s lips gradually descend, she realized she had been unknowingly expecting something more, and it took her by surprise.

‘Am I… susceptible to temptation?’

Had she not realized it all along because she had never faced such temptation in her life?

‘Walter doesn’t seem affected at all…’

Unsettled by her own lack of composure, she couldn’t let this continue.

Thus, she found herself immersed in introspection and shock as she made her first entrance into the residence of Duke Ertman.

And Odette’s plan went off without a hitch.

Emma, the maid who was helping her undress, saw the marks Walter had left.

“Oh my, there’s a bug here… Ah! No, sorry, sorry! Forget it!”

“……”

Perhaps Emma was not entirely immune to such matters either, as she flushed considerably and fumbled about.

‘No… there were quite a few marks.’

Though it didn’t feel like much at the time, looking in the mirror revealed many marks.

Anyone would notice at this rate.

‘Should I tell him to go easier next time?’

Given the circumstances, a gentle reprimand was necessary.

Odette smiled awkwardly and covered the marks with her hand.

“Keep this a secret, Emma. Not a good look as soon as I arrive.”

“That’s not a bad look! I’ve just been serving you for a long time.”

Emma apologized repeatedly, and Odette forgivingly mumbled in response.

“Tell him not to leave marks… Oh, Walter.”

“……!”

At her mumble, Emma’s eyes widened again.

‘She definitely heard.’

And Emma would surely spread the gossip.

That our mistress and her fiancé are this close.

That they married out of pure love!

Though it was disrespectful for servants to gossip about their masters, this would fall under the category of good rumors, so there was no need to hide it.

‘I doubt Emma would mock me.’

The story would spread positively soon enough.

Odette lay on the unfamiliar yet comfortable bed, trying to soothe her somewhat uneasy heart as she drifted off to sleep.

Among the chaos in her mind, one concern stood out.

‘How should a wife who loves her husband, and is loved by her husband, act?’

If she had grown up showered with love from her family, she could behave just as she did at home. But Odette had never known love.

Naturally, she was clueless about how a loving wife should act.

So, after much contemplation, Odette thought,

Indeed.

‘I’ll have to sleep in tomorrow.’