But if he said ‘I do not love you’ here, it seemed he wouldn’t be able to hold her.

She had not shown a submissive appearance these past few days.

For the first time in three years, Eric said ‘I love you’ directly.

“I want to hold you because I love you.”

Eric softly stroked Rosé’s face. His gaze, unlike his smooth voice, was still cold.

It was not the gaze of a man looking at the woman he loved.

He was just a beast blinded by desire.

“How ridiculous.”

As if mocking Eric, Rosé let out a sneer. Her cold voice echoed throughout the bathroom.

Rosé forcefully gripped the hand that was stroking her face.

A strong scent of perfume wafted from Eric’s hand.

How could he lie about ‘loving her’ so easily, carrying the scent of another woman…!

All this was just a lie to take Rosé’s body. It was not funny at all.

Suddenly, a feeling of disgust surged up.

The one entangled with Eric must have been Doana.

He touched her with the hand that caressed Doana, tried to kiss her with the lips that whispered love to Doana.

It was disgusting and filthy.

Because Eric’s actions of deceiving her so nonchalantly were exactly like someone from her past life.

‘Lee Dohyun… You always came to me nonchalantly.’

You rolled around in bed all day with Gyeryu, you tiredlessly whispered love to me with that dirty body…!

Rosé struggled to break free from the trauma of her past.

Because the betrayal was as big as the trust she had,

And because the situation was exactly the same as now!

Rosé’s eyes were filled with sadness as her resentment surged. She brushed back her wet hair and passed by Eric. She was about to leave the bathroom without even wiping off the water.

“What are you doing?”

Was he angry that she was leaving him behind? Eric strode up and grabbed Rosé’s wrist.

He thought Rosé would be moved.

He had said ‘I love you’ for the first time, but instead of shedding tears of emotion, she looked at him as if he were a bug.

Rosé stared at Eric, who had forced her to turn around and held her body, with an emotionless gaze.

“Answer me, what are you doing?”

“Eric, if you’re going to cheat, at least don’t get caught, okay?”

Rosé, who had been staring at Eric, let out a humorless voice.

At Rosé’s words, Eric flinched, then replied arrogantly.

“…Huh. Paranoid again? We can talk about that later. Just calm down and cuddle up to me. We have to fulfil our marital duties.”

Paranoia, what?

He’s got some nerve, he was caught right in front of her.

With an exasperated sigh, he treated Rosé like a paranoid person.

Rosé became even colder at Eric’s audacious attitude.

“You just held another woman. Don’t even think about touching me with those filthy hands.”

“…What?”

How did… she know?

Eric flinched unknowingly at Rosé’s words. Because it was true that he had held Doana before coming here.

“Frankly, that’s not what a married couple should do, right? Before you talk about marital duties, how about keeping some decency?”

Rosé added another sentence towards Eric, who was dumbstruck.

“…Why on earth are you cheating?”

A wave of emotions came over her.

The situation kept overlapping with the past… She couldn’t control her surging emotions.

Rosé dropped her head helplessly. Then, with fists clenched in her hands, she spoke with difficulty.

“Am I that insufficient as a woman?”

A tremor was felt in her slender voice.

“I… all I needed was you, I didn’t want anything else!”

The suppressed emotions exploded as if erupting, she cried out towards Eric.

Despair and frustration were tangled in her eyes as she looked at Eric.

Although she was screaming at him, in reality, Rosé was projecting someone else through Eric.

The vague image of Idohyeon rose before Rosé’s eyes.

That maddeningly hateful person tormented Rosé to the point of exhaustion.

“I was… happier than anyone in the world with just you…”

Rosé turned her back weakly, her voice trailing off. Her sagging shoulders looked extremely pitiful.

Eric did not stop Rosé, who was turning her back and walking away from him.

No, it would be correct to say that he couldn’t stop her.

Tears were streaming endlessly from Rosé’s eyes.

He couldn’t do anything about her sobbing so much.

He was particularly weak to Rosé’s tears. When she cried, Eric’s mind went blank.

He never learned how to comfort a crying woman.

There was neither the will nor the need to comfort.

“Why are you… crying like a fool.”

The image of her first love, Idohyeon, kept showing up in Eric.

He thought Idohyeon was different from others. He believed that he was experiencing a special love.

He never doubted for a moment that he would spend his life with him.

And then he betrayed her. With her friend of ten years.

She thought the pain of betrayal had numbed, but one side of her chest still ached.

Rosé was still trapped in their shadow.

That night, Rosé had another nightmare.

The cruel and terrible nightmare of that day.

The next morning.

Rosé sat blankly, skipping breakfast.