Edwin looked down at his palm. The remaining sensation was diluted and gradually became numb as it was scraped away.

There was nothing to begin with anyway.

The feeling of holding Vivian’s body disappeared like that. A body that could not be a woman to him could not possibly arouse desire. Even though it was a fact he knew from the beginning, he wanted to confirm it. Whether he felt even a little lust for Vivian Eveline, as Theo Evans had said.

He checked and was certain.

That he had no damn thoughts about Vivian Eveline.

For him, Vivian Eveline was merely the result of a promise linked to revenge, not something attracted to trivial heat. She was to be used to put a period on the long and arduous journey at the right time, at the most perfect moment.

That was the extent of Vivian Eveline’s existence to Edwin Baitness.

So the moment he grasped that woman’s body, the sight of her hiding while fluttering the hem of her green dress, and her large round gray eyes looking up at him while touching the crown of her head, all faded away lightly like mist.

Edwin, heading to the study, opened Gilbert Totton’s Land Economics that he had brought from the library. As he immersed himself in the text, the western sky filled up neatly with a special color somewhere between black and blue.

He didn’t even realize that the servants had lit lamps to drive away the approaching darkness. He remembered dismissing the butler, Abernathy, who had come to ask about dinner in the middle of reading.

Tonight’s dinner must have been comfortable.

Swallowing a ridiculous opinion directed at someone, a small laugh flowed out without him realizing.

Edwin closed the book and rubbed his eyes full of fatigue. After asking a servant for the whiskey that Baron Zimmerman had brought as a gift, he opened the window. The slightly humid, sticky wind soon filled the space.

Near the pitch-black horizon without a single cloud, the full moon peeked out its crown. That full moon was set to rise high in the sky to illuminate the world transparently, and tonight was a night to be soaked in things as trivial as Vivian.

Thinking of a suitable place to satisfy such desires, he rang the bell to summon a servant. After ordering to bring the remaining whiskey and Gilbert Totton’s Land Economics to the lakeside behind the mansion, he turned to look at the full moon that had risen higher than before.

Its flawless light closely resembled the sun.

***

Vivian, who had been writing a letter under the embers, frowned as if she couldn’t bear it. She tried to grip the pen again, but couldn’t think of anything to add. She lightly pounded her chest with her fist, which was clenched in frustration.

Why am I having these symptoms?

Tracing back the reasons, the lump in her chest had started from yesterday’s events and gradually grew in volume. Being grabbed by the Duke and insulted by Charlotte left a bitter scar, but she couldn’t dwell on it.

She needed to quickly reach death and gain freedom from her cruel fate.

She had to pay the price promised to Sayer 14 years ago and lift the dark cloud hanging over the name Eveline.

So there was no time to be frustrated just because her flesh was grabbed or because she was insulted over something that wasn’t even true.

This was why she appeared at today’s lunch and ate ostentatiously. She filled her mouth with food, chewed, and swallowed to fatten up as much as the barbaric and cruel Duke wanted.

Most unfortunately, in the midst of forcibly putting food in her mouth, her appetite was stimulated. The more she put into her mouth the food she didn’t want to eat, the more the taste wrapped around her tongue whetted her appetite. The more this happened, the more vivid the lump inside her became.

Vivian took a conscious deep breath while touching her chest and continued the remaining letter.

“And Father. If you’re thinking of returning in a hurry because of me, you don’t need to do that.

I’ve married a good man with the help of the villagers. He’s a rich man living in a coastal city called Tornhook in the west, and I’m about to leave for there. He’s such a good person that every day is happy……”

Lies. Blatant lies.

The letter filled with lies word for word became a mirror reflecting her pathetic face. The lump in her chest roared silently, and heat boiled to the point where breathing was difficult.

Finally, unable to finish the letter, Vivian got up and stood in front of the wide-open window. She thought the cool wind might alleviate her symptoms a little, but contrary to her expectations, the humid and hot wind fanned her gloomy mood instead.

Late at night, the sky with the full moon was very bright. It illuminated the earth white as if another sun had risen, making it impossible to distinguish whether it was day or night.

The white light that would be an endless night’s guide for someone, deeply planted the pain of loneliness in someone else’s heart.

The brilliant color of the full moon wouldn’t reach her. Probably never would in the future either.

Once again, her consciousness drifted away. Unable to withstand the drowsy feeling of her mind moving away from her body, Vivian collapsed into her seat. In the suffocating feeling of almost going half-mad, she crouched down and pounded her chest.

Harder, until it bruised, until her ribs broke, like that.

It was around the time when the ridiculous thought of meeting death by her own hands before dying at the Duke’s hands occurred to her. Edwin’s tender blue eyes, which she recalled by chance, unexpectedly opened the path to liberation.

“Lanua… Lake.”

The discovery of Lake Lanua after moving to Newway was due to accidentally taking a side path while trying to memorize the roads around the mansion. The lake’s mysterious color instantly captivated Vivian, and she informed her father about the lake she had discovered upon returning to the mansion.

Thanks to her father, who granted her unreasonable request of wanting the discovered lake as this year’s birthday present, no one was allowed near the lake, and as a result, the lake became Vivian’s sole possession.

So even now that the owner had changed, no one would know about the existence of the lake.

As soon as this thought occurred to her, Vivian didn’t hesitate. She bounced away from the window, grabbed a shawl and towel, and left the room.

The mansion late at night was as quiet as if there wasn’t even a mouse. She slipped out through the back door connected to the kitchen. Following the path in the darkness, she occasionally looked back. After confirming that no one was there, she stepped into the dense greenery without hesitation after walking for a long time.

How long had she been walking? Vivian’s steps quickened as she noticed the undergrowth getting lower, and soon the moonlight began to become clearer.

The cool sound of water swaying in the wind rang in her ears through the air. The shadows that had covered everything disappeared, and the lake’s scenery, sparkling in the moonlight, appeared. Her mind, which had been struggling at the faint boundary, slipped into the world of unconsciousness.

Under the moonlight, for this moment when she received the protection of the dense trees that had removed all the noise of the world at once, along with the gently breaking water scales, she felt like a princess of the kingdom.

Lies.

Her world, which had been full of only acrid and ashen smoke, was filled with beautiful things in an instant. White light, blue water, green trees, red berries. This place was a fairy tale, reality, and a dream.

Now she couldn’t distinguish which life was real and which was fake.

As she stood on the pier, the fishy smell of water became clear. The voice of the lake also became more distinct. As she looked down at the surface of the lake reflecting her face, the surface curved with a slight breeze. Vivian crouched down and reached her hand under the pier to create ripples.

The lake water was as cold as Edwin’s icy eyes. Startled by the blue eyes that flashed through her mind, she looked around.

The surroundings were quiet and also submerged.

Relieved, Vivian neatly placed her towel and shawl beside her. Then she took off her clothes without hesitation.

There was no rational judgment in all these choices. She just entrusted her whole body to what her unconscious told her to do.

After neatly folding her nightgown, she sat at the end of the pier and put her two feet under the lake’s surface. Along with the splashing sound, all the body hair stood on end.

The temperature, cold enough to make her head dizzy, made her think of that man again.

Vivian bent her upper body and slowly wet her calves, thighs, stomach, and chest with one hand scooping up the lake water. When she became reasonably accustomed to the cold temperature, she slowly pushed her body into the lake.

She stayed in there until the cold that had persistently burrowed in up to her neck, no, to the tips of her hair, subsided. And when her breath was about to reach her chin.

“Puah!”

She came up to the surface and took rough breaths. Her throbbing head cleared and the temperature of the lump boiling in her chest lowered. As the symptoms subsided a little, Vivian’s face brightened and she pushed her head under the surface again.

This time she swam freely. She circled around the full moon on the surface as a landmark, sometimes coming up to the surface to splash water.

But then Vivian quietly looked at the full moon. That thing shining like the sun, shining so brightly that one couldn’t tell if it was day or night.

As if lying, that sun seemed to speak to her. When she listened carefully, it wasn’t words but a song. That sun was humming a desolate song on this night. The melody that gently caressed her stroked Vivian’s head softly and warmly.

“Lies…”

Her throat became sore with tears that suddenly welled up. The sticky lump in her chest wriggled and climbed up her throat.

Her breathing gradually quickened and a hot sensation rose to her eyes. And soon, the dregs that seemed about to rot in her chest burst out of her mouth along with her tears.

***

The lamp, book, and whiskey that the servant had brought under the tall trees surrounding the lake were trivial things that would be responsible for tonight.

If it weren’t for Vivian Eveline, who appeared through the darkness wearing a snow-white nightgown, they would have been the protagonists of this night.

Vivian, unable to look at this side where the lamp was lit, stood on the pier where a rotten ferry boat was moored. Edwin, who became quite curious about what she would do, quietly turned off the lamp.

Vivian put her hand in the lake water, then startled, pulled it out. Then, as if she sensed a gaze, she looked around.

Not finding anything, Vivian sighed in relief and undressed. She willingly took off the nightgown she had worn, putting down the shawl and towel she had brought.

Under the full moon, her pale white skin was dazzling even though it was half covered by her limp golden hair.

Her appearance, which had been just skin and bones, had somehow gained a little flesh. The evaluation that there was no trace of a lady’s figure was now treated as a misjudgment.

Following her shoulders and chest, down to her noticeably slim waist, her lower abdomen that was ambiguous to call plump, and along her pelvis that further accentuated her slim waist, her slender thighs and calves, and her ankle that could be grasped with one hand and still have room, caught the eye in order.

The beasts at the auction house would never have seen Eveline in this state, so why were they so desperate to have her?

While pondering this, Vivian, who had jumped into the lake from the pier, swam and dived for a while, then suddenly disappeared completely under the surface. When she didn’t show herself for a long time, the moment of sitting on his buttocks became uneasy.

Is she dead?

She shouldn’t. She shouldn’t die like that. That’s not according to the promise.

It was just when he was about to get up, reaching the limit of his patience. Vivian, who had appeared above the surface at once, exhaled heavy breaths.

Clicking his tongue, he reached for the book he had placed on his thigh, only to find it had already fallen to the ground. Looking at the closed book, he remembered not having put in a bookmark and exhaled an annoyed sigh.

Then he lifted his head because of the crying sound coming from the lake. Eung eung eung. Although Vivian tried to wipe her eyes vigorously with both hands, she couldn’t stop the tears that flowed incessantly and the cries that burst out of her throat, wailing like a child.

There was no noble and elegant aristocratic lady here. Only a young child, full of primary emotions like throwing tantrums, being jealous, and getting upset, with no intention of hiding them, filled the masterpiece.

Probably such an appearance of Vivian would not be allowed even to Theo Evans. Perhaps she wouldn’t cry like that even in front of her parents.

So the strange ecstasy that arose was not an exceptional emotion.

Something only I can see. Something allowed only to me.

The crying sound that resonated around as if he possessed everything of that woman made Edwin happy.