The corridor leading to Vivian’s room was deserted, not even an ant could be found under the candles lighting the way. The mansion was quiet with darkness that had swiftly fallen. At a time when everyone had gone to bed, Vivian was thought to have turned off the lamp and fallen into a deep sleep by now.

So he didn’t knock.

Only upon seeing the candlelight flickering through the open crack of the door did he realize Vivian’s night had not yet arrived. But Vivian, who would have opened her eyes wide in surprise at the uninvited guest, was nowhere to be seen in the room.

Judging by the rumpled bedding, it seemed she had lain down to sleep but gotten up again for some reason.

Edwin sat on the bed where Vivian would stay for a few more days, staring blankly at the closed door. He was very curious about the expression Vivian would make when she opened the door and saw the guest occupying this room.

But it was Sophie, not the expected Vivian, who opened the door and entered. Startled by the unfamiliar shadow, Sophie was shocked to recognize the master of Rodinia Manor with his index finger to his lips.

“Wh-why is the Duke here… You shouldn’t be here at this hour, Your Grace…”

Sophie pleaded, lowering her voice to prevent it from being heard outside. But Edwin, with no intention of moving from where he sat, simply nodded once and gestured with his eyes for her to leave.

“Your Grace… The young lady will be very angry. Moreover, if someone were to see…”

Unlike Sophie who was stomping her feet, Edwin blinked slowly and calmly, not saying a word. He just stared silently in the stillness.

Sophie, lacking the courage to go against her master, stopped trying to persuade him and turned away, sniffling.

Even as she left the room, Sophie paused several times, hoping Edwin might change his mind, but Edwin guarded this place as if it were his own room.

Where could Miss Eveline have gone, leaving Sophie behind?

He carefully traced back Vivian’s whereabouts. The fact that he wasn’t surprised by Vivian’s absence from the room suggested that her disappearance at this hour was something agreed upon with Sophie.

There was nowhere to swim in Rotermond, and even if there was, she wasn’t the type to undress in an unfamiliar place, so she wouldn’t have gone outside the castle.

Then where could she have gone?

Edwin leaned back, supporting his body with his hands behind him.

The bed was soft and the blanket was smooth. Imagining Vivian curled up in this bed, under this blanket, sleeping soundly, his eyes closed involuntarily.

Another desire flickered.

To see Vivian sleeping.

He wanted to confirm everything – what innocent face she made while dreaming, what sleeping habits she had, how sensitive she was to heat and cold, what kind of breathing sounds she made.

That desire created a solid delusion that Vivian was sleeping in this empty bed. He seemed to see her, and felt the urge to touch her as well.

A clicking sound brought Edwin back to reality. Opening his eyes, he saw a pale Vivian hastily closing and locking the door. Her ash-gray eyes, already informed by Sophie, were indignant.

“What are you doing here right now?”

Vivian approached, carefully expressing her anger while stomping her feet. Her nightgown looked familiar to Edwin.

It was the nightgown from that time, soaked and torn. Although the torn part had been neatly mended, it was still a worn garment. He also realized just then that nightgowns had not been included among the dresses he had sent to Vivian.

There were more things to consider when dressing a woman than he had thought. Noting this oversight, Edwin decided he would pay attention to additional items including nightgowns next time.

“Please leave now. How could you enter my room so carelessly this late at night? What would people think if they saw?”

“They would think, ‘Baitness is in Eveline’s room.'”

“Your Grace.”

Vivian’s tone lowered threateningly, and her gaze turned fierce like a young predator.

“If you have something to say, please say it tomorrow. It’s late today. Please go back now.”

Vivian pointed to the door she had closed and locked herself. On the contrary, she scolded haughtily, unaware that the owner of this room had trapped an outsider.

Therefore, it was Eveline who had become endangered, but.

“Then you should have come to see me.”

“Why would I…!”

Vivian, barely catching her voice that was about to rise, swallowed her trembling breath deeply. Knowing that responding emotionally to Edwin would only hurt herself, she quickly suppressed her anger.

“Then I wouldn’t have to come see you.”

“I understand what you’re saying. But it can’t be the same as when we were in Rodinia. This is Rotermond. If anything, I’m the one who’s in a hurry, Your Grace. You know that nothing is more important to me than the receipt. But if I act like I did in Rodinia, the Baroness won’t like it. Whatever the reason, whatever the cause.”

She conveyed her message well without being swayed by emotions. Seeing Edwin’s attitude change as he adjusted his posture, she thought her sincerity, which had not gotten through before, had finally reached him.

But if she had known that sitting up straight was preparation to pull her closer, she would have distanced herself earlier.

Overwhelmed by his strong force, her body was helplessly drawn in. Vivian’s knees pressed down on Edwin’s thighs, but showing no sign of pain, he wrapped her knees and lifted her other leg onto the bed as well.

When she came to her senses, she found herself deeply nestled in Edwin’s arms.

She was sitting on his thighs with her knees bent, her waist encircled by his arms, and his face pressed against her chest.

The man’s hot warmth seeped through the thin nightgown and clung to her skin.

Surprised, Vivian struggled to push him away. But the two arms strongly wrapped around her waist had no intention of letting go. Rather, the more she moved, the more she feared losing balance and falling onto the bed.

“Where did you go?”

It was a casual question, unlike Vivian who was breathing heavily and using all her strength.

Edwin closed his eyes in Vivian’s embrace, focusing on the sounds transmitted. The irregular and rapid beating of her heart added to Vivian’s vitality. Her heart, fragile yet strong, small yet resonating loudly, was proof of life.

Filled with the desire to focus a little more on this sound and vibration, Edwin did not respond to her fierce resistance.

“Your Grace. Please don’t do this. This isn’t right…”

“Where did you go? This late at night.”

“…To Charlotte. She didn’t seem to be eating properly lately, so we shared sandwiches together. That’s all.”

Vivian hastily added, as if making an excuse. Edwin, nestled in her arms, seemed harmless and pure, but he was obsessive and persistent like a hungry predator unwilling to let go of its prey once bitten.

The man’s heat and scent distorted her sense of reality. Every time he moved his head slightly, his soft hair tickled her chin, making her heart flutter and her mind dizzy.

She was afraid and terrified. Afraid that this man would take everything from her.

The predator nestled like a child could, if he wished, lay her down on this bed and achieve what he desired.

“So please let me go now. Please go back to your room. If anyone finds out about this, they’ll say all those groundless rumors were true. Besides, the Baroness is very worried. That you might have taken a liking to someone as insignificant as me…”

“Mother knows I ran away from Preston.”

The gestures of refusal and rejection stopped here.

“I never told her even once.”

The strength drained away, sinking below consciousness.

She couldn’t fully comprehend how the Baroness must feel, knowing that the Eveline family had led a person to ruin, taking everything from her beloved adopted son.

“So she must be anxious. Not about you being with me, but about me being with you.”

Upon realizing that the subtle hostility, anxiety, and worry all stemmed from this, cracks began to form.

It was truly difficult and painful to know that one’s very existence could be a dagger to someone else.

The man who always overwhelmed with his tall stature and shadow had become small in her arms. Edwin, whom Vivian looked down upon after ceasing her resistance and calming down, was like that.

Sayer, who had survived the searing pain, seemed as if he hadn’t grown since that day, as if he hadn’t shaken off the fear and sorrow of that day, nestled in her arms for a long time.

Everything he gave made her heart ache. That day, Sayer’s face became even clearer, and the words she wanted to say to that boy accumulated in her heart.

Without realizing it, Vivian’s fingertips stopped at the ends of his hair. Knowing that she shouldn’t touch or embrace him carelessly, her hand that had been hovering in the air gently settled on his broad shoulders.

Candle wax dripped onto the candlestick. The flame flickered precariously but soon burned the wick upright again.

A faint warmth could be felt from the now docile Vivian. The clearer sound of her heartbeat, the scattered breath sounds, the soft body that seemed it might break at the slightest force. Edwin felt he could fall asleep using this embrace as a pillow.

Drowsiness was coming over him, and the desire to lie down was boiling up.

As Edwin slowly raised his head and met her melancholic eyes, he sensed danger for the first time.

The will to tousle her neatly braided hair to one side, to fill her unblemished skin with his marks, to verify if her lips, which he had imagined tasting like unripe summer fruit, really tasted that way, to bury his nose all over her body to find out where this sweet scent was coming from, all collided.

“I desired you, but I wasn’t greedy.”

Vivian’s gaze quietly followed down to his moving lips.

“Now I’m greedy.”

At this calm confession, her gaze shot up sharply. She didn’t seem particularly surprised. As if she had expected it, she drew the line firmly.

“No. Absolutely not. I will never do such things with you, Your Grace.”

“Such things? What things?”

Vivian’s movements became a bit more violent as she returned to reality. Her resistance was gradually working, the distance between them widening, and just as she thought she might be able to touch the floor at this rate.

In the blink of an eye, her view changed.

Edwin, who had clearly been in front of her, now reigned over her, and her two hands that had been pushing against his shoulders were pinned to the bed.

He had finally stepped into the sanctuary where no one else could enter.

When what she had been worrying about finally happened, she tried to scream, but she didn’t have the strength to handle the storm that would follow. She could only tightly press her lips together and resist violently. However, there was no way to overcome the man weighing her down.

“Tell me. What are these things you’re thinking of?”

“This. Trapping me and satisfying your desires like this.”

Tears welled up in her glaring eyes and trickled down her temples. Edwin, who had been looking down coldly, released one of Vivian’s wrists, and her freed hand slapped his cheek.

It was the maximum punishment she could inflict.

The palm that had struck his face stung. There was also a prickling pain. Yet he remained calm as if he hadn’t been hit at all. So much so that it made her wonder if hitting him had been a dream.

As the hand that had released her wrist approached, Vivian tightly shut her eyes. Contrary to the thought that Edwin might hit her back, a warm and gentle touch caressed her eyes.

“Do you think I enjoy feeling like this?”

His sinking tone was as dry as a leaf drained of life. The kindness of the touch on her eyes made Vivian sad, as much as the palm that had struck him burned.

“Do you think it’s pleasant to want to feel your warmth, your scent, to want to bite and suck and lick you?”

Her other wrist soon found freedom as well. And his touch reached the wet corner of her other eye.

“That’s why I’m holding back. That’s why I’m not taking you.”

The shadow that had been pressing down on her body had already moved away. A pulling force made her sit up. As she found herself sitting up abruptly, the tears that had flowed to her temples fell to her cheeks.

“I’m not keen on mixing bodies with a woman who will die by my hands, but who knows. If I still have to have you despite that, I will take you.”

He leaned forward, cupping Vivian’s cheeks with both hands. Hot tears flowed down his hands.

“So prove it. Prove that you’re an insignificant woman. That having you would be nothing special.”

The order that remained a difficult task for Vivian, for whose sake was it?

“Then we’ll gain complete freedom.”

Complete freedom. Those words lingered sweetly in her ears.