Casius was straddling Adeline as their gazes intertwined in midair.

“…Are you awake?”

Adeline rubbed her sleepy eyes and raised her hand to place it on the duke’s forehead.

Adeline’s lips curved into a smile at the faint warmth transmitted through her fingertips.

How shocked she had been when the duke, who had been confronting Hailo, suddenly collapsed.

Adeline’s heart still pounded when she recalled last night’s events.

As if it wasn’t enough that Adeline had fled from the duke’s castle, and he had fallen ill while searching for her, creating a low-pressure state.

And to make matters worse, he saw her together with Hailo.

‘…It’s understandable to misunderstand.’

There was nothing to say even if he thought she was planning to run away again.

After the duke collapsed, Adeline immediately moved him to the bedroom. During that process, Hailo grabbed Adeline.

“Adeline, what are you doing? Are you taking care of the duke now?”

“Of course. He’s a patient right now.”

Hailo frowned deeply as if he couldn’t understand Adeline’s actions.

“Are you in your right mind? Leave immediately, come with me. Our family’s estate is not far from here. We can go and ask father for help or…”

“Hailo. I’m really grateful for your heart in coming all this way.”

But Adeline pushed away Hailo’s hand.

“However, he got sick like this while trying to save me. I can’t just leave a patient behind.”

“Adeline!”

“Honestly, I was planning to leave. But, I can’t leave now. I’m sorry, Hail.”

Hailo tried to stop her, saying she should reconsider, that she was too caught up in her emotions right now.

But Adeline couldn’t take Hailo’s hand.

Casius, who had come to rescue her through that terrible weather.

It was a situation where his life could have been in danger from a landslide if things had gone wrong.

The fact that he had come to the mine through that rain and adversity shook Adeline’s heart.

Though the duke was always busy pushing himself, he was a man who helped when Adeline needed it.

“Adeline, you’ll regret it. Are you okay with that?”

Hailo asked, facing her.

Adeline smiled gently at him.

“It’s alright.”

I’ve already had countless regrets, you know.

She had to swallow those words without being able to voice them…

With those final words, Hailo left the duke’s castle. Until the moment he left, he couldn’t take his eyes off Adeline.

Awakening from her reminiscence, Adeline gazed at the duke looking down at her.

The man reflected in her eyes wore an unreadable expression.

‘…Why am I doing this?’

Since reincarnating into this world, Adeline’s goal and everything had been survival.

She had resolved to desperately survive this life, since she had met a miserable end in her previous life.

Perhaps the helping hand Hailo extended was the last chance given to her.

Yet she rejected that hand. All because of this unfamiliar emotion she couldn’t even explain.

How foolish.

It was such an ignorant and reckless choice. One she might regret for a long time to come.

‘But this feels more comfortable somehow.’

She was freed from the guilt that had been weighing her down until the moment she tried to run away.

Adeline’s hand, which had been slowly caressing from the duke’s forehead, came to rest on his cheek.

“Your fever has gone down a lot.”

Casius’s gaze deepened at Adeline’s touch.

She read the deep ripples reflected in his eyes.

Like a single stone thrown into a calm lake causing huge waves on the surface, a great tsunami arose.

The emotion swirling in his eyes. The most primal and passionate desire, enough to make one’s mouth go dry.

It was an emotion Adeline knew very well.

Just as Adeline, startled, was about to withdraw her unconsciously outstretched hand.

Casius’s hand, faster than hers, overlapped Adeline’s hand.

Adeline inhaled sharply at Casius’s grip, holding her hand tightly so she couldn’t escape.

His hand was as hot as if it had swallowed embers.

Even the heat from their overlapping hands felt like a longing for Adeline.

“…Don’t go.”

A breathy voice mixed with his exhale wrapped around her ear.

As his hot breath settled on her face, Adeline’s lower abdomen gradually tightened.

“Del.”

Adeline’s lips trembled.

Don’t go, Del.

It was just four words, but it lingered for a long time, filling her eardrums until they felt numb.

Adeline unconsciously gripped his collar tighter.

It was a choice made without considering the future. She acted according to her heart, and she might certainly regret it.

‘But…’

Her life as Kim Ji Hye and her life as Credion Adeline.

Had she ever done anything according to her own will? The world had always been cruel to her.

Whether she made this choice or not, her future would likely be bleak. She was destined to die young at the hands of her fiance from the start.

“Adeline.”

At Casius’s voice calling her name again, the last thread of her reason dissipated into the air.

Whatever happens, it’s fine. If only she could forget this painful fate for a moment.

Adeline reached out and wrapped her arms around the duke’s neck.

Following her lead, his face slowly began to descend.

“…I won’t leave.”

At least until I realize my feelings for this man, this emotion, I will stay by your side.

Adeline’s voice trembled finely.

Casius’s gaze deepened at her trembling voice, which felt so poignant it could be considered an imperfect tone. His eyes, darkened as if they had swallowed all the surrounding darkness, soon disappeared between closing eyelids.

Darkness fell over Adeline’s world as well.

In the silence that settled around the two, only wet sounds echoed.

“Haa…”

The hot temperature entering between Adeline’s teeth intertwined chaotically.

Casius deeply explored every corner of her mouth and, as if still unsatisfied, sucked it all in.

“Ha, hak. Wait… wait a moment.”

When her breath had risen to the tip of her chin, she turned her head slightly and exhaled a ragged breath.

It was a messy breath with inhalations and exhalations mixed together.

Casius’s hair, which had been tucked behind his ear, flowed down and tickled Adeline’s face.

He roughly brushed back his black hair, wet with sweat, as he briefly moved away.

“…Sorry. I can’t hold back today, Adeline.”

He came to kiss her again.

Unlike the somewhat passionate kiss earlier, this time the breath sweeping through her mouth was gentle and soft.

As he licked between her teeth and then deeply intertwined, Adeline felt anguished as the movement of pulling away felt like violation.

Casius’s large hand, which had come down at some point, brushed away the tangled hair on her forehead.

“Heu… Mel, I…”

“Shh.”

His touch, which had drawn a circle on her forehead and descended, paused at the dress that blocked his hand as it passed by touching Adeline’s collarbone.

He began to undo the buttons of the cumbersome dress front one by one.

The dress seemed to have more buttons than usual today.

“Ha.”

He tore off the dress as if he had no patience.

The sound of buttons scattering and rolling on the floor echoed.

Adeline felt a chill as the fabric that had been blocking disappeared, but only for a moment.

“Who makes a dress like this.”

“…Mel.”

Casius, seeing Adeline calling him longingly, roughly took off the shirt he was wearing and threw it away.

Soon, a hot body temperature touched her upper body, and his enraged flesh overlapped with hers.

“I’m going crazy.”

Adeline’s whole body heated up as if burning at the hot breath settling on her ear.

“Adeline. I feel like I’m going crazy when I see you, and like I’ll go mad when I can’t see you.”

Casius’s center of gravity tilted forward.

The heat transmitted from Casius, digging in between her legs.

As the creaking sound and the bed’s movement intensified, Adeline became dizzy.

“Stay by my side.”

“…Heu, Mel.”

Even as she became intoxicated by the flowers of pleasure spreading throughout her body.

“Promise me you’ll stay.”

Adeline’s world shook at his sincerity, transmitted numbly.

Meanwhile, at the Estilen Count’s residence, there was a lively atmosphere due to a tea party hosted by Lady Larie, the count’s only legitimate daughter.

As the excited voices of the young ladies seated in the gazebo amidst the beautifully blooming geraniums in the garden echoed.

“That’s right. Have you ladies heard that rumor?”

One young lady posed a question, cutting through the cheerful laughter.

At that question, the laughter of the surrounding young ladies ceased. The same was true for Larie, the host of the tea party.

A subtle smile seeped into the corners of Larie’s mouth as she set down her teacup.

“What rumor, my lady?”

Patricia, the daughter of a baronet family, was well-versed in scandals spreading not only in high society but also underground.

That was the reason she was invited to this noble tea party despite being from a baronet family.

‘I wonder what story she’ll entertain me with this time.’

All the young ladies seated around wore expectant looks in their eyes.

“It’s a scandal.”

At Patricia’s whisper-like words, the surrounding young ladies burst into laughter.

“Oh my, a scandal?”

“Whose scandal is it? I’m excited already!”

“As expected of Patricia. Last time you told us about the Marquis Martin’s eldest son’s midnight escape, is this story even hotter than that?”

Patricia’s face brightened immediately upon receiving the attention of the young ladies.

“Of course! It’s even more so, if anything. The subject of the scandal is a nobleman’s mistress, you see.”

“Goodness. A mistress’s scandal, you say?”

The surrounding young ladies began to stir.

The Soltarius Empire was conservative about chastity, whether for men or women. But a scandal involving a married woman?

The young ladies covered their mouths in shock, but their eyes shone brighter than ever. As if they had found a very interesting prey.

“You see. Have you heard that a duke’s residence was turned upside down?”

“I heard there was severe rainfall, is that what you mean?”

“Yes. It seems the duke’s mistress ran away in the middle of the night during that heavy rain.”

The young ladies’ eyes widened at this news. Why would a commoner mistress of a duke run away in the middle of the night? What could she possibly lack? It was undoubtedly an interesting piece of news.

“No way!”

“Yes, that ‘no way’! Get this, she was apparently having an affair with Viscount Levrance, not satisfied with just the duke!”

“Levrance… you mean Hailo Levrance, the viscount’s eldest son?”

The surrounding young ladies let out sighs.

Except for one young lady.

“Well. I heard the young master barged into the duke’s residence recklessly. He’s still staying at the duke’s residence now.”

“Even so, the young master invaded the duke’s residence because of one commoner woman?”

“What kind of devilish charm must she have? For the duke and the viscount to be so obsessed?”

Silence fell over the gazebo in an instant.

No sooner had Patricia finished speaking than the young ladies’ gazes turned to ‘that’ young lady.

The late-born precious daughter of the Estilen Count family, the duke of Torpeo’s former fiancée. Larie.