She braced herself against the bedroom doorway and refused to go in, but she was no match for Leon’s strength. The moment the door closed, a rough scraping sound followed as Adela’s back met the cold wall.

In the dark room with its drawn curtains, Leon’s ragged breathing and sharp gaze pressed into Adela’s skin.

“Le, Leon.”

Instinctive fear made Adela’s voice tremble faintly. Since their reunion, she never saw him this angry.

‘Why is he so furious?’

She was the one who was insulted.

If she heard it alone, she would have simply felt disgusted and moved on.

But knowing Leon heard those words alongside her made her face burn red.

Just as Lady Kasvah said, she might look to others like a princess of a fallen kingdom selling her body to beg for her life.

Except for Leon.

She hoped Leon, at least, would not think that of her.

‘Leon, do you think that too?’

She was too anxious to think that far before, but if even Leon saw her as that vulgar a woman, that was something she found genuinely sad.

Adela lowered her head, and he roughly tilted her chin up and threw Tilbury’s words back at her.

“A woman like a wh*re?”

“……”

Hearing those words from Leon stung, as she knew it would. Adela moved to bite her lip, and he pressed his thumb into her lower lip and continued.

“You just stood there and let him say that?”

“…?”

Adela studied Leon’s fury-filled face quietly. Since their reunion he was often angry, but today she could not understand the reason at all.

“I’m asking why you let that bastard walk away without a word.”

“What was I supposed to do?”

Adela asked back, unable to follow what he was saying.

Claude came to Valent as a royal envoy of a kingdom. What could she, no longer even a princess, possibly do?

“It doesn’t matter. He won’t be able to see you again.”

Leon’s fingers pushed into Adela’s mouth.

It was desperate, like he was trying to find some trace of another man on her. Saliva ran along his fingers, but Leon didn’t stop.

“Stop it, Leon!”

Adela shook his hand off and turned her chin sharply away. Her gaze caught on a framed picture hanging on the wall.

‘…Hah.’

Of all places, the bedroom Leon chose was the very room she would have lived in once she married. It was a bedroom prepared for a couple from the start.

‘I painted that picture too.’

Only the backs of the figures were visible, but seeing two lovers sharing a tender moment by the lakeside made Adela’s eyes grow hot. Not just the painting, but the bed and every decoration in the room bore the touch of her hands.

Leon’s eyes followed her gaze and trembled faintly. What lived in those eyes was not anger so much as a deep, wretched sense of betrayal.

He stared at the lovers in the frame with a look that could kill, then let out a twisted laugh.

“It doesn’t matter either way. Whoever you think of, I’m the only one who gets to have you.”

Leon began slowly removing his clothes, and unease crept into Adela’s face.

‘Not in this room.’

This was a space she decorated with her own hands while dreaming of a happy marriage with Leon.

“Leon, don’t do this. It’s still the middle of the day.”

Leon, now in just his shirt and trousers, ignored her words without mercy.

“You said you wanted to have my child.”

He murmured low and stepped toward her.

Adela stepped back, but she already caught the edge of the large bed and sank down onto it.

“We should move somewhere else.”

Leon knelt before her and took hold of the hem of her dress. He yanked at the fabric roughly, like something foul was on it, then spoke harshly.

“Do you think I don’t know what that look in your eyes means?”

Leon gripped Adela’s ankle like he meant to crush it. His rough fingers against the silk stocking made her skin crawl.

He was relentless in stripping away everything she wore. Like someone who hated everything that touched her.

“…Oh.”

Leon removed her shoes and stroked her foot, murmuring low.

“Should I put shackles on your ankles?”

“……”

The memory of spending her past life bound to a bed surged back, and Adela’s body went rigid for a moment.

She believed things were different now.

Was all of it just her own delusion?

‘It can’t be.’

She didn’t know why Leon was so out of control.

But there was only one thing she could do right now.

“There is no one else, Leon.”

Leon, gripping her dress, exhaled a rough breath at her words. Adela carefully lowered her hand and stroked his hair.

“You were my first, and you will be my last.”

The veins on the back of Leon’s hand rose sharply.

Much has changed. People changed. The world changed.

But there was one thing she could be certain of.

The person she loved was Leon Fershtein. And he was the only one who cared for her in return.

Leon raised his head at Adela’s gentle whisper, and his eyes turned razor-sharp.

“…?”

Why was Leon so cold in response to her confession?

“I wonder if you have any sincerity in you at all.”

Leon slowly covered her body with his. His face was seized by a fury so deep it was hard to read.

‘Why is he so angry?’

The moment he caught the doubt rising in Adela’s eyes, Leon slowly drew her shawl off. He buried his face in her exposed neck and breathed in deeply, pressing down hard.

“Don’t, Leon.”

He studied her expression with relentless focus, then trailed down her slender neck and grabbed the bracelet on her wrist with a rough jerk.

“You are my slave.”

Leon kissed the bracelet and stripped Adela’s dress off in one motion. Left in nothing but her thin chemise, Adela instinctively covered her chest.

Leon stared at the fingertips shielding her chest and said coldly.

“I really don’t like that.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong, but tell me. If there’s anything I can do, I’ll do anything.”

“How amusing.”

He looked down at Adela’s desperate expression with contempt, and only cold air passed through his lips.

“This way only makes things harder for both of us. You don’t actually want me dead right now, do you?”

Adela threw out the half-threat in desperation. There were deep misunderstandings between them, but Leon feared her dying.

The way he behaved in the bathroom, and when Ingram hurt her, was proof of that.

“Do you still think I’m a clown dancing in the palm of your hand?”

“…!”

Without giving her a chance to explain, Leon seized the strap of Adela’s chemise without mercy.

With a soft snap, the fabric slid off her shoulder and her white skin was laid bare. Leon dragged his large palm roughly across her n*pples, hardened from exposure to the cold air.

“Mmm, Le, Leon…!”

Adela twisted her body and let out a m*an, but Leon buried his face in her neck and bit into her flesh like an animal.

Every time his damp, hot breath touched her, Adela felt her body giving way against her will.

Her neck blazed hot.

It was an act entirely devoid of tenderness, clearly intended to cause pain. Adela pushed against his shoulder in resistance, but Leon snatched both her wrists in one hand and pinned them above her head.

“Ugh, Leon…!”