Hyacinth cried out. The man, who had reached the sofa, handed the cushion back to her. She snatched it and tried to swing it again, but he grabbed her wrist.

“It’s you!”

“Shh. It’s better if they don’t hear outside.”

“It was you. You touched me. If I had conceived a child alone, I wouldn’t be so upset. You touched me that night, and even though you didn’t respond when I called your name!”

Ethan tilted his head slightly. The contempt in his eyes was now mixed with pity. Hyacinth’s pride crumbled at the sympathy she had never received before.

She felt nauseous. Somehow, to this man, anything…

“It was you.”

Hyacinth finally whispered, pleading.

“Really. You know why I came here, why I left Tyche to come here. I knew you had no feelings for me. But still.”

She had admitted her unrequited love multiple times…

But saying it directly in front of him was another level of misery and despair. Feeling so pathetic, she finally started to cry. She didn’t even have time to wipe her tears.

Hyacinth let her tears fall as she whispered. It was the first time she cried in front of someone since she became an adult, and the fact that he looked at her with curiosity was devastating.

It’s too much. Too cruel. How can you be so… harsh to me?

“I knew I was the only one who liked you…”

“……”

“You knew too. I, I chased only you… Why would I do that with someone else…”

“That is quite surprising.”

Ethan Erentis agreed lightly.

“But well, there are women who get tired of a husband who never looks back at them and commit infidelity.”

“……”

“I didn’t know you could act so well. You could be an actress as well as a writer.”

Hyacinth glared at her husband through her tears.

Her red eyes were almost fierce, and Ethan raised a hand. A playful gesture as if declaring surrender. The lightness of it stabbed her heart like a harpoon. It was outright butchery.

“I’m sorry. That was too much mockery.”

“……Why, why don’t you believe me at all? You could have touched me while you were asleep! Can’t you even imagine that?”

“……”

“……”

“Hyacinth, you are pregnant with a child whose lineage is unknown, but for now, you are pregnant. I don’t want to be so cruel to a pregnant woman.”

After tearing apart her soul, he had the nerve to say that.

Reading the sincerity in her eyes, the man sighed again. Then he shrugged.

“Fine. I’ll be blunt.”

“……”

“Lady Hener. I don’t get aroused by you at all. Even if I were asleep, even if I were completely unconscious, in any situation, I can’t believe I would get aroused by you.”

Ethan took the cushion from her hand and tossed it carelessly to the floor. He then placed her now empty hand on his thigh. Hyacinth flinched, but the man, anticipating her reaction, gripped her wrist even more firmly.

She could feel the distinct outline on his thigh.

…So what? Hyacinth was perplexed. She knew the word aroused but didn’t understand its exact meaning.

Ethan chuckled softly.

“I’m very curious to know which man spread your legs.”

“……”

“For this to enter a woman’s body, it needs to be hard. In other words, it needs to be aroused.”

Ethan grabbed the back of her head. Forced to tilt her neck backward by his hand, Hyacinth had no choice but to look up. The man quietly thrust the dagger in just above her face.

“But I.”

“……”

“Don’t get aroused by you at all.”

“……”

“Never did before, and never will. Forcing a flaccid p*nis inside and thrusting—no matter what you insist, it’s physically impossible. Especially when unconscious.”

“……”

“Do you want proof?”

Before Hyacinth could stop him, he undid his trousers. In the bright light, his member was exposed. It looked completely different from that night.

As Hyacinth furrowed her brow slightly, Ethan guided her hand to his c*ck. She tried to pull away in shock, but his grip was firm.

“You need to confirm it.”

Ethan held her hand and messily rubbed it over his p*nis. Over the shaft and the balls below. Despite the constant stimulation, he remained flaccid. His calm face showed no sign of arousal.

Hyacinth’s lips trembled. An indescribable emotion struck her throat. It felt like she was being hanged. She wished someone would physically strangle her.

No voice came out.

She wanted to cry endlessly, but no tears would come. She was buried so deep that even crying felt impossible. So. Her shattered mind began to roll around in the muck.

Her heart felt ripped apart. The feeling of being the most miserable, worthless woman in the world was, well.

Ethan Erentis’s warning was precise.

He hadn’t been cruel enough earlier… he could be more, more… truly more… cruel.

“In case you think I can’t get it up at all.”

Ethan released her hand and began to rub his c*ck himself. With a few strokes, he easily became aroused. His glistening, er*ect c*ck stood proudly, slick with prec*m.

Even though it was absurd, Hyacinth didn’t laugh. Not even a hollow laugh or a bitter chuckle came out. She watched numbly, like a doll devoid of a soul.

Then the man suddenly pushed her.

As Hyacinth fell backward in surprise, he lifted the hem of her bliaut and pulled her ankle. His fingers invaded between her spread legs. His fingers rhythmically probed to achieve their goal.

Hyacinth buried her face in the cushion without a word.

Just as he had proven he wasn’t aroused by her,

She wanted to prove she wasn’t aroused by him either.

But contrary to her desperate wish, her body, which had learned stimulation, was honest. The wetter she became below, the more sorrowful Hyacinth felt. It was beyond painful; it was excruciating.

When she was sufficiently wet, his fingers withdrew.

Hyacinth buried her face deeper into the cushion. She knew what would happen next. So. Don’t get aroused, she desperately prayed to her body, but the sensation of her lower parts twitching was vivid.

Why am I…

Why am I…

Hyacinth wanted to tell him to stop but held back. Maybe, just maybe, the one who came to bed that night was truly a nightmare, as Ethan Erentis said. She doubted whether the man who had held her was really him.

But the moment his member split her open and entered, Hyacinth was sure it wasn’t her but the world that had gone mad.

Ethan Erentis was right.

It was enough to make her laugh bitterly. Hyacinth just dug her nails into the edge of the cushion, letting the only person she had ever been with continue to take her.

Thrusting in, scratching, pulling out without hesitation.

The thrusts quickened. She bit her lip to stifle her moans. Noticing that she was holding back her sounds, his movements became even rougher, but Hyacinth preserved her dignity, shattered and worthless as it was.

She didn’t let out a single moan until he ej*culated inside her and withdrew.

Finally, the man who had separated from her slowly got up. The sofa, which had borne the weight of two people, groaned for the last time. The rustle of cloth. And then.

“This will be the first and last time I ever hold you.”

“……”

“Let’s divorce after you give birth. Not accusing you of infidelity is my utmost leniency.”

“……Why did you marry me?”

Hyacinth asked without lifting her face from the cushion. She felt a wave of self-doubt about why she even asked, but she didn’t retract her question. She felt she could handle any answer without breaking.

She was already thoroughly, miserably, utterly broken, with not even a fragment left.

But Ethan Erentis was more ruthless than Hyacinth had expected.

“Did I want to?”

At his blunt retort, Hyacinth froze with her nose buried in the cushion. It was unavoidable. It felt like a slap in the face, and she desperately wished.

If she could stop breathing, she wished she could stop her heart as well.

Just like this… if only she could end everything.

If she couldn’t turn back time, she wished she could at least hasten the conclusion.

Creak. The sound of the door opening and closing.

Finally, she was alone in the large room.

Hyacinth endured for a long time, keeping the traces of the man between her thighs. Scratching the sofa with her nails. Tearing and tormenting the cushion anew.

Why did I come here… Why…

She recalled her cousins warning her that she would wither and die, that he wasn’t a man worth loving. Even her uncle’s worried face, who had been concerned up until the moment he allowed the marriage.

Why did I… Why did I ruin my life… my entire life…

Eventually, sobs took over her entire body.

It was a beast-like wail.

* * *

Ten days later, Duke Trisel left to inspect the territory.

Leaving his pregnant wife behind was deemed too harsh by many, but the lord was resolute.

He left with the unbelievable promise that he would return before the child was born.

Hyacinth did not see him off.

* * *