He hadn’t done anything right, either.

Every night, he held her and told her that he would get her pregnant, while secretly taking contraceptives himself.

But couldn’t they at least have talked about it?

Katarina shouldn’t have left without saying anything. She should have confronted him and told him how she felt.

What shocked him the most was that a woman who could now stand up to him so defiantly had left without saying a word.

As if he didn’t matter at all.

Katarina lowered her gaze without answering, staring only at her knees.

The longer she remained silent, the more agitated Fendrick became.

He wanted to yell at her to answer him immediately. At the same time, he was barely holding himself back from dropping to his knees and begging her to speak.

But Katarina didn’t give him the answer he wanted.

“I don’t have anything I want to say.”

She bit down on her lip.

‘Your fiancée ordered you to seduce me and bear my child. But you pretended to want me to get pregnant while secretly taking contraceptives, which made me angry. I thought you would sleep with me for a few nights and then leave me, but I never imagined that you had been lying to me from the very beginning.’

Was she supposed to say all that out loud?

The reason she had wanted to get pregnant in the first place was shameful.

Everything had gone wrong from the start, so what could she possibly say now?

If it had been the day before yesterday, perhaps things might have been different.

At that time, she was consumed by betrayal and fury, and all she could think about was fleeing this place immediately.

Had she confronted Fendrick that evening, she might even have dared to hit him.

However, that anger turned into resentment during the long carriage ride, and by the time she was curled up crying on the inn’s bed, she was blaming herself.

Now, Katarina didn’t even want to bring the story up.

“Why did you bring me back? I’m no longer your maid. You have no right to do this to me.”

Fendrick let out a faint, humorless laugh.

She spoke as though everything between them truly was finished, she didn’t even use the title my lord, a word she had once used constantly.

He realized she had no intention of having a conversation with him. The words she was speaking had nothing to do with his questions and they were all things he did not want to hear.

“So the reason you had to remain my maid is gone now, is that it?”

“…Yes.”

For Katarina, that matter was essentially resolved.

The marquis household’s personal physician himself had assured her that she had never taken any poison.

She had suspected it for a long time. She had stayed in the estate under the excuse that what if it really was poison, but the truth was, she already knew.

She simply didn’t want to leave because she had grown to like Fendrick.

Unconsciously, she had created her own reason to remain as a maid but now that reason was gone as well. After learning he had deceived her, she no longer wanted to stay by his side.

‘I don’t want to say that I liked you.’

So Katarina cut the conversation short with nothing but a single, curt yes.

Of course Fendrick didn’t take that as an answer.

He tilted his head slightly and said.

“Is that so? I don’t think so.”

‘You’re not pregnant yet, Katarina. Weren’t you sent by Loretta with the order to get pregnant by me?’

Whatever it was that Loretta had promised Katarina in exchange for her silence about the pregnancy, or whatever she had used to threaten her, Fendrick could surely offer her something better and resolve the situation once and for all.

If only Katarina would tell him!

But she refused to say a word.

Was she implying that she disliked him that much?

Fendrick’s lips curved faintly.

“So you used my fiancée’s name without permission to get a job in this house, and now you want to leave whenever you please? Sorry, but that won’t work. When did I ever say you were allowed to stop working as my maid?”

“Do I need permission to quit a job?”

He reached out and lightly gripped her chin, lifting it.

“You need your master’s permission. And I haven’t given it.”

Katarina slapped his hand away.

“You deceived me, my lord!”

She had thought she had sorted out her feelings, but the words burst out of her mouth—and her emotions followed.

Anger and betrayal flickered in her eyes.

“Because I called you my lord and did everything you told me to, did you think that meant you could lie to me?”

Fendrick studied her quietly for a moment, then tilted his head.

“Before anything else, I have one question.”

Katarina only glared back without answering.

He took that silence as permission to continue.

“If you were carrying my child right now, you wouldn’t have left the estate without a word, would you? Because you were ordered by my fiancée to get pregnant in her place. Once I married Loretta and named that child my heir, you would have stayed here as the child’s wet nurse. Isn’t that right?”

Katarina’s fingers tightened over the fabric of her skirt.

‘No, you’re wrong. If I had been pregnant, I would have left the moment I found out. Loretta would have held the baby hostage in order to control you, and you would have had no choice but to call off the engagement. Then you would have had to find someone else to marry the Marquis.’

Instead of saying any of that, Katarina simply sighed quietly.

Fendrick clearly had no idea what would have happened if she had become pregnant.

If he had, he wouldn’t have made assumptions that were completely wrong. However, there was no reason for her to tell him that Loretta wanted to call off the engagement.

If she said the wrong thing, everything could fall apart. So Katarina changed the subject, acting indifferent and evasive.

“Who knows? Maybe. I don’t really see why you’re asking.”

Fendrick’s gaze chilled instantly.

“But you know, Katarina, Loretta wanted to break off the engagement with me. She used the child you were supposed to bear as bait.”

Katarina swallowed dryly. She had never imagined she would hear something like that from Fendrick’s mouth.

How did he even know?

“So, if everything had gone according to plan, you would have ended up pregnant with my child and I would have broken off the engagement with Loretta. What exactly were you going to do then? Were you planning to become the Marchioness?”

Fendrick let out a short, derisive breath.

“No, of course not. You know perfectly well that someone without noble blood can’t become a marchioness. Isn’t that right? That means you never intended to stay here, even if you did get pregnant and give birth. Loretta must have promised to pay you for the child — to buy the baby from you.”

He lifted one corner of his mouth.

“So the plan was to sleep with me, get pregnant, and then run away from me with my child. Is that it?”

“S-sleep with…”

Katarina turned her head in disbelief.

Who was accusing whom of such a thing?

“How did you come to that conclusion? I have nothing to say. Speak to Lady Loretta. She’s the one who sent me here.”

Fendrick murmured quietly, almost under his breath.

“So you intended to throw me away from the very beginning.”

His voice was bitter.

Katarina couldn’t bear to look at him.

Yes, whether or not she became pregnant, she had planned to leave him.

But she had never imagined that he would be hurt by it.

Initially, she hadn’t considered his feelings at all. Later, once she had discovered the truth about House Lorhast, she had assumed that he would be the one to cast her aside.

When Katarina still didn’t answer, Fendrick finally spoke again.

“I’ll answer your questions about why I brought you back and whether it was all right to deceive a maid.” No, I never meant to deceive you. I took that medicine for your sake as well. I brought you back because I thought I should at least try to make it up to you.”

“If you feel even a little sorry, then please just let me go.”

Katarina lifted her head and the instant their eyes met, a chill ran down her spine.

Fendrick’s golden eyes curved gently as he smiled.

“On the bed, you always begged. For me to get you pregnant.”

He loosened his cravat with one hand and stepped toward the bed.

“I’ll give you what you wanted, even now.”

Katarina, pale as a sheet, shot up from the bed. Of course—she should have expected this from the moment he had slung her over his shoulder like luggage and carried her into the bedroom.

“When did I ever…!”

Her lips were swallowed. The unfinished sentence was pulled straight into his.

“Mm—”

Katarina braced both hands against his chest and pushed. But his solid, muscular body didn’t budge no matter how hard her slender hands pressed. Instead, he wrapped one hand behind her neck, the other around her waist, pulling her in as he pushed his eager tongue into her mouth.

“…!”

When hitting him and clawing at him did nothing, she bit down—hard—on his tongue. The metallic taste of blood spread across her tongue.

Fendrick pulled back.

Golden eyes dripping with heat, he looked down at her and laughed aloud.

“Thrilling.”

The next moment, Katarina was thrown back onto the bed.

Before she could even gather her senses—rip, rip—the front buttons of her simple dress tore off one by one, and the neckline was violently ripped open.