Chapter 15

Amelie woke up in the middle of the night. Her body, which had been left disheveled and sullied, was now clean and dressed, as though someone had carefully washed and clothed her while she was unconscious. The only discomfort she felt was from her throat, which had gone hoarse from crying out in ecstasy without pause.

‘What time is it…?’

Her daily rhythm had been completely disrupted. It was perhaps inevitable, considering that her life had devolved into nothing but endless physical encounters. While the Duke of Estricen’s relentless advances were one thing, the fact that she could endure his insatiable desire was equally astounding.

She was alone in bed. Despite how Kailo von Estricen clung to her body as though he would never let go, he would always disappear somewhere once their prolonged sessions came to an end. There were times when she woke up to find him silently watching her, but he had never once fallen asleep beside her.

Suddenly, something shiny caught her eye. Moonlight was caressing the jewelry resting on the vanity.

Amelie reached out from the bed and picked up the hairpin he had left behind.

‘This is…’

Amelie hesitated.

She was his mistress. She wanted to believe they were lovers, but their relationship was more about physical passion than any deep emotional connection.

‘Perhaps…’

She might not even qualify as a mistress.

He had once told her that, as the Duke of Estricen’s tutor, it was only natural for her to engage with him in such a way. Perhaps Kailo saw their nights together as nothing more than an extension of her employment.

His refusal to sleep beside her was likely his way of drawing a line between “Kailo von Estricen, the Duke” and “Kailo, the man in bed.” Engaging in such relations with a tutor was already scandalous, but to sleep and wake up together? That would be an act of recklessness, akin to sharing the rights of the Duchess with a woman who had no claim to them.

She never dared to dream of becoming his wife. Amelie gazed at the hairpin in her hand with a sorrowful expression.

***

“Miss Amelie!”

“Yes?”

During class, Ethan called out to her with sparkling eyes.

“Do you have a lover, Miss Amelie?”

For a moment, Amelie’s heart sank.

The only person she could even remotely consider a lover was Kailo, but calling him that felt inaccurate.

There had been no confessions of love, no definitions of their relationship. In truth, whenever their eyes met, their bodies would soon follow, leaving no time for such conversations.

And how could she tell a child that his father was her lover? Children Ethan’s age were sensitive and needed to be approached carefully.

“No, I don’t.”

In the end, it was the only answer she could give, and it left her feeling ashamed.

The fact that she couldn’t even admit this relationship to Kailo’s own son made her acutely aware of how inappropriate it was.

Fortunately, Ethan seemed oblivious to her inner turmoil and continued chatting in his innocent tone.

“The nanny said that since you’re a noblewoman, you’ll have to get married soon.”

“…”

“And once you move to your husband’s estate, we might not see you as often…”

Ethan’s face fell, and Amelie’s heart ached in response. But the boy’s expression quickly brightened.

“But if you don’t have a lover, that’s good! At least you won’t get married anytime soon.”

Seeing the boy’s cheerful smile only deepened Amelie’s guilt.

‘This can’t go on.’

Amelie instinctively realized that it was time to change the nature of her relationship with Kailo. It was the least she could do as an adult to show respect to Ethan.

“Ethan, may I ask you something?”

Before making any decisions, there was one thing she wanted to confirm. She asked cautiously.

“Could you tell me about your mother? I’ve never heard anything about her.”

“…”

“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.”

Amelie watched Ethan with a pounding heart.

She had once asked the same question to Ethan’s nanny out of curiosity. The nanny had replied, ‘Master Ethan’s mother was the most noble woman in the world.’

A noblewoman.

Of course, the woman who bore the only child of the Estricen Ducal House would have been of high status. To capture the heart of someone as proud and aloof as Kailo von Estricen, she must have carried herself with grace and refinement.

Unlike herself.

Comparing herself to someone absent, Amelie felt a pang of self-inflicted hurt. Yet, she still wanted to know.

What kind of woman had Kailo loved?

Did I stand even the slightest chance?

Finally, Ethan’s small lips moved.

“Mother went far away.”

“Oh…”

Ethan didn’t seem particularly sad as he said it. Amelie’s thoughts grew deeper.

There was no trace of Ethan’s mother in the Estricen household. If she had “gone far away,” it was likely that she had ended her relationship with the Duke and left.

If she dared to speculate further, it was possible that Ethan’s mother was no longer in this world.

Children often struggled to grasp the concept of death. It was possible that someone had explained her absence to Ethan by saying, ‘She went far away.’

Amelie felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted from her heart.

While she had been with Kailo, she had often worried that his relationship with Ethan’s mother might not have been fully resolved. She feared that she might have unwittingly inserted herself into an unresolved family dynamic.

She had even dreamed of being ridiculed by society as a shameless mistress.

Relieved that this was not the case, a sigh escaped her lips.

But in the next moment, Ethan’s innocent exclamation plunged her into another dilemma.

“I wish you were my mother, Miss Amelie!”

“…”

The only person who could become Ethan’s mother was the Duchess of Estricen.

Kailo’s partner. A position of immense authority and responsibility. The lady of Estricen for life.

It was a role far beyond the reach of someone who had merely indulged in fleeting moments of sweetness with Kailo.

“Do you really think so?”

“Yes!”

Unable to give a proper response, Amelie simply patted Ethan’s shoulder in silence.

A bittersweet smile graced her lips.

***

Amelie carefully reviewed the deposit slip she had withdrawn from the bank.

‘If I save for just three more months…’

With the salary she received from the Ducal House and the money she earned from modeling for Nina, she estimated that she would have enough to re-enroll at the academy in about three months.

Though it was exhausting, the hope of returning to the academy gave her strength, especially as her relationship with Kailo had been weighing on her heart lately.

But that hope was shattered the moment she stepped out of the bank.

“You look like you’re doing well.”

“…”

The unexpected voice made Amelie’s face flush red.

The voice belonged to Marcus Grint. Her older brother. The one who had taken all the inheritance she was entitled to and left her with nothing.

Having monopolized the Grint Viscountcy’s wealth, she assumed he would be living lavishly by now. Yet, Marcus’s appearance was oddly shabby. At best, he seemed to have barely avoided looking like a vagrant—a far cry from the image of a noble family’s head.

“I thought you’d be living large back at the Viscounty, so what brings you here?” 

Amelie replied sharply, instinctively hiding the deposit slip behind her back.

But Marcus didn’t miss the movement and snatched the document from her in an instant.

“Give it back!”

“Well, well. You’ve saved up quite a bit, haven’t you? Weren’t you penniless before?”

Marcus’s green eyes scanned Amelie from head to toe. His gaze wasn’t one of a brother looking at his younger sister but more like a greedy man eyeing a pile of money that had rolled into his lap.

Amelie gritted her teeth and retorted.

“You already took my share of the inheritance. Isn’t that enough? I won’t give you this—not a single coin!”

“Oh? And what’s this? Why is the Duke of Estricen sending you so much money?”

Marcus exclaimed in surprise as he read the sender’s name on the deposit slip. Then, narrowing his eyes, he smirked.

“Amelie Grint. You ignored all the marriage proposals back home and insisted on coming to the capital. Now I see—you were aiming to snag a man here, weren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?!”

Amelie shouted, her face turning pale. The deposits from the Estricen household were legitimate payments for her work.

But Marcus was relentless. He had always held the backward belief that no noblewoman could find respectable work in the capital.

“There aren’t any distant relatives of Estricen living in the capital, and the only one who could regularly deposit this much money is Kailo von Estricen, isn’t it?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s nothing like that.”

Despite her protests, Marcus sneered even more.

“So, you were pretending to be all noble and proper while doing whatever you wanted behind closed doors. What do you think will happen if this deposit slip ends up in the hands of those gossiping socialites? What will happen to that man’s reputation?”

Amelie couldn’t hold back any longer.

Judging by the way things were going, Marcus seemed intent on taking even her hard-earned savings. But this money—this one thing—was something she couldn’t afford to lose.

“Do whatever you want! Do you think people in the capital are as stupid and filthy-minded as you? No one will believe such nonsense!”

Her sharp retort seemed to catch Marcus off guard.

“You really have nothing to do with him? Reputation is everything for nobles. No matter how infatuated he might be, if his reputation takes a hit, he’ll cast you aside immediately.”

“Enough. Just leave, Marcus!”

Amelie shoved her brother away. Marcus looked back at her in disbelief before folding the deposit slip neatly and tucking it into his pocket as he walked off.

Watching his retreating figure, Amelie trudged back toward the Ducal House with weary steps.

‘That bastard.’

She bit her lips tightly, but she couldn’t stop the tears from welling up.

Marcus’s scheme was doomed to fail. Even if he tried to use the deposit slip for blackmail, Kailo wouldn’t fall for it. And Amelie had no intention of giving him a single coin.

But salacious rumors always had a way of spreading. If the wrong people got wind of it, things might unfold exactly as Marcus hoped.

Amelie could end up tarnishing Kailo’s reputation as his so-called “mistress.”

Of course, she was merely working as a tutor for the Estricen household. But if only that were the whole truth. The fact that she had a physical relationship with Kailo weighed heavily on her heart.

‘…I have to end this. As soon as possible.’

She was already confused about how Kailo truly felt about her, and she felt guilty every time she looked at the innocent Ethan.

If Marcus, blinded by greed, caused a scandal, Kailo might actually suffer consequences.

The thought of him being harmed because of her was unbearable. And in the worst-case scenario, Ethan’s young heart could be left scarred beyond repair.

Before any of that could happen, Amelie resolved to end things with Kailo.