At the gentle touch sweeping down her body, Olivia’s closed eyelids twitched. Through her barely opened eyes, she saw Edmund wiping down her body, clad in a thin negligee.

Unlike the exhausted Olivia, Edmund showed no signs of fatigue. Rather, his glossy, radiant face looked like there was no need to worry about his health at all.

Should she consider this fortunate? Olivia felt a bitter taste in her mouth and murmured in a cracked voice.

“Your Grace is truly… kind.”

How much kinder must he be to the lover whose life he cherishes?

His kindness now brought pain rather than excitement. Edmund, who had been moving his hands gently, looked up.

“My name.”

Their meeting gazes flashed like a warning.

“You should call me by my name, wife.”

Soon, like a lie, he smiled softly. It was his usual face, that same kind expression. Somehow her throat tightened.

“Edmund.”

“Yes. Olivia.”

“…Edmund.”

“Speak, wife.”

“Why do you treat me so… kindly?”

An unexpected question jumped out of her mouth on its own. Perhaps because her body had been pushed to its limits, controlling her heart was more difficult than ever. At the question full of exhaustion, Edmund’s demeanor sharpened.

“Should I not?”

The usual Olivia might have been intimidated at this point and ended the conversation, but not today. A hot emotion—whether courage or recklessness—boiled in her chest and she couldn’t hold it back.

Olivia met Edmund’s blue gaze steadily and said.

“I wanted to say there’s no need for that.”

“To ease your guilt?”

At the calm counter-question, Olivia’s eyes widened.

Guilt? The person who should feel that wasn’t her but Edmund! 

Olivia bristled, but Edmund’s words came faster.

“I have no intention of that, so give up. I’ll keep you by my side even if I have to exploit your tender heart.”

“What are you talking about right now?”

“It’s a matter of life and death. I absolutely cannot tolerate you running away.”

“What? Running away?”

When Olivia blinked in confusion, Edmund reached out with a cold face.

Olivia followed the trajectory of his hand brushing past her side. Where his hand reached was the nightstand beside the bed.

“Read it in front of me.”

He held out documents that seemed prepared in advance. Looking closely, they weren’t documents. They were letters. A bundle of letters, specifically selected ones from Ted.

“Ted’s letters, why now?”

“I need to know what words he used to lure you away.”

“What? Ted lured me?”

“…That man’s name comes so easily to your lips.”

Edmund’s voice carried complex emotions. His slightly rippling blue eyes looked hurt. Olivia’s sharp momentum softened immediately at just that. Without realizing it, she reached out and grasped Edmund’s hand soothingly.

“Ted is my friend. Your Grace, no, Edmund—your name is just unfamiliar to me, that’s all.”

“Do you prefer someone familiar?”

Edmund gripped her hand tightly. It was a grip strength Olivia’s power could never resist.

“Is that why you’re trying to run away with him?”

Olivia, who had been wiggling her tingling hand, suddenly raised her head.

“Run away? Why would I run away with Ted?”

“No need to deny it. I heard the story from the Countess. You admitted it yourself, didn’t you?”

Olivia had no idea what she and her mother had supposedly said. Edmund continued speaking with a somewhat twisted expression, tension in his jaw.

“The Countess informed me that you were plotting to run away from me. And you admitted you received a marriage proposal from your friend. Isn’t that right?”

Ah. Olivia let out a quiet exclamation. Now Edmund’s misunderstanding made sense. It felt like misaligned pieces were fitting together.

“I don’t know why Mother sent such news, but it’s all a misunderstanding.”

Even watching Olivia’s intense denial, Edmund’s expression remained distrustful. Olivia released his hand and spread out clear evidence.

“See for yourself. Ted and I are just childhood friends who share trivial stories. The proposal was naturally for another friend, not me. Here, this friend whose name appears many times in the letters.”

In the hastily unfolded letters from Ted, Susan’s name was very easy to find. Come to think of it, Susan occupied more than half of Ted’s letters. Olivia felt a fresh realization and protested her innocence.

“Do you understand now? Ted and I are absolutely not that kind of relationship. If you’d seen this earlier, you wouldn’t have misunderstood.”

“How could I look at your belongings without permission? I might earn your hatred.”

Edmund spoke with an unshaken face and cast his gaze.

“Then now, explain what the Countess said. Did you truly say you wanted to run away? From my side?”

“Ah. That’s…”

Unlike when speaking about Ted, hesitation appeared on Olivia’s face. Edmund’s expression immediately crumpled. Unable to bear his face that seemed to reproach her, Olivia blurted out.

“That’s because of you, Edmund.”

Olivia’s eyes sharpened.

“How about we talk about your letter this time?”

“My letter?”

“The letter in the second drawer of your study desk.”

Edmund’s expression, which had been pondering something, froze instantly.

“Because of that letter, you want to… run away from me?”

Edmund’s words broke intermittently, like suppressing surging emotions. Deathly pale, he looked like a plaster statue.

“That’s right. I was disappointed in Edmund for breaking the contract, so I briefly had such thoughts.”

“I have never broken the contract.”

“You clearly said you wouldn’t keep a mistress…”

Edmund cut off her words sharply, breathing roughly.

“You are my one and only wife. Olivia, loving you does not violate the contract.”

“Of course loving me doesn’t violate the contract…! What? Your Grace, what did you just say?”

“…”

“Edmund. You love me?”

Olivia, who hurriedly changed how she addressed him under his piercing gaze, felt like crying. Because it seemed Edmund was mocking her.

She tried to hold back with strength, but couldn’t stop the tears silently pooling in her eyes. Through her quickly blurred vision, Edmund’s face appeared miserably contorted.

“…Do you hate me so much that you’d cry like this?”

“This is really too much.”

Even while sniffling, Olivia poured out her resentment in a clear voice.

“I saw everything. You said you loved a woman named Eve, you love someone else, yet how can you lie and say you love me… Hic. This is really too much.”

Edmund’s expression, which had been clenching his jaw and gritting his teeth, suddenly became strange.

“What are you talking about right now?”

Edmund carefully reached out his hand. Olivia didn’t avoid his touch.

“Eve.”

His neat fingertips gently wiped away her tears. Edmund whispered in a cracked voice.

“You are Eve.”

“…What?”

Olivia, feeling dizzy, squeezed her eyes shut then opened them. Plop plop, as large teardrops fell, her vision brightened. Edmund’s careful yet tense, rigid face became clearly visible.

“Olivia, did you mistake Eve for someone else?”

“…”

“Is that why you cried?”

“…”

“Not because you dislike the fact that I love you?”

Nod nod, even while rolling her eyes in bewilderment, Olivia earnestly nodded her head.

“Ha.”

With a deflated sigh, Edmund pressed his forehead. And the next moment, Olivia was pulled into Edmund’s embrace like being sucked in.

“E-Edmund?”

Edmund’s heart pressed against hers was racing wildly. His shoulders and firm chest rose and fell steeply. The arm strength that seemed ready to burst was overwhelming.

“…”

But she didn’t dislike that strong force that felt almost desperate. Olivia gently lowered her awkwardly held arms to Edmund’s back. Though suffocating and the pressure was considerable, she endured it because she didn’t want to leave his embrace.

Due to the difficulty breathing, her mind gradually grew hazy. Olivia desperately continued her thoughts.

Edmund had asked if she’d mistaken Eve for someone else. In other words, the Eve Edmund wrote about in the letter was… Olivia herself.

Was this too far a leap? Olivia wanted to confirm this fact as soon as possible. She moved the hand she’d docilely placed on Edmund’s back.

Interpreting that signal somehow, Edmund released her from his embrace and immediately pressed their lips together.

“Mmph.”

Edmund devoured her lips like a parched man. His thick tongue ravaged the inside of her mouth, and his large hands frantically swept down Olivia’s body. 

Heat flared up quickly at his sticky touch. At this rate, they’d have another heated session of lovemaking.

Olivia, who had been half-dazed by Edmund’s lewd tongue movements, suddenly pushed his shoulder.

“W-wait a moment.”

Edmund, who had been pretending to be pushed away, pressed his lips to hers again.

“Edmund!”

Olivia blocked his lips with her palm. Edmund seemed to lose momentum, then—lick—obscenely licked Olivia’s palm.

Only when Olivia made a stern expression did he reluctantly remove his lips from her hand.

Even so, the distance between their faces remained excessively close. Edmund showed no intention of pulling back his body.

Olivia widened her eyes to avoid losing her reason to Edmund’s face that bewitched her.

“When did you learn my childhood name? How?”

“I learned it the day we first met. I heard your family calling you that.”

“That’s impossible. I haven’t been called that at official events since becoming an adult.”

Olivia first met Edmund at a charity banquet held a few months after her coming-of-age ceremony.

Olivia had fallen for Edmund at first sight at that event. Did Edmund also remember that brief meeting? 

But the time when she stopped being called by her childhood name was around age 10, and more importantly, she hadn’t attended that banquet with her family.

…No way. For a moment, an absurd hypothesis flashed through her mind.

“Edmund. When did you first see me?”

When Olivia became lost in thought, Edmund, who had slipped her hand around his neck, lowered his head. He answered in a murmur, burying his nose in Olivia’s neck.