Chapter 3

“I’m fine now.”

“Rowena, I think it would be better if you just slept tonight.”

Gerard handed her a glass of water and a sleeping pill from the bedside table.

On nights when they failed to consummate their marriage, a long silence enveloped them.

Perhaps finding that silence difficult to endure, Gerard had begun recommending sleeping pills to Rowena at some point.

Naturally, he gave the affectionate reason that it was all for the sake of her getting a good night’s sleep.

Whenever that happened, Rowena would beg him for affection.

She would whisper desperately that she was fine and that they should try again next time.

She intended to do the same this time.

“But I want to talk with you. We haven’t had many conversations lately.”

“……”

“I know you’ve been having a difficult time with the merchant company lately, but I’d like us to spend more time together. If you’re really that busy, how about taking a short walk?”

“When I have some free time soon, we’ll spend some time together.”

Gerard, who had indirectly refused her with the words “some time soon,” gently stroked Rowena’s back.

She reluctantly accepted the sleeping pill he pushed into her mouth. She also swallowed a mouthful of water.

“Sleep well.”

Before long, Rowena’s eyes, which had been blinking slowly, closed helplessly.

Gerard clapped his hands forcefully right in front of the sleeping Rowena’s face.

Clap!

It was a harsh sound that seemed to tear through the air, but she did not move a muscle.

He irritably ruffled his hair.

Amid the sound of rain tapping against the window, Rowena’s steady breathing filled the room.

“Tsk. Is she my wife or my master?”

Perhaps she was having another nightmare tonight, for a faint crease had formed between her eyebrows.

Gerard’s displeased gaze soon slid toward his wife’s lips.

Before long, a small murmur would emerge from between those lips.

“Grandfather, Mother, Father……”

She would endlessly call out the names of those distinguished nobles whom Gerard had admired all his life.

She always did whenever she had nightmares.

That was why he could not fulfill his marital duties with Rowena.

Whenever he tried to embrace her, the furious face of the former Count Libroth appeared in his mind.

The old man he had served all his life would speak in his characteristically booming voice.

“How dare you!”

He would shout that Gerard must not dare covet Rowena, and that he would suffer divine punishment if he plucked the rose of Libroth, which the old man had so carefully cultivated, without permission.

In truth, Gerard understood it intellectually.

There was nothing wrong with this marriage.

Rowena was now, without question, his wife.

He also knew very well that all that gentle, kind woman wanted was an affectionate husband, a modest garden, a slice of sweet cake, and that insignificant peace.

Therefore, if he simply made up his mind to do so, he could make Rowena happy.

And yet, Gerard found it difficult to make that decision.

Letting out a long sigh, he pulled back the blanket.

The thin negligee revealed every sensual curve of the woman’s body.

Gerard rubbed his wife’s collarbone with his fingertips. Then he closed his eyes and tried to imagine what might happen next.

However, as usual, it did not go well.

He glanced down at his unresponsive lower body and muttered irritably.

“Rowena, it’s your fault.”

Entering the bathroom, Gerard stirred the steaming water with his fingertips.

In his mind, he went over the reasons his plan had gone wrong.

As expected, it was Rowena’s fault.

Although he had entered the marriage intending to seize her fortune, he had once indulged in sweet dreams.

Rowena was the only surviving blood relative of Count Libroth, the “Saint of the West.”

She had no one to rely on but him.

Therefore, his wife would be obedient to her husband.

With just a little effort on his part, they would have an heir, and the docile Rowena would surely devote herself entirely to her duties as mistress of the household.

But……

“D*mn it.”

A low curse settled into the humid air of the bathroom.

Gerard splashed hot water vigorously over his back.

Rowena, whom he had expected to do nothing but fulfill her duties as mistress of the household, had taken it upon herself to have her grandfather canonized as a saint.

The people around her had made her that way.

The servants, the residents of Erisvale, and even the acquaintances of the former Count Libroth.

People seemed to regard that pale, fat woman as the head of the family rather than him, Gerard Evenwell.

Perhaps because she was surrounded by flatterers, Rowena had now begun subtly interfering in his business as well.

“Many people are watching, Gerard. Must you really pursue the spice trade with Baltan right now?”

“The Holy See is condemning Baltan’s system of slavery. If you continue trading actively with that country, it might interfere with Grandfather’s canonization. You’re his grandson-in-law, after all.”

And now she had found another way to infuriate him.

She had subtly brought up the two business ventures that had recently failed, one after another.

“I know you’ve been having a difficult time with the merchant company lately, but you’d like us to spend more time together? As if.”

Her tone had been as gentle as a spring breeze, but her natural elegance had stirred his inferiority complex.

Gerard roughly shook the water dripping from his hair.

He had just emerged from the bathroom, wearing a silk robe over his lean, muscular body.

At that moment, a gentle voice came from his wife’s bed.

“Welcome back, my love.”

“Camillia.”

Camillia was sitting casually on the bed as though she were the mistress of the mansion.

As Gerard tossed aside his linen towel and approached, Camillia checked beneath Rowena’s negligee.

Her eyes narrowed for a moment before curving into a gentle smile.

Caressing the waist of Gerard, who had come closer, she whispered.

“You didn’t do it tonight either?”

Camillia’s gaze drifted downward.

Gerard answered as though making an excuse.

“Rowena was ill.”

“Indeed. What are we going to do if she keeps being ill……?”

Her tone sounded as though she were terribly distressed, but there was a peculiar delight in the way she drew out the end of her words.

Camillia loosened his tightly fastened robe as she spoke.

“I suppose I’ll have to take charge of the memorial service this time.”

“That damned memorial service.”

“At least allow Rowena that much. Poor thing.”

“I know it’s something I have to endure because I deceived an innocent young lady into marrying me. But it’s dreadful.”

“Gerard, let’s stop talking about unpleasant things now. We agreed that we would only enjoy happiness. Just like this, according to your tastes.”

“All right.”

Gerard removed his robe completely and turned the sleeping Rowena onto her other side.

Then he snapped his fingers repeatedly beside her ear.

Rowena did not stir.

Trapped in her dreams, she would know nothing of what was happening in the outside world.

Rowena had been taking this excessively strong sleeping medication for the past year.

On nights when she took it, she never woke up midway through her sleep, even when thunder and lightning struck.

Tonight would be no different.

As though confirming his assumption, lightning suddenly flashed, but his wife’s eyelids remained closed as she breathed evenly.

With her back to the window, which had brightened for an instant, Camillia laughed sweetly.

“Come here, Gerard.”

Then, accompanied by a tremendous crash of thunder that shook the earth, Gerard fell into the arms of his longtime lover.

And after some effort, Gerard confirmed that his desire had risen firmly on his wife’s bed.

For Rowena, a deep night began.

For Camillia, a happy night began.

And for Gerard, a night filled with relief began.

The soft feather bed shook violently, but Rowena did not wake up.

A flash of white lightning illuminated Rowena’s round cheeks.

Rowena pushed the sleeping pill out of her mouth with the tip of her tongue.

The slippery pill slid down her cheek and fell.

Behind her, obscene m*ans rang out wildly.

Rowena clenched her fist out of sight.

Then she began counting.

One, two, three……

Just as Rowena reached two hundred, the noise of the creaking bed finally stopped.

……Two hundred.

Three minutes and twenty seconds.

After that time of intense betrayal had passed, Camillia left the bedroom a little while later.

Gerard collapsed onto the bed as though falling and drifted off to sleep.

And Rowena began counting again.

This time, it was only after an immeasurably long time had passed that Rowena rose from her bed.

Before she knew it, the rain had stopped.

She staggered through the corridors, now tinged with the light of dawn, and went outside the mansion.

The muddy earth touched her bare feet softly.

Eventually, Rowena stopped in the middle of the garden and stared blankly up at the sky.

At the edge of the sky, where the dark clouds had cleared, white stars twinkled brightly.

Rowena pulled down her sleeve and wiped away the tears gathered at the tip of her chin.

“……So this is why you made me take sleeping pills every time.”

Because he wanted to confirm that he was a proper man in such a filthy manner.

Suddenly, her husband’s muttered words brushed past her ears.

“Rowena, it’s your fault.”

Her husband had said that, but Rowena knew.

“Why is what you two are doing…… my fault?”

Death was astonishing.

That merciless darkness had awakened Rowena to one truth.

Her husband was a despicable man who abused his wife.

Her friend was a vile human being who had murdered her.

They had been that way all along, so what she had confirmed today was merely a fragment of the past she had experienced before her death.

And Rowena had gained a new life.

Thinking of it this way, her heart became unbelievably calm.

Rowena vigorously rubbed her wet eyes dry and looked up at the bedroom submerged in darkness.

Then she murmured softly.

“You two can keep living like that. I’m leaving.”

Of course, she would not leave quietly.

“It’s a memorial service that takes place every year, isn’t it?”

With those words, Gerard announced his intention not to attend the memorial service.

Apparently, an important business partner was unexpectedly visiting the city.

Rowena was actually relieved by his cowardly avoidance.

If she had to remain with him throughout the memorial service, that would truly be something dreadful and difficult to endure.

However, the moment she saw the dress Camillia was wearing when she appeared in the lounge, Rowena was overcome with burning anger.