“Ha… Sveta.”

He lifted her chin with his index finger.

Sunlight filtered through the curtains, catching in his blond hair and casting a glow across his smooth brow.

Aside from a few disheveled strands, he remained composed.

She was the only one in disarray.

Naturally.

As though suffocated, Aiden tugged at his cravat and loosened it. He undid several buttons, revealing the firm line of his chest, still damp with sweat.

“…”

He exhaled slowly, gently brushing his thumb over her earlobe.

Sveta turned her head away. His large hand followed, quietly and persistently tracing and rubbing the nape of her neck.

There was no escaping his touch.

A faint, bitter thought flickered through her mind.

How absurd she must look, she thought: half-undressed, legs parted, perched on the narrow window ledge.

He hadn’t even granted her simple request to move to the sofa.

Would he really let her go out?

Of course not.

What had she expected by becoming involved with him like this?

Aiden smoothed her tangled hair with uncharacteristic care.

Sveta turned her face away, rejecting the gentleness of his touch.

It hurt to accept him.

Because she didn’t hate it.

Because she had enjoyed giving herself to a man who wouldn’t listen to her at all.

Her eyes grew hollow as her gaze drifted —

Then she noticed that the office door was slightly open.

Through the narrow gap—

—her eyes suddenly locked with a pair of sharp, gleaming grey ones.

Alyona Mattwood was staring at her as if she intended to kill her.

“Y-Your Grace.”

Sveta hurriedly pulled her skirt down. She was mortified that her br*ast had not been fully covered.

Aiden glanced over his shoulder, then calmly adjusted himself.

“It’s fine.”

He gathered her into his arms and carried her to the sofa, out of the doorway’s line of sight.

Then, with his usual slow, unhurried elegance, he walked towards Alyona Mattwood.

When he was standing face to face with her, he tilted his head from side to side as though easing the stiffness from his neck. After a brief pause, he quietly closed the door.

As if the person outside were of no consequence.

As if nothing at all had occurred.

Every movement was composed — effortless and controlled.

When he returned, he knelt beside the sofa and gently brushed his hand across her cheek.

Sveta felt as though she might suffocate from shame.

She was still lying there in his office, her br*ast barely covered. And his fiancée was standing just beyond the corridor.

“It’s all right, Sveta.”

Dragging her crumpled dress up to cover herself, she whispered quickly.

“You’ll be fine, won’t you, Your Grace?”

“What… do you mean?”

“I mean embracing your mistress while your fiancée stands in the hallway.”

Silence.

“You have nothing to lose, do you?”

His neatly shaped brows twisted out of their natural form.

“Sveta.”

“But what do I gain?”

You belong to another woman, yet you chose me anyway.

You were never mine. Not once.

A sudden surge of resentment made her tremble.

It wasn’t that she loved him.

If she had, she would have spent sleepless nights trembling at his slightest glance and risked her life for his slightest touch.

This bitter feeling could not possibly be love.

‘I don’t love this man.’

She repeated it to herself like a vow.

That must be why it felt so unfair.

After all, all Aiden had given her was a sense of loss.

He had gained something, while she had been left diminished.

Her face contorted.

“Does everything between us have to come with a price? Do we really have to treat our relationship like a constant exchange?”

“Yes. Which is why you must grant what I ask for as well.”

A faint line formed between his brows as he looked at her.

“You want to go out that badly?”

“Perhaps it’s simply that I want to go out at all.”

Though he bit down on his reddened lips, he did not stop stroking her cheek. His touch remained gentle.

“…I don’t like the thought of you leaving.”

“Why?”

“….”

As expected, he chose not to answer.

Click. Click.

The sharp click of heels pacing down the corridor shattered the frozen stillness of the air.

Now she understood why Alyona Matwood had looked at her as though she wanted to kill her.

What Alyona had witnessed today was more than enough to explain her anger.

Sveta lowered her gaze halfway.

She had been terribly mistaken.

She had once thought that loving someone who didn’t love her back was the greatest humiliation she could endure. But being reduced to something cheap and insignificant was not the end of it.

This suffocating guilt…

‘How much further will you go in hurting me?’

‘The way your eyes soften when they turn to me. The careful tenderness of your touch. The quiet warmth in your low voice—

‘— it all feels like a blade pressed straight against my heart.’

‘When I fall into your arms, it feels as though I am the one driving that blade into myself.’

“Ah…”

A hot tear slipped down her sweat-dampened cheek.

“Sveta.”

His large hand cupped her face. He looked startled by her sudden tears.

“All right. I’ll do as you wish. Just… stop crying.”

“…It’s too bright, Your Grace.”

He glanced towards the window and wiped away the last of her tears. Then, moving more quickly than usual, he crossed the room and pulled the curtains shut tightly.

“There. Hush now. Stop crying. I’ll give you whatever you want.”

His voice, coaxing and soft, tried to soothe her.

Click. Click. Click.

The relentless sound of heels striking the corridor floor interrupted his gentle tone repeatedly.

Was it Aiden’s voice — soft yet sharp and angled — that tore painfully at her chest?

Or was it the sound of his fiancée’s footsteps?

Sveta could not tell which hurt more.

“Sveta.”

“Your Grace… even with the curtains drawn… it’s still too bright.”

Even hiding in the shadows could not conceal her shame.

Held in his arms, she squeezed her eyes shut. But this did not hide anything.

She was still a base mistress. That would never change.

***

“My lady, His Grace said the baron’s daughter is busy.”

“Busy? Busy doing what? Where is she?”

“I saw her enter His Grace’s office.”

At the maid’s unbelievable report, Alyona let out a long breath.

She had invited her on a boating excursion in hopes of growing closer—and received a blatant refusal in return.

“What could possibly keep her so busy? Busy with what… in his office? What on earth could she be doing there?”

The pleasure she had anticipated from the carefully planned outing evaporated.

Tense, she lifted her gaze to the second floor, where the office was located.

The movement of the curtains seemed suspicious.

Through the narrow gap, she saw something flash briefly.

Her fist clenched tightly in her skirt, she trembled.

Without another thought, Alyona headed towards the office.

The corridor was empty.

‘Did they clear it on purpose? What could they possibly be doing?’

Dark thoughts bloomed in her mind. Her heartbeat lost its rhythm, pounding heavily in her chest.

She paced the corridor sharply. Her stomach churned. At the same time, her body felt oddly light with tension.

She strained her ears, but could only hear indistinct sounds drifting from within.

“I have to see. I need to know what is keeping her so busy.”

She knew that opening this door would reveal something far from pleasant.

She knew she should be more cautious.

Yet her hand moved of its own accord.

Alyona slowly turned the handle.

The door swung open.

Before her stood the sight of her man entangled with a lowly mistress.

The woman was hidden behind his broad back.

Her fiancé, Aiden Strilland, remained perfectly composed as he indulged his desire.

The only signs of impropriety were the faint movement at his waist and his bare hand braced firmly against the sofa.

“Ah, Aiden… please.”

The mistress’s coaxing voice wound its way around him. The man’s heavy breathing and the unmistakable rhythm of their bodies moving together were clearly audible.

Alyona had once lived in Sweenia, a land of luxury and indulgence.

She was not naïve.

Through discreetly circulated illustrations and whispered stories shared among acquaintances, she had seen and heard more than enough.

And yet—

Although she understood exactly what was happening before her eyes, her chest still throbbed with sharp, piercing pain.

Her teeth ground together.

‘I will never forget this.’

‘This moment—when that low creature stole what is mine and wounded me.’

Seized by blazing fury, Alyona’s eyes widened fiercely.

When the seemingly endless act finally ceased, the mistress took notice of her and made a startled commotion.

Should she step aside and give them space?

No, Alyona had no intention of retreating.

She was not the one who should feel ashamed.

At the same time, she was curious to see how he would behave. If he apologized, she might even accept it.

Seeing the proud, lofty Aiden bend the knee to her would be far more satisfying than the shock of the vulgar scene she had just witnessed.

As she silently admired her own magnanimity, he approached.

“Aiden…”

Following the mistress’s example, Alyona tried to murmur his name.

The corner of Aiden’s mouth lifted slightly.

It was unmistakably a sneer – so why did her heart race at the sight of it?

He rolled his head lazily from side to side.

His cold green eyes carried an obvious warning, yet Alyona could not take her eyes off his disheveled appearance.

The glimpse of his powerful chest revealed through his partially open shirt, and his long bare fingers freed from their gloves, felt provocatively indecent.

And that scent.

It was the first time she had ever inhaled something so damp and unfamiliar.

The door closed slowly between them.

“…Aiden.”

Aiden, Aiden.

Muttering the name the mistress had whispered so softly, Alyona paced the corridor.

For a moment, she superimposed her own image onto the face of the woman who had slept with him.

Her heartbeat shifted to a different rhythm.

‘I must take back what is mine. Sooner than planned.’