Well, what could he say? It would be a problem if she knew, and nothing to boast about if she didn’t.

Gloria swallowed the sneer that was emerging.

“What earrings?”

“The ones I gave you.”

When his cold fingertips touched her earlobe, a shiver ran up her spine. She could clearly feel the sensation of his thumb and index finger pressing firmly on her ear.

“The hole has closed up too.”

“I’ll find them and return them to you.”

His touch was so unpleasant that Gloria tried to push his hand away. Just then, Jack suddenly grasped the nape of her neck.

At the same time, a low voice resonated close to her ear.

“Jack.”

Gloria was startled. In an instant, her slender neck was in his grasp.

Jack still had a languid expression, but she instinctively tensed up.

“You used to call me Jack. I hear ‘Duke’ enough outside to be sick of it.”

‘I’m sure you do.’

As she mocked him inwardly, his touch suddenly moved from her neck to her shoulder, and from her shoulder to her collarbone.

“If you don’t like the earrings, throw them away. If you want, I’ll give you new ones.”

She wanted to say she didn’t need them. But Gloria couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth. His fingertips slid from her collarbone and fell to her forearm. The distance between them was so close that their upper bodies were almost touching.

An alarm went off in Gloria’s head.

‘This, this suddenly?’

Was he determined to have his way regardless of whether his lover had lost her memories or not? Or was their relationship purely physical to begin with?

Gloria reflexively pushed against Jack’s chest. But he didn’t budge an inch.

Despite his delicate appearance and slender, lanky body, he was still a man. The tension grew so taut it seemed about to snap.

No.

That was her only thought.

“W-wait a moment!”

Just as his lips were about to reach her face, Gloria finally covered his mouth with both hands and pulled her body back.

His deer-like large eyes widened.

“Is this why you came?”

“What?”

As the man mumbled with his mouth covered by her hands, Gloria quickly withdrew them, getting goosebumps from his breath.

“Even if we had that kind of relationship, continuing like this isn’t right.”

“So?”

‘What do you mean, so?’

His attitude, clearly letting her words go in one ear and out the other, gradually heated Gloria’s temper.

“Duke, you should stop this. This dishonorable affair.”

Fortunately, he stepped back obediently. But his explicit gaze was still fixed on Gloria.

“It’s the first time you’ve pushed me away. It’s refreshing and not bad, but I’m a bit hurt.”

Hurt or whatever, Gloria just wanted him to leave now. But Jack showed no signs of backing down.

“But it’s a bit difficult when you started this first and now you’re acting like this.”

“Difficult, you say.”

“You were the one who begged me to come just once, to kiss you just once. Of course, you wouldn’t remember this either.”

Despite his clearly sarcastic tone, Gloria couldn’t back down. She truly didn’t remember.

‘Blaming me? It takes two hands to clap.’

“You make it sound like you were forced to kiss me. How altruistic of you to grant a lady’s personal wish.”

“I said call me Jack.”

A light laugh escaped from his lips. Gloria’s head felt hot while her chest felt cold.

Strangely, she was afraid of Jack, yet angry at the same time.

“Fine, Jack.”

Every word he spoke seemed to be testing her. Even his attempt to kiss her just now. But as the conversation continued, it was Gloria who was losing her composure.

It wasn’t really because she was afraid of him. Her body was reacting differently from her mind.

This was the previous Gloria’s memory.

“If you were forced to kiss me, then shouldn’t it end when I let you go? I don’t know how it was before, but now I have no feelings for you. In fact, I find this unpleasant.”

“I never said I was forced.”

He stroked Gloria’s cheek with the back of his hand. Looking at it now, his touching her seemed like a kind of habit. Whether Gloria objected or not.

“I don’t know when the choice became yours, but fine. I’ll accept it.”

There were things she had learned about him from their brief conversation, and things she still didn’t know.

His expression, his eyes. It wasn’t easy to read his thoughts from such things. His deep blue eyes were dark, having absorbed all the candlelight and the moonlight seeping through the window. Perhaps Gloria’s fear stemmed from there.

“I don’t have a habit of forcing myself on someone who doesn’t want me. If that’s really what you want, I’ll stop here.”

So even when the answer she wanted came from his mouth, something felt off. Was it because his face didn’t match his words?

‘How should I describe this expression?’

Gloria stared at him blankly. He cradled Gloria’s face in both hands as if for the last time. Then he gently kissed her forehead.

“You’ll end up seeking me out again anyway. Until then, try to find your memories.”

His voice was gentle, as if soothing a child.

With those final words, Jack left the room with the same unwavering steps he had entered with.

“That guy is completely insane.”

As soon as he left, Gloria vigorously wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and pulled the bell cord.

“Dona, bring salt immediately.”

After sprinkling salt generously at the entrance, Gloria said to the bewildered Dona:

“I’m going for a short walk.”

“At, at this hour?”

“Yes. You don’t need to follow me.”

She handed the empty salt bottle to the fidgeting Dona and headed outside.

‘Did he always act like such a madman?’

Belatedly, she tried to recall what kind of person Jack was.

All she knew was that he had a personality that approached without hesitation once he set his sights on someone, and that he had the looks, wealth, and status to make it possible.

The night when numerous nobles brought their most splendid jewels to the party, glittering under the lights.

As if time had stopped, amidst the flowing crowd, Isabel and Jack existed only for each other.

That was their first meeting. Jack was very gentlemanly to Isabel, watching her every move and escorting her.

The lovers who fell in love at first sight sought only each other during the week-long party, and during the day, they would also take walks together, pretending it was by chance.

Jack cherished Isabel and held her dear, as if he would love her this way for a lifetime.

“Is this his true face? Or am I just someone he can treat carelessly?”

Wasn’t an affair either a paltry excuse of finding true love belatedly, or just a shameless act committed by foolish beasts who, led by desire and instinct, lacked rational self-control?

That’s what affairs had looked like to Gloria, or rather, Kang Jae-hee.

Because the legal wife made life difficult, because they needed room to breathe. Because they finally found true love.

Old habits die hard.

‘Ah, I don’t know. How would I understand the mindset of cheaters?’

No matter how she thought about it, Gloria felt a strong sense of dissonance in Jack’s behavior.

It wasn’t even the way a gentleman typically treats a lady. Even if Jack had treated Gloria romantically like a lover, it would have been disgusting, but this was unsatisfying in its own way.

“Or is it just for enjoyment?”

Or perhaps he enjoyed a unique, hierarchical relationship.

In any case, was their relationship purely physical, just a need for a small deviation in the stifling noble society?

Was that why he found the 180-degree changed Gloria interesting?

Recalling his attitude, as if he were playing with something placed in the palm of his hand, Gloria clenched both fists.

‘I don’t know when the choice became yours.’

He seemed to be going along with an affection game he didn’t even want. On the other hand, going along with it meant he wasn’t completely without feelings.