Prologue

“Marien, lift your back up, I can only take so much of this.”

The man’s words made her struggle to raise her upper body, but it was a futile effort. It was hard enough to endure the man’s ferocious thrusts from behind as she lay on her stomach.

The once elegant bedroom was suddenly filled with the sounds of promiscuity and the heat of the day, suffocating her.

‘You can’t be a maid. Especially not for the Berkshire Viscount family. Do you understand me? Answer me, Marien.’

‘I should have heard my mother’s words.I should have realized that her words were more desperate than her will.’

The sharp crescent moon beyond the window cut her accusingly, leaving a deep gash.

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, and Marien, flushed with shame, stopped.

“Hmph… Master, please…….”

“Do it straight. Unless you want to be punished.”

A thick, rough hand pulled her n*ked body up, like a white petal torn in the moonlight.

The shadowy man grabbed her by the slender waist and began thrusting once more, his shadowy body heaving with ferocity.

The strongly built man’s downward thrusts pushed her further and further away until she finally reached the end of the bed. The corners of the man’s mouth twitched in dissatisfaction. He slowed his movements and stared down at the woman beneath him.

‘Marien, my maid. Mine.’

Her hair reflected the moonlight and fell in golden waves over her n*ked body. She was beautiful enough to steal a man’s heart.

Like her, even her wine-colored eyes were like red roses.

‘It reminded me of her, all her innocence and coquettishness, like the delicate red petals hidden amongst the snow-white blossoms. Marien would never be taken away from me like she was before.’

There were countless other marks he’d made on her, but he was especially pleased with the reddened b*ttocks.

The man stopped moving slowly, admiring the blossoming woman, and when he stopped moving for a moment, the drenched woman quivered and waited for his disposal.

“Ah, sob…”

He liked the way she was trying to seduce him with her eroticism.

But the words that flowed from her red lips quickly irritated the man.

“Please… please, my lord, I beg you, now, hmmm, stop it, ah……!”

her lord, Viscount Ruston Berkshire, twisted the corners of his mouth into a cold smile.

“I see you’ve already forgotten what I said, and if you want to get this over with, you’d better not defy me,”

Marien shuddered slightly.

The sheets crumpled and curled into her palms, but she offered no resistance.

She knew that if she didn’t hold on to this moment, worse would come to Master Tamilan and her Madam, that his warnings to her were not meant to frighten her, but would be carried out as soon as she refused.

The man’s blue eyes gazed at her, slowly turning possessive, revealing an intense desire for dominance.

The corners of his mouth twitched upward as he gripped her slender waist tighter and tighter.

‘Struggle, little one.

You’ll never get away from me.’

Ruston pushed her to the end of the bed and easily scooped her up. He pulled her into his arms and pressed her tightly against him, his thick musky scent enveloping her like a bind.

“Hmph….”

Marien choked back a sob. What little hope she had clung to had turned as colorless as his ashen hair.

The rough penetration began again, pummeling her once more.

The grinding of the junctions, the gasps, the wet, slurping noises of the sheets being pulled apart began to fill the air.

The woman, her pain melted away by the constant stimulation, was opening herself up to her master without her consent.

She arched her back involuntarily, creeped out by the ragged breath that pierced her back.

Her body, pushed to the limit, clenched tightly against her will as the c*ck slipped in and out.

Marien bit her lip, wincing in guilt, but her shuddering body was already beyond her control.

“Ugh… not anymore… please, I don’t want this… haah, ah!”

Against her wishes, the viscount lusted after Marien. One unwanted climax after another left Marien writhing in excruciating pleasure.

The penalty for disobeying her mother’s wishes was severe.

The gentlemanly master who had seemed to possess all the dignity and grace of a nobleman was nowhere to be found.

‘What should I do? I can’t run away…’

Her body swayed back and forth and her vision was dizzy, but the master’s actions continued unabated. At last, as she struggled to hold on, a blackness came over her.

***

Marien lifted her heavy eyelids as something cold touched her face. In her blurry vision, she saw a hand wiping her face with a damp towel.

“Who…?”

She blinked a few times, and her vision began to focus.

It was Tamilan Berkshire, the lord’s half-brother and the young master of this family.

When she saw the face she had longed to see, Marien’s eyes became wet with tears.

“ I heard you collapsed. Did something happen while I was away?”

His heavy voice and eyes, dark and sunken, were as deep as an abyss.

But why was Young Master Tamilan here…?

Marien slowly blinked and looked around.

“Ah.”

She was in the servants’ quarters. Only then did Marien realize she had fainted because of her master.

As the shameful memory of the previous night returned, a deep despair and helplessness swept over her.

Seeing Tamilan watching her from the bedside, Marien slowly lifted her weary body.

“Young Master Tamilan, when did you…”

A raspy, rough sound escaped her lips, and startled, she immediately closed her mouth. Her voice was hoarse.

Frightened, Marien touched her throat with trembling fingers.

“You sweated a lot. Drink.”

“Thank you…”

Her eyelashes trembled faintly. She took the glass of water to calm herself, and a large hand gently brushed back her sweat-dampened hair.

The familiar and kind touch brought her comfort—but sadly, it was something she could no longer hope for.

Marien barely managed to steady herself and cleared her throat.

“Where does it hurt?”

“I think… I might have overdone it a little…”

She felt wretched that she couldn’t offer a single honest word. Her weak voice scattered dryly, unable to even hold sorrow.

Unable to summon the courage to look at him, Marien had avoided his gaze—but then, hesitating, she finally faced him.

“…….”

“I wish I could be the one in pain instead. It’s hard to bear seeing you suffer.”

His breath dispersed heavily from his lips. His expression was blunt, but his voice softened with genuine concern.

She realized once again that her earlier thought—that he was like a prince from a fairy tale—had been right. The more time they spent together, the more she came to realize how wonderful and admirable he was.

Marien wanted to smile at him as if nothing had happened, just like before.

She wanted to lean into his gentle kindness and warmth, to be embraced and comforted.

Above all, she wanted to erase every memory of the previous night with her master.

Her master’s words—that if she quietly accepted, it would be over soon—had been a lie. The endless intimacy hadn’t been confined to the bed.

In the early dawn, she had to stifle her moans by covering her mouth at the wide-open window. At the door, with her hands clutching the handle, she had been forced to bear his weight, terrified of being caught by the servants.

Now, even the slightest movement sent sticky fluids trailing down between her legs. It was a cruel reminder of the irreversible reality.

Why, why…

Was this always my fate?

If this was the punishment for harboring feelings for someone I should never have dared to long for, it was far too harsh.

“Thank you for your concern. I’m fine… My master will be waiting.”

“You can report to him later. How can I leave you like this?”

At Tamilan’s words, Marien shook her head. She hated herself for having to reject him. Her chest pounded faster than ever from the lies she was telling.

“I’d like it if you didn’t come to my quarters like this anymore.”

“…….”

Though her voice trembled and her gaze wavered, she continued firmly.

“Young master… you must keep your distance from a mere maid like me.”

The words she spoke to wound him immediately returned to her as a dagger, stabbing her own chest. It was as if bitter blood had risen to her throat, suffocating her in pain.

Marien hesitated for a moment, then cautiously withdrew her hand from his grasp. At that moment, as if a bond between them had been severed, an indescribable sense of deep loss engulfed her.

It felt as though her heart was being carved out with a knife, but it was a feeling she had to sever now. She had to abandon her lingering feelings.

Tamilan’s face hardened.

His expression cooled down, as cold as winter.

Marien lowered her head, avoiding his gaze. She was just a maid returning to her place, unable to recognize her station.

“Are you saying this from the heart? How can you possibly be just a mere maid to me?”

“…….”

Tamilan pulled Marien’s hand back and pressed a desperate kiss to the back of her hand. Marien’s expression crumbled as though she would cry.

“Don’t push me away, Marien.”

Tamilan’s anxious lips pressed against the back of her hand as his face leaned against it.

His desperate voice soothed the carved-out heart, and a profound sadness filled its place.

Like a tattered cloth, even her lingering attachment clung to her.

“…Young master.”

“Not young master.”

He had asked her to call him by his name.

Watching Tamilan, who clung to her hand for a long while, Marien bit her lip.

Because it might be a name she could never call again…

“Tamilan.”

Her firmly clasped hand felt heavy, and her eyes turned red. She didn’t want to let go of his hand.

She wanted to say that this wasn’t rejection, that this wasn’t her true heart, that she had been waiting all along for him to return.

In the end, Marien couldn’t contain her surging emotions and broke into tears.

Where had it all gone wrong?

She gathered the scattered fragments of her memories, one by one.