“Catherine, I love you.”

Nonsense. Catherine erased that voice suddenly surfacing in her mind. Yet she couldn’t erase the blue eyes of David that had gazed at her through the pitch darkness. It wasn’t merely because those eyes resembled Saul’s.

In truth, Catherine couldn’t properly remember why she had been kissing David. But she clearly recalled meeting his gaze the moment she regained her senses, and how he had closed his eyes afterward.

The look she had glimpsed in that moment before his eyes closed remained vivid. Unless she was mistaken, David had definitely noticed when Catherine regained her senses…

“…You were mistaken.”

Suddenly, she remembered hearing the same answer earlier. It was deliberate evasion. David himself probably knew this, but Catherine likewise chose not to point it out.

Though she didn’t understand what he claimed was a mistake, she didn’t ask.

“Forget it,” David had whispered. For reasons unknown, he seemed unwilling to discuss the matter further, so Catherine willingly remained silent.

When Catherine closed her mouth, it was David’s turn to speak.

“Why are you wandering alone without anyone accompanying you?”

“Where’s the child who was with you?” David asked, extending his hand toward Catherine.

“I sent her ahead because I had something to attend to.”

As she answered, Catherine unconsciously turned her gaze toward David and startled at their suddenly close proximity. Despite surely noticing her reaction, David showed no particular response. He simply reached behind Catherine’s head and removed the pin securing her hair. Her hair, already disheveled from the earlier commotion, now fell completely loose.

David held out the pin. When Catherine reflexively extended her hand, he dropped the pin onto it. Just as he seemed to be moving away, he noticed her empty hands and began brushing off the dirt clinging to Catherine’s clothes.

Before she could even utter a sound, his hands quickly patted her back, shoulders, and the backs of her arms, then withdrew.

“Without even a lamp?”

His words sounded somewhat accusatory.

“I had one, but…”

Responding with undisguised bewilderment at his behavior, Catherine unconsciously held up her empty hands.

Come to think of it, she must have dropped it during the commotion earlier. She slowly turned her gaze toward the path leading from the winding broom-lined route to the chapel. Though the darkness made it difficult to see clearly, she could faintly make out objects scattered along the way.

David, following Catherine’s gaze, appeared to notice them too. “Stay here,” he whispered to Catherine before turning away.

Walking along the path toward the broom shrubs, David picked up the scattered items. Halfway down the path, he stopped.

For several seconds, he remained motionless, seemingly studying something on the ground intently. Just as Catherine began to wonder about this, he suddenly turned and hurried back to where she stood.

“David?” Catherine murmured in confusion, alarmed by his urgent pace that suggested he needed to urgently confirm something important.

“Excuse me for a moment,” David said, breathing shallowly. His voice was extremely rapid and somewhat agitated. Bewildered by his sudden change in demeanor, Catherine could only blink at him without responding.

But David’s bewildering behavior didn’t end there. What happened next left Catherine too shocked to even cry out.

Without warning, David lowered himself before Catherine, dropping to one knee, then grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. There wasn’t even time to realize what he was doing. When Catherine came to her senses, she found herself sitting on David’s thigh.

Startled, Catherine tried to stand, but David held her almost in an embrace, refusing to let go. This alone was shocking enough, but David’s bold actions didn’t stop there.

His hand abruptly lifted her skirt and slipped underneath. Catherine instinctively struggled, but despite her efforts, David casually lifted her foot.

As her foot was raised, Catherine lost her balance. Feeling herself falling backward, she reached out in alarm and grasped David’s shoulders. Simultaneously, David pulled Catherine’s waist closer, holding her firmly.

Catherine had no time to collect herself. David’s fingertips began methodically examining her foot from heel to toe. Through her thin stockings, the sensation of his touch tracing her sole was vivid.

Finally regaining her balance, Catherine was too flustered to speak properly, her lips moving wordlessly. What, what… such a scoundrel… Her face burned red with shame.

Meanwhile, David finished examining one foot and was now lifting the other.

“David!”

Despite her shocked exclamation, David showed no sign of stopping. Finally, unable to endure it any longer, Catherine pressed what she held in her hand against his neck. The sharp end of the hairpin slightly penetrated his thick neck.

Feeling the cold metal, he finally halted his relentless actions. David’s gaze slid toward Catherine.

“What, what are you… doing…”

So angry she could barely form complete sentences, her words came out in choppy fragments. David looked at Catherine for a moment with an inscrutable expression. He blinked rapidly and then spoke.

“…The lamp was broken.”

His voice was inexplicably subdued. While Catherine frowned at this unexpected statement, David lowered his gaze and released her foot. Then he picked up one of the shoes he had retrieved earlier.

“I thought you might have stepped on glass. Since you couldn’t get up earlier…” he continued, carefully slipping the shoe onto Catherine’s foot.

After briefly observing whether the shoe fit properly, David picked up the other one, apparently intending to put that on as well. At this, Catherine pushed away from his shoulders, which she had been holding for support, and stood up.

Unlike moments before when he had held her almost in an embrace, his grip had loosened, allowing her to rise easily. Catherine snatched her shoe from David’s hand and put on the remaining one herself.

“You could have just told me. Please show some restraint.”

Catherine brushed away David’s outstretched hand, which seemed meant to steady her, and looked back at him without hiding her anger.

“This won’t happen again, David.”

She spoke in a sharp tone. Catherine found it increasingly difficult to tolerate David. The only reason she had put up with his behavior until now was because he was a Cavendish and Saul’s brother.

She no longer wanted to endure his rudeness—pretending to be polite while doing as he pleased and never properly explaining anything. Just moments ago, he had behaved no better than a ruffian. Taking a deep breath to calm her anger, Catherine suddenly realized that Saul and David weren’t so different, and she frowned. Acting as they pleased without proper explanation—Saul was just the same.

“Indeed…”

The Cavendishes! This was the limit of her civility. As Catherine silently fumed, she heard David’s voice, sounding somewhat dazed, reach her ears. She turned her gaze to look down at him, still sitting on the cold ground with one knee raised.

From her standing position, she couldn’t see his face clearly as his chin was lowered, making his expression unreadable. Catherine only observed him slowly clenching his fist, then unclenching it repeatedly.

He remained that way for quite some time, seemingly lost in complicated thoughts, before murmuring once more in a voice tinged with a sigh.

“Indeed…”

His tone remained detached and distant.

* * *

David clenched his hand. Then he applied pressure to his fingertips. The sensation of what had been in his grasp moments ago vividly returned to him. He blinked vacantly.

“Indeed…”

Catherine was right. It hadn’t been necessary. He could have handled it differently, but the moment he saw the broken lamp fragments, he could think of nothing except confirming whether Catherine had stepped on the glass.

It was a blunder. The realization came too late. Stupid David, what were you thinking? Clenching his empty hand firmly once more, David exhaled a long breath that resembled a sigh.

‘This wasn’t my plan.’

Truly. That hadn’t been his intention. David had a mission he had prepared for a long time. It had been solely between Saul and himself. Saul had ultimately drawn Catherine in, but… hadn’t fully integrated her.

David wanted to prevent the relationship created by Saul’s ambiguous affection and cowardice from heading toward tragedy. That was all he wanted…

Suddenly, the wind blew. Amid the commotion stirring the chilly winter air, David observed Catherine’s back as she stood with her back turned to him. The other master of Cavendish, his brother’s wife, his sister-in-law… David felt his chest grow heavy with mixed emotions of relief and regret.

Catherine would no longer trust David. Even if he declared his love again, she wouldn’t believe it was genuine. While thinking this was right and fortunate, simultaneously… David wanted to blame his own foolishness and the arrogance that made him believe she could never love him. 

Dear God. His own moral failings filled him with despair.

David tightly closed his eyes.