The touch of stiff paper against her fingertips caught her attention. That stiffness captured David’s scattered thoughts. It must be the letter from the temple. That was why David had come looking for Catherine in the office.

“Catherine, wait a moment.”

David spoke while holding Catherine’s shoulders. Her warm breath was close enough to envelop his own.

“Why so suddenly?”

David was about to ask, unable to hide his bewilderment, but stopped when he saw Catherine’s contorted face.

“Then why are you suddenly like this?” Catherine asked.

“You were going to do it.”

Her tone, expelled like heavy breaths, was intensely agitated. Catherine seemed half out of her mind.

“That’s what you intended.”

Catherine’s words followed rapidly. She was almost panting. She seemed to be reproaching David.

“Catherine,” David called to calm her, but his voice was drowned by Catherine’s continued words.

“Help me keep the promise.”

Please. And that anxious face as she whispered. David unconsciously dropped his hand that had been holding Catherine. It was terribly awful… and miserable.

Catherine stared at the frozen David.

Strange. Catherine thought dazedly. Caressing David’s pale cheeks, Catherine tilted her head.

“David, why are you hesitating?”

Catherine whispered.

“Don’t you love me?”

Don’t you want something from me? Even falsely, you said you loved me. Wasn’t this what you wanted? Her whispered voice continued quietly. Catherine fully cupped his stiffened cheek in her hand and gently caressed his frozen face, seemingly unable to understand it.

“Do you no longer love me?”

Asking this, Catherine appeared puzzled by David’s reluctance to comply. Lightly pressing her lips against his pale cheek, Catherine moved her lips again.

Before her hot breath clinging to David’s cheek could disperse, she whispered with certainty that he would respond, urging him as though he naturally should.

“Kiss me.”

David unconsciously swallowed hard. Don’t be deceived. This is the whisper of one who has been tempted. Do not listen to sinister calls. There shall be no such empty and vain delusions… David urged himself.

Despite his desperate self-admonishment, before those thoughts could fully complete, the fingertips that had slid across his cheek began tracing his jawline again, making him forget what he had been thinking moments before.

Her fingertips rose in a semicircle and began tracing the outline of his lips. His mind seemed to turn blank. Following her touch, her nail sharply grazed his lips. He swallowed his breath. Once more, the remnants of breath gently pressing against his cheek scattered like breaking fragments.

“Desire me.”

And give me Cavendish blood… Her voice pooled in his ear like a whispered incantation, sweet and alluring. Her hand, which had been resting on David’s shoulder, slowly moved.

It slid up like fingers tapping piano keys and wrapped around his nape. What are you hesitating for? Her subtly whispering voice didn’t stop. David, David…

“…Catherine.”

Barely moving his frozen lips, David spoke. At his call, Catherine smiled with narrowed eyes. Looking at him with infinite tenderness, like something pitiful.

With hands gently caressing his cheeks, she lowered her lips over the bridge of his nose. Yet paradoxically, that gaze snapped David back to his senses. Catherine would never look at him with such longing…

“Tell me you’ll do it, David. That you’ll gladly do it.”

Her breath tickled his ear. God. David closed his eyes.

“…Forgive me, Catherine.”

Yet the words that finally formed on his trembling lips were merely these. Beyond such words, he couldn’t utter anything else. He hadn’t expected Catherine to crumble so quickly. That was his excuse. David had thought Catherine would be fine. Being cold-natured, he thought she would be alright. Being strong, he believed she could endure. He had misjudged.

It was devastating. David simply could not comply with that request. He should not comply. Swallowing the rising tears and despairing, he buried his forehead on Catherine’s knee. What makes us so miserable?

Swallowing the unbearable indignation that boiled within him, David groaned softly. In truth, he knew the answer. He knew where things had gone wrong.

It began that day. That day of the childhood accident. Then his departure from Saul’s side. During his absence, Saul bringing Catherine in. Everything had gone wrong.

The beginning of all these troubles was the two brothers of Cavendish. Therefore, only the two of them should have ended it.

Saul, Saul…! David silently cried out. Blood brother, why did you drag this innocent lamb into such mire? He should never have drawn Catherine in. And David himself… should never have said such things to Catherine.

“Forgive me…”

God, please save this young soul sacrificed through unholy selfishness. Catherine’s hands embracing David’s shoulders felt unbearably heavy.

Catherine’s presence at Cavendish was their undeniable sin. Her affection was the weight of sin they rightfully had to bear. David gritted his teeth.

Pull yourself together, David. David urged himself. He needed to ask for forgiveness. Not from Catherine who sought to exchange forgiveness for Cavendish blood, but from the Catherine with her usual cold, aloof face. 

He should reveal his brother’s and his own sins, and rightfully beg for mercy at her feet.

For this purpose, David opened his mouth. He had to shatter Catherine’s belief. He needed to make her realize that it was a sinister temptation, a vain belief. To prevent her from being tempted again, she had to realize it herself.

“My brother.”

He firmly closed his trembling lips and swallowed his breath. Black hair cascaded over his hunched shoulders, covering his vision. It seemed to foretell their future. You can never escape. A whisper seemed to brush past his ear.

“You love Saul.”

David bit the inside of his mouth, pushing that false whisper deep into the abyss. Catherine, stop. Come to your senses and look at me properly.

But those words only circled inside his mouth, unable to escape his trembling lips. Catherine’s response, as she gently stroked David’s back, came more quickly. With a voice filled with the belief that this was the only way, Catherine whispered,

“Because I love him. I want to fulfill what he desires.”

Because I promised. The voice falling softly from above didn’t waver in the slightest. It was a solid belief. Too firm to plant even a fragment of doubt. David sensed it instinctively. Through Saul, through love for Saul, he could not break Catherine’s belief. Then, what could break it? With what…

Ah. David blinked. The answer wasn’t difficult. If it came from someone trusted, then it could be broken by someone untrustworthy. Someone like… David himself.

“What if I refuse?”

At that moment, David felt Catherine’s hand, which had been caressing his shoulder, hesitate.

“…Why?”

Fortunately or unfortunately, there was a reaction. David slowly straightened up, pushing away. Catherine’s hands slid slowly forward along his shoulders. David grasped Catherine’s hands. Holding them, he met Catherine’s blank stare and spoke again.

“Because it doesn’t have to be you.”

A lie. But David spoke the falsehood without blinking. He had already told Catherine lies several times. One more wouldn’t make a difference.

“Even a child with someone other than you. That too would be Cavendish blood.”

Catherine’s hand in his grasp was cold. His own hand holding hers felt cold too. David held that cold hand while watching Catherine grow increasingly pale. Her shoulders trembled violently, as though she had heard a terrifying story.

“No… It has to be me.”

At that trembling voice, David blinked in surprise. This reaction was unexpected.

Why? Why must it be Catherine…? Is there something I don’t know? David couldn’t hide his confusion as he watched Catherine urgently continue.

He knew about the will. Being the surviving family member, it was David’s rightful privilege to know, so he had learned about it on his first day back at Cavendish.

But all David knew was that Saul had left that will and Catherine wanted to honor it. No, in fact, he also knew what Saul intended to accomplish through that will.

But as far as David knew, there was no reason it had to be Catherine specifically. Even without Catherine, as long as the child carried Cavendish blood…

“It can’t be anyone else.”

But directly contradicting David’s thoughts, Catherine gripped his shoulders while her hands were still held and cried out.

“…Why?”

Why on earth…? David simply couldn’t understand, and unconsciously asked again. Though knowing he shouldn’t listen, he couldn’t help but ask.

David finally understood why so many were tempted and couldn’t easily escape. And the moment he heard her next words, David realized.

“Because I sold my death to him.”

That he would never be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life.