“You’re too busy thinking about how to leave me.”

“…”

“So, have you found a way yet?”

The man’s voice was eerily gentle.

He reached out and gripped Daphne’s chin.

Daphne couldn’t escape his grasp somehow.

“You were going to borrow money from my mother, pay off your debt, and leave me. Isn’t that right?”

Daphne’s face turned pale in an instant.

Just when had it started?

When did this man learn of her plan?

That night.

The inside of the carriage returning to the estate was chillingly still.

“You were going to borrow money from my mother, pay me back, and leave. Isn’t that right?”

As the carriage swayed, Daphne’s body swayed with it. She squeezed her eyes shut.

And she thought. Just where, how did it all go wrong?

Her plan had definitely been flawless.

She’d checked multiple times in case any of Astaire’s people followed her. She’d even had someone she trusted conduct background checks on the Grand Duchess’s person and Ada, the Grand Duchess’s maid.

Everything had been fine.

So where exactly had the plan leaked? She never imagined there’d be a hole in the floor letting water through.

“Shall I guess what you’re thinking?”

Suddenly, Astaire broke the silence and spoke.

Daphne wasn’t in the mood to talk with him right now.

“You’re thinking, ‘How did he find out about the plan?’ Right?”

“…”

Daphne was caught off guard and couldn’t say anything.

Even if she could speak, whatever she said now would only reveal her true feelings to Astaire.

“It’s very simple, Daphne.”

“…”

“It’s obvious. Figuring out your plan isn’t that difficult for me.”

Thud!

The carriage rattled as it passed over an unpaved road. Daphne’s body shook violently once more.

Without hesitation, Astaire grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms. Daphne helplessly fell into his embrace.

“Let me go.”

“What if I refuse?”

The man looked down at her with a leisurely smile.

Daphne bit her lip hard enough to draw blood on her tongue, then finally asked. After agonizing over whether to ask, she asked. In a way, she seemed to have pinned her last hope on this question.

“Do you love me?”

“No.”

And the answer came without hesitation.

Her heart felt like it was collapsing. Suddenly, her left chest throbbed. She had to bite her lip hard again to endure this phantom pain.

“Stop asking.”

Astaire said, looking at Daphne. Then he brushed his thumb across his wife’s reddened lips.

Seeing the red blood on his fingerprint, Astaire grimaced.

“Will this stop you from biting those d*mn lips?”

The man immediately stole her lips.

“Mmph.”

Her breath caught in an instant. Astaire inhaled all of Daphne’s exhales.

Every breath she took was this man’s breath. His tongue pushed between their lips. It swept over her teeth and glided like jelly over the soft flesh inside her mouth. It was an intimate kiss only possible between two people who had experienced everything together.

“Haa… Mmph!”

There was a very brief moment to breathe. And that was the last time to catch her breath.

The moment he pulled away from her lips, Astaire grabbed her nape again and pressed her. Daphne was pushed back so much she nearly hit the back of her head against the carriage wall.

Fortunately, Astaire blocked the back of her head with his hand. The Duke gently stroked the back of his wife’s head while kissing her even more deeply.

The hand cradling the back of her head gradually moved down toward her nape. After touching the tender flesh at the back of her neck, it soon came around from back to front. 

The moment his hand traveled down her collarbone and passed over the rounded mounds, Daphne flinched and trembled. Her toes curled inside her shoes.

Astaire fiddled with the ribbon at the neckline of her dress, seemingly about to untie it or not.

“But you don’t want to do it in the carriage, right?”

In the midst of it all, the man was being considerate of her. Daphne found Astaire’s sudden and pointless consideration simply laughable, disgusting, and hateful.

“Do as you please.”

She muttered with a self-abandoned heart. She entrusted her limp body to Astaire.

Thud!

The carriage rattled once more.

Her clothes were stripped off in an instant. Daphne grimaced slightly as the cold air inside the carriage brushed against her bare skin.

The cold air was brief, and soon warm air heated her body.

Astaire immediately penetrated her from behind.

Unlike her abandoned heart, Daphne accepted Astaire all at once regardless of her will.

She felt the man’s hot breath behind the shoulder embracing her.

Astaire chuckled.

“Daphne, you’re wet?”

Without needing any f*replay, she was already flowing with enough moisture to accept Astaire. This was a purely physiological phenomenon, unrelated to Daphne’s will.

“… It’s just how my body is.”

“Try being a little more honest, like your body is.”

Astaire said mockingly.

“I don’t… mmph.”

Her words broke off. Astaire immediately penetrated the twitching entrance. Her face naturally frowned at the full sensation of the foreign object. 

Her mouth opened, and sounds naturally tried to escape through her parted lips. Daphne bit her lip hard and suppressed her voice as much as possible.

Her eyes whipped toward the outside of the carriage.

The coachman outside might hear these sounds. When her thoughts reached that point, her heart pounded.

“Mmph.”

She must have unconsciously tensed her lower region. Astaire, equally stimulated, let out a thick breath.

Seeing him react because of her felt strangely peculiar.

Even Daphne soon forgot about the outside world and focused again on Astaire, who craved and desired her. She exhaled shallowly, feeling his fullness completely.

His center was always overwhelmingly large. But the strange thing was that her body could handle him sufficiently.

Daphne gritted her teeth and suppressed her m*ans.

“Hng, mmm. Mmmm…”

But the sounds leaking through her teeth were enough to reach Astaire. The man laughed derisively and slowly moved his body back and forth.

As the man’s p*nis moved, her vaginal walls stretched and contracted accordingly. When Astaire pulled back, they clung tightly, reluctant to let go.

Astaire blatantly looked down at Daphne’s lower region gripping him tightly.

“Look closely, Daphne.”

Astaire lifted his hips demonstratively. Then the explicit scene of their genitals penetrating filled her vision.

Daphne tried to avoid that sight. She wanted to turn her head. But somehow, she couldn’t.

“You can’t escape from me.”

Astaire said, embracing Daphne tightly. Her white, soft br*asts touched the man’s firm chest and squished like soft jelly.

Though she hated to admit it, it was a warm embrace.

* * *

Daphne descended from the carriage weakly. She nearly fell while getting down, but Astaire barely caught her.

“Be careful.”

Says the one who made me like this. He was acting affectionate now.

Daphne sneered coldly. In the midst of it all, she had no strength in her body, and it annoyed her that she had no choice but to be held in his arms.

“Let’s wash up and go to bed early today.”

Astaire spoke in a tone like coaxing a child. Even that was laughable.

Then suddenly, the Duke trailed off his words, seemingly remembering something.

“Ah, right.”

“What?”

“Before that, I have something to show you, Daphne.”

‘I don’t really want to see it.’

Daphne inwardly refused his words. She didn’t get a good feeling about this at all.

“Actually, I didn’t get to watch any of the performance because I was busy following the busy Duchess around.”

As expected, Astaire had been doing other things throughout the performance. Daphne recalled how Astaire’s uniformed subordinates had been bustling in and out of the box seats throughout the performance.

What had he been doing in the meantime?

She wanted to know and didn’t want to know at the same time.

“Come.”

Astaire took her to the very top floor of the ducal estate. He lightly held one hand like proposing to a princess and climbed with light steps like showing her a nice view.

Daphne became deeply anxious watching Astaire’s back, which seemed to be in a good mood.

What could it be?

What’s behind that door?

Finally, they stood before an old wooden door.

“Aren’t you curious, Daphne?”

Hurry up and say you’re curious.

Astaire seemed to be pressuring her just like that.

Gulp.

She swallowed involuntarily.

And before she was mentally prepared, Astaire opened the door without knocking.

Creeeeak—

“I was wrong, I was wrong!”

Along with the eerie sound of the wooden door hinges, a woman pleaded in a familiar voice.

The moment she recognized the voice’s owner, her breath caught.

It was Ada.

The one punishing the maid who wasn’t even twenty years old was none other than the head maid.

The head maid wore a stern expression like a judge and was wildly striking Ada’s calves with a long cane.

Three bright red lines were drawn on the calves of the girl who hadn’t yet come of age. She’d been beaten so much that blood vessels had burst.

The moment she saw that, Daphne unconsciously squeezed her eyes shut.

“If you did wrong, you must be punished.”

“…”

“You dared to insult the Duchess and the Grand Duchess. You must pay the price accordingly, mustn’t you?”

Astaire’s voice eerily pierced her ears. Even then, the man was still firmly holding her hand.

Daphne got goosebumps. She hated this cruel, inhumane man so much.

She tried to pull her hand away, but the man gripped her tightly with strong force and wouldn’t let go.

“Let me go.”

“No, Daphne.”

Astaire whispered, trapping her in his arms from behind.

“You need to watch closely. You need to see clearly with your eyes what price someone who dares to leave Duke Seyfried’s estate on their own must pay.”

“…”

“That way, Daphne, you won’t make mistakes either.”

Those words about wanting a divorce.

Astaire was expressing the words she’d thought over and decided on as merely a ‘mistake.’

Daphne’s chest felt blocked. Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe well. Whether exhaling or inhaling, something felt stuck in her throat.

“S-stop it…”

She muttered in a trembling voice, but it was completely drowned out by the sound of the cane.

Finally, she screamed loud enough to draw blood in her throat.

“I said stop!”

At the throat-tearing scream, the head maid who had been punishing the maid Ada looked at Daphne in surprise.

Then the head maid looked at the master, Astaire. That’s when Daphne realized.

From the beginning, this was all ordered by Astaire.

This cruel man.

This terrible man.