Chapter 3.4

He thought she’d eventually give in, but her resistance was unusually fierce, which irritated him. When he raised his voice, she cried, begging him to let her go.  

By then, Liam realized she was genuinely refusing him.  

But he couldn’t stop. He was too taken with her and too consumed by his own desires.  

He justified it by telling himself he could make it up to her later.  

And so, he forced himself on her.  

Though Liam was infamous for his behavior, this was the first time he had crossed such a line, leaving him with a lingering sense of unease.  

He couldn’t even remember her face or body clearly. All he remembered was that she was a maid and that her body had felt good.  

It wasn’t just good—it had been so satisfying that he had made the mistake of finishing inside her.  

Even though he occasionally thought of her afterward, that was all. Liam never considered apologizing.  

As the third son of the prestigious Conrad Family, he had been raised to believe that nothing he did was truly wrong.  

If anything, the fault lay with others for provoking him.  

The same applied to that maid.

It was entirely the maid’s fault—her misfortune to meet him at that moment, her bad luck to catch his demanding eye, and her audacity to reject him.  

Everything was her fault. Who asked her to catch his attention? He certainly had no reason to apologize. The gold coin he tossed her after the act was compensation enough.  

As the third son of the Conrad Family, Liam never carried anything less than one gold Mina. For him, one gold Mina was trivial pocket change, but he knew it was a fortune for a commoner.  

‘Where would a maid from a rural estate ever get her hands on such wealth?’  

Although he regularly took herbal contraceptives, it was well-known that they weren’t foolproof. There was always a slim chance of pregnancy.  

That’s why he had a habit of avoiding finishing inside, but that night, he couldn’t help himself.  

By the time his mind returned—however faintly—it was already too late. Having crossed the line, he saw no reason to hold back further. And so, unlike himself, he finished inside her repeatedly.  

The impulsive acts gnawed at him once he regained his senses. Of course, even if she had conceived, he would have dealt with it. That’s what the gold coin was for. There was no reason for him to care beyond that.  

Whenever Liam thought of the maid from Rivette, he avoided confronting his guilt and chose to ignore it instead. After all, she was a woman he would never see again. Forgetting her was far more convenient than dwelling on her.  

‘Speaking of which… Jeanne de Debroge, wasn’t it?’  

For some reason, she reminded him of the maid from Rivette.  

‘Ridiculous.’  

It was a laughable thought. He couldn’t even remember anything about the maid, yet he was comparing her to someone else.  

Moreover, Jeanne was not a lowly maid but a noble lady. There was no way they could resemble each other.  

As always, Liam dismissed the thoughts of the woman occupying his mind and focused on how to capture his newfound prey.  

While trying to win over Jeanne, this dull countryside life might actually become entertaining.  

***

Yvonne woke up with a weary expression, her head heavy from the lingering effects of alcohol. The drinks she had at Earl Marlon’s mansion the previous evening, which she reluctantly accepted, were as potent in taste as they were in aftermath.  

Despite Earl Marlon’s suggestion to stay the night, Yvonne had smiled politely and said, “My father will worry,” insisting on returning to the Debroge’s estate in Verno.  

The journey back from Earl Marlon’s mansion wasn’t easy due to the distance, but staying there overnight could have led to unpredictable consequences.  

Though she had no purity to protect, she wasn’t eager to establish relations with Earl Marlon prematurely.  

After all, once they married in two months, they would have plenty of time for that. She wanted to savor the last moments of freedom before being bound to him for life.  

Yvonne, grimacing from her hangover, sat up and reached for the water on the bedside table. Her head throbbed painfully.  

Despite feeling dizzy, she dressed herself and headed downstairs.  

By late evening, children and elderly villagers would come to receive bread. If she didn’t distribute it, they would go hungry.  

She had always been fond of children, often visiting the church on weekends to play with them. But after her miscarriage, her affection for them had deepened.  

The lost child was like an aching wound in her heart. The circumstances surrounding the miscarriage—her inability to care for the pregnancy due to despair and resentment—left her feeling guilty and sorrowful whenever she thought of the baby.  

As a form of atonement, Yvonne tried to be kinder to children and naturally extended that care to the elderly and other vulnerable individuals.  

While Marceau didn’t understand the deeper reasons behind her actions, he assumed she was overly generous, giving away too much to others.  

Yvonne went to the kitchen and began kneading bread dough with care. Although she could have asked the servants or maids to do it, she refrained, knowing how busy they already were.  

She had once been a servant herself and understood the burden of their work, so she couldn’t bring herself to impose additional tasks on them.  

Of course, she didn’t handle the entire bread-making process alone. The task of removing the bread from the oven was entrusted to the head cook.  

Initially, Yvonne had done it herself, but after Marceau discovered her doing so, he scolded her harshly.  

“What if you burn yourself and leave a scar? A woman should take care of her appearance!”  

Marceau was worried that the marriage arrangement with Earl Marlon might be jeopardized if she sustained a visible scar.  

As a result, he firmly instructed Yvonne to be cautious and avoid any risks while continuing her charitable work.  

Carrying a large sack of bread, Yvonne left the mansion accompanied by her temporary personal maid, Ciel, who had been assigned to her until the wedding.  

‘It would be nice if I could distribute bread on weekdays too.’  

However, Marceau opposed the idea, allowing her to do so only on weekends. He believed that giving out bread during the week would make people lazy and unwilling to work.  

Even without his objections, Yvonne’s busy schedule—filled with bridal lessons—made weekday distributions nearly impossible.  

While handing out bread as usual, Yvonne felt a peculiar gaze on her. It was as though someone was intently watching her.  

“…?”  

She looked up, but she couldn’t find the source of the gaze.  

Yvonne wasn’t the only one who noticed the strange attention. Ciel, who was beside her distributing bread, whispered to her.  

“Miss, there’s a gentleman who keeps staring at you.”  

“A gentleman?”  

“Yes. He appears to be a nobleman based on his attire, but I’ve never seen him before.”  

Ciel described the man’s appearance—a striking figure with muted golden hair.  

Following Ciel’s description, Yvonne managed to identify the man. He was standing at the edge of the alley, observing her intently. Whenever their eyes met, he quickly hid.  

It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, but it wasn’t entirely unsettling either. Choosing to ignore him, Yvonne continued her work.  

A week later, Yvonne was able to figure out the man’s identity.

“Nice to see you again, Mademoiselle.”  

While distributing bread to the villagers, someone spoke to her. His deep voice carried a soft, friendly tone.  

Looking up instinctively, Yvonne tilted her head at the sight of the man. He was a strikingly handsome man with chestnut-brown hair. But that was all she remembered.  

“Excuse me, but have we met before?”  

“We did, last week at Earl Marlon’s mansion. Do you not remember?”  

“…Ah, I do remember.”  

To be precise, she only partially recalled the event. She vaguely remembered someone introducing themselves to her at Earl Marlon’s mansion but didn’t realize it was this man.  

At the time, Yvonne had been too preoccupied with the stress and exhaustion of dealing with Earl Marlon to pay attention to her surroundings.  

Her desire to forget everything related to Earl Marlon had created a sort of mental block. While she may have exchanged greetings, she hadn’t truly looked at the man’s face, which explained why she didn’t remember him.  

“Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Liam de Arthus.”  

“…Jeanne de Debroge. By the way…”  

Yvonne glanced at the blonde man beside Liam and asked, 

“May I ask who this gentleman is?”  

He was the same man who had stared at her for an extended time the previous week.  

“This is my aide, Gabriel de Saint-Laurent. He was with me when I greeted you last week.”  

“I apologize. I’m terrible at remembering people. I must have made a mistake.”  

“No need to apologize. It’s understandable. I’m glad to have the chance to greet you again, Mademoiselle.”  

Gabriel smiled politely.  

“I’m glad to meet you too.”

Yvonne concluded her brief greeting. She had been curious about his identity after catching him staring for so long, but she wasn’t particularly interested in his intentions. Similarly, his reason for seeking her out didn’t matter much to her.