There was no grand party, nor did she even dance a single song with Aaron.

He neither welcomed her like an ordinary husband nor gave her loving glances.

All the wedding ceremonies were hastily concluded.

Leaving only the wedding night.

Footsteps echoing in the empty space were out of sync.

Aaron’s heel, walking half a step ahead, pressed gently on the wooden stairs. The weight on his soles seemed to press down on her.

Lucilia bit her trembling lips and breathed through her nose.

The reality of having to lie in the same bed as Aaron from tonight made her breathless, her breathing rising and falling irregularly.

After climbing to the top of the stairs, he suddenly stopped and said something unexpected.

“Wait here.”

“…”

While she remained silent, not understanding what was happening, hurried footsteps sounded from behind.

“I apologize for being late.”

Karen, adjusting her glasses that had slipped down from running, came into view, followed by a line of maids.

As Karen bowed deeply, Aaron went on his way without a word.

Only the faint trace of his scent lingered behind him.

Karen’s breathing, standing two steps below, had already returned to normal. The head maid urged Lucilia’s stiffened legs to move with a calm voice.

“I will attend to you from now on.”

The place they went to was the bedroom Lucilia had used until this morning.

Didn’t he say they would stay together in his bedroom?

Had Aaron suddenly changed his mind…

Her thoughts became complicated, wondering if she had been rejected on the first day.

Detailed explanations seeped into Lucilia’s ears as she stood there blankly, but half was understood and half scattered into the air.

The strict voice was hazy like a foggy sky and wasn’t properly recognized.

“Since the young master also needs to wash, we will help you prepare here today. With that in mind, we haven’t removed the bathtub yet.”

Now she understood.

It seemed they would prepare separately before going to bed together.

She was one step closer to the time when she would meet him.

“The first night is bound to be unfamiliar, so this way will be less burdensome for you, madam. From tomorrow, you only need to follow the young master’s instructions.”

Instructions?

It was an expression that deleted the emotional exchange that should naturally exist between a couple.

The bitterness that rose inevitably was becoming familiar.

Lucilia entered the bedroom, pretending to be unaffected.

Though he had ordered it to be closed, everything was still there—the bedding, the table, everything. She intended to take the letters she had kept in the drawer, if nothing else.

“The young lord said I could bring my belongings. So I’d like my things to be left untouched.”

“As you wish.”

As she reached behind the screen after crossing the room, busy hands of others brushed against her body.

Lucilia surrendered herself to the maids’ washing and vaguely imagined the night she would spend with Aaron.

The scene of him tracing her skin with loveless eyes overlapped with the rising steam.

If she had grown up in a noble family like other aristocratic ladies, she wouldn’t have been so ignorant of the ways of the world.

Having focused solely on keeping herself pure while being cut off from the world, she was completely ignorant about relationships between men and women.

She had vaguely heard that in society, people enjoyed all sorts of lewd talk under the guise of social gatherings.

If she had picked up even that much, would it have been a little better?

No matter how much she tried to find composure, her heart wouldn’t stay still. Once she started getting nervous, it beat wildly.

“Young madam, is the water too hot?”

To make matters worse, even the title “young madam” made her imagine an intimate relationship with Aaron.

The Baron had not remarried after his wife died of illness. The position of mistress, which had been vacant all along, had passed to Lucilia.

Whether they liked it or not, anyone belonging to the Baron’s household had to accept Lucilia as second only to the main mistress.

Lucilia shook her head slightly.

“It’s not hot.”

What did the water temperature matter anyway?

After the bath, Karen would take her to Aaron’s bedroom.

Bath or whatever, just thinking about it made her face flush. Even her breath felt heated, making her philtrum hot when she exhaled.

“Haah…”

As she sighed deeply, the maids attending to her on both sides glanced at Lucilia’s flushed face.

Eventually, they blushed among themselves at the sight of her chest rising with a deep breath. They secretly pouted their lips, imagining Aaron panting as he buried himself in Lucilia.

Being pressed down by his massive physique and receiving his l*stful gaze were merely wishful thinking.

Yet Lucilia would monopolize all of that. Despite being a witch.

Lucilia had no idea that there were several maids who wanted to catch the young master’s eye and share his bed.

The maid wiped down Lucilia, who would become the first woman of the young lord she admired, with a wet towel. Though there was a hint of spiteful temper in her grip, she dared not scratch the white skin.

Time passed without Lucilia knowing the servants’ irreverent thoughts.

Not long after the maids left, Karen entered.

As Lucilia clutched her open neckline, Karen took in the delicate lines as if appraising a work of art.

“You will move while wearing the nightgown. The initiative in bed belongs to the young master, so do not irritate him with unnecessary resistance. This too is a grace bestowed upon you by the Atnal family.”

After giving this warning in an instructive tone, she stepped aside by the door, making space.

Lucilia had much to think about.

Saving her life was certainly a grace from the Baron’s family.

If one receives grace, it is human duty to repay it.

Karen had told her what she should do as part of that repayment.

To endure her husband’s l*st and meld with him.

To respond as he pushes or pulls.

Though it was frightening being her first time, it seemed she could handle it well enough if she emptied her mind.

In fact, it made less sense to live as Aaron’s wife without having a conjugal relationship.

‘What right do I have to refuse?’

While depending on Tudra, it was natural to comply with Aaron’s demands.

No man would embrace a saint anyway. Let alone a witch.

Even after leaving Tudra, she would not marry another man.

Aaron would be her first and last man, so it seemed okay to let go of guilt about her chastity.

Lucilia had been using the guest room immediately visible on the right after coming up the stairs. Aaron had nested in the deepest part.

Aaron’s bedroom was at the far left of the stairs, and the Baron’s bedroom was at the innermost right.

Lucilia glanced at her father-in-law’s quarters, permeated with a deep sense of quietude, then turned her head to the opposite side.

The sound of footsteps on the floor spread quietly through the long corridor.

An anxious air clung to her steps as she headed toward the room where Aaron would be waiting.

She wore nothing underneath, just a nightgown. Even to her own eyes, the sight of her pale calves showing through the translucent fabric was bizarre.

She had shown her n*ked body when she fell into the bathtub with Aaron, but that had been so sudden that she had awkwardly moved past it.

But now the situation was completely different.

Laying her on the bed and doing who knows what…

Lucilia pushed the cruel scene out of her rational mind and firmly gripped her nightgown.

She had worried about being seen, but thanks to thorough control, no one but Karen and Lucilia was passing through the corridor.

As Aaron’s bedroom drew closer, her limbs began to tremble violently.

She shouldn’t show fear in front of Aaron, nor should she refuse him…

Just don’t cry.

Karen clasped her hands in front of the door that rose from floor to ceiling.

“I will come up tomorrow when the young master wakes. No one else will be allowed upstairs until then, so please serve the young master well.”

Anyone listening would think it was not a couple’s first night but a servant attending to her master’s bedchamber.

Though she had married the young lord, the reality was that she couldn’t enjoy her status unless her husband treated her accordingly.

As the head maid who had been in charge of the Baron’s household affairs, Karen naturally understood the situation well.

Therefore, Karen’s advice shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Lucilia had no objection that she should not neglect Aaron’s demands in particular, and Tudra’s rules in general.

“Then have a pleasant night.”

Karen turned the handle.

As the heavy door opened, a dark gap appeared.

“Hoo…”

Her lips had dried up from exhaling continuously due to her extreme tension.

When she licked them, an uncomfortable roughness caught.

Her first thought was whether he would be displeased when they kissed.

Could a herbivore facing the crisis of being devoured be more pitiful?

Lucilia rubbed her lips with her hand.

The faint light leaking from inside seemed to foretell a night of pleasure.