In the blink of an eye, a group of men — seemingly Jerome’s companions — surrounded Yuis.

Stiff with fear, she stood there pale and trembling as Jerome reached out and flicked her cheek with his finger, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“Yuis, aren’t you going to answer me?”

“Jerome, who is she?”

“Oh, just a maid from the House of Johannes. Pretty, isn’t she?”

“For a maid, those clothes seem a bit too fancy…”

“Did Jerome buy them for you? Or was it some other man? You’re lucky, Yuis.”

Whistle.

A vulgar whistle pierced the air, followed by mocking laughter that scraped at Yuiss ears.

Brushing away the spot where Jerome’s finger had touched her cheek with the back of her hand, Yuis spoke firmly, her voice cold.

“Please step aside.”

Jerome chuckled and stepped even closer, grabbing her wrist to eliminate what little distance remained between them.

The moment his hand wrapped around her wrist, a surge of instinctive revulsion swept through Yuis’s entire body.

She had to escape. She needed to get away before Edric arrived. But Jerome showed no intention of letting go, tightening his grip on her wrist.

“Yuis, stop pretending to be some lofty noble when you’re nothing more than a maid.”

A wave of bitter regret struck her—she should have asked Major Lennox to escort her beforehand. But it was too late for that now. She could only stall for time until Isaac arrived. Laura would return soon. Repeating those thoughts to herself, Yuis held Jerome’s gaze without flinching.

“Let go of me.”

“Isn’t this what you wanted? To cling to a nobleman and climb your way up? How about me? I can take good care of you. You won’t be able to run away this time like you did before.”

His lecherous gaze slowly swept down her body, and no matter how hard she twisted her wrist, his grip refused to loosen.

Trying to conceal her growing despair, she turned her head—only for a calm, low voice laced with coldness to ring out at that exact moment.

“Madam.”

Still holding her wrist, Jerome turned toward the voice, whistling playfully as if entertained.

Leaning in closer, the strong stench of hard liquor washed over Yuis, making her furrow her brows involuntarily.

Jerome chuckled and whispered into her ear.

“Ah… so there was already someone? You put on such an act, acting all high and mighty, but in the end, you’re nothing special either, huh?”

Steady footsteps echoed as a man approached and stood beside Yuis. His gaze dropped to the wrist gripped by another man, and a faint, chilling smirk crossed his face.

Yuis now stood face-to-face with the very man she most desperately wished to avoid at this moment.

Yuis was now facing the one person she was desperate to avoid. Her violet eyes began to glisten with unshed tears.

She couldn’t let Edric see that.

‘Not Edric.’

Encountering Jerome was disastrous enough. But it would be even worse if Edric were to arrive before Laura or Major Lennox.

If he were to discover here, of all places, that she was Everett…

Just imagining it made her blood run cold. Her face grew paler by the second and her vision blurred as her eyes burned with stinging heat.

Yet Edric’s gaze never left her.

When his eyes met Yuis tear-filled ones, his expression remained unreadable, though a hint of displeasure seemed to flicker across his face.

He held her gaze for a moment before shifting his attention to Jerome.

“Reuniting with some old acquaintances, are we, madam?”

Then his cold blue eyes returned to meet hers. The elegant smile on his face was at odds with the icy edge in his voice, which was as cold as shards of glass.

Beside the man still gripping Yuis wrist, Edric recognised a familiar face:

Damian Lobis — the third son of Viscount Lobis, whose mother, Sophia Lobis, was from Kalang. Due to his family ties, Damian often visited Kalang and Edric had encountered him several times before.

Edric clearly remembered how Damian had once trembled before him like a frightened puppy. And yet here he was, involved in something like this.

Without bothering to hide his amusement, Edric chuckled and spoke.

“I wasn’t aware Lord Lobis was such a close friend of my wife.”

The man who had been leading the jeering beside Jerome froze instantly, his face draining of colour the moment he saw Edric standing next to Yuis. He looked as if he were facing death itself.

Desperately trying to pry Jerome’s hand off Yuis’s wrist, Damian bowed deeply towards Edric.

“Your Grace! My deepest apologies! We failed to recognise the Duchess. There seems to have been a terrible misunderstanding!”

Despite Damian’s frantic pleas, Jerome scoffed and sneered, tugging Yuis’s wrist closer still.

“A misunderstanding? Please.”

“I’m not even drunk yet. And even if I were, do you honestly think I could mistake her? Look at her, Damian — look at her face and her body. Could you forget something like that so easily?”

Even as Damian finally managed to pull Jerome away from Yuis, his brazen eyes roamed over her one last time, slowly sweeping from her face down to her toes.

“Ha.”

Without any shame, Jerome continued to boldly address Edric’s wife by name, openly admiring her without any hint of remorse.

Edric, however, let out a low, amused laugh, as though he were genuinely entertained by the scene.

With his face ashen, Damian desperately pulled Jerome’s hand away with force, doing his utmost to avoid any contact with Yuis body.

“Jerome, that’s enough. Let’s go. This is Duke Descartes, for heaven’s sake.”

Even in his drunken state, hearing the name Descartes seemed to sober Jerome up, and he looked at Damian.

Seeing his eyes regain focus, Damian let out a quiet sigh and pulled him along more forcefully.

“Your Grace, we sincerely apologise. My apologies also to the Duchess. We’ll take our leave now!”

However, Jerome frowned and scoffed.

“Take our leave? That doesn’t make any sense, Damian. Why would the Duke call Yuis his wife? It’s absurd.”

‘A mistress, perhaps. But a wife?’

No sooner had he spoken than the men around him seized Jerome, covering his mouth and dragging him away quickly. They disappeared as if they had never been there.

Left alone, Edric silently approached Yuis, his gaze fixed on her.

The cold, sharp look in his eyes made Yuis instinctively lower her head. Without a word, Edric reached for the wrist that Jerome had gripped.

It was swollen, with a red handprint clearly visible. Pressing his thumb firmly against the tender spot, he forced a soft gasp from her lips.

“Ah…”

Edric’s lips twisted faintly.

She could react to pain like this, yet she stood there, enduring such humiliation without a word.

The image of her pale face, which had grown even paler at the sight of him, flashed through his mind, deepening the cold fury burning beneath his calm exterior.

“Does it hurt?”

His voice was unmistakably mocking. At his words, Yuis lifted her head and met his gaze.

Her brows were slightly furrowed, and her violet eyes burned with suppressed anger.

Seeing her like this stirred a strange sense of amusement within Edric.

“Ah, so this is how you’re supposed to react. Funny how you have no trouble doing it with me. Why is that, I wonder? Oh—”

His voice dropped and his eyes narrowed.

“Were you lovers before? You and that bastard?”

He knew the truth. He had taken her on their wedding night — the image of her tear-streaked face beneath him was seared into his memory.And yet, once the dark thought took root, it grew uncontrollably.
He knew full well that none of it was Yuis’s fault. And still, his reason was already drowning beneath the weight of his fury.
At his cruel words, Yuis’s eyes widened in shock.
How could he possibly forget the bloodstains on the sheets that night?
Was his rage fueled by her failure to uphold the dignity of a duchess? By the fact that she had suffered such humiliation without fighting back?
Or was it the terrifying thought that if Jerome had dared to call her Everett in front of him, everything would have come crashing down?
The horrifying possibilities tangled in Yuis’s mind, filling her with dread.

As their eyes locked again, Edric’s cold blue gaze consumed her vision entirely.

Overwhelmed by rising resentment, Yuis slapped away the hand gripping her wrist.

Yuis staggered from the force of her own slap, almost losing her balance, but Edric reached out and caught her around the waist just in time. The faint twist of his lips was precise and cutting in its mockery.

“Ah, like this?”

His voice was soft, but the derision was unmistakable as he pulled her upright.

Gently holding her wrist, he brushed his thumb repeatedly over her flushed cheek before finally releasing her and offering her his arm.