“……A puddle?”

“Yes. Avoid what you can avoid — that’s what I mean. Taking away custody rights isn’t simple. Especially when the biological parents are alive and well, and there’s a wealthy maternal grandfather — it’s even harder when a complete stranger tries to gain custody. So stay quiet. I’ll hide you somewhere your mother won’t see.”

Dominic moved forward after mentioning words too difficult for the child. It was a somewhat naive action, possible only because he didn’t know the depth of Emily’s twisted possessiveness toward her daughter.

During the days the mother and daughter stayed at the viscount’s mansion, Dominic deliberately demonstrated how inadequate the woman was at raising a child. Sometimes cunningly and subtly, other times with obvious disdain.

However, each time he faced uncomfortable situations where all his efforts proved futile. An unfit parent suffering from mental weakness? It seemed even that could be beautified in the face of sympathy.

* * *

“……You want May to stay here?”

“Think of it as patronage. Having an older brother, even with an age gap, would be better for her than growing up as an only child……”

“You’re making the same offer to this child that you made to me. Just like when you told me to become the viscount’s daughter rather than grow up under unfit parents.”

“That’s……”

“But I’m different from my father. Without this child, I… I can’t live……”

‘Making such threats in front of the child is the problem to begin with.’

Dominic frowned at the woman’s voice. Her face, steeped in self-pity, disgusted him.

“Oh… Emily, don’t cry. My suggestion was just… I wanted you to be comfortable.”

“Then never say such things again. I’m offended that you’d even compare me to my father. I have no intention of becoming a parent who abandons their child!”

‘……You already are.’

Considering how she wouldn’t even look at the child fidgeting nervously beside her.

But that seemed to be only Dominic’s opinion. His foster father’s face had already filled with sympathy for the woman. An expression close to regret, as if thinking ‘I tried to take away Emily’s only breathing space.’

“……Yes, I understand. I seem to have spoken out of turn.”

“May, you prefer staying with Mom too, right?”

“Yeah……”

‘Lies.’

Her expression clearly said otherwise. But the child who had desperately asked a stranger to hide her from her mother was too young and unnecessarily kind to abandon such an inadequate woman. Herman too couldn’t bring himself to save the daughter from poor Emily.

Watching this frustrating scene unfold, a hint of irritation rose in the boy’s gray eyes.

“It was my mistake to talk about her father to the child…. I thought she wouldn’t understand because she’s young…. And I was drunk, lacking judgment……”

That’s all she would admit.

The child’s future beside this woman was crystal clear.

“I’ll never say such things again. May has never properly been held by her grandfather anyway… with no interaction, she’ll forget soon. Just as father doesn’t accept her as his granddaughter, I’ll let her live as if she has no maternal grandfather.”

Words came easy. Besides, would anything change? The woman would obviously show her struggles in other ways. And it was questionable whether this was truly for the child’s benefit. This wasn’t for the child — it was just changing strategy after realizing the ‘granddaughter’ card wouldn’t work.

That child might grow up to be someone desperately seeking affection like her mother. And seeing Emily’s face, fearful of losing her daughter, the child would likely never return to the Vicenti mansion after this.

Yet to abandon intervention despite knowing this…. It was like withdrawing from a lawsuit that was clearly winnable.

“I think that child should stay in this mansion.”

“I think so too. But Emily has her wishes. And she said things will improve, so we should wait and see for now……”

On the final day…

Glancing at his foster father seeing them off, Dominic chose to withdraw his interest in the child after some deliberation. There was no need to act against the wishes of the one who had taken him in.

‘There won’t be a next time.’

Though keeping quiet then left him with a strange guilt for a while, the boy who was born without parents and desperately seized what he couldn’t have lacked altruism to begin with.

‘……And nothing has changed just because I’ve grown up.’

Meaning he still lives a life far removed from the word altruism. It was his very nature. He never felt sympathy even for his clients.

Coming here today was already quite unusual for him. Yet he deliberately dressed formally to maintain boundaries. It was to remember that his ‘consultation’ was an extension of work.

To view her not as someone who could have been his sister, but merely as a client.

“Please help me……”

But that small face drenched in sweat… Those glistening black eyes overlapped with the eyes that had looked back at him when leaving the Vicenti mansion then.

The moment from the past came back more vividly than during their first reunion.

Naturally, his gaze toward the woman deepened. It was too emotional to be looking at just a client. Was the situation before him really something to be treated as work?

The answer was obviously ‘no.’ Yet Dominic ultimately didn’t turn away from her plea for help.

Especially since there was no reason not to if it would offset the guilt that had lingered uncomfortably for so long.

May’s eyes curved as he finally took her outstretched hand. Her face was seductive enough to make him forget he’d thought of her as a child.

* * *

“Did you take something like an aphrodisiac?”

May had frantically nodded at Dominic Vicenti’s question. Then, ignoring his following questions, she just repeatedly asked for help. Though she’d thought herself fortunate to endure this heat alone before falling asleep….

Not knowing why she was lying, she steadied herself against the man’s firm chest who had taken her hand, and without hesitation pressed her lips against his closed ones.

It felt like she’d temporarily lost control of her body. Her hands, bold in a way unlike her, traced over the man’s body.

“Haa……”

May observed her actions through her muddled consciousness. The man’s scent was too tempting to maintain her grip on reason. The sharp smell of cigarettes mixed with heavy cologne.

‘I want to smell more…..’

With that thought, she buried her face in his neck. He let out a short laugh as she rubbed her nose against him and squeezed her eyes shut. Finally, his mouth, which had remained firmly closed even while receiving her desperate kisses, opened.

“I hadn’t intended to offer this kind of help.”

His low voice carried a hint of exasperation. May mumbled softly in response.

“Liar……”

Saying he hadn’t intended this… If that were true, shouldn’t he have left her side earlier when she was caught in abnormal excitement? Besides, he must have understood the meaning of her outstretched hand, yet he took it….

May’s eyes glanced lightly at him. Dominic let out a laugh, just like during their first meeting, at her gaze that lacked any real aggression. May spoke while looking at him.

“You didn’t ignore me and stayed by my side……”

By the side of a woman who didn’t hide her thighs wet with arousal.

And hearing her protest, he suddenly fell silent. His lips, which had just released a short laugh, seemed to stiffen slightly.

“……”

But May was too busy fulfilling her desires to care. In truth, she was too distracted to be conscious of his expressions. After rubbing her cheek against his starched shirt some more, she finally raised her head. The man’s face seen up close was cold enough to be frightening under normal circumstances.

But May smiled, her eyes crinkling as she looked into the gray eyes visible behind his glasses.

‘This man, like Johan… wants to help me.’