Chapter 4.5

That day, Ian wouldn’t leave his mother’s side, clinging to her and pestering her.

“Mama, mama!”

Baby Ian clung to Aness’s skirt, rubbing his sleepy eyes and fussing. Aness tried to soothe him with a troubled face. The time she’d promised Caron was almost up, but her son refused to sleep and wouldn’t let go of his mother.

“Ian, you need to sleep now. Be good, my baby.”

It took Aness over an hour to calm Ian and put him to bed, as he was unusually clingy that day. Exhausted, she sighed as she made her way to Caron’s office.

When she arrived, Caron was waiting for her, having even taken a bath in preparation.

“You’re late.”

Caron looked down at her with an arrogant posture, determined to make her pay for all the trouble she’d caused him.

“Alright, I’ll do as you want, so please let me keep living here with my baby. Promise me right here and now.”

Though he had leverage over her, Aness didn’t want to be pushed around. In relationships like this, everything had to be clear from the start, or there would only be trouble later.

“Of course. Any promise I make in my name, I keep.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Caron got up and approached her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and urgently kissed her. In his embrace, Aness closed her eyes as they kissed.

It had always been this way. Kissing this man was sweet, and every experience with him was blissful. She’d thought that if this was what marriage was like, it might be worth it—but now she knew. This wasn’t all there was.

Marriage among nobles was about the balance of power, and if either side fell behind, they could be cast aside at any time.

Wasn’t it the same with Joseph? He had seemed as if he would help, but then cut off all contact and support, leaving her in this situation.

Now, if Aness wanted to avoid losing her job, she had to cling on, but she didn’t know how much longer that would be possible. How long could she keep accommodating the whims of this petty man who was set on expelling only her baby?

“Ah, hnn…”

Lost in thought, Aness let out a m*an as she received his persistent caresses. Caron, urgent and impatient, pulled her straight to the bed, laying her down and hurriedly starting to undress her. All the while, he licked her nape and whispered possessively. He couldn’t get enough of this woman’s scent. He had missed her so desperately. How many countless nights had he relieved himself with his own hands?

Caron pressed his lips to her small br*ast, letting out a beastly groan. Even though he could have had any other woman, he had clung to the family’s code until the end.

The woman who took his first time—he had to see it through to the end. The men of the House of Perschtmann devoted their purity to one woman only. Even though he had given up the position of family head, he wanted to protect the family’s honor and tradition, so every night, he dealt with his desires alone.

And now, having finally found this woman, there was no reason to hesitate.

“Mmm…”

By now, Caron had stripped off all her undergarments and began to touch and kiss her bare skin with rough and relentless hands and lips.

With her legs spread wide, exposing herself to him, Aness blushed in embarrassment, unable to stop the m*ans escaping her lips.

The Duke was certainly a very skilled man. He had always been that way. It was as if he instinctively knew how to touch a woman to make her shudder with pleasure.

His hand moved without hesitation, exploring her narrow entrance and exciting her whole body. As she trembled and moaned, Aness clung to Caron’s neck with all her strength.

It seemed the night’s ecstasy was about to begin again. She was nearly delirious with bliss. Her whole body trembled with pleasure, and it was even more overwhelming than that night—it wrapped around her toes and made her lose her senses.

“Ha… mmm… ah!”

Finally, when Caron’s fully aroused manhood penetrated her tight entrance and pushed in deep, Aness’s hips twisted involuntarily.

Embarrassment now forgotten, she wrapped her legs around his waist and let out an endless stream of alluring m*ans.

Caron, too, let out a languid groan as he moved in and out of her wet entrance. Pleasure clouded his mind until he was dizzy.

As the pleasure swept over him, even greater than before, he showered her body with kisses wherever he could reach.

Trembling from the intense pain and pleasure, Aness clung desperately to his neck. When she could bear it no longer and tears appeared in her eyes, he would pretend to pause for a moment, but then resume his fierce movements again and again until dawn.

Exhausted, Aness fainted several times before finally falling asleep. It was just like that first night.

***

Head maid Anna was lying flat at the Duke’s feet, awaiting his orders.

“Maid Aness will be spending her nights in my bedchamber from today. She is forbidden from performing any other duties. In other words, she is now exclusively mine, so you are not to assign her any work or interfere with her in any way.”

Duke Caron issued the order coldly, and the head maid nodded repeatedly, her face pale. She had never sensed a thing before.

Who would have thought that the Duke, about to be married, would harbor feelings for a mere maid? Of course, it was possible he kept her in his bed out of desire, but since he had never shown any interest in women before, the shock was greater. All the pretty maids had done everything to catch his eye, but none had ever succeeded.

Even the many beautiful young ladies who had tried to approach him had failed time and again, and now he was infatuated with a newly hired maid with a child—it was simply astonishing.

In truth, she had realized last night that Aness had not been in her room. Ian had woken up crying at dawn, so several maids had taken turns caring for the child.

“Yes, Your Grace. I will keep this in mind.”

After the head maid left, the Duke returned to his bedroom. There, Aness was still sound asleep.

“Aness…”

The Duke knelt by the bed, gazing fondly at Aness’s tousled hair as she slept and gently stroked it.

He couldn’t express how beautiful this woman had been, moaning beneath him all night. He had wanted to have her even more, but seeing her so exhausted, he couldn’t bring himself to push her further.

As Caron gazed at her quietly, he could no longer hold back and began to shower her forehead and cheeks with kisses, whispering words of love over and over. Just then, the oblivious Volteman entered without knocking and froze on the spot.

The Duke was kneeling at the bed, passionately kissing the face of the sleeping woman.

“Commander?”

For a moment, Volteman thought he must be seeing things and rubbed his eyes hard with the back of his hand. No matter how much he looked, the woman in the bed was definitely the maid Aness. He had suspected she might soon become the Duke’s companion at night.

There had been l*st in the Duke’s eyes whenever he looked at her. But to let her sleep in his bed until late morning—no nobleman had ever gone this far. Not even his future wife would receive such devotion.

“You actually went through with it. But to even let her use your bed—don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

Volteman grumbled. If this rumor spread, there would be no avoiding a broken engagement. Even the Emperor couldn’t control the Duke, but the father of his fiancée, Marquis Marieclaire, was not someone to be taken lightly.

“A bit much? It’s only natural to treat the person who brought me pleasure all night with this level of respect.”

Of course, he planned to treat her well in the future too. The Duke cleared his throat and motioned for Volteman to follow him.

The Duke, careful not to wake the maid, moved to his office with even his footsteps muffled, and Volteman could only follow, dumbfounded and speechless. It was the first time he’d ever seen the arrogant Duke show consideration for anyone.

“So, what did you find out?”

The Duke, who had never gone near the mirror before, now stood in front of it, straightening his clothes and fussing over his appearance. Volteman, glancing at this unfamiliar sight, gave his report.

“As you ordered, I looked into Joseph’s marriage certificate, but something was strange. There was no record of the high priest officiating, and the lord in charge hadn’t heard anything about the ceremony or issued any documents.”

At Volteman’s report, the Duke clapped his hands as if he had expected it.

“Hm, so the marriage itself was never legally recognized. Just as I thought.”

Whether it was a formal marriage or a concubinage, for nobles, the ceremony had to be witnessed by the local lord and a high priest to be valid.

As befitted an Empire that valued rules and legitimacy, marriage laws were strictly enforced. Sometimes, to appease the legal wife, a concubine would be kept in secret, but such a union was not recognized as marriage, and any children born from it would be considered illegitimate and not protected by the state.