The heat of the day made her genuinely thirsty too.

Lisette pressed her handkerchief firmly against the sweat trickling down her forehead and chin, then smiled at Phoebe.

“Hm?”

“Oh, yes!”

Phoebe snapped to attention at the prompt and nodded so hard it looked like her head might fall off.

“Understood! I’ll run and get some snacks and drinks right away! Please wait under that tree over there! The lake is dangerous, so please don’t go too close!”

Lisette smiled and nodded at Phoebe’s words, which were a perfect recitation of the warnings everyone in the manor gave.

“All right.”

“Miss, I’ll be right back!”

Phoebe pressed the parasol firmly into Lisette’s hand and sprinted off toward the manor. Lisette watched her disappear up the gentle slope of the hill, and then a breeze blowing from behind made her turn her head.

The glittering ripples on the blue surface of the water sparkled brilliantly.

‘How pretty.’

Lisette raised her parasol and walked slowly toward the lakeside, watching the surface sway lightly in the wind.

The narrow path flanked on both sides by tall bushes was alive with the sound of summer insects. She listened to the noise filling the air from every direction, enough to make her head swim, and walked with soft, crunching steps across the grass. Perhaps because of the thin soles of her shoes, she had the strange sensation of walking barefoot on the lawn even with them on.

‘This feels nice.’

She was not someone who particularly liked going outside, but the fresh air after so long indoors was more refreshing than she had expected. The slightly cooled breeze from the sweltering heat lifted her mood along with it.

Setting aside the worries that had weighed on her for the past several days, Lisette hummed lightly to herself. She walked down the gentle slope, tapping her toes against the ankle-high grass as she went, and lifted her head when she reached the flat path below.

There, not far away, a familiar figure stood on the dock by the lake.

‘Who…’

She squinted slightly, and in that same moment, the man turned his head at the sound of her approach. Their eyes met, and Lisette froze on the spot.

‘Oh, God.’

Leon, of all people.

‘Of all times.’

She bit her lip.

She had managed to avoid him so well up until now. Never imagining she would run into him at exactly this moment, Lisette stood rooted to the spot, unable to go forward or back.

She held her breath and stayed still, hoping the shade of the trees, the loud chorus of insects, and the thick bushes would hide her from him. But as though to betray that hope entirely, he had turned his whole body toward her, and his gaze pointed directly at where she stood.

‘What do I do?’

No, it was not just that he was looking. They had made eye contact, and the moment they did, the dream from the night before surfaced in her mind.

‘Miss, please take it in your mouth.’

‘Deep into your throat. Ha. Yes, just like that.’

No.

The dream’s voice and gaze rushed up and swallowed her whole. Lisette’s face flushed red and she dropped the parasol to the ground. Her fingertips trembled and she could not grip it. But she was afraid that if she bent down to pick it up she might simply sink to the ground entirely, so she covered her lips with the back of her hand instead.

Her breath came in labored, heaving gasps.

Not just her face but her neck and her entire body burned red and hot. But her hands alone could not hide her flushed face, her body, or her rapidly pounding heart.

‘I have to go back.’

She turned and hurried away.

She walked back the way she had come as quickly as she could. But unlike the easy descent, the gentle slope back up to the manor drove her breath all the way to the top of her throat.

Still, she could not stop. The thought that stopping would mean facing him, that he might come after her, kept her moving.

‘No.’

Lisette squeezed her eyes shut at the horrifying image and forced them open again.

She knew she could not keep avoiding him forever.

But.

‘At least not right now.’

Right now, with the traces of the morning still in her underwear, with her emotions still like this, meeting him before she had even properly composed herself was no different from carrying a lit bomb.

Because she would cling to him.

‘And she would sooner die than let him see her in that state.’

She absolutely could not let him find out about the dream. Or her feelings.

The shame she felt the moment she woke each morning was enough. She had no confidence she could bear the shame that would come after actually throwing herself at him, swept up in heat and desire, begging him to hold her.

‘Never.’

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

“!”

At that moment, something caught against the tip of her left foot with a dull thud, and her body lurched forward as she lost her balance. Certain she was about to take a hard fall, she threw both hands out in front of her, and then a pressure came up beneath her lower abdomen, catching her.

Followed immediately by a solid, firm presence at her back.

“Ha…”

Lisette exhaled sharply, having barely avoided a graceless tumble.

‘I’m… alive?’

But before she could even register the relief that came a beat too late, a voice reached her and her body went rigid.

“Are you all right?”

His voice, close against her ear, sent a dizzying tingle through her entire body. But what was worse, far worse, was the fact that his voice alone was enough to make her wet below.

‘Please, Lisette!’

She clenched her thighs together in a panic at the slick heat threatening to spill over, then shook off his hand and pulled herself away from him.

“…I’m, I’m fine.”

She put distance between them, his hold releasing far too easily despite the firm support of his hands a moment before, and caught her breath. The warmth that had come through so clearly against her stiffened body was gone now, and she lifted her face with a hardened expression, a strange sense of loss she could not quite name settling over her.

“!”

The moment she looked up and met his face, her mouth fell open and she could not close it. Bloodshot eyes. Cracked lips. A face covered in wounds, as though someone had beaten him. The sight of him in such a wretched state made Lisette take a step closer before she could stop herself.

“You, you, your face, why…”

“……”

Leon stepped back two paces to put distance between them.

“…is it like this?”

The words came out like a breath as she stopped where she stood and bit her lip. The hand she had reached out to touch him drifted in the empty air. For a moment she thought his gaze had landed on her fingertips, but that too broke apart almost immediately and turned elsewhere.

The way he looked, reminding her of the moment he had pushed her away, made Lisette curl her hand into a fist. Her chest ached and stung, and then the feeling crept up to the corners of her eyes and the tip of her nose.

As though tears might spill over at any moment.

She could not stand in front of him any longer. She bit her lip and turned away.

“I made a mist…”

“I heard that Baron Tarmen will be arriving soon.”

“……”

At the moment she turned to leave, Leon’s low voice reached her and she looked back. Her eyes wavered without her meaning them to, and her dry lips trembled faintly.

“You.”

“That you are happy.”

He was watching her with eyes that looked drained of all feelings. His indifferent gaze, referencing what she had said to Alexander a few days ago, cut into her. Unable to meet his eyes, Lisette turned her head away and pressed her lips together.

“Yeah. I said that.”

She had said it at the time to calm Alexander down when he was worked up. But what was the point of explaining that to him now? Regardless of whether happiness had anything to do with it, the fact remained that she was engaged to another man and would be married soon.

But why was she so angry?

“You’re at an age where you should hurry and get married too, start a family of your…”

“Do you truly?”

Leon cut off Lisette’s rambling and lifted his head.

“Think you can do that?”

“…What?”

The Leon who stood before her now radiated something entirely different from the one who had pushed her away moments ago, and he took one step forward.

“Take another man into your arms.”

“……”

“Embrace him. Kiss him.”

“……”

“Spend the night with him…. Is that something you can do?”

He watched Lisette step back with each step he took forward, and bit his lip. He clenched his back teeth, his jaw set hard and prominent, his eyes deepening to a dark, bloodshot red. She drew in a sharp breath, and then he shut those bloodshot eyes as though to hide them and pulled away from her in an instant.

His cold presence vanished in a flash, and a single tear slipped from the corner of Lisette’s eye as she stood there biting her lip. Startled by the tear she had not meant to shed, she wiped it away with the back of her hand and turned around.

“I’m sorry.”

Then, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, she quickened her steps to put distance between them.

“Miss? Here’s your te…”

She walked straight past Phoebe, who stood ahead of her with a basket full in both hands, and crossed quickly through the manor grounds. She wanted to hide somewhere no one could see her.

‘I’m going to my room and I’m not coming out.’

That way she would not have to see Leon. That way she could keep this raging feeling inside her from showing.

She wanted to hide away completely so she would never have to face him again.

Never again.

So he could not hurt her again.