He didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding the fact that there was a person inside the storage room. Despite the deafening noise, his strong fist remained unscathed.
“Get lost!!”
Acard, who openly displayed his displeasure, immediately shouted a threat towards the outside. The maid, unaware of anything, was literally taken aback by his aggressive reaction.
“Ahhh!!!”
Even though she had worked in a noble household for a long time, this was the first time she had encountered such a situation. Shocked and horrified, the maid didn’t know what to do and ran away.
The sound of the maid’s footsteps echoed loudly in the hallway and gradually faded away. Only when the presence completely disappeared did Damie finally relax, her body losing strength.
“Ah…”
Having moved too vigorously in a confined space, she felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen. Fortunately, Acard lightly caught her waist with one arm as she was about to fall forward. With his other hand, he took out a handkerchief and wiped away the semen between Damie’s white thighs.
After roughly wiping off the sticky liquid, he pulled down the dress, and it looked more or less fine. There were some creases in the fabric, but they weren’t noticeable unless one looked closely.
‘Good. This should do.’
Acard, having confirmed his cleanup, lifted his head. The moment he saw Damie’s face, his masculine eyebrows immediately furrowed.
‘This won’t do.’
Damie’s disheveled appearance, like a crushed fully-bloomed rose, was intensely sensual. Her usually neat hair was now tousled, adding a decadent charm, and the traces of tears on her white face glistened.
Her lips, red as flower buds, were covered in teeth marks from trying to suppress her moans. With her tear-soaked eyes and the tip of her nose slightly swollen and pink, she looked devastatingly erotic. Anyone who saw that face would surely smell the scent of lustful lovemaking.
“Let’s get out of here first.”
Acard opened the storage door without hesitation and half-carried Damie out. Fortunately, the hallway where the maid had fled was empty. After constantly releasing hot air inside the storage, exposure to the cool corridor air made them feel a bit better.
‘It would be better to rest somewhere around here for a while.’
Acard thought as he looked at Damie’s tear-stained face. He looked around with indifferent eyes, searching for an empty room nearby.
It seemed necessary to wipe and cool Damie’s wet face and let the afterglow of their lovemaking subside. If he could gently coax her into doing it one more time during that time, it would be even better.
As Acard was licking his lips with an intensified gaze, Damie suddenly pushed away his arm that was supporting her with all her might.
Slap–!!
The sound was so loud it was as if she had slapped him. Acard frowned and reflexively rubbed his arm. It didn’t particularly hurt, but being suddenly pushed away was unpleasant.
“What are you…”
Acard, who was about to utter words of reproach with a frown, stopped short. He saw Damie’s face glaring at him with tear-soaked eyes, at a height that didn’t even reach his chin.
That face, mixed with resentment, shame, love-hate, and sorrow, was shockingly vivid. Strangely, the moment he saw that face, he felt as if time had stopped around him. It was hard to breathe, as if he had been hit hard in the chest, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her face.
This caused Acard to hesitate uncharacteristically. At that moment, Damie finally contorted her face and burst into tears.
“Hic!”
She didn’t cling to Acard seeking comfort like other women. Nor did she hit him or berate him in anger.
Instead, what Damie chose was complete disregard. She utterly alienated Acard from her emotions, from her pain. As if he were a person who didn’t even exist in this world.
Damie covered her face, from which tears were falling copiously, with both hands and turned her back. And even with her weakened legs, she managed to take steps on the ground, moving away from him.
Acard blankly watched her retreating figure. Her back, walking alone and staggering down the empty corridor, strangely etched itself into his retina.
It was a straight, slender back. That back stubbornly ignored Acard. As he stared at it, he suddenly had an intuition. For reasons he didn’t understand, he knew he wouldn’t easily forget that back.
But there was nothing he could do. Because Damie Primula, as she traversed that long corridor, not once did she look back.
*** *** *** *** ***
“…Dear. Damie. Can you hear me?”
At the call from across the dining table, Damie snapped back to reality. Her stepmother, Noella, was looking at her with a worried expression.
Only then did Damie realize that she had stopped eating, lost in her thoughts. It seemed that yesterday’s events had been quite shocking.
‘I tried to forget it as if I had been bitten by a dog.’
But it wasn’t as easy as she thought. She was angry at Acard for treating her like a cheap courtesan, and at the same time, she hated herself for having been disheveled under his touch. Remembering what happened in the storage room made her face flush with shame.
A deep worry naturally cast over Damie’s face. Noella looked at her adopted daughter’s face, which resembled a masterpiece painted by a great artist. Then she asked very cautiously.
“I noticed that the food on your plate hasn’t decreased since earlier. What are you thinking so deeply about, Damie? Is something wrong?”
“Awoo, abubu!”
As if to echo Noella’s words, her young half-brother Leon waved his child-sized fork and shouted. Damie smiled slightly at his innocent charm. Then she made an excuse to Noella.
“I’m sorry. It’s just… there are many things to think about regarding the household affairs.”
Usually, the household affairs were managed by the wife of the head of the family. However, in the case of the Primula family, Damie, the legitimate daughter, was the one in power.
This was a consideration from her father for Damie. When he remarried, he transferred all authority to his only daughter early on. This was also an arrangement to prevent any potential succession disputes.
“I see.”
When the topic of household affairs came up, Noella immediately lowered her eyelashes. Thus, Damie, as always, couldn’t easily grasp Noella’s thoughts. What did she think about Damie having the real power over the household affairs?
Noella, who was the daughter of a humble Baron, was said to have lost her first husband. As a widow with a child, she had entrusted herself to a temple due to financial difficulties. But by chance, she caught the eye of the Count Primula, who visited the temple on business, and remarried.
Although the Primula family held the title of Count, it was one of the long-standing noble families in the North. Perhaps because of this, Noella often appeared timid in front of Damie, despite being her stepmother.
Sometimes, her excessive timidity made Damie feel uncomfortable, like right now.
“You seem very busy these days, Damie. You don’t come home often, and you stay out frequently… Oh! Of course, I’m not trying to interfere with your private life. Don’t misunderstand, I’m just worried about you…”
Noella rambled, unable to make proper eye contact. Even now, with two children, she had a strangely girlish side. Because of this, Damie sometimes felt like she was the villain tormenting her.
“No, I’m actually glad you’re concerned. I’m sorry for being lost in thought during our rare meal together, Mother.”
Wanting to shake off the unpleasant feeling, Damie replied in a deliberately affectionate tone. Then Noella’s anxious face soon brightened.
“Thank you for saying that, Damie. I just… I feel lonely without you. As you know, it’s just us in this big mansion now.”
Noella said as she reached out to hug Leon. Damie understood what she meant. Currently, her father, the Count Primula, and her half-brother Cesare were both absent. Therefore, only women and children were left in the house.
‘But there are plenty of employees.’
Damie glanced at the maids busily bringing food from the kitchen. However, Noella, unaware of this, sighed deeply and eventually brought up Cesare.
“He went to the Grand Temple with the Count and hasn’t sent any news yet. I’m worried about whether he arrived safely and if he’s learning business well from the Count.”
Noella forced a smile, saying that’s why raising sons is pointless. Even then, she covered Leon’s ears with her hands, worried he might understand the conversation.
“Don’t worry too much, Mother. Brother Cesare is…”
She wanted to say that he was smart and could take care of himself. But she couldn’t bring herself to say anything good about Cesare. Especially now that she had discovered he was plotting something.
‘Louise definitely said Cesare would bring back a ‘thing’ from the Grand Temple. And he plans to give it to Cecile. What exactly is that ‘thing’?’
Could it be some kind of neurotoxin? Is he planning to feed it to Cecile to cloud her mind and extract something from her?
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