Etienne's red eyes blazed at Shioana.
He didn't intend to reveal this from the beginning.
Amusingly, he believed that Shioana would be the first to recognize him.
Cruel time just kept passing by, and Etienne could no longer bear it.
'...How long do you plan to keep toying with me?'
Blinded by greed, she jumped into a nobleman's carriage and shamelessly coveted the reward money. She also continued the disgusting act of having affairs with multiple men while raising another man's child.
'So, it will absolutely never go your way.'
Etienne threw her body down just like that. Shioana collapsed weakly onto her clothes, and Etienne, who had pinned himself on top of her, pulled her hair and clutched it in one hand. It was to punish Shioana for deceiving him.
"Your Excellency, you seem to be acting strangely. It must be because of the fever."
Shioana stammered as she struggled to look away from his face. Etienne smiled wryly as he watched Shioana pretend not to know him until the very end.
"Yeah, I was crazy."
As he lightly kissed the hair tangled between his fingers, a sigh escaped Shioana's lips.
"...Your Excellency is currently a patient. It would be better not to do this."
"Am I the one standing out this much because of what I'm doing?"
"I don't think it would be good for us to do this."
It’s not like it can’t be done, yet saying it’s bad—is there really such a vague way to put it?
Etienne snorted briefly at her words.
'She is truly a detestable woman.'
Her flushed cheeks were alluring, and her lips, swollen from his kiss, were incredibly seductive.
Etienne let out a long sigh as he gazed at her breasts rising and falling beneath her dress and her slender waistline. Although Shioana was shabbily dressed at the moment, she was more beautiful than any woman he had met at the banquet.
He was unbearably angry that she was the only woman who caught his eye.
He reached out his arm and grabbed her wrist tightly.
"Didn't I already tell you why it's okay for us to do this?"
Shioana got goosebumps at his sinister voice.
"Your Excellency!"
Shioana, who had shouted loudly, looked up at the Duke's sharp facial features.
No matter how many times he denied it, his face was undoubtedly that of the longed-for Etienne.
Once she started to become conscious of it, everything about the Duke felt different.
'Oh, my god! What am I going to do about the name?'
She felt a stinging pain in her lips from the kiss with him.
She said she didn't want to, but the truth is, at some point, she had been looking forward to a kiss with the Duke. She was barely managing to push him away because she couldn't betray Etienne!
To think he is really Etienne.
'I never imagined something like this.'
Since it was a situation where she could not fully rejoice, Shioana was simply confused.
Because the lover she reunited with had become the cruelest man in the world.
'What on earth happened to you?'
It was sad that they couldn't even exchange trivial greetings right now.
She had so much she wanted to tell him if she could meet him, even in a dream...
Shioana lifted her wet eyes and stared silently at the other person. He had recognized her from the beginning, while Shioana foolishly had not.
His cold, blade-like red eyes glared at her as if to devour her, then Etienne suddenly smiled slowly.
She is the only woman who looks at him with such disrespectful eyes.
"...Ah."
Flustered Shioana was afraid that if she did not separate from him immediately, it might not be the Duke but herself who would do something terrible.
"I'll go out and see who comes looking for us."
As Shioana tried to sit up, he pressed down on her wrist with one hand.
"Is there anything more important to us right now than this?"
With his hand fixed above her head, he slowly covered Shioana's lips. His hot breath parted her lips and entered. Soon, a rough energy mercilessly devoured and indulged within her tender interior.
A hot moan flowed from Shioana's lips as she twitched her grabbed wrist.
"Your Excellency, stop it."
Etienne whispered, resting his moist lips.
"We probably aren't finished talking yet."
The more roughly he moved, the more the unhealed wounds opened up. Blood dripped from his arms and waist, but Etienne did not care.
Shioana gasped as she looked at the blood on her arm and dress.
"You're really going to collapse at this rate."
"Does that mean you still have the energy to worry about me?"
His eyes, cast with a reddish tint, instantly turned menacing as he clutched her dress as if to tear it. As he kissed her again just like that, Shioana bit Etienne's lower lip tightly.
The Duke had lost his reason due to a high fever and severe injuries, so she wanted to stop his madness, even if it meant doing it this way.
However, despite her efforts, their lips did not easily separate.
"...Ugh."
Their tangled, hot breaths merged to heat up the interior of the cave. With her arms now free, Shioana clutched the tarp on the floor. Her body trembled uncontrollably at the sweet, rough energy he offered.
With their bodies pressed together, the two became immersed in a kiss, but before long, tears began to stream down from Shioana's eyes. The fierce movements sank her into an endless mire.
At her sobbing, Etienne pulled his lips away, and his face flickered in Shioana's blurry vision.
'Why do you look hurt?'
You are the one who forced a kiss and acted rudely...
Just as Shioana turned her head to look away from his wounded face, a familiar voice was heard from outside.
"Duke Bernhard!"
"Your Excellency! Where are you!"
It seemed that the person who had come to look for him had finally made it this far.
Soon, the tension between the two broke, and Etienne leaned roughly against the cave wall first.
Shioana, gathering strength in her trembling legs, ran outside.
"Lord Viscount! We're here!"
Shioana shouted loudly when she found Viscount Conrad, who was leading his escort and struggling to catch his breath.
Soon, the Duke was carried out of the cave on a stretcher and loaded onto a waiting carriage.
"Would you like to ride in the carriage with Your Excellency?"
"No. I'll ride on that cart over there."
Shioana, having rejected Viscount Conrad's offer, climbed onto a cart loaded with goods.
***
Upon returning to the Bernhard mansion, Shioana did nothing but sleep for two straight days. She had severe muscle pain, perhaps due to the flu, and also had a slight fever.
"What should I do with my young lady?"
Thanks to Viscount Conrad's consideration, Martha attended to her for a while, and Shioana was relieved by the occasional sound of her voice. However, on the other hand, she also had a terrible thought.
'I don't want to open my eyes again.'
Exhausted in body and mind, she wanted to go straight to her mother's side. The reality she had to face when she opened her eyes was so overwhelming that, though it was cowardly, she wanted to avoid it.
However, on the evening of the second day, Shioana got up from her seat. When she opened her eyes, Martha and Harriet were there.
"Your face looks half its size again."
Martha, holding Harriet, quickly wiped the sweat from Shioana's forehead.
"Ma, Martha."
"Young Master Harriet was worried the whole time."
Martha immediately placed Harriet in Shioana's arms.
It seemed as though the familiar scent of a baby was relieving some of the tightness in her chest.
"I heard the young lady saved His Excellency, didn't you? Everyone is praising you."
"...yes?"
Martha, for some reason, was so excited that she told her the story she had heard at the castle.
On the way back to the castle, the Duke was seriously injured when a bear attacked, but Shioana took him to a cave, treated him, and kept him safe.
"The Viscount said that you are going to receive a huge award."
"...Ah."
It seems the people who were threatening to kill them have turned into bears.
'Still, seeing as they are talking about awards, it seems he isn't dead.'
As soon as she thought of the Duke, her head started spinning again.
"Ma, Martha, I think I need to rest a little more."
"Yeah, I wonder how hard it must have been for your lips to be all cracked."
"...Ugh."
"I'll come again early tomorrow. Get some good rest, young lady."
Shioana, her face flushed bright red, quickly pulled the blanket over her lips. Because this wound wasn't caused by fatigue.
'I am the only man for you.'
The howling Duke acted truly like a beast. His hot lips, his violent gestures, and the wounded look in his eyes that she saw at the end were still vivid.
'There is still so much more to talk about....'
As soon as she closed her eyes, she fell asleep from exhaustion.
He was in the midst of the blazing fire. Bound to a pillar and having inhaled all the black smoke, his eyes slowly lost their light.
'Why didn't you save me?'
Etienne resented her, and she could not deny it. Because it seemed as though all this tragedy was entirely her fault.
What if she hadn't liked Etienne, and had listened to Eli and married Count Noah?
At least Etienne wouldn't have died a terrible death.
Today's dream had new content added.
It was not Etienne, but she who was burning in the flames.
'It...It's hot.'
She coughed uncontrollably while her limbs were tied to the bed, and someone quietly looked down at her. It was Etienne, with red eyes beneath twisted eyebrows and a sharp jawline.
He smiled with satisfaction as he watched Shioana burning.
"...Etienne.”
Shioana, who was suffering from nightmares, was feverish all night and talked nonsense.
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