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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Part 8. The Trap (2)

He had been aware of the presence tailing them and had deliberately created this spectacle for them to see. He glanced in that direction, unseen by Edith, and smiled a cryptic smile.

After flicking his fingers to tidy her disheveled clothes, Kaidros faced a sulky Edith as she headed back to the estate. With every step, she felt as if s***n she couldn’t wipe away was dripping inside her, but that wasn’t the real issue.

‘Before, it wasn’t by my will, so it was less embarrassing… but this time…!’

Trying to deny it by recalling the two previous encounters during her panic states, she had to admit: aside from the initial pain, it had started to feel good. Conscience-stricken, she couldn’t even get properly angry—sulking was the best she could do.

“Scaring me like that, doing such a thing outside where anyone could see…”

“Don’t be so angry. I had my reasons.”

“What possible reasons could you have?!”

‘If you’re going to say that, you should hide that utterly pleased look on your face first!’

Shooting him a glare, Kaidros only responded with a languid smile.

“I told you, didn’t I? Interesting things will happen. We’ll likely see by tomorrow.”

“…If it’s not interesting, you’ll regret it.”

As the event he had filled her with anticipation for drew near, Edith’s mood seemed to soften slightly.

* * *

The maid Marie looked in the mirror, carefully fastening the ruby brooch the handsome red-haired prince had given her to her chest.

The day the kind, handsome prince, claiming to be a distant relative of the viscountcy, had asked her specifically to clean his room, Marie had felt an inexplicable flutter even before entering. Inside, there was less to clean than expected. As she dusted the furniture, she discovered a small box placed carefully on the bedside table.

“It definitely looks like a jewel case…”

The exquisitely crafted box intensely piqued her curiosity. As if urged to open it immediately, she found herself lifting the lid without thinking. Inside, a large, brilliantly shining ruby brooch captured her gaze.

“My goodness, it’s so beautiful…”

Enchanted by the vivid, blood-red yet translucent ruby, she couldn’t look away. As she cautiously reached out, a strange sensation flowed into her fingertips from the ruby.

Suddenly, Marie was filled with overwhelming confidence. She felt swept up in the notion that the goddess of luck was watching over her, ensuring everything she desired would come true.

Before she knew it, she had wrapped the ruby brooch in the white silk cloth, glanced around, and hidden it in the inner pocket of her dress. The pounding in her chest wasn’t guilt but a frenzy from possessing the jewel.

“Somehow, I feel like everything will work out perfectly?”

Humming happily, she checked her appearance from various angles. As dawn began to break, she hurriedly slipped out.

Wherever she went, the maids’ cold stares focused on her, accompanied by whispers and accusing glances.

“Honestly, they were all too happy to go along before…”

If anything, Marie walked with her head held even higher, defiantly. The image she had built—diligent, kind, and self-sacrificing—by volunteering to be the maid for the gloomy Miss Moulton, whom everyone avoided, had collapsed completely after she was caught trying to frame the young lady for theft.

She had nearly been beaten and dismissed by the Viscount, whose pride was wounded that a mere commoner maid dared to frame his daughter.

But the benevolent, gentlemanly prince had not only spared her that fate, forgiven her, but even praised her as beautiful and bestowed this ruby brooch upon her.

“He must have fallen for me! Why else would he give such an expensive jewel? This is definitely bringing me luck!”

Because of this, nothing else mattered. Her focus was solely on the gentlemanly prince. Lost in the delusion that he might even propose, she was simply elated.

From early in the morning, Marie hurried out. She kept passing by the small gate in the wall connecting the estate garden to the forest beyond, repeatedly glancing at the woods over the garden wall.

“He’s sure to pass by here again today, right?”

Perhaps sharing the same feelings, she had learned just a few days ago that Prince Kaidros passed by this spot around this time every morning, as if taking a habitual stroll in the forest.

That day, she had coincidentally run into him. “Ah, you’re Edith’s maid… right? You’re diligent so early in the morning,” he had said in that gentle, leisurely voice, smiling at her before entering the estate.

Since then, pretending it was a coincidence, Marie would deliberately come out early before starting her duties, loitering around this area, hoping to run into him.

“How strange, perhaps he didn’t go for a walk today?”

With reluctant steps, she finally managed to move on. The thought of having to serve that gloomy young lady she couldn’t stand, yet again, made her scowl deeply as she entered the estate.