Chapter 9

Celia had always been confident.

Until now, she had always been able to endure Lucius. Sometimes, she had even beaten him.

So even if Lucius tried to intimidate her with overwhelming force, she was confident she would never back down.

But this?

She had never even imagined something like this.

She wasn’t naïve, nor was he someone who had ever shown her affection.

And yet she had no idea what to do.

She was completely helpless against an attack she had never experienced before.

The heat flooding her face refused to fade.

Her mind had gone completely blank.

His teasing fingers and softly scratching voice made her eyes sting.

“I’m curious, Celia.”

Sensing her confusion, he pressed his advantage.

In a room filled entirely with her belongings, a man who could never belong to her curved his shameless lips and toyed with her using indecent words.

“Fill in the moments I can’t remember.”

His tongue swept slowly across his red lips.

“So I can touch you the way I used to.”

A faint desire glimmered in his eyes.

The reddish longing hidden within those green eyes was unfamiliar.

His fingertips brushed her skin, leaving behind a strange cool heat.

His breath lingered near her temple.

Long, slow breaths escaped through his lips.

Hot.

Low.

His yearning was spilling out openly through every breath and tremor.

Is he serious…?

Does he really want me?

Even if he’d forgotten all memories connected to her, this still made no sense.

These were not emotions that Lucius Windmere could ever feel toward Celia Brickwell.

At this moment, Celia alone remembered the resentment between them.

Years of misunderstandings, contempt, rivalry, and humiliation had piled up between them like layers of hardened sediment.

Lucius should not be acting like this toward her.

He absolutely should not.

To each other, they represented everything the other hated.

Those memories still sat heavily in Celia’s throat.

Maybe everything inside his head had truly fallen out.

Maybe some cunning goblin from a fairy tale had taken its place and was whispering clever ways to torment her.

Whenever Lucius fought her, he used every possible method except outright violence to crush her spirit.

The man known as the Empire’s greatest gentleman often lost his composure around her.

And because she never surrendered easily and always found a way to stand above him, perhaps he had finally decided to try a different tactic.

Her eyes trembled.

Cold sweat ran down her back.

Her fingers tightened around the fabric she was clutching.

“D-Don’t…”

The broken sound escaped her lips.

A Lucius who wasn’t cruel was unfamiliar.

He felt like an entirely different person.

She couldn’t even say the sharp words that normally came so naturally.

She could have mocked him.

She could have called him a brainless fool.

She could have pushed him down and finally gained the upper hand.

Instead, she was doing the opposite.

She was practically begging him to stop.

The smile on Lucius’s face slowly faded.

He carefully studied her trembling figure.

His desire-filled gaze swept over her shoulders, which were curled inward as though trying to hide.

“Haven’t we been married for… about two and a half years?”

He muttered something else quietly afterward, but Celia didn’t catch it.

Another endless silence passed.

Then the hand resting against her back withdrew.

Summer night air flowed into the space where his warmth had been.

The moment she sensed him move, her entire body reacted.

Like a squirrel caught stealing acorns, she jumped.

After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Lucius finally spoke.

“It’s late, isn’t it, Celia?”

The gentle voice finally made her lift her eyes.

The Lucius she knew would never have spoken to her like that.

He lightly took her hand.

Because noblewomen did not allow bare-skin contact with men other than fiancés or husbands, the unfamiliar warmth passing from his hand to hers made her nose wrinkle slightly.

Lucius gently guided her hand.

“Shouldn’t we sleep before it gets any later?”

“Sleep… together?”

He bit his lip lightly before releasing it.

“No.”

His voice softened.

“I was only planning to watch you fall asleep and then leave.”

The refusal rose to her lips but disappeared.

She didn’t want to argue anymore.

And honestly, she doubted he would leave even if she kicked him out.

In the end, she let herself be dragged to the bed.

She immediately turned away from him and lay down.

Wrapping herself tightly in the blanket like a cocoon, she pulled her knees to her chest.

The air felt uncomfortable.

Everything pricked at her like thorns.

Closing her eyes tightly, Celia silently recited one of the few prayers she knew by heart.

She desperately needed peace of mind.

But even sacred prayers couldn’t untangle her thoughts.

Instead, they became even more knotted.

How much time passed?

Eventually, hearing her breathing become steady, Lucius seemed to assume she had fallen asleep.

He slowly stood up.

The mattress shifted beneath his weight.

Even without his memories, some things hadn’t changed.

His footsteps remained slow, measured, and disciplined.

He quietly opened the heavy door.

Then closed it without a sound.

Only then did true peace return.

Celia pulled the blanket over her head.

Annoying, arrogant, insufferable Lucius Windmere.

Fine.

Just this once, because you’ve lost your memory, I’ll let you win.

But you don’t know this.

If you challenge me in a way I’ve never seen before, I might lose once.

But never twice.

Whether in front of others or behind their backs, they had spent years fighting countless small wars.

And neither had ever gained a decisive victory.

“Today’s humiliation…”

Celia gritted her teeth and clenched the blanket.

“I’ll never forget it.”

*

Damn Lucius.

That damned Lucius.

“He’s never done a single useful thing in my life!”

Early the next morning, after staying awake all night, Celia nearly snapped the pen in her hand.

“No. This is definitely a trial sent by God to remind me not to let my guard down.”

Last night she had simply been caught off guard.

He had acted like a completely different person.

That had to be why she’d been shaken.

Otherwise, she never would have behaved so foolishly around him.

If he had been a stranger, things would’ve been different.

But everything about him was still Lucius.

The face.

The deep voice that settled into her ears.

The irritatingly refined manner of speaking.

His large hands.

His towering frame.

Everything was undeniably his.

Finally, she threw down the pen she’d been using to write a letter to her father.

“The divorce will happen one way or another. He still has all his fingers, so he can sign the papers. We even have a contract. What difference does it make if his brain is broken?”

She hated that he misunderstood their relationship.

And she hated herself even more for getting swept up in it.

“I was just surprised yesterday. That’s all.”

In high society, intimate contact wasn’t allowed unless people were engaged.

Celia had only ever had potential marriage candidates.

She had never actually had a fiancé before marrying Lucius.

Anyone would be startled by an attack they never expected.

That was only natural.

Just then, a maid quietly entered the room.

“My lady, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor?”

Normally, no one came looking for her when she stayed in her room.

It couldn’t be the Duchess.

And if it were Lucius, the maid wouldn’t have announced him like this.

“Yes, my lady. The young master is here.”

A maid brought from Brickwell would only call one person young master.

Evanor must be here.

A headache immediately began forming.

Why was he here so early?

“…Let him in.”

The door opened quietly.

A figure drenched in morning sunlight strolled into the room.

Perhaps because it was still early, he was dressed far more casually than usual.

Without a trace of dignity, he yawned and sauntered forward.

“Big Sister, did you sleep well?”

Seeing Evanor casually waving at her with a bright smile reminded Celia of something.

Lucius wasn’t the only person in this world capable of driving her absolutely insane just by existing.