Maylily - Chapter 65

Avoiding the Count of Everscourt’s gaze the moment their eyes met, Maylily sat at the very end of the sofa instead of beside him.

“Put on the slippers there. They’ll be easier on your feet.”

On the floor between the count and Maylily lay a pair of cream-colored slippers. Her stiff shoes had not been comfortable for her injured feet to begin with, so Maylily changed into them without a word of protest.

“…Thank you.”

“How are your feet?”

“They’re fine now.”

“You didn’t hurt yourself anywhere else?”

“No.”

Ending the conversation with short answers, Maylily shifted her gaze to her knees, where her hands rested neatly folded. Her left knee throbbed where it had slammed hard against the floor when she fell on the stairs during her escape, but she didn’t want to tell the count.

While the station worker’s voice announcing the imminent departure, the whistle that followed, and the metallic sound of the train running along the rails rose one after another, Maylily could feel the persistent gaze on the side of her face, yet she didn’t look back even once.

“I’m only trying to restore our relationship to what it was before.”

As if he truly believed that was possible, the count treated Maylily with the same look and tone he had shown her in the season when they were first together. But Maylily simply couldn’t face him as if nothing had happened.

The man who had cruelly toyed with her heart through deception and then cast her aside coldly had now saved her from the depths of despair and seized absolution for himself. Even though Maylily had never once forgiven him.

Because she had accepted his rescue, she was no longer in any position to be angry or resentful about what had happened in the past. That fact felt unfair and infuriating. All the more so because the way he had chosen to save her had raked painfully across her heart.

“The man next to you must have had a far better way to save you, so think carefully about why it had to be this way.”

Victor was someone with a way of thinking Maylily found hard to understand, but at least his last words were not wrong.

The count had certainly had other options. Ones that would have been far better than making her listen to her father haggle over her price, and making her watch that father’s face light up as he counted out her value.

Even without that, she had already been small and worthless enough in front of him. Why had he chosen to do that? Why, to the point of giving up his revenge…?

“I don’t understand.”

After spending some time deep in thought, Maylily slowly closed her eyes and opened them again, then turned to the count. By then, the train had left the city of Floris behind and was racing across fields dotted here and there with farmhouses.

“What don’t you understand?”

The count, who had been watching her with his body turned at an angle, let a lazy smile spread across his eyes.

“Why you went so far as to hand that money to my father just to bring me away?”

To Maylily, the count was her only salvation, but to the count, she was nothing of the sort.

Because she knew that fact so keenly, she had no choice but to ask. She needed to know where she stood in this relationship in order to decide how to conduct herself.

“Because you’re beautiful.”

It was as light and immediate a reply as if he were explaining why he had bought a new suit. His attitude was so casual it made all the worries that had tormented Maylily since the moment she had faced him again feel absurd.

“Your face, your body, and your voice. Too precious to throw away.”

The count cupped Maylily’s cheek firmly in his palm. In his eyes, catching the sunset that had begun to fall over the fields, a desire that had taken root flared dark and bright.

So at least that part had been real in the middle of all those false hours.

Suddenly, the memory of the last night she had spent with the count rose up. Turning over the feelings she’d had at the end of that harsh night, Maylily turned her head forward, slipping out from under his hand.

“And did that really have enough worth for you to give up your long-cherished wish for it?”

At the sharp, thorn-edged tone of her voice, Hugh’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Maylily’s profile. What Maylily should have done was thank him and fall into his arms, not dare to question the worth of the salvation he had granted her.

“That depends on how much you can satisfy me.”

If she refused to do it on her own, he would simply make her do it by force. Hugh grabbed her waist and pulled her to face him, seating her squarely on his lap. With a short cry, the cream-colored slipper that had been dangling precariously from her small toes dropped to the floor.

“So do your best.”

Pulling Maylily’s trembling body, drenched in fear and confusion, into his arms, Hugh gave a dry smile and swallowed her lips.

“Mmph, mmph….”

When Maylily struggled and shook her head desperately, Hugh seized a fistful of her hair and restrained her. Then, like a beast devouring its prey, he ravaged her fiercely.

The ribbon tied at the ends of her neatly brushed hair came loose, and her golden locks fanned out behind her like wings.

Maylily yanked at his hair and beat against his chest to push him away, but Hugh didn’t budge. As if engaged in a chase inside her mouth, the hot tongue that had pursued her so relentlessly was bitten down hard by Maylily.

“Ha.”

The metallic taste of blood spread across his tongue, and Hugh pulled back, running a hand through his disheveled hair with a hollow laugh. Seeing the woman glaring at him with tear-filled eyes, her breath coming out in ragged gasps, he felt an irritated thirst rise inside him.

What he had wanted to reclaim were eyes shining with pure affection for him, not ones sharpened by hostility and fear.

“Maylily.”

At his voice, lower and colder than usual, Maylily flinched. Hugh brushed her disordered hair gently and said, “Do you regret following me? Then say it now. I’ll stop the train and send you back to your father immediately.”

“….”

“If not, then you’ll have to accept the role you chose. I didn’t bring you along just to sit you there like a doll and watch.”

At those words, reminding her of the deal they had made only hours ago, Maylily’s breathing quieted. The sharp glint in her eyes dulled, and her lashes drooped weakly, like a small dog lowering its tail in submission.

Seeing her frown smooth out at last, Hugh unfastened the first button of her dress, which covered the pale, slender line of her neck. Maylily shut her eyes tight, swallowed dryly, and grabbed his descending hand.

“I don’t like you anymore, Count.”

Hugh’s lips twisted as he looked down at the woman gathering up the shattered pieces of her pride from the floor.

“Then start liking me again. Considering what we’ve become, it’ll be less miserable for you that way.”

“Then start liking me again. Considering what we’ve become, 

Determined to reclaim that gaze again, even if it meant staying awake for days, Hugh gently brushed aside the small hand of the woman whose face looked on the verge of tears.

Then, one by one, the buttons along the swell of her bodice came undone. The fact that Maylily wore a dress that could be undressed face to face, and that he could so easily discard and possess her, filled Hugh with deep satisfaction.

After removing her bodice and corset, only a thin chemise, faintly translucent, remained to cover her upper body. Finding the neckline too tight to pull down, Hugh tore it apart. The white cloth slipped from her slender body and hung in tatters below her waist.

The dazzling early summer sunset that filled the cabin tinted the half-naked Maylily, once again in Hugh’s arms, with a faint blush.

“You’ve grown thinner. I’ll have to put some weight back on you.”

The hot hand that lightly wrapped around Maylily’s neck, flushed with shame, slid down along her collarbone and roughly seized her full breast. Between his long fingers, thick with bone, soft flesh spilled out.

“Ah.”

As Maylily clenched her skirt and swallowed her moan, the Count of Everscourt let out a silent laugh above her face.

To think she had once believed the balance in their relationship had been restored under a man like this. Naive and foolish.

Looking back, even though she had given both her body and heart to the count, Maylily had never truly possessed anything of his. Even now, with her sitting on top of him, the count looked down arrogantly and toyed with her as he pleased.

If this was an unavoidable reality, then at least she wanted to avoid repeating the past. She didn’t want to cry again, feeling abandoned and plundered at the end of her second time with the count.

“I don’t like being the only one like this.”

Pressing against the count’s shoulder as his lips brushed against her neck, Maylily spoke calmly. When she met his deep blue eyes, her expression was firm.

“You too, Count…. Take yours off.”

As if mulling over her words, the count slowly closed and opened his eyes before lowering his head and letting out a laugh. The hot breath he exhaled tickled Maylily’s shoulder.

“Stop laughing. I meant what I said.”

Though Maylily’s face burned bright red, her gaze did not waver.

“Judging by your face, I can tell you did.”

Teasing her, the count leaned back against the sofa, his lingering smile still on his face. Spreading his arms loosely along the backrest, he tilted his handsome chin slightly upward.

“All right. Undress me.”