Chapter 37
Flawlessly, as if to Show It Off
On the way back home, inside the Langston limousine of the Mergoville family, Vivienne did not say a single word to Ludvik. The pleased look he had worn after briefly enjoying the women’s chatter that had eagerly tried to pair the two of them together stiffened into rigidity.
When Vivienne turned her head, her face was clearly different from how it had been when she received the ring at the tea party. Even though she knew why she was sitting beside him, her mood sank all the same.
“Aren’t you curious about what I found out about your count?”
Ludvik asked in a dry voice. Vivienne, as though she had nothing more to say to him, turned her head toward the window and remained silent.
“If you’ve decided to cooperate, you should at least act pleasant. You know you don’t have many options.”
Trying to draw her attention, he provoked his fiancée again, but she did not even react. Her gaze stayed fixed outside the carriage window, on the marching crowd. They were people raising their voices, insisting that Ludvik Rex’s release for lack of evidence was unjust, citing Watkins’s revelations as their grounds.
“……”
“Do you think your count will win? Is that why you’ve changed your mind?”
Ludvik leaned in close to Vivienne as she stared out the window. His words were whispered right beside her ear.
“Are you bothered by that procession outside? Well, maybe other women would be—but have I ever actually hurt you, Mergoville?”
For a fleeting moment, Vivienne’s pupils trembled as they reflected in the glass.
In that instant, she realized it clearly: among the many women in his life, Ludvik had never inflicted any truly fatal harm on her. A faint, fleeting smile touched Vivienne’s lips before vanishing. She had thought she felt nothing about any of this, but the sudden idea that it was all born of this man’s twisted devotion struck her as absurdly funny.
“That’s not it,” Vivienne replied calmly.
Yes. The problem was not Ludvik Rex.
If there was a problem, it was what had happened three days ago—when she had truly given in to Count Edmund Colt and allowed him to have her.
Vivienne gently closed her beautiful eyes, trying once more not to recall that memory.
That day, when Edmund kissed her again, she had been pressed down into the bedding by the force of his body. As his touch searched for her with desperate urgency, she pulled him closer by the nape of his neck.
Without even locking the door, she let him lose himself in her. His hands undid the buttons of the chiffon blouse she was wearing.
She shuddered at the sensations he left behind, yet when he buried his face against her, she stroked his broad back and allowed it. No matter how hard she tried to regain her senses, the kisses tinged with the scent of rain were too sweet, and the feeling of his cold body warming under her own heat felt good.
And so, in a mansion where her parents and brother were absent, she tangled herself with him—until she turned and felt her abdomen pressed by his strong arm, calling his name like an animal.
Afterward, Edmund’s servants came on their own with a tea that had contraceptive effects, and Vivienne drank it. Her mind feared Edmund, yet her body desperately wanted him. After carefully sealing away that memory, Vivienne spoke.
“I like Count Edmund Colt. I still do.”
Her father would gain enormous financial benefits from her marriage, but that was none of her concern.
The reason she was marrying Ludvik was Edmund Colt. She did not want to look pitiful before Edmund, who had taken her in out of pity. And, at the same time, she could not fully trust him.
Everything stemmed from that, and because Ludvik—the man who was to become her groom—was not even the slightest part of her reason for choosing this marriage, she felt it necessary to say so in advance.
It was something she could say precisely because she felt utterly indifferent toward Ludvik. Since he happened to desire marriage with her, he seemed the most likely to keep this a secret, making it easier to speak. Vivienne continued.
“No matter how bad a person you are to me, I wanted to keep basic courtesy. I was thinking about whether I should accept this ring. From the way you speak, it sounds like you want more from me than just a title.”
Vivienne turned her head and looked at Ludvik.
“…Even so, do you still want to marry me?”
“Yeah.”
The short reply came back. Ludvik Rex let out a cold sneer and grabbed her chin.
“Just because I like you doesn’t mean you stop being bait to lure the Count of Colt.”
“……”
“And you seriously think you can just go back to your precious count? No. If I were Count Colt, you wouldn’t even be alive right now. But because you’re pitiful, that bastard clings to you—and I profit from that, don’t I? Or maybe he just gets properly turned on whenever he sees you. That’s why he’d keep you alive, give you a ring, and want to make you his mistress.”
Vivienne could not deny his words.
As tears welled at the corners of her eyes, a satisfied smile spread across Ludvik’s lips.
“Whether you like that man or not, I’m going to win thanks to you. And your man will lose because of you.”
Looking straight at Vivienne, Ludvik said,
“So be my goddess of victory, Vivienne.”
As he spoke, he lifted her long hair and pressed his lips to it.
“Then I’ll become whatever it is you want.”
When Vivienne did not answer, Ludvik roughly rummaged through her pochette and pulled out a small jewelry box. Without a word, he slipped the ring onto her fourth finger.
Now, the red diamond ring fit Vivienne’s hand perfectly.
Ludvik continued,
“You’ll come to realize, sooner or later, that it’s better for your man to be ruined than for you to be.”
He forcefully pulled her hand toward him and kissed the back of it. A familiar sense of satisfaction surged up inside Ludvik.
It was always like this.
He reveled in the sensations that came from watching the reactions that followed after he scarred someone.
It was a logic that felt immutable—something that seemed as though it would last a lifetime.
