A Mad Lady’s Confession - Chapter 9

Late at night, a pitch-black carriage stopped in front of the white stone residence.

The butler, who had been waiting for the one inside the carriage, descended the steps to greet his master. When the coachman halted the horses and opened the carriage door, long legs stepped onto the ground.

“Welcome home, Your Grace.”

“…It seems I’ve become a wretched man who disturbs an old butler’s sleep.”

“What do you mean? Greeting my master is my duty.”

It was natural for a butler to wait for his lord returning home late at night. But because the butler’s white hair grew more numerous by the day, and because nights like these weren’t just one or two, Matthias felt slightly burdened by his habit of returning late.

The matter would be solved easily if he simply didn’t come home. There were more than enough places in the capital where he could stay for a night, and all he needed to do was send a brief message saying he wouldn’t return.

In fact, that was exactly how he’d lived until now. So why was he coming home like some fairy‑tale character who’d turn to dust if he didn’t return before midnight?

Matthias stood there, feeling vaguely irritated, and muttered under his breath, “…She must be smarter than I thought.”

Not a promise but a wish.

The former felt like a constraint to his nature, while the latter was harder to ignore.

The one‑year woman he’d brought into his home seemed to have a very quick mind, and that fact irritated him.

As Matthias climbed the steps with a displeased expression, the butler hurriedly approached with news.

“Madam is waiting as well.”

“Who’s doing what?”

“You’ve arrived?”

Just as he frowned and stepped into the lobby, a woman’s voice echoed—something that shouldn’t have been heard at this hour, in this place.

When he turned, a head of pink hair wrapped in a shawl was standing on the landing of the staircase leading to the second floor.

“You’re very late. You must be tired, right?”

“….”

The one speaking looked even more exhausted. Her eyelids, heavy with sleep, struggled to stay open as she smiled, and her face looked like she should be sent to bed immediately.

“…What are you doing awake at this hour?”

“I was waiting for you.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it natural for a wife to wait for her husband’s return?”

…Ah. So this was what she meant by a wife’s duty. He understood instantly.

Her face looked ready to collapse from sleepiness, and her attempt to uphold her duty was slightly commendable, but as he’d said before, Matthias didn’t expect duties from her.

“That’s enough. Go up to your bedroom. If you stay any longer, your eyes will close on their own.”

At his teasing remark, she looked slightly embarrassed. Her eyes were still full of sleep.

Having someone other than a servant waiting for his return… wasn’t unpleasant. But he thought little of it. Just something that could happen on any given day.

Even as he changed in the dressing room and soaked his body in the hot bathwater, just as he always did, he believed his repetitive daily routine was coming to its usual end.

Just as he was about to lie down on the neatly made bed, having dried his body, there came a soft, polite knock.

“What is it?”

“It’s me, Your Grace.”

The woman who should have been asleep long ago had come to him again. Not knowing her intentions, his brows furrowed.

He rose and walked toward the door. When Matthias pulled the handle, he heard the woman in her nightdress take in a small breath.

Her pea‑sized eyes wandered helplessly over the bare chest of Matthias, who wasn’t wearing a shirt.

“Is your business with my chest?”

“N-no. Of course not! I have no business with your chest… I also have a chest, so there’s no reason to… I mean, that’s not… that’s not what I meant….”

The woman, flustered, was saying whatever came to mind.

“Enough. If you have something to say, say it quickly and go back.”

“Ah, yes. The reason I came is….”

Eleanor slipped inside the bedroom through the small space between Matthias’s body and the door. As if she were looking around a place she’d never seen before, she stepped cautiously, glancing in every direction.

She gently pushed past where he stood blocking her and entered fully, hesitant and curious as she looked around the room.

He couldn’t understand her behavior.

“Your reason?”

Only then did she finally look straight at him. With both hands fidgeting nervously, Eleanor opened her mouth cautiously.

“The reason I came is… to warm your bed.”

“…What?”

“I came here to warm your bed.”

Silence fell inside the already quiet bedroom, growing even heavier. Matthias paused, wondering for a moment if some new expression had become popular in the capital without him knowing.

His throat moved with a hard swallow.

“…Do you know what it means for a woman to warm a man’s bed?”

“Of course. …I was taught that it’s a wife’s duty.”

Ha. He let out a short, incredulous laugh.

A woman with such an innocent face, saying such bold things, felt brazen to him.

Slowly, he let his gaze travel down the woman who stood so properly. Even without makeup, her face was fair, clean, and soft. His eyes slid down from her red lips to her lightly drooping eyes and then to her narrow shoulders.

Tonight, she wore a thin linen nightdress with a robe of the same material draped over it. Because of the dim lighting in the bedroom, her silhouette beneath the fabric wavered faintly.

When he let his gaze rest once on her softly curved collarbone, his eyes instinctively traveled lower, toward her chest.

Perhaps because of the darkness or because the nightdress was loose, he couldn’t guess the size or shape. And judging from her slender shoulders and delicate frame, her breasts wouldn’t be large.

What should he do?

Crossing his arms, he stood leisurely and considered it for a moment. He had clearly told her he expected no such duty.

He tried to recall when he’d last been with a woman. More time had passed than he realized, and he understood, to his surprise, that he was fairly pent up.

Enough that even the pale cheeks of a fresh-faced young woman stirred desire in him.

The thought that she was just a one-year wife didn’t influence his decision much. He felt no guilt, no moral hesitation, nothing of the sort. That too was simply a part of his arrogance.

If he wanted something, he took it. If he wished for it, he had it. He had lived his entire life in a position where that was natural.

The woman before him waited anxiously only for his answer. A quiet desire he’d long ignored flared to life at once.

“I’m not someone who refuses these things.”

Even though he had refused countless times before, and even though the desire he felt now was solely because of the woman before him, he deliberately spoke lightly.

“You don’t have to refuse. It’ll be a pleasure for me.”

“We’re only a one-year, formal couple.”

“E-even so, I’m still your wife.”

With her insisting this much… honestly, it wasn’t bad.

He tilted his chin slightly and said, “If my wife wishes to fulfill her duties, why would her husband refuse?”

When he accepted, the woman looked excited, even joyful. It seemed her word about it being a pleasure had truly been sincere.

Matthias headed toward the bed. He lay on his side with an arm under his head, then gave Eleanor a look.

He pretended to be relaxed toward the tense woman, but below the surface, his body was already half-hard in anticipation of what would follow.

Slowly, as he watched the woman slip out of her linen robe, Matthias felt his mouth go dry. He brushed it off casually, assuming it was simply because he’d been unusually abstinent for too long.

The woman turned around wearing nothing but a light nightdress that faintly revealed her skin. She lifted the blanket, then carefully slid herself beneath it.

Matthias watched with interest, wondering what she would do next.

She pulled the blanket neatly up to her chest, then reached for something she’d left on the bedside table along with her robe.

Rustle, rustle. She flipped through a few pages of paper, opened the book, placed it on her chest, and began reading. With an expression of pure satisfaction and interest.

For a moment, only the quiet, calm sound of two people breathing filled the room.

“….”

“….”

“…What exactly are you doing?”

“I’m going to read until the bed warms up. If I just lie still, I think I’ll fall asleep. Once it’s warm enough, I’ll leave quietly. Ah, would it bother you if I kept the light on while you’re trying to sleep?”

“….”

“Should I turn it off?”

What was she talking about? Completely thrown off by the situation, something that rarely happened, Matthias finally realized something.

Ha….

Letting out a long, heavy exhale, Matthias’s large frame collapsed. He covered his heated eyes with the back of his hand and stayed that way for a while.

Countless thoughts crossed his mind. In the end, he voiced the one question that was both the most reasonable and the answer to everything.

“You’re twenty-one this year?”

“I’m twenty.”

“….”

“Did I do something wrong?”

At the timid sound of her voice, he lowered the arm that had been covering his eyes.