Swan Grave - Chapter 15

“The one who told you that was just toying with you. The Marquess crazy for eastern women? Didn’t you hear how many from the east he’s thrown out?”

“……”

“And making me his personal maid because he wants to sleep with me? If that were the case, he would have made me his mistress!”

At Anna’s defiant stance, Sehyun faltered, his words mumbling into incoherence before clamping his mouth shut. Too late he realized his mistake, but the water had already spilled, and his true nature had been exposed.

Anna glared at Sehyun. Her black eyes flickered like ink.

Until now, she had thought Sehyun was a kind person. That was why, even though she hadn’t loved him, she accepted his confession, thinking it would be alright to let him stay by her side. But…

‘Kind? Don’t make me laugh.’

The Sehyun who had always smelled pleasant now reeked of manure, and his once-gentle face was gone, replaced by eyes bloodshot with base desire. The lips that had once whispered sweet words now laid bare his true self without shame.

In the past, he had been kind to her only because he had the leisure to be. Once that leisure was stripped away, all that remained was selfishness. Only now did she realize that she had been gravely mistaken about people all this time.

Was there any need to continue such a relationship?

Panting with anger, Anna gradually stilled like a lake at dawn. Because her feelings for him had never truly boiled, it was easy to bring them to an end.

Having made up her mind, Anna spoke quietly, yet firmly, “This isn’t going to work after all. Let’s break up.”

“Anna!”

Sehyun, startled by her sudden declaration, jumped in alarm. He felt he had to say something about how irrational and emotional her conclusion was. Lowering his eyes as though calm, he began to speak as if chiding her foolishness.

“Must you say that in a situation like this? Do only your feelings matter to you? Can’t you see how dangerous things are…”

“You only cared about your own feelings too, oppa!”

Anna’s sharp gaze bore into Sehyun, her eyes so strained with force that tears welled up.

When even the other maids noticed her pain and asked if something was wrong, Sehyun, at their mealtime meetings, never once asked her anything. Instead, he had flirted with Betty, who sat across from him.

And when her roommates giggled, telling her how funny her brother was when he teased them, how could she not feel humiliated?

Until now, Anna had forced herself to hide it all. But she could no longer keep it festering in her heart. She wanted to drag it all out and be free.

It was simply that what had built up until now had reached its breaking point. Anna let out a deep sigh.

“These aren’t words I’m saying out of anger. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.”

“Anna…”

“Even if we’re no longer a couple, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re both outsiders in this world. We’ll still have to work together to find a way home… Nothing much will change.”

Sehyun wanted to deny Anna’s words, but he couldn’t. His reason returned at last, and he was able to judge the situation objectively.

If Anna became the Marquess’s personal maid, she would gain closer access to information about the Marchioness. That information was valuable. If Sehyun kept provoking her, she might withhold the knowledge she gained from him. That was something he had to avoid at all costs.

So Sehyun forced a twisted smile and tried to placate Anna.

“…I think we both just got worked up. Let’s take some time to cool down.”

“I’m already calm, oppa,” Anna replied coldly and turned her back.

Sehyun quietly ground his teeth at the sight. That wench, acting high and mighty just because she had become the Marquess’s personal maid…

Anna bit her lip hard and quickened her steps back toward the mansion. She wanted to get away from Sehyun as quickly as possible.

If she had known what kind of man he truly was, she never would have been swayed by his comfort. Even the sincerity he had shown at her mother’s funeral now seemed suspect. All that remained was self-loathing for having wavered at such hollow whispers.

But regret always comes too late, and all Anna could do was console herself that at least she had realized it now.

***

Rothbart gazed silently at the bundle of cloth placed on his desk. Clothes folded neatly. Madame Dova, who had brought the bundle, reported calmly.

“The clothes were found in Hohenschwan. They said she sold them a few months ago to earn travel expenses. The undergarments she kept among her belongings.”

“Were there no other items?”

“No. Just in case, we traced her past actions thoroughly, but nothing else was found.”

“I see. Handle the rest as I instructed beforehand.”

“Yes.”

Madame Dova bowed politely and left Rothbart’s office. Left alone, Rothbart sank deep into the back of his chair, glaring at the clothes. The long, ivory-tinged tips of his nails tapped the desk in a steady rhythm.

After brooding like that for a long while, his long, angular fingers moved slowly. His hand, with veins and bones protruding, seized the clothes violently and roughly like the talons of a bird of prey. As if he would rip them to shreds.

Rothbart buried his face in the clothes and inhaled deeply. Though they had been separated from their owner for months and her scent had long faded, Rothbart still detected the faint smell of her soul lingering beneath.

But it was nothing compared to the undergarments that had most recently held her body. At the scent embedded in the fabric, Rothbart’s heart pounded fiercely.

“Ha, Ianna…”

Rothbart pressed his nose into the ornate, lace-covered undergarments that had once covered her breasts. His straight nose burrowed between the thin and fragile fabric. The sweet flesh-scent rising from the part that had touched her soft skin enveloped him.

For one who had remained chaste for over ten years, satisfying himself only by staring at a portrait, it was an overwhelming desire. Merely smelling it, Rothbart could no longer restrain himself and hastily tugged at his waistband. His swollen erection jutted out first.

With a hurried hand, Rothbart gripped himself with her undergarments. Feeling the smooth cloth that had touched her secret skin, he slowly began to move his hand.

“Ha…”

The tip of his cock pressed against the most intimate part of the fabric. As if probing into her depths. Rothbart tightened his grip on his penis.

“Damn…”

His teeth clenched as his throat bobbed harshly.

Her vivid scent quickly revived the past. In his blurred vision appeared the image of his wife from over a decade ago, writhing beneath him in climax. Her moans echoed in his ears. Until now, to recall her vividly, he had poured down costly hallucinogens and aphrodisiacs, but never had they worked as well as now.

The taut fabric grew wet with precum, making a sticky sound. Rothbart’s red eyes half-closed, growing hazy.

“Haaak! Ah, it hurts, ah, aah… m-master, I’m sorry, please stop…”

Soon, his wife’s clothing changed. Wearing a maid’s uniform, she looked up at him with a face full of dread, as though being ravished. Dressed in the cheap undergarments distributed to maids, her innocent, grape-like eyes rolled anxiously…

Rothbart’s mouth went dry. He recalled the memory of tearing open her undergarments and plunging inside, and he rubbed his penis even faster. Impatience set in.

“Kh…!”

His massive torso hunched and shook violently. The clothes on his desk crumpled beneath his face, crushed into disarray.