Chapter 31…
Catherine was thrown into a cell.
She hadn’t realized that what she had confessed to the Crown Prince would end up tightening the noose around her own neck.
That’s right—Marianne was Desant’s child, so if that girl were made the next Count, it would be seen as a usurpation.
Catherine had completely forgotten that.
If only she had said instead,
“Desant assaulted me, and I became pregnant with Marianne. He threatened me, and I was forced to continue the relationship.”
Then Catherine could have remained the victim.
She wondered where her life had gone so wrong.
It must have started the day she slept with her former fiancé.
At the time, after hearing stories from her friends who had slept with their fiancés before marriage, Catherine became curious and wanted to try it herself.
So she seduced her former fiancé, Rosso, and they slept together.
But it wasn’t at all like what she had heard—it didn’t feel good, and it hurt.
She blamed Rosso for it and lashed out at him.
Because of that, Rosso ended up sleeping with another woman who had invited him, saying she wanted to “gain experience.”
A few months later, that woman became pregnant, and Rosso broke off his engagement with Catherine to take responsibility.
When Catherine confessed to her parents that she was no longer a virgin, they were devastated, saying she could no longer hope for a proper marriage.
Her options were limited:
—Marry a second or third son of a noble who worked as a civil servant or knight and work alongside him,
—Live independently as an unmarried woman,
—or become some nobleman’s mistress.
Around that time, at a ball where she had drunk a bit too much and stepped out for some air, a man named Desant approached her.
He spoke to her kindly and with gentlemanly grace, and when she confided her worries about the future, he said:
“Would you like to become my mistress?”
He even added,
“You can decide after you’ve known what it’s like to be with a real man.”
He made her feel good—so different from Rosso—and she decided to become his mistress.
She came to believe that young men were too desperate for themselves and didn’t care about pleasing their partners.
Some time later, Desant said:
“Why not marry my eldest son?”
He explained that his eldest, Lucio, would do whatever he was told and still pined for his former fiancée, so there would be no need for a physical relationship.
They could simply pass off their child as Lucio’s.
Catherine was so obsessed with Desant that she didn’t care about Lucio at all—during their engagement or even after marriage.
When she became pregnant, she told Lucio right away—and soon after, he died.
After that, she married the second son, Kevin, as a cover.
Kevin was handsome, much like Desant. She was slightly interested in him, but convinced herself that young men weren’t any good.
Later, after overhearing other noblewomen talk about how young men were vigorous and could go many times a night, Catherine suddenly felt as if she had awakened from a dream.
She wondered why she had been satisfied with an old man like Desant and tried to seduce Kevin—but he rejected her.
She regretted not realizing it sooner.
Desant was aging day by day, while Kevin was strong and manly.
She longed to be held by that body.
She thought that if she kept saying she wanted another child, there might be a chance.
Once she learned how pleasurable the bedchamber could be, she wanted it every day—but Desant didn’t come to her room daily anymore.
When she heard that Kevin had gone back to his estate, she invited Desant, saying she wanted to spend all day tangled up with him.
Even if they couldn’t do it continuously, they led a debauched life together, meeting day and night—until Kevin and the others burst into the room.
And with that, everything came to an end.
