18
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Why he was looking at her and singing that song of all things was beyond her. Aileen blinked in confusion and turned to Cesare.
Cesare was smiling as if he found it amusing. He wrapped his arm around Aileen's waist.
"Come here. You'll bump into someone."
He pulled Aileen close, pressed her tightly against him, and walked past the people into the interior. As they headed toward the passage behind the thick curtains, Malena's singing faded.
The passage wasn't wide, so she still had to walk close to him. Cesare led Aileen and asked leisurely, "Someone you know?"
Aileen was careful not to close her eyes as she replied.
"Ah, no."
Malena used a pseudonym. She hadn't said anything about her profession either, so she must have had reasons for wanting to keep it hidden from others. She tried to lie to protect Malena's privacy, but she wasn't sure if she had succeeded.
Cesare looked at Aileen and chuckled. Then, without asking further, he moved on.
There were doors on both sides of the passage. From beyond the sparsely placed doors, she could hear sounds like groans. She wondered what they were doing to make such noises, but she didn't dare ask.
How much further did she walk, following Cesare, through the increasingly complex passage? Cesare, who was walking ahead, stopped. He turned to Aileen, giving her one last chance.
"Are you really going to see him?"
If she asked him to send her father home, he would do so. But Aileen wanted to see it with her own eyes.
She had known that her father was wandering around doing useless things, but she had never confirmed exactly what he was doing.
But this time, Aileen couldn't stand it. Wasn't she almost sold off to a foreign country because of her father? She was going to see exactly what he was doing and settle things once and for all.
"Yes."
At her resolute answer, Cesare led Aileen deeper inside.
The passage became increasingly complex. Just when she thought she would have gotten lost if she had come alone, Cesare stopped. He didn't give Aileen time to prepare herself and abruptly opened a door.
Aileen stiffened at the sudden sight that unfolded before her. Inside the room, translucent red cloths were draped from the ceiling to the floor in various places.
There were several plush chaise lounges, each already occupied. Naked men and women groped each other on the chairs. Aileen stared blankly at the tangled naked bodies and covered her nose and mouth with her hand.
"Ugh..."
She didn't know what kind of herbs were mixed and burned, but the stench was terrible. The air inside felt hazy. She had only inhaled a little, but her head was already spinning.
Trembling slightly, she looked at Cesare, who silently gestured inside. Aileen slowly took one step at a time forward.
Trying not to look at the people around her, she advanced, focusing only on what was ahead. She could hear sounds from beyond the red cloth.
"Huff, uh-huff, huff."
Intermittent vulgar curses were mixed in with the rough breathing and the sound of skin rubbing against skin. Aileen reached out and grabbed the red cloth. She hesitated for a moment, but eventually pulled it aside.
Her father was there. Her father was on top of a woman.
"Haa, I'll be done soon, huff, you didn't put anything in the alcohol, did you?"
Her father grinned with a flushed face as he thrust his hips. He didn't even notice Aileen, who was frozen like a statue, and just panted.
She felt a surge of nausea from the visceral disgust. But no sound escaped from her parted lips. Her mother's wailing voice echoed in her ears.
Her ears were ringing with her mother's screams, saying that her father smelled of women's perfume, that he didn't sleep with her, that she didn't know where he was going to cheat on her, and pouring out her anger.
Just then, an arm reached out from behind her. A hand in a leather glove slowly stroked Aileen's fingers, which were gripping the cloth tightly. The red cloth slid down, covering her father.
"Aileen."
"..."
Aileen couldn't answer and just gasped for breath. Cesare turned Aileen around and lifted her up in his arms.
Aileen, held in his arms, curled up silently. She grabbed Cesare's clothes with her trembling hands.
Cesare readjusted Aileen in one arm, sighed briefly, grabbed the red cloth in front of him, tore it off, threw the roughly torn cloth on the floor, strode inside, and picked up a water bottle on the table. Then he poured the water over her father's head.
"Ugh!"
Her father, suddenly doused with water, floundered like a fish. The woman screamed and pulled herself away, fleeing to the other side. The others, who had been staggering around, also sensed the unusual atmosphere and slipped out.
"What, huff!"
Her father, about to utter a curse, froze as soon as he saw Cesare.
"I didn't know you'd be selling off your daughter and playing around here, Baron."
Vulgar words flowed out on a smooth voice and elegant tone. Only after a moment did her father and Aileen realize that Cesare had cursed.
Her father immediately knelt on the floor. Cesare stared silently down at the middle-aged man, naked and bowing his head, trembling.
The moment Cesare's eyes narrowed, Aileen hurriedly grabbed him. Cesare raised an eyebrow and tapped her father's head with his shoe.
Tap, tap, he tapped his head as if a child were playing with an insect, and said quietly.
"Live quietly, okay? I'm very impulsive these days. I might accidentally cut off your head."
A suppressed sob burst from her father. He couldn't cry loudly for fear that Cesare would cut off his head, and just hiccuped.
"This is your last chance, Baron Elrod."
Cesare didn't bother to wait for an answer and turned around. He didn't need to hear it. After all, her father would absolutely obey Cesare's orders.
Aileen closed her eyes tightly, leaving behind her father's sobs. She buried her face in Cesare's broad chest and just repeated the act of breathing in and out.
While he walked, opened the door, and walked again, Aileen kept her eyes closed. Her mother's voice ringing in her head was too loud to bear.
Click, she heard the sound of a door closing. Cesare tried to sit Aileen on the plush sofa, but Aileen clung to him and wouldn't let go. No, she couldn't let go. She still held onto Cesare with her convulsing hands.
Cesare sat on the sofa, holding Aileen, who was clinging to him. Aileen moved her parched lips.
"I'm sorry."
Words full of belated regret flowed out weakly.
"I should have listened to what Your Excellency said..."
She thought she would be able to confidently get angry at her father when she saw him. But the scene Aileen had imagined was at most barging into a gambling den.
She knew that her father liked women, but when she actually saw the act, her mind went blank. In the end, she couldn't even get angry and froze, receiving Cesare's help. Aileen pressed herself a little closer to him and whispered softly.
"I'm really sorry."
Cesare didn't say anything. He just held her silently. Thanks to that, Aileen was able to hide quietly in his arms and find stability.
Until her mother's voice ringing in her ears completely disappeared.
The platinum watch strap dangled between his fingers. Cesare was caressing the plain, unadorned pocket watch as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
"Your Excellency. Baron Elrod has returned home."
Rohan looked at Aileen, who was asleep with her head on Cesare's lap, and continued.
"And Malena requests an audience with Your Excellency."
"This isn't a good time."
Cesare smiled pleasantly and stroked Aileen's hair.
"As you can see, I'm occupied."
"..."
Rohan, who was watching the scene, lowered his gaze for a moment. Just like when he had opposed the marriage with Aileen, he spoke honestly and truthfully this time as well.
"You were too harsh."
"I held back from being even harsher."
Even before Baron Elrod uttered the ridiculous words that he would sell off Aileen, Cesare knew everything.
Who the foreign aristocrat the Baron was dealing with was, how much he had paid, and when he would come to find Aileen.
Cesare could have taken sufficient measures to prevent the old pig from meeting Aileen. But he didn't, and he left Aileen until she was cornered.
It was to make Aileen decide to marry him.
