Chapter 38
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After their first day's not-so-funny altercation, Louise had gone to bed early, alone.
Caius would then enter the bedroom and go straight to his office through the inner passage. He would simply walk past Louise lying white-cheeked on the bed, never needing to know if she was really asleep or just pretending to be.
Likewise, the hired hands would wake up the next morning at the usual time and never know what their employer had been up to. It had been about ten days since they had begun pretending to be a married couple.
As Caius opened the bedroom door, he was stopped in his tracks by a bright light. The room was minimally lit, a change from the darkness of the past.
Maybe it wasn't late enough.
Perhaps that was why Louise sat up instead of lying down like she always did.
"Give me the power."
Caius doubted his ears, feeling that it had been a long time since he'd heard her voice. It didn't seem like the kind of thing a woman would say while sitting languidly in her nightgown.
"...................what did you say?"
Louise looked up at him.
"I've been thinking about your wishes, Your Excellency, about being Ermoli next to Heidenberg."
Caius slowly pulled out his stool and settled down in the seat facing her.
He thought about Heidenberg's name day and night, and around him it was a topic of conversation whenever he and Ferdinand were alone. But it was unfamiliar to hear from the woman's lips.
"What did you ...... say?"
"You won't believe me when I tell you that if my mother had been well, she would have visited you, Your Highness, one day, and since I have no proof, neither do you, I'll pay for my parents' sins as you wish."
"By being Ermoli by Heidenberg's side."
Caius said, and she repeated it.
"Yes, for being Ermoli by Heidenberg's side."
The woman said, then continued.
"If the lottery you're organizing is unsuccessful, this time will go down in history as a half-marriage, and I will have to risk my life, like my parents before me, to stand by your side."
"So, when you think about it, is it a waste of life, that any Heidenberg could have won the throne, and only the Ermoli who performed would lose their lives?"
The brilliant emerald eyes blinked lazily a couple of times. Louise paused, as if she had heard something unexpected, before answering.
"If I had to think about it, I suppose so, but I'm going to pay for my parents' sins anyway, so my life is probably good."
"And?"
The woman sat up straighter and repeated her first words.
"Give me full power. Give Ermoli, your loyal servant by your side, all the power you can give them, and if I die by your side, I will leave my parents' names behind."
Caius stared down at the woman in disbelief.
"Why would I do that? I think you’re mistaken, it's the 'role' of a loyal Ermoli that I want from you, not the actual Ermoli."
"Yes, they are two different things."
Louise smiled, her green eyes sparkling like jewels in the yellow light.
"But if Your Highness gives me power, the two will be the same, for I am that Ermoli."
Sharp gold eyes pierced her.
"Sounds like you mean to be the real thing, not ..... pretend."
The woman shrugged, as if testing him.
In the low light of the lanterns, her silky blonde hair rippled like the Milky Way. Somewhere above it, Elizabeth loomed again, and Caius rubbed his cheek.
"You better know what you're talking about, because if you're going to be a real Countess of Burg, you're going to have to do everything worthy of the name, even in bed."
Louise paused, not quite understanding.
She must have believed him when he said last night that he didn't want to sleep with her.
What now?
A commoner, a woman who hadn't heard a vulgar word in her life. Caius hinted.
"The mouths of maids are not to be trifled with, and since you seem to have made up your mind to serve me so diligently, you may as well fulfill your expectations by offering this one body in gratitude."
Louise shook her head in disbelief, then bit her lip. Blood glistened on her crimson lips.
The color was tempting, and Caius couldn't help but lick his lips.
The woman murmured in a small, reluctant tone.
"..................If that's the kind of loyalty you expect from me."
Her tongue felt dry as she watched the lips of the man curl in mild promise, not knowing what she was talking about. Caius pulled his lips into a tight line.
"Louise Henriette Ermoli von Burg."
He sang her name slowly, like a note, then explained.
"I don't think the new name I've given you will be enough for the power you want to have, and if it doesn't give you full control over your subjects, then Elizabeth has done wrong.”
He had already heard of the subordinates' consumptive clamor through the butler and Michael. He had always dismissed it as none of his business.
But the woman was no longer intimidated or hurt by her mother's name, or pretended to be.
She bowed her head as if she had finished her business.
"Thank you for allowing me to use that name."
The meek gratitude was similar to Michael's. Caius rose to his feet, suddenly irritated.
Louise got to her feet, too, as if to see him off.
"Oh, well."
Caius turned to leave the room, but stopped in front of her.
Squeezing between her and the lantern, a tall shadow fell across the woman's tense cheeks.
Another step closer, and the tiny woman stepped into the darkness. Louise sucked in a surprised breath.
Caius lowered his head and buried his face in the woman's luscious blonde hair, deep into the nape of her neck. Aside from the arousing woodsy scent, the flesh against his nostrils was chilled.
Judging by how long she must have waited for him in this room, his midnight demands seemed a little more bearable.
Her efforts to keep from stirring had been in vain from the start, and the silence seemed to suffocate her; the woman's fragrant flesh trembled pitifully in the lanterns that reflected the whiteness of even the smallest speck of dust.
Caius opened his thirsty lips and sucked the tiniest bit of her delicate skin.
The woman gasped and staggered, her efforts to not move, to not make a sound, futile.
His large, firm hand spread out and rested lightly on the woman's thin waist.
"With so many eyes on you, it would be rude to disappoint them too much, wouldn't it, Louise?"
The tiny mark on the nape of her white neck didn't look so bad. Not enough to cause the others to fuss.
He released her hand and turned away.
He didn't hear another gasp as he walked away. After all, she hadn't spoken since that tired thank you.
Alone, Caius lay down haphazardly on the cot in his office.
His earliest memory was of a burning imperial Castle.
"Your Highness, you must trust me."
Against the backdrop of the frightening flames, the Marquis of Ermoli of that day came to mind.
"Give me full power."
Blood could not be deceived, and all the woman had was her body, but she was still Ermoli. Was she still haunted by the name she lost?
Perhaps she was.
Pale gold eyes peered into his palm in the darkness, and he hastily closed her eyes before the warmth the woman’s flesh left behind could overwhelm him.
Night was near but also far away.
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