"Marin, do you know something?"
She had never given him permission to use her name. But he did so anyway—as if he owned the right.
"What?"
"If your family hadn't gone bankrupt, we would have been engaged."
Marin's eyes widened.
This was the first she had ever heard of such a thing. Her parents had always assured her they would never force her into a marriage of convenience.
"Our fathers were the closest of friends."
"Ah..."
However close her father had been to Viscount Norman, he would never have announced an engagement without asking her consent.
"Eat this. If you want anything else, just tell me."
"That's enough. Thank you."
Marin bowed and turned to leave.
She didn't notice how Gobiem's burning gaze followed her back—shameless, possessive.
---
Marin glanced out the window.
It had grown dark outside. The soft patter of falling drops drifted in from the blackness. Rain.
"Katherine, I think it's time for me to go."
"Teacher, wait—just a moment longer? Can you stay a little more?"
Katherine, her hair in two neat pigtails, clutched the hem of Marin's dress.
"What's the matter today? Why do you want me to stay?"
Marin crouched down, meeting the girl's eyes with gentle concern.
Usually obedient, Katherine seemed determined to keep her here tonight.
That was how she had ended up stuck in the girl's room, long past the hour she should have left.
"Ooh... when will he come?"
Katherine didn't answer the question. Instead, she looked anxiously toward the door.
"Who are you waiting for?"
"My older brother."
Katherine's big brown eyes rose to meet hers. She sighed, as if resigned.
"Older brother? You mean Mr. Gobiem?"
"Yes."
"But if you're waiting for your brother, why can't I go home?" Marin asked softly, keeping her voice soothing.
"He asked me to." Katherine's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "He said he wanted to take you home himself. He told me not to let you leave until he arrived. Isn't he kind? Oh—but that's a secret."
"I understand." Marin stroked the girl's hair and stood. "But I really must go. My mother is waiting."
"Teacher, please—just a little longer."
Katherine wrapped her arms around Marin's waist. Marin looked down at her, confused.
At that moment, the door to Katherine's room swung open.
"Katherine."
Gobiem.
"Brother!"
Katherine rushed toward him with delight.
"Katherine, did you study well today?"
"Uh-huh! The teacher is leaving now."
She met his eyes and giggled. The secret was out—but for a child, secrets were all fun.
"Is she now?"
Gobiem's gaze sharpened. He stared at Marin.
She pretended not to notice and turned to Katherine.
"Katherine. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yes, Teacher. Goodbye!"
As Marin approached the doorway, a sharp smell hit her.
Alcohol.
*He reeks of wine.*
Marin's expression hardened. She quickened her pace.
The man who had instructed his little sister to detain her—so he could "escort her home"—had arrived drunk?
A bad feeling pierced her chest.
Suppressing the urge to break into a run, she lengthened her stride.
Heavy footsteps followed close behind.
"Marin."
"Yes?"
"Let's talk for a moment."
"It's late. My mother is waiting."
She answered without looking back, without slowing.
"How impolite. You went bankrupt and immediately forgot all your noble manners?"
Marin stopped abruptly.
She turned. Her face was cold.
Gobiem stood with his arms crossed, smirking at her.
"Have you just insulted my family?"
"Oh, what are you saying?"
He uncrossed his arms and raised his palms in mock surrender, smiling broadly as he moved toward her.
"You've already done it."
"To insult a family, there has to *be* a family first, doesn't there?"
He chuckled, drawing out the words with vicious sarcasm.
"What did you say?"
"Isn't it true? Late at night, a noble lady meets a man here alone. She even accepts *scraps* from our table." His lips twisted. "What do you call it when food is obtained by begging? Oh—*begging*, right?"
He clutched his stomach and giggled—a nasty, self-amused sound, as if his own cruelty were the height of wit.
Marin watched him in silence.
*The fate of a fallen noblewoman's daughter.*
*Humiliating.*
*And I'll have to endure this again and again.*
*But whether I choose to endure—that is mine to decide.*
She met Gobiem's gaze directly.
"As of today, I will no longer serve as Katherine's tutor. Please convey this to Viscount Norman. Good evening."
She spoke calmly. Then she turned to leave.
Gobiem seized her wrist.
His grip was bruising. He yanked her back around to face him, his expression twisted with fury.
"You're just going to *leave* like that?"
"Yes."
"If your family hadn't collapsed, you—and all the wealth of your house—would have been *mine*. Do you understand?"
Marin stared at him, speechless.
*What madness is this?*
*Is he insane?*
Even if her family hadn't been ruined, she would never have married this man.
"So be smart. And *listen* to me."
He jerked open a door along the hallway and shoved her through it.
Marin stumbled from the force of his push. She staggered—and found herself inside a room.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Since there won't be a wedding now, I'll at least take you as a concubine, Marin."
He spoke as if he were granting her a tremendous favor.
He grabbed her face, fingers squeezing her cheeks, and leaned close.
Marin shoved him away with both hands.
"Wonderful—"
*SLAP.*
Her head snapped to the side.
Only then did she realize she had been struck.
For the first time in her life, someone had slapped her.
The blow landed so hard that her cheek swelled immediately.
"Tsk-tsk." Gobiem clicked his tongue, examining the damage as if he felt "sorry." "If you'd just held still, that wouldn't have happened."
Something inside her snapped.
Marin clenched her fists. She glared at him with eyes like ice.
"What? Going to hit me?" He laughed. "With those soft little hands? *Ha-ha.*"
He stepped closer.
In that instant, Marin drove her knee upward—straight between his legs—with every ounce of strength she possessed.
A self-defense technique from her past life.
"*Ee-e-eek!*"
Gobiem howled. His legs buckled beneath him. He collapsed to the floor.
"You're a worthless piece of work—not even worth the effort of a fist."
Marin looked down at him, her voice utterly cold.
"What? A *concubine?*" She stepped over his writhing body. "Even if you filled a cart with the likes of you, I wouldn't take you for *free.*"
She left him there—unconscious, eyes rolled back—and climbed out of the mansion.
---
It was pouring.
Fearing that Gobiem might wake and pursue her, Marin ran through the downpour.
She climbed a dark, unlit slope. Her foot caught on a stone.
She fell.
"*Ow!*"
Luckily, she didn't tumble headlong—but her knees and palms scraped against rock, burning with pain.
Gritting her teeth, Marin forced herself upright.
*If I stop to rest, he'll catch me.*
She reached the hut at last. She locked the door behind her—and only then allowed herself to breathe.
She crept toward her room. If her mother saw her like this, Roenna would panic.
She lit a candle.
Turned around.
Her mother was sitting on the edge of the bed, head nodding in sleep.
At the sound of footsteps, Roenna stirred. A smile began to form on her lips—
Then her face turned to stone.
"Marin?"
"Mama, were you waiting for me?"
"Marin... my *God*, Marin..."
Roenna raised a trembling hand.
"I was walking in the rain and fell."
Marin moved quickly to her side, trying to calm the shock in her mother's eyes.
"Marin. My daughter." Roenna's warm, gentle fingers touched her swollen cheek. "Your face..."
It hurt. But Marin smiled as though it were nothing.
"I fell."
"Marin..."
Roenna didn't ask for details.
Instead, she pulled her daughter into a tight, warm embrace.
And Marin—without offering any more excuses—allowed herself to be held.
To be comforted.
In her mother's arms.
---
## — The Present —
Marin emerged from the memory.
Gobiem stood before her, glaring with undisguised fury.
"*Apologize*, you say?" His voice dripped with venom. "Who should apologize to *whom*? Or have you forgotten what you did to me?"