When You Started to Regret - Chapter 30

“Are you sure about this?”

In the silence that filled the carriage, Dominic had already asked the question several times, each time more hesitant than the last.

“Yes. Let’s go.”

Elaine’s firm answer came without pause, her voice unwavering.

“But, what about Lady Vanessa?”

“She has plenty of people to celebrate with even if I’m not there. But you don’t, Dominic. You only have me right now.”

You have me.
Such a simple phrase—and yet, it made something stir faintly in the heart of a man who had approached her with nothing but ulterior motives.

Dominic fell silent, momentarily caught off guard by the quiet throb in his chest. After a pause, he finally ordered the coachman to depart.

The carriage rolled forward, leaving the Aiola estate behind and heading toward his own residence.

He hadn’t planned to steal Elaine away from Vanessa’s birthday party. First, because he hadn’t expected her to go this far. Second, because he was curious to see what the others would do once the ripples from this disruption began to spread.

That curious young lady, no doubt she would question her family about their disrespect toward her guest. Whether they chose to hide the truth and suffer for it, or confess and be condemned for it, either outcome would have been satisfying.

And yet, now that he had seen this unwavering side of Elaine… he hoped the truth would take its time getting to her.

Elaine Aiola was far more clever, far more resolute than he had anticipated.

If she ever finds out I approached her with ill intent…
She would cut him off. Without hesitation. Even if her feelings were genuine—even if she suffered because of them.

The thought irritated him.

Not yet… No. Not yet. She mustn’t know.

A faint chill crept down the back of his neck. Dominic swallowed quietly.

The carriage pulled to a stop in front of Dominic’s estate, and the two of them stepped down together.

Elaine, noticing the quiet gloom that had clung to Dominic since they left the party, felt a pang of unease.

He had acted composed at the Aiola estate—but during the ride back, his expression had darkened, and he hadn’t said a single word.

Elaine, sensing he needed space, had remained silent as well.

What are you thinking, Dominic?
She swallowed the question, afraid of the answer.

The moment the butler, Walker, saw Elaine, he practically leapt back in surprise.

He looked as though he didn’t know what to do, glancing back and forth between the two, unsure if he was seeing things.

Elaine, unfazed, spoke with conviction.

“I’ll be staying here tonight.”

“Staying… the night?”

Dominic looked even more shocked than the butler. The gloom on his face vanished, replaced by surprise—and concern.

“Without telling anyone? Your family must be worried.”

“Let them. They deserve to worry. Especially those two.”

“…At the very least, let me send word to the Aiola estate. Please don’t stop me from doing that.”

Of course, Dominic didn’t care if they worried or not—but he was more than a little curious to see Fernando’s face when he found out where his sister had gone.

“Fine.”

Elaine agreed, not knowing Dominic’s true motives. She still felt disheartened by her brother and Vanessa, and answered half-heartedly.

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

“I’ll prepare something. Where would you like to dine?”

Walker’s question made Dominic glance at Elaine. His look told her it was her choice.

“Anywhere’s fine,” she said simply.

The veal steak they served turned out to be perfectly suited to her taste—but Elaine barely noticed the flavor. Still, she made a point to eat carefully, chewing thoroughly, smiling as she spoke.

She tried not to let her bitterness show, chattering to Dominic as if nothing had happened.

But once the meal was over, and she sank into the warm bath prepared for her, the mask slipped away.

Now alone in the steaming water, Elaine drew her knees to her chest. The soft splashes echoed in the silence as she watched her pale knees disappear and reappear just beneath the surface.

She rested her arms atop them and lowered her head.

Why, Fernando…?

Honestly, she didn’t understand.

Truly, she couldn’t comprehend it was it really just because of Dominic’s status? Because he was a newly-titled noble with no wealth or pedigree? Was that really the reason?

Elaine’s mother, Chiara Aiola—once known as Chiara Riccardo, a proud and haughty princess of Carta’s imperial line had married a man from foreign Herrmanda. A man with no title and no standing. And yet, she had always held her head high.

They said she was never ashamed, because everything valuable already belonged to her—and so her husband’s lack of fortune had never mattered.

Elaine couldn’t understand how Fernando, Chiara’s son, could be so narrow-minded.

She sank deeper beneath the warm bathwater, trying to rid herself of the stickiness of that lingering gloom.

“Shall I assist you?”

The voice startled her.

Without so much as a knock, Dominic stepped inside. He was damp from his own bath, clad only in a loosely tied robe. Wet hair clung to his forehead.

“D-Dominic?”

Elaine flinched, shrinking into the tub with only her head poking out. The water rippled gently and his quiet chuckle melted softly into its sound.

Her face flushed crimson. She squinted her eyes.

“Assist me with what, exactly?”

“There’s no one in the Cheshire estate fit to tend to the Lady Aiola’s bath.”

Elaine, born into a noble house, had been bathed by handmaids plenty of times. And she had grown used to Dominic seeing her bare skin over the course of their increasingly intimate relationship.

But even so—this moment caught her off guard.

His gaze, dark and damp like the deep night sea, felt unusually heavy tonight.

Splash… splash…

Dominic stepped toward her, unfazed by her alarm. The open front of his robe revealed the toned muscle of his chest, and Elaine, unable to help herself, glanced at it. Reflexively, she swallowed.

The sound was louder than she expected—and that made it all the more embarrassing.

The heat on her cheeks wasn’t just from the bathwater anymore.

Dominic stopped beside the tub. His eyes moved slowly—almost possessively—down her body.

The way he looked at her, it felt… violating, in the most deliberate way.

Elaine curled her arms tighter around her knees.

“Why are you staring like that?”

“I told you. I’ve come to assist with your bath.”

“I don’t need help. You’re not my servant.”

Her voice was tart, but he only responded by kneeling beside the tub—calm, respectful.

His fingers reached out, gently smoothing back her damp platinum hair.

“My lovely Elaine.”

He lowered his head and kissed her wet hair, and though the kiss was tender, it echoed far more wickedly inside her thoughts.

“You’re beautiful,” he murmured. “So beautiful, you make a man on his knees feel lower than dust.”

Her hair slipped through his fingers like silk, gleaming under the bathlight.

“Let me prove I’m worthy of you.”

At those words, a sudden surge of emotion welled up in Elaine’s chest.

“Don’t say that. You don’t have to prove anything to me.”
“You’re already important. Don’t talk like you’re beneath me.”

“But that’s the gap society sees between Aiola and Cheshire.”

Elaine’s lips pressed into a thin line.

Dominic took the silence as permission. He twisted her hair up and fastened it with a long pin, then placed a kiss on her exposed neck.

“You’re beautiful, Elaine.”

His damp lips trailed across her shoulder and down to her shoulder blade. She shivered—half from the touch, half from the tension winding in her chest.

Dominic smiled faintly.

He dipped a sponge into suds and began gently washing her, his hands slow, unhurried. At first, the touch was electric—but as he moved gently across the back of her neck and shoulders, the sharpness softened into comfort.

Elaine relaxed.

“You’re good at this.”

She didn’t mean to say it aloud.

Dominic paused, then chuckled.

“I am a lowborn Cheshire, after all. Serving others is what I’m used to.”

His soft laugh echoed in the bathroom, and Elaine narrowed her eyes.

“Are you trying to make me feel guilty on purpose?”

“Hmm… Maybe.”

“You’re impossible, Dominic.”

“Elaine. I truly wish you’d stop worrying about that.”
“It doesn’t bother me. I’m used to being looked down on. And… your brother isn’t entirely wrong.”

His voice was gentle, as his palm stroked down her spine.

Elaine leaned back into the touch, sighing softly.

“Then you shouldn’t dwell on what Fernando said either.”

“Yes, maybe there is some unchanging wall between Aiola and Cheshire,” she admitted, her tone suddenly sharper.
“Even if I don’t believe in it.”

Her eyes darkened.

“But so, what?”

Her voice sharpened again.

“I like you. Isn’t that enough?”
“What do Aiola or Cheshire matter? If there really is some disgusting wall between us, then I’ll crush it.”
“I’ll shatter it until there’s nothing left, not a scrap.”

Despite her fierce declaration, Dominic didn’t laugh.

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