When You Started to Regret - Chapter 35

As Dominic gently wiped her unmoving body with a warm towel, his returning clarity hit like a bucket of ice water.

What am I doing?

At a time when he should be doing everything in his power to win her favor to keep her heart from turning away he had let himself act so low.

Elaine, still lying on the bed with heavy, blinking eyes, had surrendered her weary body to him. But when she noticed him frozen like a man struck by lightning, she gave a breathy, amused little laugh.

“What’s wrong? Looks like your senses finally came back.”

“Ah… Elaine, I… what I did to you…”

“It wasn’t bad,” she said lightly. “Didn’t I tell you? Sometimes, change is a good thing.”

“…”

Moonlight spilled across the floor, casting pale light on Dominic’s drained face. Even looking like that, he was still unfairly handsome. Elaine found herself once again struck by how perfect her lover was, and let out a soft giggle.

“What made you so uneasy?”

She reached out, brushing aside the damp black hair sticking to his forehead. A gentle kind of sadness slowly surfaced in her rounded green eyes.

“Did my brother Fernando come by while I was asleep?”

“…How did you…?”

Dominic paled visibly at the question that slipped from her lips.

“I just had a feeling,” she murmured. “When I woke up earlier… you smelled like Fernando’s cologne.”

She smiled faintly, almost teasingly.

“I gave it to him three years ago. He must’ve really liked it—it’s the same scent he still uses.”

Dominic’s expression remained stiff, unable to respond.

“What did he say to you? Was it something awful? Something that shook you this much?”

“…”

He couldn’t answer. Did I seem that anxious? He remembered being angry—but not anxious. Why would I be anxious?

Elaine was already his.
Fernando and Vanessa couldn’t even lay a finger on him—not if it meant hurting this fragile little sister of theirs.
Everything was going according to plan.
He had finally reached the moment where Liliana’s revenge would begin.

“I told you before, and I’ll say it again, Dominic—I’m in love with you. Only you. No one has the right to question that.”

“…”

“So please… don’t let anything else get to you. Just believe in my heart. I don’t want to be sorry when it comes to you.”

“…”

At her heartfelt reassurance, Dominic buried his face in his hands.

What could this foolish girl possibly feel sorry for?
He was the one defiling her—her pure body and her sincere heart—without the faintest shred of guilt.

Elaine sat slouched over the breakfast table, her head bobbing with sleep.
She hadn’t even touched her meal.

Still in bed, wrapped tightly in blankets, she faced Dominic from across a small table set beside the mattress. She looked exhausted, barely able to keep her eyes open—and watching her like that, Dominic’s gaze softened.

Adorable.
The way she dozed, blinking slowly, reminded him of a baby bird.

Of course, after the night they’d had, how could she not be tired?
Raised in the pampered comfort of House Aiola’s greenhouse, last night must’ve felt brutal.

Even for Dominic—roughened by a life of pain—it had been one of the most intense nights of his life.

Thankfully, she seemed to believe all the rage and torment he’d poured onto her had been born from anxiety over her brother’s visit. She hadn’t seen through any of it.
That was… a relief.

Elaine still believed it was love.

“Still sleepy, Elaine?”

He asked softly, and she jolted awake, eyes wide.

Dominic skewered a piece of fruit with a fork and brought it to her lips. Without a word, she accepted the bite.

His dark gaze drifted to her puffed cheeks and the tiny lips chewing contentedly.

She really did look like a baby bird—accepting every bite he fed her, trusting and unaware.

Maybe it was because she hadn’t fully woken up yet, but she wasn’t eating like the poised noblewoman she usually was. Thick, dark red juice had stained the corner of her mouth.

Without thinking, Dominic reached out and gently wiped it away with his thumb.

“…?”

Elaine blinked, confused.
Then she noticed the juice on his hand—and suddenly, her sleepiness vanished.

“Oh my god—I showed you something that embarrassing?!”

Her face flushed a deep red—so vivid it nearly matched the fruit juice that still lingered on Dominic’s thumb.

It was the first time he’d ever seen Elaine Aiola this embarrassed.
Not even on the night they first spent together had she been so flustered.

The thought struck him.
If something this trivial could mortify her to this extent, then how pitiful—how insignificant—must that filthy, miserable slave boy have looked in her eyes back then?

A bitter smile tugged at his lips.

“You seem a bit more awake now.”

Dominic paused his gentle feeding.
It was a petty, spiteful impulse.
But Elaine didn’t notice. Her eyes, full of wounded pride, were fixated on the trace of her own clumsy moment on his fingertip.

“Please forget that ever happened, Dominic,” she pleaded. “If you don’t, I might just throw myself into the cold waters of the Sells River out of pure shame.”

The Sells River, which flowed through the capital city of Sienne, was made up of two branches. But even during early mornings like these, the water temperature didn’t drop much—not this season.
She had clearly never been there. Or if she had, it was likely as a noblewoman passing by, gazing at it from a carriage window.

Dominic thought he might take her there someday.
But instead of correcting her exaggeration, he simply smiled and raised a brow.

“I couldn’t possibly let such a tragic thing happen.”

Without warning, his thumb pressed down gently on her lower lip.

“D-Domi—mh?”

He slipped his thumb into her mouth—between those soft, swollen lips still tender from the night before—and pressed deep against the inside of her cheek.

“It’s time for erasure, Elaine,” he murmured. “I must cleanse your shame.”

The sudden intrusion left her too stunned to resist.
That large finger lingered inside her mouth, slowly tormenting the soft inner flesh before retreating just as deliberately.

Dominic then slowly licked the juice—and her taste—off his thumb, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

Elaine looked at him with mortified disbelief.
He, meanwhile, found her dazed, wide-eyed expression almost unbearably endearing.

“There,” he said softly. “Your shame is now gone without a trace.”

“That… that’s not how I wanted you to forget it,” she muttered, narrowing her eyes in a pout.

Adorable.
He chuckled under his breath, ignoring the involuntary rise of warmth in his chest. Then he casually stabbed another piece of fruit with his fork and offered it to her again.

Now fully awake, Elaine took the food more gracefully than before—though even then, she still looked more like a refined little bird than a lady of stature.

Dominic’s expression softened, his smile gentle.

The gloom of the night before had all but vanished.
It was a surprisingly peaceful morning.

“You’re not tired? After everything last night…”

After a few more bites, Elaine raised her hands in surrender, unable to eat another bite.
Only then did Dominic begin his own breakfast—seated elegantly, aware of her eyes on him.

He ate with deliberate grace, ensuring that not even a gesture might make him appear lacking.
He wanted her to see him as a man born noble.
Even though he knew—deep down—that that wasn’t what she wanted from him.

“Not at all,” he replied smoothly.

“Do you have endless stamina or something?”

Elaine pouted. She looked genuinely annoyed that she was the only one feeling sore and sleepy.

“Don’t be too upset, Elaine,” Dominic said with a playful smirk. “My stamina is all for your benefit, after all.”

The teasing remark brought a fresh blush to her cheeks.

After finishing their meal, they finally checked the time.
It was already late in the morning—closer to noon than sunrise.

“I’ll escort you home, Elaine.”

The two rode in a plain, unmarked carriage bearing no crest of House Cheshire.
They arrived at the gates of House Aiola under the soft sunlight of the late morning.

Just before she entered, they shared a brief kiss.
Perhaps it felt more poignant because of how long the night had seemed.
Parting now felt unexpectedly difficult.

Dominic gently nudged her forward when she hesitated to leave.
With a quiet sigh, Elaine pulled her shawl over her head and stepped through the gates.

Dominic watched her go, standing motionless until she was completely out of sight.

Then, slowly, he lifted his gaze.

From a high window above, another man was watching her too.

Fernando Aiola.

Though he stood at a considerable distance, Dominic’s keen eyes could make out the swelling on one side of Fernando’s face—where Dominic’s punch had landed the night before.
His expression was steeped in melancholy, and his green eyes, so like Elaine’s, had followed her every step.

Then they met Dominic’s gaze.

Dominic smirked.
Fernando’s perfect, noble features twisted with fury.

Moments later, the curtain dropped with a harsh swish.

Shrrrip—

The heavy fabric shut the world out.
Inside, Fernando wiped his face and sat heavily—almost gracelessly—on the arm of the sofa.

He had been in anguish ever since his confrontation with Dominic.

If Elaine weren’t involved…
If it weren’t for her…

He would’ve destroyed that wretched bastard long ago.

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