Viviana received the envy of women her age.

Although she was born as the daughter of a baron, she was able to marry a man well and enjoy the life of a countess to the fullest.

William Herbert. Even the name was that of a husband who was noble, elegant, and worthy of envy.

William's father was the real owner of the Herbert Group, the kingdom's most historic publishing company. While his mother, although illegitimate, was the daughter of a millionaire businessman.

William was born with everything in his hands, so he also grew up to be a typical upper class aristocrat. Life itself was so peaceful and peaceful that he never knew the feeling of loss, like the fear of losing something precious or something he loves.

The blonde hair, reminiscent of the sun, was noble. Looking into the shiny eyes, it felt as if the feathers from the wind were tickling her heart. William was loved by men and women of all ages because of his outstanding personality.

But when William was 25, he experienced his first loss in his life. It was none other than his father's sudden sad news.

His father's death was a complete tragedy. This is because he was killed by a gunman on the street while he was having an ordinary day. It was a meaningless death without any reason or cause.

In front of his father's body, William sobbed loudly for the first and last time that day. If you lose one, you gain one. Although his father's death was so heartbreaking, this experience eventually made William grow into a stronger man.

Immediately after the funeral, he took over the title and succeeded to the publishing his father ran. Since he had learned how to operate a publishing company since young, he had no difficulty in jumping into the management front.

The following year, William's position was further solidified as the book , in which he participated as both the head of the publishing company and the editor-in-chief, enjoyed great popularity.

The author of the book took a critical look at the development of science and technology and rapid industrialization. But it also ironically depicted that humans eventually pursue utility, which greatly inspired intellectuals.

What was surprising was that the author was completely unknown to the public. The feeling was all the more refreshing as William, the head of the publishing company, found the manuscript that had almost gone straight into the trash can and achieved great success.

As William's career was reaching its peak, he suddenly announced his marriage. Everyone talked like this when they saw William formally proposing to Viviana in the social arena.

[How did a woman from that humble family seduce Count Herbert?]

[No way! William is everyone's man!]

[She used her body. There's a baby seed in her stomach.]

[Pregnant before marriage? Disgusting!]

The marriage of William, a famous socialite, and Viviana, a baron's daughter who had no presence at all, was truly a bone to chew on.

Viviana gave William a sleeping pill and got scared. Viviana went to William with a knife and appealed to him to marry her or he'd die.

Viviana this and that.

Whatever the rumors, Viviana was portrayed as a perfect madman, while William was portrayed as a complete victim.

Viviana's pregnancy was, of course, the most potent of all the rumors. Yet it naturally died down about half a year had passed since the couple got married, because Viviana's stomach wasn't bloated at all.

Eight years have passed. Even though they have been together for a long time, the two still have no children.

In fact, having a child may be even stranger. This is because the two have already been living a very boring married life for a long time.

When was the last time they kissed each other?

It was so far away that she couldn't even remember. Was there a time when they were intimate too.

Seeing as she couldn't remember this either, it was clear that the couple had never been intimate for even a single moment.

After eight years of living with William as a couple, Viviana sometimes found herself wondering. Why did a man who was so perfect propose to her?

One might think it was love at first sight like fate, but this was the obvious wrong answer. For a man who married love at first sight, his attitude was too ruthless and made his wife feel lonely.

So didn't he need a wife who is just obedient?

Maybe her husband has a woman he keeps hidden from. Viviana is a lower status than her and should never be seen in the public. So William's marriage to her... yeah, it's kind of a smokescreen.

Certainly, the latter was more persuasive than the former. It's miserable, but what can she do. Reality is like this.

Although their marital relationship was ennui,

Viviana's life was very satisfying compared to the past when she was terribly poor.

No, it was more than just satisfying, it was luxurious, so she had nothing to envy.

The money her husband pays her every month in the name of maintaining the reputation was enough to buy all the clothes in the most famous costume room in the kingdom, and there were many maids in the mansion who put food in her mouth.

William didn't stop Viviana when she suddenly said she wanted to go on a trip because he wasn't the type to bind and lock his wife. On the contrary, he even showed sincerity in personally checking out the hotel.

As such, there seemed to be no problem between the two.

But Viviana could feel it.

That thing that has been slowly tightening over the years between two people. It was definitely ennui.

The couple's life with William was so exhausting that Viviana was always suffocating.

***

Under the glistening crystal lights, the couple continued their dinner sitting at both ends of the long rectangular table.

She hasn't had a meal with her husband in a long time. He always went to work early in the morning and left work when Viviana fell asleep.

William was also crazy about work, just like his father, who was a workaholic and considered running a publishing company his destiny. In fact, the Herbert family made much more money from other income than from selling books.

William has accumulated a lot of land, buildings, and even mines. Publishing was literally the Herbert family's noble hobby and pride in contributing to the kingdom's long history.

Viviana stirred her spoon and took a spoonful of button mushroom soup. Then she secretly glanced at her husband. No matter how boring the couple was, she wanted to check his faces at least occasionally.

'His face is a bit haggard. Is the work hard?'

Her husband was dressed nicely in a white dress shirt and cummerbund. Even the napkin spread on the wide chest felt elegant to prevent food from splashing on the clothes.

As he quietly continued his meal, he wiped his mouth with a napkin and raised his head toward Viviana.

"I'm going on a business trip from tomorrow, so I'll be away for a while, wife."

"...how long is it?"

"Maybe 15 days."

"I heard about it from Victor. It's because of the royal autobiography, right?"

There are three princes in the current kingdom, all of whom are over forty. Among them, Prince Robert, the eldest son, contacted William first, saying he wanted to publish his autobiography.

Meanwhile, when Viviana pretended to know first, a strange look appeared in William's eyes for a moment. A moment of curiosity about his wife flashed across his face, but unfortunately Viviana did not notice it.

"Yes. A ghostwriter as well."

"A ghostwriter? Then perhaps..."

"Say it."

She wanted to ask if the ghostwriter who was accompanying him was Lady Grace. Grace was her husband's college classmate, literary colleague, and old friend.

Up until Viviana's appearance, people used to admire William and Grace for being a beautiful couple. What if William had married Grace, not Viviana? If so, all the unpleasant rumors might not have even existed in the first place.

In any case, it was Viviana herself who eventually married William, but it was not appropriate for another woman and her husband to be entangled even after the marriage.

Her lips were itching to pour out everything to be

honest, but soon after she picked up a glass, she

swallowed what she wanted to tell her husband with water. There was nothing different about burying it anyway.

“No. Have a safe trip.”

“l hope you stay safe too.”

The conversation between the two couples in a few days ended so blandly.

..............

“Hahhg, hm! Mam! N-no!”

“Is it that good? It’s so wet.”

“Count, please don't do this, Heukk. I have a fiancé!”

“Oh my gosh, Daisy, you're cumming with a fiancé.

Such a lewd woman.”

“Hahhhgh, don't do this! Ahhh, ahhh! Ahh ah... I'm

going crazy. Hey, Victor. I mean, put more emotion into it. You don't feel it, do you?”

Victor, who had been practicing reading to the point where his face was red amd his throat was sore, was unable to overcome his feelings of self-destruction and put down the manuscript.

"Madam, I just can't do it."

Victor, the manor's butler, was a man from a long- established family who had served the Herbert family for generations. Both Victor's father and grandfather were very proud to work for the Herbert family.

Victor also came to Herbert Mansion with a great sense of mission, but for some reason he was given a strange and secret task.

It was that job to read the novel that the Countess wrote herself. Of course, Victor loved reading books.

When he was young, he was so unbiased that he was given the nickname "literary boy" that he could read every book in the library. He just read everything, whether it was a romantic book, a realist book, a poem or a novel, if the type was written on a piece of paper.

As a result, the fact that the Countess gave him such a significant task made him extremely happy. This was especially true because he was well aware of the high quality of the books published by the Herbert Group.

Viviana was the wife of the prestigious Herbert

family, so she had no doubt that her novels would also be of a very high quality.

However, Victor had no choice but to doubt his eyes on the day he first read the novel that Viviana wrote with great care.

Because the novel she wrote was... that was pornography. No, that was way too much to simply call it pornography. Of course, Viviana called her novel an ordinary love novel between a man and a woman.

‘What on earth is normal? It's not ordinary love at all!!!’

The first novel Viviana showed Victor was by no means a story about an "ordinary" love story between a man and a woman.

It was a novel dealing with infidelity. One day, a pair of siblings came to the mansion of a duke and his wife who were on good terms with each other, and both started an affair... It is a test of the author's thoughts that literally destroys all notions of chastity and morality.

The second novel she showed him was even more spectacular. It was a story about an ordinary female protagonist being pointed out as a witch.

But of course it was extremely ordinary up to this point. There are many stories depicting the absurdity of witch hunting.

The further they go, the more impoverished the story becomes. Didn't the female protagonist get deprived of sleep several times by the male protagonist who promised to become a man of God...? All of them were shocking scenes that made him dizzy.

Viviana instructed him to read all of these novels, even though it seemed like his soul was degenerating just by reading them. He doesn't just read them, but he reads them with a lot of soul. Victor, who barely finished his work that day, sobbed all night and fell asleep.

The next day, Victor seriously agonized over whether to tell the count. It seems that the lady's mental state is not intact. Viviana, however, gave him a bulging pocket as if she had even noticed this concern.

"I put in a little more than last time."

Just as it is now. Viviana's pocket contained a lot of silver coins. Victor's eyes, which had been out of soul a little while ago, then began to come to life again.

"Madam, why didn't you say that?"

"What."

"It was too much of an amount to refuse."

"So, try your best. We have to finish it before my

husband comes back."

"Yes, yes. I'll try to put more emotion into it."

"We'll go back to the scene where Count Johan takes off Daisy's clothes. This time, you will play both the male and female roles by yourself."

"Of course. Hmm! John approached Daisy secretly and immediately put his hand under her skirt. Subtly making fun of her smooth skin..."

Viviana quickly scanned the manuscript as Victor continued his reading. There was no better way to find an unnoticed typo or awkward sentence when writing on a typewriter than reading.

Everyone may have noticed at this point, but Mrs. Herbert has a secret. It was none other than the fact that she was a writer of 19+ love novels.

Her pen name is the so-called 'Black Rabbit'. What started out as a simple way to earn living expenses before getting married has continued secretly to this day.

Of course, she stopped writing for a while after she married William, but she soon resumed her writing activities. Watching her new passion for creativity welling up, it seemed like her destiny to be a writer was smooth-sailing as long as she was on good terms with her husband.

So, when her husband was away from home for a long time due to a business trip or other reasons, she could feel at ease.

Like now, she was able to practice reading aloud with Victor, and she was able to continue writing to her heart's content without having to worry about what other people thought.

At first, Victor, who was jumping up and down to ask what he would do if the noble count knew about this, was given a little bundle of money, and now he was more of a passionate assistant than anyone else.

Living as a married couple was extremely boring, and writing in this prison-like mansion was Viviana's only breathing space.

In the story she made up, there are all kinds of men who can replace a husband who is indifferent to his wife. A man who is sweet during the day but turns like a beast at night. A cute younger man but gets rough on the bed. A man who is the head of the underworld, day or night...

Viviana was even more passionate about her creative activities.

Having been diligently following the storyline, she put down her glasses, which she had been wearing suddenly.

"What's wrong, madam? You don't like it?"

"No. Keep reading, Victor."

But... she was lonely at times because she was also a person. For example, the warmth of a person, the heated eyes, etc., were deeply missed.

It's already been a week since her husband went on a business trip. As always, Viviana was alone in the large mansion.

***

"Oh, I'm tired of it."

Grace, who had been confined to her office all afternoon, stretched out her arms wide open.

William and Grace were each staying at the separate palace they had prepared for Prince Robert to write his autobiography.

It was definitely an outrageous luxury, but they felt frustrated because they were stuck here for more than a week already.

Grace, who repeatedly listened to the interview recorded on the recorder, took out a cigar and asked.

"About Prince Robert. Isn't he too much of a braggart? I especially don't know why he said he did it 17 times with his wife when they were newlyweds."

"Hey, William. Are you listening to me?"

William, who was organizing Prince Robert's interview, opened the window wide instead of answering. The smoke that filled the office quickly began to scatter through the window.

"It's amazing. You used to be a heavy smoker and you quit smoking."

"There is no need to include everything he says. It's our job to add or subtract appropriate content."

"Who said anything? You're a really boring guy."

Grace poked out her bright red tongue and smiled seductively. It was a fascinating laugh that captivated a man's heart at once, but William did not blink.

Maybe she likes that man, who she had been with under the name of a colleague for over a dozen years, but remains indifferent at every moment. Grace's face immediately became puffy.

"Anyway, your wife will be upset. You'll be away from home for 15 days. And that too with a beautiful woman like me."

"She is not a woman to be upset about. She actually likes it when I'm away from home."

"Why do you say that?"