The Count did not speak; even his breathing did not change in the slightest. But Karl could clearly feel that cold, appraising gaze still nailed firmly to him, like two daggers forged of ice, stabbing a chill down his spine.
He knew his confession had to be thorough. Any attempt to hide things would only make the situation worse.
"It was... the night before last." Karl continued with difficulty, every word seeming to be squeezed from his throat. "But before... before that, we had already slept while holding each other. But that night... I was about to go to war, and I..."
He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing. Admitting what came next required tremendous courage. "I couldn't control myself. I forced her. It was the Princess... it was she who stopped me at the final moment. She bit me... and then we stopped."
He raised his head and looked at the Count, his gaze carrying a trace of pleading and lingering fear. "Other than that, nothing happened. Truly, nothing. If Her Highness the Princess hadn't... if she hadn't come to her senses at the final moment and stopped me, the consequences... I..."
He did not continue, but the meaning beneath his words was unmistakably clear. If not for Louise's bite, filled with lucidity and despair, he would have crossed that irreversible line completely. That would not merely have been a betrayal of personal feelings; it would have triggered a chain of unpredictable, possibly deadly consequences.
The office sank into a suffocating deathly silence. Only the firelight from the hearth cast leaping shadows over their faces, and the dark-red glow at the tip of the cigar burned slowly. Time seemed to stretch, every second like a century.
Only after a long while did the Count's cold, utterly emotionless voice sound again,