Eva, unable to deny his question about using him, lowered her head and said, "Yes, I did."

    She didn''t offer any excuses, still feeling the guilt eat away at her from the first incident. Christian, seemingly a little surprised by her clear and quick admission, had some thoughts about this subject. Yet, he didn''t voice them. Instead, he asked, "You tried everything you could to avoid ending up in the hands of that trash, but you''re fine with ending up in mine now?"

    Eva, feeling insulted by his comparison of himself to the man she had tried to avoid, and his doubt about her choice... her taste, couldn''t help but glare at him, her anger flaring up as she said, "Don''t compare yourself to that man-whore trash."

    "Even though you seemed like just a recently grown boy, attracted and mesmerized by an older woman, you didn''t act degenerately. You didn''t try to use any of your power in our relationship either."

    "And, even though there was lust in your eyes, at least there was an equal amount of appreciation and respect."

    "Unlike a certain someone who just looks at women like they''re some flesh bag with a hole attached to it."

    "You also always tried to get to know me... to know about my preferences, about the useless things about me. Your feelings were never just about satisfying yourself, but something more."

    "But would that fucker do the same?"

    "No! He would just bounce at the first possible chance."

    "You never seemed to want to shrink from responsibility, but him? He would never do that."

    "Christian, there''s a lot more I could say about the difference between you and him."

    "The difference, that is really like a chasm, never meeting."

    "So don''t compare yourself to that piece of trash."

    "Don''t belittle yourself, and don''t belittle me for choosing you."

    "What, what now?" But his response came with a clueless tone.

    "There''s a reason you started this conversation, right? So, say it."

    "Using you... getting this statement was probably one of the purposes of it, so what do you want? What is your intention?" Discover hidden content at empire

    Still smiling at her, seeing how agitated she was, Christian continued in a calm tone.

    "What would I want in the first place?"

    Narrowing her eyes even more, Eva replied, "Christian, don''t play games with me."

    "No, no, like really, what do you think I would want? I''m genuinely curious."

    "Did I ever seem like I''m seeking something from you?"

    Eva, after thinking hard with a blank look, couldn''t come up with anything and finally said, "No?"

    With a cheerful tone, seemingly applauding her for finding the right answer, Christian said, "See?"

    "In the first place, I didn''t care about your material state, I didn''t care about your age, your daughter, or your wealth."

    "Actually, do you know why I didn''t bother mentioning the fact that you were Olivia''s mother at first and just went along with the older sister setting?"

    Without waiting for an answer, Christian continued, "It''s simple... because I didn''t want to feel burdened if it turned out you were in a happy family, with a normal daughter and a loving husband."

    "Because I intended to still try to pursue you, even if that turned out to be the truth. I wanted YOU, but I still didn''t want my conscience to hurt."