mind becoming even more disoriented and bewildered.
"Raphael!" She finally regained some strength, her voice taking on a calm tone of persuasion.
This time, Raphael didn''t struggle anymore. He allowed her to push him onto the writing desk, tilting his head to the side, the expression on his face resembling someone who had just committed homicide. A strand of disheveled golden hair from their previous passion hung over his forehead, concealing his blue eyes devoid of all luster.
Edith stood in place, initially glaring at him annoyed, but as she saw this state of him, her eyes gradually softened with pity.
"Forgive me," he murmured in a barely audible voice after a while, his gaze still fixed on the void before him.
"Forgive me," he repeated. Then, he hastily grabbed his belongings and stumbled out of the dimly lit room, leaving Edith behind.
Edith remained there for a while, until the flickering candlelight was extinguished by a gust of cold wind, plunging the surroundings into utter darkness. Slowly, she followed out, but the young man''s figure was no longer visible in the foyer.
From the shadows, Citizeness Saint-Clemont wheeled into her sight. Upon meeting her gaze, Edith understood that no further explanations were needed.
With a tinge of sadness and regret, Charlene lowered her head to her dear friend. "I''m sorry, Edith."
------------------------
Edith leaned against the door of her own bedroom, her hand reaching towards her still shaking lips, feeling a mix of chafe and tenderness towards Raphael in her heart.
She sensed that through that fiery and desperate kiss, he had infused her entire being with a sort of devastating poetry.
"But what''s wrong with me now?" she whispered to herself in perplexity, "On my side, have I not always felt only compassion towards him?"
She then recalled the uncanny, dramatic resemblance between Raphael and Andre.
"Perhaps, he''s just too much like Andre!" she sighed to herself, "Like that frank, gentle Andre of the past!"
A soft knock on the door startled her. Andre''s weary yet earnest voice, separated by a thin plank, came as if near her ear, "Edith? Can we talk? Just a few words!"
Her lips hes