Chapter 25 Section 24

More letters came like snowflakes, and she could no longer ignore them.They're intelligent, dignified, and not at all absurd or entangled.Her correspondent wants nothing, demands nothing, insists on nothing.He is wise (or shrewd) in not describing his own personality, his life, his feelings, his desires.He's a spy: he only writes about her.Those letters were not seductive, but respectful.If those letters were full of temptation, it must have been an elaborate long-term plan.The most recent letter, though bold: "I haven't seen you for three days. When I saw you again, I was amazed at your manner. You are so light. You are like a flame." , had to jump to exist. You strode forward with legs that seemed longer than ever. You were surrounded by bright, crazy, drunken, wild flames. I imagined, to your naked body Throwing away a cloak woven of flames, I'll wrap your white body in a cardinal's crimson cloak. And thus lay you on a red bed in a red room, my cardinal, Most beautiful cardinal!"

A few days later, she bought a red nightgown.She stood in front of the mirror and looked at herself.She observed herself from every angle.Lifting up her robe, she realized that her legs had never been so slender, her skin had never been so fair. Jean-Marc is back.He gapes as Chantal strides glamorously towards him in her glorious red nightgown.She circled him, avoided him, let him approach now, and ran away from him now.She seduces him with this game, making him chase her all over the house.Suddenly, it reproduces the age-old scene of a woman being chased by a man.She ran to the big round table, she herself was intoxicated by this scene of men chasing women.She jumped onto the bed suddenly, throwing her dressing gown up to her neck.That day, he made love to her in a new way, with new physical strength.She suddenly had a feeling that someone was watching them with extreme concentration from a corner of the room.She seemed to see his face, the face of Charles du Barrou, the one who had imposed the red mantle on her, the one who had imposed love on her.Thinking of him made her cry out as she climaxed.

Now, side by side, they lay panting in bed, and the image of a spy woke her up.Jean-Marc saw her whispering to throw a crimson mantle over her naked body like a noble cardinal walking through a crowded church.Listening to her whispering quietly, he put her in his arms again.Seduced by the visions she told, they made love again. Then, everything returned to calm again, and in front of her, she saw her red sleeping hug, curled silky by the side of the bed.In front of her slightly opened eyes, the small piece of red turned into a rose garden.She could almost smell the faintly forgotten fragrance of the rose that yearned to attract men all over the world.