tand the hidden meaning behind the girl''s words immediately.

She seized Edith''s hand, her voice filled with a surge of emotion, as if not directed at Edith, but plainting her own destiny: "Ah, while you''re still young, while you can still love, cherish your love with all your heart!"

Edith noticed that Madame Roland''s gaze shifted to the far-off sofa as she spoke these words.

The handsome and elegant Buzot sat there, his form looking solitary. He did not engage in the buzz of discussions in the living room, but hung his head and stared at the floor instead, seemingly lost in melancholy thoughts.

"Citizeness Manon, you have a secret too, don''t you?" Edith gathered her courage and spoke to the lady in a low but firm voice. "You can confide in me! I will always be your loyal friend."

"Yes, my secret!" Madame Roland murmured, "Since my adolescence, I have been constantly struggling with my own lusts. I only wanted to associate myself with knowledge and virtue, not to become feeble because of love. I thought I had permanently tamed the power of lust when I married a man twenty years my senior. Until I saw him for the first time! I knew everything was over; I had fallen uncontrollably, mastered by that pair of eyes, eventually became a slave to affection!"

Edith felt silently shocked for Madame as such.

Madame Roland continued, her tone suppressing strong passion, "I can never tolerate becoming a betrayor in my marriage. I still adhere to my duty as a wife, regulate myself with reason and virtue, and strive to appear ha