At a distance so close that she could smell his scent, Roselia slowly pushed against his chest—which felt as though it were about to collide with hers—and answered nonchalantly.
“I was simply swept up in the atmosphere for a moment.”
As she said this, Roselia could not bring herself to meet Klaus’s gaze.
“We are both healthy adults, so these things can happen between us. That is all.”
Watching Roselia stubbornly avoid his eyes while picking only the words that would get under his skin, Klaus grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms.
“You certainly have a knack for driving a man to his wits’ end.”
Klaus spoke, then gripped Roselia’s chin to force her to look at him.
“To think that you could do this with me while having a lover—what deep, profound love that is.”
“Don’t be sarcastic. It was just a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
At the word ‘mistake,’ a flash of fierce, volatile energy ignited in Klaus’s eyes. Just as Roselia bit her lip in regret for her slip of the tongue, Klaus’s gaze fixed obsessively upon her chewed-up lips.
“Then, let’s see if this is a mistake as well.”
Before she could grasp his meaning, Klaus tilted her chin back and hauled her waist in with his other hand.
In the blink of an eye, his lips descended and swallowed hers.
Startled, she gripped his arms tightly.
This seemed to provoke him further, as his arms—the ones holding her waist—tightened with even more force.
She was pressed against him without an inch of space, forcing her to tilt her head further back to accommodate him.
Klaus shifted his hand from her chin to the back of her neck, guiding her to accept him.
Caught up in the hot breath washing over her and the heat entangling them, Roselia was swept away, left without a chance to resist.
Before she knew it, she was clinging to his firm arms as if they were a lifeline, responding fervently to his invasion.
Her lips, which had just been uttering words designed to irritate him, were, contrary to what he heard, incredibly hot and honest.
As her slender body clung to him desperately—as if to prove that the version of her he remembered from the balcony was no illusion—it felt as though a furnace were churning inside Klaus.
Before they realized it, they were half-lying on the long sofa in the office.
Before Roselia could properly process the situation, Klaus’s hand roamed up her waist while he continued to toy with her lips.
The places his touch reached burned as if scalded. However, because of the hot breath pouring into her mouth, Roselia could not regain her senses.
Then, amidst the surreal sensation of drifting between dream and reality, his hot hand moved up her waist and began to stroke the area around her collarbone.
In an instant, Roselia’s mind snapped back to reality.
Startled, she opened her eyes, firmly grabbed his hand as it reached for her chest, and gasped for air.
Klaus, who was breathing just as heavily as Roselia, murmured in a deeply hushed voice.
“Is this still a mistake?”
At his voice, which carried a relaxed, underlying laugh, Roselia hurriedly pushed him away and sat up.
Klaus pulled back without a hint of resistance and leaned against the sofa, watching her intently as if trying to calm his own heat.
Adjusting her disheveled clothing, Roselia took a deep breath, ignoring her own ragged breathing, and forced herself to stay calm.
“Fine. I admit it.”
Ignoring the lingering heat from the kiss, Roselia avoided Klaus’s persistent, seductive gaze and spoke curtly.
“The kiss with the Duke is quite good. I admit that my body responds to you, Duke.”
It wasn’t meant as a compliment, but strangely, the corners of Klaus’s mouth began to curl upward.
However, as if to pour cold water on his mood, Roselia drove a wedge into the moment.
“But that is all.”
Yes, this was just her body responding to Klaus. The original Roselia’s body, that is.
Damn it. Just like her, who gave her body and heart to the Duke only to be used and discarded, her body must be drawn to him.
As if convincing herself, Roselia faced Klaus with determination.
“Even if my body responds, I have no intention of betting my future on this meaningless relationship.”
“What…?”
A meaningless relationship… that word displeased Klaus. How could this woman choose words that annoyed him so much?
“You and I are nothing more than a debtor and a creditor bound by money. Am I wrong?”
At Roselia’s sharp words, Klaus was momentarily lost for words.
It was a statement that perfectly captured the nature of their relationship. After all, until just a little while ago, he had been thinking the same thing.
But now, strangely, those words made him feel unpleasant.
Looking straight into his eyes, Roselia asked firmly.
“If, for example, I were framed as a traitor and sent to the scaffold, would you save me, Duke?”
“What is that…”
Klaus furrowed his brows, unable to find his footing in a conversation that had taken such an unexpected turn.
But for Roselia, it was an anxiety she had carried in her heart from the very beginning.
The reason the original Roselia died. The Duke of Baltezar, who didn’t even show his face when she, having become the Duke’s dog, was sent to the scaffold as a traitor’s accomplice.
She was struggling to twist that reality, but the anxiety that perhaps nothing had changed remained.
Perhaps she wanted to hear a definitive answer from Klaus that such a thing would never happen.
Roselia continued with a self-deprecating smile.
“You are certainly not the type of person to do that. Because you never do anything that would be a loss to yourself.”
Why did her heart ache so much, even though it was her own mouth saying it?
“You are the kind of person who can cruelly discard someone if you think they are a losing hand.”
She had to stay strong so as not to get hurt again, so as not to meet the same ending through a wrong choice.
Because she was the only one here who knew how it ended.
“So, stop trying to sway me for no reason.”
After saying that, Roselia turned, opened the door to the office, and disappeared outside.
Watching her, Klaus could only remain frozen.
As if ruminating on and chewing over the words she had left behind, he stood there, lost in thought for a long time.
* * *
As she exited the mansion, tears began to flow for some strange reason.
“Huh, what is this?”
When the tears flowed before she could even realize it, she felt even more upset and aggrieved.
This foolish body really doesn’t follow my will at all.
From the honest body that falls head-over-heels for the Duke of Baltezar, to these unnecessarily abundant tears.
With large tears streaming down her cheeks, she let out a hollow laugh; if anyone saw her, they would surely think she was a madwoman.
The thought that she had to go back outside the mansion, change back into Antonio’s clothes, and re-enter the estate was bleak.
Today, for some reason, she didn’t want to be in the same space as Klaus.
“Should I ask Ms. Nadya for a favor…”
Since she had once been indebted to her, Nadya came to mind easily.
With her mind set on staying at Nadya’s house, Roselia walked toward the alley leading to the city to catch a transport carriage.
That was when it happened.
As if waiting for her to move away from the mansion, black shadows emerged one by one from the corners of the alley.
Flustered, Roselia backed away, her voice tight with tension.
“W-who are you?”
“Well now, you’re hard to find. Do you have any idea how long we’ve been lurking around here just to catch you?”
Catch her? Lurking? Could it be…
Suddenly, the men who had attacked her when she was Antonio at the tavern called Silent Sunset crossed her mind.
Though their faces seemed different, they were likely the same gang or underlings working for the same client.
With a hardened expression, Roselia backed away slowly, then suddenly spun around and sprinted toward the mansion.
But no sooner had she turned and bolted than a burly man grabbed her by the waist.
“Let go! Is there anyone there?! Help me…!! Mmph!!!”
Her voice, which she had been screaming at the top of her lungs, was abruptly stifled by the man’s rough hand.
Did Klaus leave a tail? Was Klaus following her?
Her tear-filled eyes scanned the surroundings in panic.
How foolish. To hope that he would save her even after saying such harsh things to him.
Along with the fear, a sense of despair washed over her.
* * *
“We will arrive at the Baltezar Duchy mansion shortly.”
At his aide’s words, the Marquess of Eucheliode, who had been staring out the window, nodded. Time had been delayed more than expected as he had been replying to a call from Laphelios.
The aide, sensing the Marquess’s heavy mood, spoke cautiously.
“Are you truly intending to ask the Duke of Baltezar for help? This is a problem for Laphelios.”
The man, who gave off the air of a well-trained soldier rather than an aide, was someone called Rognan, the right hand of the Eucheliode family.
Johannes smiled faintly as he surveyed Rognan, who was excessively rigid with military discipline.
“I am still thinking about it. It wouldn’t be too late to decide after talking to the Duke of Baltezar first to see what kind of man he is.”
“If the Rugvelzet Imperial Family finds out, won’t they suspiciously doubt us or the Duke?”
“From what I hear, the Duke of Baltezar is not the type to concern himself with the eyes of the Imperial Family.”
Having said that, Johannes smiled, putting his handsome face to good use.
It was ironic, considering his partner was a soldier-like aide…
“Well, it’s just to exchange pleasantries for now.”
Just then, a woman’s scream suddenly pierced through the wall of the carriage.
It was a very brief scream, but it was heard clearly by the sharp Johannes and the ever-alert Rognan.
“It seems the security of the Duchy isn’t as good as I thought. Let’s head toward where the scream came from.”
“Pardon?”
At Rognan’s question, asked as if he had heard wrong, Johannes frowned.
Normally, the Marquess of Eucheliode was a man who didn’t waste time, as every minute and second was precious, so it was natural for his aide to be puzzled.
Looking at him, the Marquess spoke calmly.
“If it had been your younger sister’s scream, would you have just passed by?”
“No, of course, why must you use such an analogy… Allen! Head northeast!”
At the aide’s instruction, the coachman quickly steered the carriage toward the direction of the scream.
Stopping in front of a dark alley, their expressions hardened at the sight through the window.
Five grown men had surrounded a woman and were shoving her into a carriage.
Without even waiting for the other, both men kicked open the carriage door and leaped out.
“What, what is this!”
Roselia, who had been in a state of confusion after the world spun around following the sound of something bursting and breaking, looked around dazedly.
When she finally regained her senses, she realized she was being held in someone else’s arms.