99.
It had clearly been nothing much.
After a long while, I opened my mouth.
“That’s, ……aaachoo!”
‘Ugh, of all times.’
I hurriedly turned my head and covered my face with my hand.
Why did I have to sneeze all of a sudden!
“Achoo!”
Twice, even!
When I lifted my head, the corners of his mouth had risen slightly.
His damp red hair, still wet, seemed to have grown a little longer since he had just returned from the war.
And in his eyes, where more human emotions now lingered, I could feel a faint warmth.
Beneath his temple, lightly pressed against the armrest of the sofa, his cheek looked smooth and flawless.
Maybe because he was lying there in such a relaxed posture, this moment felt oddly unreal.
Our hands were still touching.
The sunlight stretching over the sofa cast faint shadows around us.
I nodded.
“……All right. Then you won’t avoid me anymore, right?”
“Right.”
I quickly narrowed my eyes at him.
“You said you never avoided me before.”
“I won’t avoid you.”
At some point, his tone had grown more comfortable as well.
Since he was being this compliant, I didn’t feel like interrogating him about why he had acted that way all this time.
‘Anyway, he says he won’t avoid me now.’
It felt as if a strange heaviness in my chest had finally gone down.
“But I’d rather other people didn’t know.”
I answered a beat late.
“Ah, that Your Grace can’t dance?”
“Mm.”
“All right. I won’t tell anyone. Don’t worry.”
Only after seeing the laughter in his eyes as he paused slightly and gazed down at me did I realize I must have said something wrong.
“Uh……. Then for that to happen, the fact that Your Grace is learning to dance from me…… should be kept secret too, right?”
“Right.”
As if I had given the correct answer, the corners of his eyes curved slightly.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
The one who rushed into the room was the physician.
Behind him, the aide—Sir Batar—followed in as well.
It seemed he had brought the physician himself, and as expected, the physician was the attending physician of the House of Duke Gladinair.
I naturally rose and stepped aside.
“Good heavens, this is the first time I’ve ever had a master who treats his body so recklessly! This time, what on earth was it…….”
The attending physician poured out his words while trembling with some emotion that might have been anger, but the instant his eyes met the duke’s, the volume of his voice dropped by more than half.
And faster than anyone, he lowered his gaze.
“Th-then, ahem, I will begin treatment……. Could you lift your waist for a moment? Yes, th-thank you…….”
As I watched that dramatic change with interest, I felt someone’s gaze.
When the aide’s eyes met mine, he gestured to me.
‘Why?’
When I went closer, the aide took out something like a medicine bottle from his breast pocket and held it out.
“What is this?”
“Drink it so you don’t catch a cold.”
“How did you know I fell into the water too? More importantly, shouldn’t you give this to His Grace?”
“With rumors outside spreading that wildly, are you asking me how I knew?”
“Ah, yes, well.”
As soon as I sensed a scolding was about to begin, I quickly took the bottle, opened the lid, and drank it.
Then I gagged.
“Uwegh.”
“Don’t spit it out! It won’t work if you spit it out!”
“Ugh. It tastes awful.”
“Then did you expect medicine to taste good? Good heavens…….”
The aide sighed and opened his mouth as if to say something more to me, then suddenly stopped moving.
When I turned to look where his gaze was directed, the duke was staring fixedly at the two of us.
As if he had something to feel guilty about, the aide abruptly put a good distance between himself and me.
He looked slightly flustered.
“What’s wrong?”
He only jerked his chin as if telling me to finish drinking it, showing no intention whatsoever of explaining the situation.
Soon, he even whipped his head away.
Feeling uneasy, I turned back, held up the bottle, and said to the duke,
“Your Grace, you must drink this too. You might catch a cold.”
“Right.”
“Then I’ll be going back now. I’ll see you soon.”
Only after leaving the room and getting quite far away did I feel the weight pressing down on my shoulders.
In the end, I had failed to return the cloak.
* * *
‘Count, don’t be so naive. Was our engagement ever purely ours alone?’
Meriana’s face, which had gone pale for an instant, soon regained its color.
‘Breaking it off is impossible.’
Her tone was decisive, as if she were certain.
Rohwinas also knew that they were not in a relationship they could lightly end like ordinary lovers.
Four years. During that time, how many businesses had the two families undertaken together in cooperation? There were even businesses still in the midst of development.
With the manpower and materials of House Kanesion, they were developing land provided by House Peregrine into a mine.
It was a trick to avoid the commissions attached to mineral transactions, and with that in mind, he also knew that the money that had already changed hands under the table between the two families had exceeded astronomical sums.
But although it would take time, breaking it off was not completely impossible.
House Kanesion still had unmarried siblings, and he had heard that the heir of House Peregrine was also causing the family no small amount of worry by continually putting off marriage.
Rather, if Father were to adopt a woman from their collateral branch as his daughter…….
It might even become a better move.
After all, it went without saying that a marriage tie with someone who would inherit the title directly was more effective.
But the more that was the case, the more Rohwinas could not help but question the four years he had spent like a dog on a leash.
At the same time Rohwinas came to his senses, a perfect situation in which everyone profited unfolded as smoothly as flowing water.
Of course, it was a fact he had been aware of all along.
Nor had he felt any aversion to it.
Because he had never had any desire to choose another option over Meriana.
But now, belatedly…….
‘At this point.’
He had no choice but to mock himself.
Then the door opened, and the one who entered the drawing room was…….
“Count! Well now, has it been a long time?”
A man with a bright face who seemed to know only how to laugh foolishly.
It was Rogiche Peregrine.
If Meriana’s hair color was the perfect shade that was practically the symbol of House Peregrine,
then his hair, a green so deep it seemed almost pure, often gave the impression of a mutation.
Whenever Rohwinas encountered him, he felt an inexplicable discomfort.
Most people assessed him as having a temperament far too lacking to become the head of Peregrine, but…….
Rohwinas thought differently.
He was a person who brought a chameleon to mind.
Simply because he blended naturally into his surroundings did not mean one could guarantee that appearance was the truth.
Moreover, for Rohwinas, who had been born into the same ducal house and shared his childhood with him…….
Rogiche must know that fact as well.
Which was why he had probably been slithering around Rohwinas like an old fox, avoiding any encounters with him as much as possible.
“We did see each other in passing at the last banquet, though.”
“Ah, was that so? At the time, I was so preoccupied with looking after Meriana that I was rather out of sorts, truly……”
Rogiche, who had approached, rubbed the back of his neck as if embarrassed.
“Please, have a seat.”
“Ah, yes, of course.”
Though this was the reception room of his own mansion, his clumsy manner, as if he were the guest, grated on the nerves.
Rohwinas waited for Rogiche to sit on the sofa opposite him, then immediately opened his mouth.
“The reason I came all the way here is……”
“Ah, I heard about that from my younger sister. You wish to break off our alliance, I’m told.”
He had likely brought up the relationship between their families on purpose.
“Is there any reason I cannot?”
Rohwinas was the sort of man who did not overturn a decision once he had made it.
Some called him heartless, while others would say it was the most aristocratic of attitudes.
But Rohwinas himself knew best.
That he was simply an arbitrary man.
“More importantly, I came all this way because there is something I wish to ask.”
“If so, then I suppose I am not necessarily obliged to answer, am I?”
Rogiche tilted his head, then soon gave a clear smile.
“Still, I suppose I may as well hear you out. Ask whatever you like.”
Rohwinas gazed at Rogiche in silence for a moment.
Then he recalled the conversation he had shared with Anastasia when they last met.
‘Then do you know exactly whose hand the antidote came from?’
‘Are you suspecting the Peregrine family now? That they were involved in the incident?’
‘There must be a reason that person chose to act through the Peregrine family, of all people.’
That calm voice, saying that the one who had fed him the antidote must have been the one who fed him the potion as well.
“Was it you who gave it to me?”
“Hm? Gave you what?”
Rogiche, who had been about to lift his teacup, looked across at him with an expression of complete incomprehension.
Rohwinas had no intention of hesitating in his search for the truth, much less of taking a roundabout path with patience.
What he needed now was certainty.
“I asked whether you were the one who fed me the potion.”
“……”
The corners of Rogiche’s lips trembled slightly. Then, as if he could no longer hold it back, they shot sharply upward.
Yes. Rogiche was smiling broadly.
Slowly covering his mouth with his hand, as though to hide his parted lips and upturned mouth.