Walter smiled gently as he looked at the yellow rose I was tightly holding.

Why on earth? Was there a letter written on the yellow rose saying I wanted to go to Chaplin Manor?

“Perhaps you touched my body without permission?”

Of course, this was a moment when I needed to be careful. But since I was certain he wouldn’t kill me, there was no need to suppress the anger that was suddenly rising.

“Since you came and bumped into me while I was standing still, it’s hard to say I forcibly asked for it. It’s also difficult to see that as asking for my consent.”

“Ah…”

He now had an expression of slight understanding, but his sharp gaze examining me remained the same.

“It seems I fainted because of that.”

“Is… that so?”

I looked around and touched my forehead with the back of my hand, as if feeling dizzy.

“Where… is this? Is it a guest room at Count Enehaz’s mansion?”

Despite my best acting, Walter did not withdraw his suspicious gaze. Tapping his lips with his finger, lost in thought, he tilted his head slightly to the right.

“Perhaps, do you not know me?”

Not ‘Do you know me?’ but ‘Do you not know me?’ It was truly remarkable confidence. Of course, it must be justified confidence.

“No, not at all.”

But I also had the confidence to pretend not to know him. It’s not like Walter had Rochester’s ability to discern truth anyway.

“Is it… rude of me not to know you? Are you that kind of person?”

He laughed as if slightly dumbfounded. Then he straightened his back.

“No. I am Walter Shaw Chaplin, the heir of the Chaplin Duchy.”

“I see…”

“You don’t seem very surprised.”

As he looked at me intently with a serious attitude, his teal eyes seemed even clearer. His eye color was so beautiful that it was hard to focus on anything else.

“And this is not Count Enehaz’s mansion, but my family’s. This is my bedroom.”

Perhaps thinking it was a memory he would erase anyway, he explained the situation willingly.

“You’ll know for sure once you check, but as you said, I bumped into your body… Yes. So Lady Lienne fainted, and I brought you here.”

“It’s quite strange to bring an unconscious woman to the heir’s bedroom though.”

He smiled as if slightly intrigued.

“Well, you may think so, but that’s not what’s important right now.”

When I just stared at him blankly without answering, he let out a small sigh.

“The reason I’m explaining about myself in such detail is because I need to know your family name as well.”

“Why… is that?”

“We were certainly at Count Enehaz’s evening party.”

“That’s right.”

“And you were holding a yellow rose, weren’t you?”

I just nodded. Seeing my reaction, his gaze seemed somewhat unsettled.

“You were holding a yellow rose at Enehaz’s party, and I am the heir to a duchy.”

Not understanding why he kept repeating what he had said, my brows furrowed involuntarily.

“Is that very important? In this situation?”

“Of course. Because by tomorrow, rumors about me will be swirling throughout high society.”

“Ah…!”

Suddenly, I recalled the young woman who had dropped the yellow rose in front of me. And the older man who had been holding her hand as they left. My expression soured involuntarily.

So this rose might mean that it was okay to sell oneself to someone.

“So we need to deal with this. I have no intention of taking you as my lover or mistress.”

My eyes squeezed shut involuntarily. His words were correct.

“It will be easier than turning over your palm for those people to find out who you are.”

If I stayed still like this, tomorrow I would become the protagonist of a scandal that would shake the social circles of the Dermeier Empire.

Either as Chaplin’s mistress, or as a woman abandoned by him.

The Duchess of Rochester had given me permission to dance upside down at the party if I wanted. But she hadn’t given permission for me to disappear holding a handkerchief with the family crest, hand in hand with a man from another ducal family.

“Actually, it wouldn’t be difficult to distort people’s memories a little, but we can’t hide the fact that you and I disappeared at the same time.”

“…”

“Your parents, friends, or companions will soon realize you’ve disappeared. As well as me. So please tell me. Your family name.”

‘Pennel, Pennel! That eastern family the Emperor of Dermeier said to eradicate. Or I could say I’m Rochester’s guest. Sent directly by the Duchess, even carrying a handkerchief with the family crest!’

Carefully organizing my feelings of wanting to cry, I chose what to say inwardly.

Should I say Pennel, or Rochester?

But the deliberation didn’t last long. Just as I was about to part my lips to answer.

Bang.

With a tremendous noise, the door to Chaplin’s bedroom flew open.

“Ah…”

A man with jet-black hair as if he had gathered all the energy of the dark night, and eyes so black they could be called darkness itself, stood there like a sharpened blue sword.

As if he would break down the door at any moment.

Walter and I stood up at the same time.

“Rica.”

“Ricardo?”

And whispered his name simultaneously. Surprised eyes turned to each other at that. Walter’s teal eyes were asking me. Who on earth are you?

Another “Bang!” sound was heard, and Walter and I turned our gaze to where it came from.

The open door was trembling as if Ricardo had hit it.

“Lienne, come here.”

A chilly voice flowed from Ricardo.

“Lienne? That Lienne… Lowy Pennel?”

I could only look back at Walter, who softly uttered the name from close by. Walter murmured my name once more with a confused face. Lienne Lowy Pennel.

Then, as if he had realized something, he turned to look at me sharply.

“You’re a Pennel. The woman who helped the Rochester heir awaken.”

At that moment, a frivolous whistle sound was heard. “Phweet.” Where I looked, there stood a man with bright red hair and golden eyes. With slightly upturned eye corners reminiscent of someone, exuding a somewhat sensual atmosphere.

“This atmosphere is too strange…”

He was probably Parquin.

“Walter bringing a woman with a yellow rose into his bedroom.”

Julian Beau Parquin was the heir to the Parquin Duchy and a person with the ability to erase others’ memories. The price he paid for erasing others’ memories was literally money.

Depending on whose memory it was, and how much he erased, he had to donate a corresponding amount of money to the temple. That was Parquin’s weakness.

If he didn’t do that, he believed divine wrath would directly befall his family. In ways like his mansion catching fire and everything turning to ashes, or his family’s ship sinking.

“Come here, Lienne.”

As Ricardo called me again in a slightly more suppressed voice than before, I approached him without hesitation. Or rather, I tried to. If Walter, standing beside me, hadn’t stretched out his arm to block me.

“It’s rude to come storming in like a tempest to take away my guest, Ricardo.”

“She’s not your guest, Walter.”

“…”

“She’s my person whom you kidnapped and brought here. Ah, I understand you’re acting so rudely because you have no memory, but…”

Walter made an expression as if he’d been hit in a vital spot, but soon straightened his back and put on a polite face.

“As you say, I have no memory right now. So you should understand that I can’t properly grasp this situation, shouldn’t you?”

There was no answer to the courteous objection. Walter didn’t back down either. He didn’t lower the arm blocking me and spoke more firmly.

“Since you’ve crossed Chaplin’s walls, you’re now my guest. So let’s sit down and talk. If you don’t accept my request, I won’t treat you as my guest any longer either.”

A tense atmosphere filled the bedroom. Ricardo glared at Walter, who was blocking me, as if he would kill him. Of course, he had reason to be flustered since I had disappeared like the wind. But hadn’t he seen all the circumstances with his own eyes? It was hard to understand why he, who was usually indifferent to the point of being cold about everything, was showing such emotional agitation.

Just as it seemed like a war might really break out between the two ducal families, another unfamiliar voice was heard.

“That’s right, Ricardo. In any case, it would be better for everyone to sit down and talk. My neck is starting to hurt from looking up at all of you.”

At his words, the air that had frozen like glass shattered.

Looking over Walter’s shoulder, I saw a man in a wheelchair. I could recognize the others, but I didn’t know who he was. He looked noble at a glance.

But had he injured his leg…?

However, there was no time to judge who he was right now.