“Ha, I didn’t think I’d have to say this again.”

“……”

“At the Enehas Count’s evening party, it was none other than you, young lord, who came and bumped into me while I was standing quietly. So it’s not my fault that I fainted as a result. You should have apologized to me for arbitrarily taking me to your bedroom.”

The woman who had slightly tilted her head as if she had finished speaking, turned around with a swoosh, causing a gust of wind. For the first time in his life, Walter felt anxious about a woman turning her back on him.

“Wait, wait a moment.”

And there was not a single person in this world who was not clumsy in the face of an emotion felt for the first time.

He reached out his arm to catch the departing woman, and in doing so, his hand caught the shawl covering her shoulders.

The lacy shawl made of flimsy material, unable to withstand the woman’s will to leave and the man’s strength to stop her, tore in place with a ripping sound.

The force caused the woman’s body to lurch forward.

Realizing his mistake, Walter extended his long legs, pushing his knee between her legs as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

He was someone who didn’t even ride horses often because he disliked being out of breath. An unfamiliar breath burst from his mouth, strange even to his own ears.

The woman, seeming to grasp the situation only then, gripped his arms and twisted her body this way and that.

“This, let go of this!”

“Please stay still. You’ll really fall like that.”

He was in the process of pulling her towards him to set her upright properly. At that moment, from not too far away, a voice cold enough to freeze the entire early summer garden pierced Walter’s ears.

“What… are you doing embracing my fiancée? Walter Shaw Chaplin.”

Walter and the woman’s faces turned simultaneously towards the sound. And the two discovered Ricardo standing there with a face like the god of death. In that instant, Walter realized for the first time. That when too surprised, no words come out at all.

“Who… did you say?”

“It would be best to let go of those hands right now. Unless you want to engage in an all-out war with Rochester today.”

Whether the strength left his arms in surprise, the woman in his embrace escaped from him in one swift motion. She stumbled briefly but managed to plant her feet safely on the ground. Walter, without even having time to feel bewildered at the situation unfolding, saw Ricardo approaching with a menacing aura directed at him.

No, menacing wasn’t the right word. There was no expression whatsoever on the face striding towards them with long legs.

At that moment, the woman who had been in front of him quickly approached Ricardo.

“Rica, no.”

Walter’s sea-green eyes widened in shock.

He was surprised once at the woman Ricardo had called his fiancée addressing the Marquis of Rochester by a nickname, and again at the sight of him stopping in his tracks at her words that sounded like an order.

Ricardo stared intently at Lienne walking towards him with composed steps. Then he soon realized that the lace shawl that should have been neatly draped over her shoulders was gone.

He slowly turned his head to look at Walter. More precisely, at Lienne’s shawl in his hands, which had already turned into rags.

Walter only then confirmed the existence of the shawl he didn’t even know he was holding in his hand.

“Ricardo, don’t misunderstand. This isn’t what you think it is.”

And he spewed out a pitiful excuse he never imagined he would make in his lifetime.

Despite Walter’s excuses, Ricardo clenched his jaw tightly and stretched his neck long in various directions until the veins stood out.

The heir to Rochester would certainly know that Walter’s words were the clear truth. He would know all too well that this situation was an accident that happened by chance.

But Ricardo’s reaction was completely different from Walter’s expectations. His chest heaved as he suppressed some emotion.

Although the time he had known Ricardo wasn’t very long, he thought he knew him to some extent…

“Right, Walter. You’re not in a position to do anything I could misunderstand. Isn’t that so?”

Ricardo let out a snicker and then grabbed the wrist of the woman approaching him.

Walter already knew that Ricardo had noticed his condition. Nevertheless, Ricardo hadn’t mentioned a word about that issue until now. It would be more accurate to say he hadn’t shown any interest at all.

Ricardo doesn’t use others’ weaknesses against them. That’s something only those on equal footing do. Until now, Ricardo had no reason to do so at all.

Walter realized that Ricardo was cornering him for a different reason at this moment. Even to the point of exposing his weakness.

Ricardo had noticed it.

The fact that he wasn’t feeling displeased by the contact with the woman before him.

From Ricardo’s uncharacteristic reaction, Walter came to realize one thing as well.

That for Ricardo, this woman might possibly be the first weakness in his life.

“Ha……”

Walter couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. To think that Ricardo Gardarelli Rochester would have a weakness. A human I thought was a mistake created by God. Why on earth? Because she’s the woman who helped with his manifestation?

“Freddie!”

At that moment, Ricardo, still keeping his gaze on Walter, called out to the butler who was watching them anxiously from a distance. At that, Freddie approached with quick steps.

“Go prepare the carriage. We’re leaving.”

“B-but.”

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

He shuffled his feet with a troubled expression and then briefly glanced at Lienne. The meaning of that glance was clear. It was asking for help. Ha…… This time too, laughter escaped involuntarily.

Who is Freddie Fordwan? He was the head of a vassal family that had served the Rochester Duke’s family for three generations, and was evaluated as the most capable among all the butlers in Rochester’s history.

He was a talent even coveted by other noble families, to the extent that it was said God had prepared even the head butler for Ricardo.

To think that such a person is now seeking help from this woman. This is almost like… behavior one would expect towards the Duchess of Rochester, isn’t it?

“That’s right, Sir Chaplin simply caught me as I was about to fall.”

Receiving Freddie’s signal, she moved quickly and perceptively. She pried off Ricardo’s hand gripping her wrist, then went to his side and slipped her arm through his, standing side by side. And she lightly expressed her gratitude to Walter.

“I’m indebted to you, thank you very much.”

Then she tugged slightly on Ricardo’s arm that she was holding. Conveying her desire to get away from here quickly.

Even more surprising events unfolded from that point on.

The man who had just given stern orders to Freddie demanding absolute obedience, now moved his body docilely as the woman led.

Huh…… Walter let out his third incredulous sigh.

“We’ll see you shortly.”

She spoke cheerfully and soon disappeared from their sight. Walter watched their retreating figures for a moment before slumping down onto a nearby bench.

What on earth had happened? She was certainly the woman who had come to his bedroom holding a yellow rose. Then, as she said, did she accidentally get caught up in his power and teleported with him, and Ricardo took measures out of concern that unsavory rumors might spread about his fiancée?

“Ha……!”

Only after exhaling his fourth bewildered sigh could Walter somewhat grasp the situation. Of course, Julian Bow Parquin must have been involved in this matter as well.

It was highly likely that Ricardo had dragged him to the Chaplin estate and dared to erase even the memories of him, the Crown Prince, and his close aides.

When Walter, who had been looking down, raised his head, the two had already vanished from his sight.

Like a mirage encountered after running like a madman deceived by the play of the hot desert sun.

Walter brushed back a few strands of hair that had fallen loose. Only then did he realize he was still holding the woman’s lace shawl in his hand.

If it had been another woman’s, he would have thrown it to the ground long ago.

He stared blankly at the torn shawl fluttering in the breeze on his hand. Then slowly, he brought it to his nose.

Startled by his own action, he abruptly stood up from the bench and threw the shawl he had been holding onto the ground.

“I’m crazy, definitely crazy.”

He glared intently at his empty hands with eyes full of disgust. Most of the doubts had been resolved, and if it was Ricardo’s doing, there was no worry about the family’s secrets leaking out. Yet, the dirty feeling of having something snatched from his hands wouldn’t easily fade away.

“To the carriage, to the carriage!”

Once I was certain we had moved far enough away from Walter, I practically dragged Ricardo along. The carriage was parked in a designated spot within the imperial palace. The coachman was absent from his post, likely because the news hadn’t reached him yet.

With no one watching, I hopped into the carriage without an escort. After seating Ricardo opposite me and settling into my own seat, my startled heart still wouldn’t calm down.

“I was really surprised.”

“……”

“Didn’t Lord Parquin use his power a bit carelessly? Sir Chaplin still remembered me, you know.”