Startled by the breath she felt near her neck, Roselia pulled away and uttered a flustered voice.

“What? What is this…?”

Casually, Klaus, who had been closely watching her embarrassed face, spoke.

“It might sound strange, but I always smell a fragrance from you, Roselia. It’s a scent so similar to mine that I wondered if we had the same taste.”

Although she had heard about fragrances from the Crown Prince a few times, she hesitated because she had to avoid suspicion that Antonio and Roselia were the same person. So, Roselia said whatever came to her mind.

“It’s because we use similar soap.”

Seeing her deliberately speaking confidently, Klaus stared at her for a moment, then casually leaned back on the sofa.

Staring as if to penetrate Roselia’s blushing face, he soon opened his mouth slowly.

“More importantly, Roselia… Didn’t you say anything about last night?”

As memories of last night flashed in her mind, Roselia’s red ears turned even redder.

However, Roselia, who disguised her embarrassment with a calm demeanor, calmly replied.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Disappointed by her words of having said nothing, Klaus lowered his gaze as if in dismay.

“Is that so…”

Seeing him looking strangely dreary, Roselia tried to keep her composure and added casually.

“I’ll be busy for a while and won’t be able to come to the Duke’s mansion.”

Having said that, Roselia glanced at Klaus.

“Just… It might be a good idea to keep that in mind.”

Klaus, with an expression that was hard to read, was lost in thought.

And soon, looking at Roselia, he belatedly spoke.

“Thanks for letting me know.”

His voice was more like a voice filled with concerns than gratitude, but Klaus, with an effort to keep a nonchalant expression, continued with his words.

“Think carefully about the proposal I made. It’s not such a bad suggestion.”

“…”

It was a proposal that didn’t require much thought, but there was no need to make Klaus uncomfortable in this situation. Instead of answering, Roselia bowed her head.

“Well then, I’ll leave.”

After saying that, when Roselia left the room, Klaus stared at the door she had exited for a while.

Using the same soap, was it? Could a mere soap fragrance be so strong?

Crazy. Is the wine I drank yesterday still affecting me?

With his thoughts seemingly going crazy, Klaus shook his head, and to clear his mind, he headed to the study, looking at piles of documents to forget the distractions.

As Klaus stared at the stacks of documents for a long time to forget distractions, an image of Roselia overlapping with Antonio suddenly came to his mind.

He seemed bewildered by the drunken words he had uttered last night.
The expression, like a frightened rabbit, with a bewildered look, caught Klaus’s attention.

Was she feeling guilty for what happened between her and Jeongin? Come to think of it, it seemed a bit unfair. He hadn’t impulsively reached out, afraid she might run away.

At that moment, he saw Antonio conversing outside the window, seemingly unaware. Klaus, realizing he had been absentmindedly staring at Antonio, shook himself and averted his gaze.

Most likely because of the resemblance to Roselia.

Thinking so, Klaus deliberately withdrew his gaze from Antonio.

Visiting Viscount Bernas almost every three days, Roselia, who was cleaning the viscount’s mansion as usual, found a pile of letters at the door. Dust had settled on the letters, indicating that it had been some time since they arrived. Sighing deeply, Roselia gathered the letters and placed them on a table for the Viscount to easily discover.

“Grandfather, I’ll put the letters from the Viscount here for you to read.”

The Viscount, apparently busy in the study, didn’t even lift his head and asked, “Are there no letters from Esquiban?”

Esquiban was the name of the navy base where Ashton, the Viscount’s son, was serving in the military.

Checking each letter in the pile, Roselia, who seemed to be sorting the letters, replied firmly, “It seems there are no letters from Esquiban.”

“…I see.”

After a moment of silence, the Viscount’s somewhat gruff voice, which seemed to have softened a bit, made Roselia feel heavy-hearted. Wondering if she might find something in the letters, Roselia scanned through them again and couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy about the invisible letter from the Viscount.

Why hasn’t the son of the Viscount sent a single letter?

Does the Viscount know he has dementia?

Even if he’s busy commanding the army, it’s not like it’s a wartime situation right now. Since forming an alliance with the Evelish Kingdom half a year ago, the current military unit was relatively stable compared to a few years ago.

Even if she had such thoughts, Roselia decided not to dwell too deeply on them. Suddenly curious about what the Viscount was doing in the study, she turned her steps toward the study.

The Viscount was rearranging the books piled in the study, seemingly spurred by some inspiration.