“Antonio. This is rather for Roselia’s sake.”

“For Roselia’s sake? What exactly do you mean?”

“Bad rumors are only temporary. Those who enjoy gossiping and slandering others will soon find new prey.”

Klaus, who said this, glared at the weekly magazine paper and continued speaking.

“But anyone who sees this article will not dare to treat Roselia carelessly from now on. At least according to this article, messing with Roselia means making enemies of both the Balthasar ducal family and the crown prince.”

Roselia, who had been momentarily stunned by Klaus’s words, shook her head vigorously.

She was not one to be swayed by such flowery rhetoric.

“Are you not considering Roselia’s position? Even if the rumors fade, Roselia will be labeled for life.”

Klaus’s gaze turned to her at Roselia’s sharp observation.

“Moreover, whoever wrote the article seems to know that the person who danced with the crown prince at the masked ball and the one who danced with the duke at this party are the same person, so there’s a high chance they know Roselia’s face.”

Roselia stated with a serious expression.

“This article could be just the beginning.”

Klaus, who had been listening silently to Roselia’s words, finally pressed his hand to his temple and spoke gravely.

“Antonio, don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Klaus looked at Roselia with a cold expression.

“There’s no need to be swayed by such a third-rate weekly magazine. If we react, we’ll only be giving them more to feed on.”

“So you’re saying we should just sit back and watch?”

“If we stay still, it will pass quietly.”

Roselia’s clenched fist trembled.

She couldn’t believe Klaus was such a small-minded person.

She never expected that confident and arrogant man to be so passive.

Didn’t he say she was a woman he was interested in?

Even when a woman he had even kissed was in such a situation, how could he have such an insensitive expression?

Beyond disappointment, anger welled up.

Roselia finally couldn’t contain her anger and roughly turned around, kicking the door open as she left.

Klaus’s gaze, which had seemed to be indifferently looking at documents, turned towards the door she had left through.

And soon, Klaus, who had been scanning the weekly magazine she had left behind, muttered softly.

“Have you found Roselia?”

It was a question too purposeful to be directed at thin air.

Then, Alejandro, who emerged from a small door connected to the office, approached and bowed his head.

“I watched that house in the back alley as you instructed, but there was no sign of Lady Roselia coming or going. It’s as if she vanished into thin air… No matter how much we searched, we couldn’t find her.”

“…”

Klaus’s brow furrowed deeply at Alejandro’s answer.

In fact, the first thing Klaus did after seeing the magazine article in advance was to search for Roselia.

Of course, it could just be the mischief of an old woman who enjoys gossip, but if someone was meticulously targeting Roselia… If that was the case, it wouldn’t be solved just by taking down a weekly magazine.

They needed to find the mastermind targeting Roselia. At least until they got a solid lead on that bastard, or caught his tail, they had to let him roam free and careless.

Even if it was an infuriating and gut-wrenching task.

But more important than that was Roselia’s safety, so he first tried to determine Roselia’s whereabouts, but…

This unpredictable woman seemed to have vanished into thin air, as her whereabouts remained a mystery even after mobilizing all of the ducal family’s information network.

Of course, he could have told Antonio about this, but he didn’t want to involve Antonio in what could be a dangerous situation.

It was an ambivalent feeling that even Klaus himself didn’t quite understand.

“Should we follow Antonio?”

At Alejandro’s careful question, Klaus seemed to ponder for a moment before heaving a deep sigh.

“No need. First, find out who wrote that article, whether it’s Rugvella or whoever.”

“Understood.”

Alejandro, who immediately sensed that Klaus was not in a good mood, quietly bowed his head and disappeared outside the office.

Even after Alejandro had left, Klaus continued to glare at the weekly magazine with Roselia’s article for a long time.

Roselia stepped out of the mansion with angry strides.

Right, it’s none of his business, is that it?

He doesn’t care about a woman he just kissed once?

Being a person who only seeks out things that benefit himself, he probably doesn’t want to get involved in such unproductive matters.

What a cold-blooded man without any compassion!

After mentally hurling a barrage of insults, Roselia felt her mood settle a bit.

Suddenly looking up at the sky, she saw the sunset shining.

Suddenly, the words written by Rugvella at the bottom of the weekly magazine came to mind.

‘Under the quiet sunset, Rugvella…’

It seemed like just a metaphorical closing remark, but… something felt off.

Was it just her imagination that there seemed to be some hidden meaning or message?

At that moment, a word flashed through Roselia’s mind.

Quiet sunset… Silent Sunset…?

It was the name of a sign she had become familiar with while walking through back alleys thanks to Nadia.

It was a bar located even deeper than the one where Nadia worked.

After putting the puzzle together, what she thought was just a closing remark looked different.

This almost seems like… a message saying Rugvella is waiting at Silent Sunset, doesn’t it?

As her thoughts reached that point, Roselia left the mansion right away.

Of course, she had no intention of going as Roselia.

She knew well that it would be safer to go to such a place as a man.

She planned to lurk near Silent Sunset as Antonio and just look for anyone suspicious who might be Rugvella.

Keeping in mind that it could also be a trap set by Rugvella, Roselia hid in an alley and observed the inside of the bar.

What Rugvella was after was Roselia, not Antonio.

That’s why it was relatively easy to observe the bar as Antonio.

Leaving a clue in the weekly magazine’s footnote meant that Rugvella wanted to meet Roselia.

That meant there was a high chance Rugvella would appear here.

While thinking this and becoming very tense, suddenly a chilling sensation ran down the back of her neck.

As Roselia turned around in surprise, someone covered her mouth.

“Mmph!”

Damn it, she was so focused on the inside of the bar that she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings.

Could this be Rugvella’s trap?

As the man in a dark robe pressed down on her mouth and applied pressure, Roselia struggled to break free.

At that moment, the robed man slowly pulled back the hood he had been wearing.

Roselia was momentarily dazed by the familiar face revealed under the hood.

The owner of the robe was none other than Duke Balthasar.

Klaus carefully removed his hand from her mouth with an expression of obvious annoyance, furrowing his brow.

“How did you know about this place?”

“What?”

“You came here thinking there was something at this bar, didn’t you?”

“Ah, that… I guessed from the closing remarks Rugvella wrote in the weekly magazine.”

At Roselia’s words, Klaus’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

In fact, it was something he had only guessed after sending Alejandro away and scanning through the weekly magazine.

The fact that she had noticed it before him and acted on it…

Her sharp observation skills, like guessing that Rugvella might know Roselia’s face, were surprisingly impressive to Klaus.

But contrary to his surprise, he sighed at the thought that she wouldn’t let this matter go quietly.

“They’re deliberately trying to provoke Roselia to come looking.”

“In other words, it also means Rugvella is waiting for Roselia here, right?”

He frowned and continued coldly.

“Please, I’m begging you, can’t you just stay quietly at the mansion?”

Roselia frowned back and replied curtly.

“If it were you, Duke, could you just stand by and watch if Lady Closet was in danger?”

“…You really don’t back down an inch.”

Klaus heaved a deep sigh and roughly ran his hand through his bangs, seeming to have complicated thoughts.

“I don’t know why Rugvella wants to meet Roselia, but it’s certainly not with good intentions. Whether it’s to blackmail me or to use against the crown prince, what’s important is that she’s in danger.”

After saying that, Klaus took a step closer, staring intently into her eyes.

“Where is Roselia?”

Swallowing hard under Klaus’s piercing gaze, she took a step back.

“She’s not here.”

“I know she’s not here, that’s why I’m asking where she is.”

Roselia’s back soon hit the wall, but she answered calmly.

“As you said, Duke, since Roselia is in a dangerous situation, I think the fewer people who know her whereabouts, the better.”

Klaus’s expression crumpled at her articulate and correct responses.

“I’m fine, so tell me.”

Roselia’s expression also crumpled unpleasantly at Klaus’s firm words.

“Why should I trust you? Until just now, you seemed annoyed by matters concerning Roselia.”

“That was…!”

At that moment, several men came out of the bar and approached the alley.

As Roselia flinched in surprise, Klaus stretched out his long robe and pulled her close.

Suddenly embraced in Klaus’s large frame, Roselia had to hold her breath and freeze.

Klaus quickly pulled down his hood while holding her still.

Thanks to Klaus’s large build and the robe, from a distance it would just look like a huge man standing there.

The men passed by without paying any attention to Klaus standing in the alley.

“They said a woman looking for Rugvella would come, but she hasn’t shown her face at all.”

“Well, we get paid just for standing by, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Was the woman’s name Roselia or something?”

“Whether it’s Roselia or whoever, we were told to catch anyone looking for Rugvella, so we just have to wait.”

Only after the men had moved away did Klaus relax his tension and release his hand that had been pulling Roselia close.

His gaze was still glaring at the retreating men.

“I suppose it’s fortunate that Roselia isn’t here after all.”

In fact, that Roselia had come here directly…

Feeling unnecessarily embarrassed, she cleared her throat, and Klaus’s navy blue eyes looked down at her intently.