“You must have heard what those guys said. They are after Roselia. If Roselia had recognized Rugvella’s words like you and came here, she would have been caught by them.”

This time, Klaus’s words had to be acknowledged.

She could have been caught by those guys while trying to reveal Rugvella’s identity.

From the conversation just now, it seemed they were trying to catch anyone looking for Rugvella, not just Roselia…

Roselia lowered her head and spoke in a subdued voice.

“I’m sorry. It seemed like the Duke wasn’t concerned about Roselia’s matters, so I thought I should try to find out myself…”

Hearing her dejected voice, Klaus let out a faint sigh and looked down at her intently.

“I just didn’t want you to get involved in this matter too.”

At his meaningful words, Roselia’s gaze turned to Klaus.

His expression as he looked down at her seemed to contain sincerity, causing Roselia’s heart to flutter needlessly.

It’s probably just that he doesn’t want to deal with troublesome matters, what am I thinking about this for?

Roselia shook her head vigorously and averted her gaze from Klaus.

“I’ll contact Roselia to be careful too.”

In response to her deliberately brusque reply, Klaus furrowed his brow and continued speaking.

“If they find out you’re Roselia’s brother, there’s a high chance they’ll target you as well. So I’d like you to stay put for a while.”

After saying that, he stared at her piercingly.

“This is an order.”

Klaus didn’t want to put Antonio in danger when Roselia was already in a precarious situation.

Whether or not she understood Klaus’s thoughts, Roselia merely nodded reluctantly.

While Klaus was thinking about protecting Roselia and Antonio, Roselia was inwardly determined to get away from the Duke as soon as possible.

To be shaken like this by his every casual word – it was not a good sign.

Moreover, Roselia becoming the subject of gossip and being targeted by unknown individuals was all because of her involvement with the Duke and the Crown Prince. The reason for targeting Roselia was obviously to blackmail the Duke and Crown Prince.

Indeed, for her to live a peaceful life, all she needed to do was pay off her debt quickly and leave the Duke’s mansion.

To escape this complicated situation quickly, the only way was to pay off the Duke’s debt, prepare funds to stand on her own, and then leave the Duke’s household.

Of course, to do that, she needed to find the unnamed artists from the original story who hadn’t appeared yet.

Roselia sighed deeply as she stood in front of Nadia’s house as Antonio.

It was time to deliver the Crown Princess’s sponsorship money, which was why she had come to see Nadia.

Of course, usually she would visit as Roselia, but… given the current situation, it was too dangerous to go around as Roselia for a while, so she had no choice but to visit as Antonio.

After hesitating for a moment in front of Nadia’s shabby house, she finally knocked on the door.

After a while, the door opened and Nadia looked her up and down.

“Hello, Ms. Nadia.”

“Who…?”

At Nadia’s suspicious and wary tone, Roselia smiled as kindly as possible and spoke.

“I’m Roselia’s brother. Roselia isn’t feeling well, so I came to deliver the sponsorship money on her behalf.”

Despite Roselia’s words, Nadia looked at her suspiciously before suddenly staring at her face and exclaiming.

“Ah~?”

While Roselia was trying to gauge the meaning of that exclamation, Nadia suddenly opened the door wide and gestured for her to come in.

Entering the house in a daze, Roselia scanned Nadia’s home, which seemed to have improved since her last visit, and inwardly smiled with relief.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Pardon?”

Roselia was taken aback by Nadia’s sudden question.

“You requested me at the bar where I work last time.”

“Ah… haha, you remember. Actually, I happened to see your painting and wanted to help, so I went there.”

“Hmm… that’s enough about that. But, is it because you’re siblings? You look very much alike.”

Roselia tensed up involuntarily at Nadia’s words, which were muttered as if to herself.

Her gaze, which was leisurely scrutinizing with an expressionless face, was quite sharp, causing Roselia to stiffen.

“Don’t you hear that you look alike a lot?”

“Well, yes…”

In fact, she and the real Antonio were not blood siblings, but Roselia didn’t feel the need to correct this, so she just laughed it off.

“Hmm…”

Under Nadia’s meaningful gaze, Roselia forced a smile and had to stand stiffly.

“Well, that’s fine. So, the sponsorship money?”

Contrary to her tension, Nadia’s reaction was unexpectedly accepting, which made Roselia even more flustered.

After handing over the sponsorship money and briefly exchanging recent news, Roselia finally stepped out of the house.

As Roselia was leaving through the door, Nadia spoke in a leisurely voice.

“That appearance is quite a feast for the eyes too.”

Not quite catching Nadia’s words, which seemed like she was talking to herself, Roselia turned back quizzically, but Nadia just smiled slyly.

Leaving Nadia behind, she headed to the city center and walked to the roadside to catch a carriage.

At that moment, as Roselia was looking around to catch a carriage, a loud noise reached her ears.

“If you don’t have money, get out! You old beggar!”

Along with the rough shout, a man roughly grabbed the old man’s arm and threw him to the ground.

The old man, sprawled on the ground, didn’t back down and shouted at the restaurant owner.

“You XXX! Why wouldn’t I have money! I certainly…”

Saying that, the old man frantically fumbled through his shabby clothes pockets, but of course, there was no money to be found.

The restaurant owner, who had been glaring at the old man as if he were a nuisance, eventually spat, dusted off his hands, and disappeared into the restaurant.

Watching this scene, Roselia hesitated before sighing deeply and approaching the old man.

Perhaps because she had grown up without parents and under her grandmother’s care in the real world, she had a soft spot for such scenes.

“Grandfather, are you alright?”

At her kind inquiry, the old man, in his disheveled state, turned his head and replied grumpily.

“Do I look alright to you?”

Despite the rough speech of the ill-tempered old man, Roselia smiled as if used to it and helped him up by supporting his arm.

“Let go of this! I can get up on my own!”

“Yes, yes. Where do you live?”

“Do you think I don’t have a home?!”

Hmm… this old man is something else.

While thinking that the restaurant owner had reason to throw him out, Roselia was still supporting the old man’s body out of habit.

“I’ll escort you home.”

“I said no!”

“It’s for my peace of mind. Where do you live?”

Perhaps it was because her late grandmother had also become ill-tempered due to dementia before passing away, not even recognizing her, that she felt more concerned.

“What do you want to know my home for! What are you trying to take from my house?!”

“Yes, yes… Then at least tell me your address. I’ll send you by carriage.”

“To my house by carriage?”

“Yes, so could you please tell me your address?”

“…Bronx 6th Avenue”

After saying that, the old man grumbled again grumpily.

“Bronx 6th Avenue is my home. But I can’t remember how to get there…”

As expected… the old man clearly seemed to have dementia.

Judging by his shabby appearance, he was likely a poor elderly person living alone without anyone to care for him.

Reminded of her grandmother who had raised her lonely without any relatives, she eventually felt compelled and even caught a carriage to ride together.

And finally, they were able to reach their destination by piecing together the address the old man stammered out.

When the coachman announced their arrival, Roselia got off the carriage and was dumbfounded, thinking something was wrong.

This was because an imposing, enormous mansion surrounded by trees stood before her eyes.

“Um… Grandfather. I think you might have given the wrong address…”

No sooner had Roselia stuttered than the old man walked past her, limping into the entrance of the mansion.

Roselia stared blankly at the sight before freezing as she saw the family nameplate hanging at the entrance.

Count Bernas family…

It was the mansion of Count Bernas, the genius painter who becomes a great artist in the original story.

“What are you doing? Not coming in?”

It was the old man who had turned to look back while limping into the mansion.

Following the old man inside in a daze, Roselia asked in a half-stunned voice.

“Are you… the owner of this mansion?”

“Did I enter someone else’s house?”

Replying curtly as if she had asked a foolish question, the old man passed by the huge entrance door covered in dust and fallen leaves, opened it, and went inside.

Roselia scanned the state of the mansion, which seemed to have been unmanaged for quite some time, before following the old man into the building.

As expected, the situation inside the mansion was similar.

It felt like… looking at the mansion of the bankrupt Baron Hesink.

“But… where did all the servants managing the mansion go?”

Even to Roselia’s careful question, the old man opened his mouth while going his own way without turning his head.

“Can’t you see? Those XXX X bastards, when I started losing my mind, they ran off with anything valuable.”

It didn’t make sense.

Even for an old man with dementia, Count Bernas was known to be quite a wealthy and influential nobleman, yet for the servants to act so recklessly and irrationally…

But soon, Roselia’s curiosity was resolved by the old man’s grumbling words.

“Even if I forgot to pay their wages for a few months, how could they leave taking everything without the master’s permission?”

“Ah… So you forgot to pay their wages…”

“I forgot the safe’s password.”

“……”

Roselia was at a loss for words at the old man’s nonchalant response.

Well, the state of the mansion was one thing… but his attire, which looked like he had stolen clothes from a beggar, was incomprehensible.

There was no way such clothes would exist in the mansion of Count Bernas, who was called a wealthy man.

“But, why are you dressed like that…?”

At Roselia’s words, the old man, as if just realizing his own appearance, looked himself over and frowned deeply before grumbling.

“I don’t know, when I came to my senses on the street, I was wearing these clothes.”

“……”

“I don’t remember the details either, since my memory comes and goes. Don’t ask.”

Could it be… that he was robbed on the street when he had a bout of dementia?

It was entirely possible.

Sighing deeply, Roselia scrutinized the interior of the mansion while carefully observing the old man’s mood.

The great artist and genius painter, Count Bernas.

Of course, even in the original story, his dementia was described, but when the Count was in his right mind, the paintings he created were masterpieces that not only the empire but the entire continent would acclaim.

However, there were surprisingly few artworks or paintings visible for a mansion belonging to a great artist.

After looking around for a while without finding what she wanted, Roselia carefully opened her mouth.

“Um, Grandfather… Don’t you paint?”

At Roselia’s question, the old man turned his head with a strange expression and looked at her.

“Do I… know how to paint?”

If you’re asking me that…

While Roselia was standing there deflated, Count Bernas drove the final nail.

“By the way, who are you to be inside my mansion?”

It felt like the road ahead was endlessly long.