Roselia calmly answered while slowly pushing away his chest that was about to touch her, at a distance close enough to feel his scent.

“I was just swept up in the mood for a moment.”

As she said this, Roselia couldn’t meet Klaus’s gaze.

“We’re healthy adults, so that can happen between us. That’s all.”

Seeing Roselia avoiding eye contact while choosing only words that irritated him, Klaus grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms.

“You’re quite skilled at driving people crazy.”

Klaus said this as he cupped Roselia’s chin, who wasn’t looking at him, to make her face him.

“To be able to do that with me while having a lover, what a devoted love.”

“Don’t mock me. It was just a mistake.”

“A mistake?”

For a moment, at the word ‘mistake’, a spark of malicious energy seemed to fly from Klaus’s eyes.

Thinking she had misspoken, Roselia bit her lip, and at that moment, Klaus’s gaze intensely fell on her bitten lips.

“Then, let’s see if this is a mistake too.”

Before she could fully understand what he meant, Klaus tilted Roselia’s chin back while pulling her waist closer with his other hand.

In the blink of an eye, his lips devoured hers.

Surprised, she clutched Klaus’s arms tightly.

That seemed to stimulate Klaus even more, as the arm around her waist tightened its grip.

As a result, she had to tilt her head back even further to accommodate him as she was pressed against his body without any gap.

Klaus moved the hand that was holding her chin to support the back of her neck, making it easier for her to accept him.

Roselia was helplessly swept away by the hot breath and intertwining heat.

Before she knew it, she was ardently responding to his invasion while clinging to his strong arms as if they were a lifeline.

Her lips, which had been spitting out irritating words, were unlike what she had said – extremely hot and honest.

Klaus felt as if a furnace was boiling inside him as her slender body clung to him desperately, as if proving that what he remembered of her on the balcony wasn’t an illusion.

Before they knew it, they were half-lying on the long sofa in the office.

Before Roselia could properly recognize the situation, Klaus’s hand roamed up her waist while fumbling with her lips.

Wherever his touch landed felt scorching hot.

But due to the hot breath entering her mouth, Roselia couldn’t come to her senses.

At that moment, in that surreal sensation halfway between dream and reality, his hot hand traced up her waist and began to caress around her collarbone.

Suddenly, Roselia’s mind snapped back to clarity.

Startled, she opened her eyes, grabbed his hand that was about to reach her chest area, and took rough breaths.

Klaus, also breathing heavily, murmured in a lowered voice.

“Is this still a mistake?”

At his voice tinged with a leisurely smile, Roselia quickly pushed him away and sat up.

Klaus, without much resistance, leaned back on the sofa and stared at her intently, as if trying to calm his heat.

Roselia, after adjusting her clothes, tried to breathe deeply to calm herself, ignoring her rough breathing.

“Fine. I admit it.”

Roselia opened her mouth curtly, avoiding Klaus’s gaze that was staring at her intently, oozing sensuality, while trying to ignore the lingering heat from their recent kiss.

“I like kissing you, Duke. I admit that my body responds to you.”

Though it wasn’t meant as a compliment, strangely, the corners of Klaus’s mouth began to curl up.

But Roselia drove a wedge into Klaus’s mood, as if pouring cold water on it.

“But that’s all there is to it.”

Yes, this was just Roselia’s body responding to Klaus.

The Roselia from the original story, that is.

Damn it, just like her who gave her body and heart to the Duke only to be used and die, her body was also being drawn to him.

Roselia faced Klaus resolutely, as if affirming to herself.

“My body may respond, but I have no intention of staking my future on this meaningless relationship.”

“What…?”

A meaningless relationship… that phrase unsettled Klaus.

How could this woman choose words that irritated him with every sentence?

“You and I are just a debtor and creditor bound by money, nothing more, nothing less. Am I wrong?”

Klaus was momentarily lost for words at Roselia’s sharp statement.

It was a very accurate description of their relationship. Until just recently, he had thought the same.

But now, strangely, those words made him feel unpleasant.

Meeting his eyes directly, Roselia asked firmly.

“If I were to be framed as a traitor and sent to the scaffold, would you save me?”

“What are you…”

Klaus frowned, unable to grasp the sudden turn in the conversation.

But for Roselia, it was an anxiety she had been harboring in her heart from the beginning.

The reason the original Roselia died. Becoming the Duke’s dog, she was sent to the scaffold as an accomplice to treason, but Duke Balthasar didn’t even show his face.

And the anxiety that perhaps nothing had changed, despite her desperate attempts to twist that reality.

Maybe she wanted to hear from Klaus that such a thing would never happen.

Roselia continued with a self-deprecating smile.

“You’re not the type of person who would do that. Because you never do anything that would harm yourself.”

Why did her heart ache and hurt even as she said these words herself?

“If you think something will be a losing hand, you can discard it cruelly. That’s who you are, Duke.”

She had to steel her heart. To not get hurt anymore. To not meet the same end due to a wrong choice.

Because she was the only one here who knew the ending.

“So don’t shake me up for nothing.”

With those words, Roselia turned around, opened the office door, and disappeared outside.

Watching her leave, Klaus could only remain frozen.

As if replaying and ruminating on the words she had left behind, he stood there deep in thought for a long time.

As soon as she left the mansion, tears strangely began to fall.

“Oh, what’s this?”

Feeling even more upset and frustrated as tears flowed without her realizing, she couldn’t help but think.

This foolish body really doesn’t listen to anything I want.

With a body that falls completely for Duke Balthasar, and these useless abundant tears.

Shedding chicken-pea sized tears while letting out a dejected laugh, she might have looked like a madwoman to anyone watching.

The thought of having to change back into Antonio’s outfit outside the mansion and re-enter was daunting.

Somehow, she didn’t want to be in the same space as Klaus today.

“Should I ask Ms. Nadia…”

Having imposed on her once before, Nadia came to mind without difficulty.

Soon inclined to stay at Nadia’s house, Roselia headed towards the alley leading to town to catch a transport carriage.

That’s when it happened.

As if they had been waiting for her to move away from the mansion, black figures began to emerge one by one from the shadows of the alley.

Surprised, Roselia took a step back and spoke in a tense voice.

“W-Who are you?”

“My, it’s hard to see your face. Do you know how long we’ve been staking out this area just to catch you?”

Catch? Staking out? Could it be…

Suddenly, she was reminded of the men who had attacked her as Antonio at the Silent Sunset tavern.

Though their faces seemed different, they were likely the same gang or thugs working for the same client.

With a hardened expression, Roselia slowly backed away before suddenly turning to run towards the mansion.

But no sooner had she turned to run than a burly man caught her by the waist.

“Let go! Is anyone there?! Help…!! Mmph!!!”

Her voice, which had been shouting at the top of her lungs, was soon muffled by the man’s rough hand.

Could Klaus have set someone to follow her? Could Klaus be coming after her?

Her tear-filled eyes quickly scanned the surroundings in fear.

Stupidly. To hope for him to save her even after saying such harsh words.

Along with fear, a sense of despair swept over her.

“We’ll arrive at Duke Balthasar’s mansion shortly.”

Marquis Yukilliod nodded at his aide’s words as he looked out the window. They were running late due to responding to a call from Rapelios midway.

The aide, sensing the Marquis’s subdued mood, cautiously spoke up.

“Are you really planning to ask Duke Balthasar for help? This is Rapelios’s problem.”

The man, who exuded the air of a well-trained soldier rather than an aide, was called Rognan, the right-hand man of the Yukilliod Marquis family.

Johannes smiled slightly as he looked over Rognan, who was excessively uptight.

“I’m still thinking about it. It’s not too late to decide after talking with Duke Balthasar and seeing what kind of person he is.”

“If the Rugbelzet Imperial family finds out, won’t they suspect us or the Duke strangely?”

“From what I hear, Duke Balthasar isn’t the type to care about the Imperial family’s opinion.”

Having said that, Johannes flashed a smile, making full use of his handsome face.

It was ironic that the recipient was his soldier-like aide, but…

“Well, for now, let’s just pay our respects.”

Just then, a woman’s scream suddenly penetrated the walls of the carriage.

It was a very brief scream, but it was clearly audible to the sensitive Johannes and the always alert Rognan.

“It seems the public safety in the Duke’s territory isn’t as good as we thought. Let’s go towards where the scream came from.”

“Pardon?”

To Rognan’s question, as if he had misheard, Johannes frowned.

Usually, Marquis Yukilliod was known for not wasting even a minute or second of his precious time, so it was understandable for his aide to look at him quizzically.

Looking at him, the Marquis calmly spoke.

“Would you just pass by if it was your sister’s scream?”

“No, even if you make such a comparison, why… Allen! Head northeast!”

At the aide’s instruction, the coachman quickly drove the carriage towards where the scream had come from.

Soon, they stopped in front of a dark alley, and their expressions hardened at the scene visible through the window.

Five strong men were surrounding a woman and trying to force her into a carriage.

Without hesitation, both of them kicked open the carriage door and jumped out.

“W-What’s going on!”

Roselia looked around in confusion, unable to gather her thoughts as suddenly something exploded and broke, and the world spun around once.

When she finally came to her senses, she found herself in someone else’s arms.