But Casus soon regained his composure, questioning Babel with a look.

“Overhead press. I’m planning to do shoulders today.”

“What?”

“I made do with what I had since we lack equipment, but it seems serviceable enough.”

“…….”

“Ah, I might have pushed myself a bit, but my ambition is quite large.”

Atia narrowed her eyes as she watched Casus, who couldn’t take his eyes off Babel.

“Uh? What are you eyeing?”

“I never said I wanted to do this.”

“Really? Your eyes say otherwise, you seem quite taken.”

Atia opened her eyes wide and looked at Casus, who was looking coolly at her through thick eyebrows.

“Don’t touch it. It’s mine.”

Atia finished the remaining water in her canteen.

The knights glanced at her as if they were bewitched.

Incredible, even the sight of the duchess drinking water was art.

It didn’t match her strange shrieks and actions from earlier at all.

Atia, who had drunk to the last drop, let out a “Kya!” and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

“Duke, are you alright?”

“What?”

“Is your pain manageable?”

Atia asked in a whisperlike voice.

Casus stared at Atia in silence.

Why does she worry about him every time they meet?

She’s the one who should be worrying about herself.

“Huh? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

With his keen sense of smell, Casus could immediately detect.

The faint scent of roses from her sweatdrenched body, water droplets on her lips.

Casus felt unexpectedly complicated.

He hadn’t expected Atia to take his words to heart.

“Wipe off the water on your lips. You look sloppy.”

Casus narrowed his brow and spoke gruffly.

“I thought I wiped it, but it seems some still remained.”

Atia wiped her lips casually with her sleeve, her large eyes blinking.

Her clear skin shone like the pure white snow of the north in the sunlight.

After her workout, her cheeks were lightly flushed, as if painted with watercolors.

“……. ”

Casus, who didn’t know how to avoid someone’s gaze, averted his eyes first due to complex emotions.

She opened her mouth again.

“There’s no spinal anesthesia or anything here, right? So it’s not good for you, Duke, to overexert your body either.”

The sight of Atia caring for Casus was like a knight who had just finished a harsh training and was in deep meditation, or a kind doctor.

Several images overlapped, giving an undefinable feeling.

“Even then, it’s not like I can touch your body, Duke.”

Casus, who had been listening silently, let out a short sigh.

As the scent of roses faintly wafted up, his discomfort grew. Now he couldn’t hide it anymore.

“I have something to say to you.”

“What is it?”

Atia lifted her long eyelashes and looked at Casus.

Casus hesitated for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.

“When I said you smell like sweat last time, I was lying.”

“What?”

At the word ‘lying’, Atia’s eyes widened.

She had carefully placed air fresheners all over the place because he had said that the scent of sweat was wafting down the hallway.

The reason she decided to exercise in the training ground after a tough exam was because of his words about the smell.

But.

It was like that.

“No need to worry about the smell anymore. It doesn’t stink.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

To understand Casus’s intentions, Atia narrowed her eyes.

If, as he said, she didn’t smell, why did he tell such a lie?

Atia was confused.

‘What a strange man.’

It’s not like he lost his sense of smell overnight.

“If you smell my head, you won’t say that.”

At the words of Atia, Casus cursed silently with his eyes.

‘Did I cross the line by mentioning her head?’

But he couldn’t ask her to smell her armpits either.

Especially after a workout, the body odor would be more mature.

Atia coughed awkwardly.

“Then, why did you say that?”

“……. ”

“You definitely seemed angry then…….”

That day, Casus’s expression wasn’t false.

It was written all over his face that he had been patient up to that point.

But, a lie.

“……. ”
Casus looked around, aware of the abundance of snow.

“Let’s walk the garden together.”

“Yes, let’s.”

It was a good day for a walk, with no snowstorm in sight.

“Ah! But Kesha should be back soon from running errands….”

They had planned to exercise together when Kesha returned from her errands.

“Will it take long, Your Grace?”

“It shouldn’t take too long.”

“Alright, then.”

Atia replied to Casus in a bright voice, then turned to the knights.

“Please let me know whether Kesha is back or not when she arrives.”

“Yes, my lady!”

“It’s the day to do what’s checked on this paper.”

Atia handed the paper to the knights.

“I need to check if anyone cheated.”

“Leave it to us.”

The knights answered confidently, as if to ease her worries.

Supervising each other’s training was an exclusive right of the knights.

“Alright. See you later.”

“Go without worry!”

Ever since Atia arrived, the dreary atmosphere of the training ground had become brighter.

Where before it was heavy like black or gray, now it was bright like yellow or blue.