34.

She slit one eye open. A hazy ceiling swam into view. Ro rolled her eyes once to the left, then once to the right.

……Damn it. No matter where she looked, this wasn’t the dingy inn ceiling she’d paid one selle a night for. A ceiling adorned with gold wouldn’t survive a single night in a tavern frequented by pirates.

So how exactly had she ended up here? Ro lay with her arms crossed, frowning. Her memory of feeling violently seasick and then falling into water remained sharp. But what happened afterward was fragmented at best. She vaguely recalled seeing Cardier in the dark water—though maybe she hadn’t. As Ro slowly retraced her thoughts, suddenly, a single image surfaced.

One memory of Cardier’s face being uncomfortably close. One of her grabbing someone’s arm with frantic breath. And then, pressed lips, hot breath, her hands crumpling his collar… Stop. Rosetta wrinkled her nose and slightly turned her head away.

Her stomach churned again… Not that she’d ever admit it to a pirate’s pride, but anyway, it began to lurch like a seesaw.

So, where exactly was this place?

Rosetta barely managed to pull her thoughts away from Cardier’s lips and fix them elsewhere. She slightly lifted her head and surveyed the surroundings. The lavish gold trimmings were familiar enough, but the furniture layout, their styles, even the blanket covering her—everything marked an entirely unfamiliar room.

As she scanned the room with narrowed eyes, the sound of a door opening reached her. Instinctively, she turned her head. In the doorway stood Cardier, holding a tray.

“You’re awake.”

“…….”

Of all things, the first face she had to see upon waking was his. Rosetta debated fiercely whether to shut her eyes again and pretend to faint. But he moved faster, placing a hand gently on her forehead.

“How are you feeling? Your fever seems to have dropped quite a bit.”

He softly brushed aside Rosetta’s damp bangs with his fingers. Then, as if checking her temperature again, Cardier leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers. They were so close their noses nearly touched. She could clearly see the shadow his lowered eyelashes cast on his cheek.

He had called her ‘Ro’ again last night. At this point, he must genuinely suspect something… Rosetta held her breath, carefully studying his expression. But Cardier looked much like he had in the preceding days—neither agitated nor joyful, nor as if he wanted to strangle her to death.

She wondered why he didn’t just ask outright, if he had such strong suspicions. Did he already know she wouldn’t tell the truth? Or had he already mentally replaced ‘Leah’ with a satisfactory substitute?

While Rosetta remained deeply unsettled, Cardier pulled back his forehead and straightened up from her. He picked up a cup of water from the tray beside him and held it out.

“You won’t need medicine. But drink some water. You sweated a lot last night.”

Only then did Rosetta realize two things at once: she was drenched in sweat, and her clothes had been changed. Even the undergarment that had tightly constricted her breathing was gone without a trace. Regardless of Cardier’s presence, she tugged at the neckline of her slip with her fingers and peered inside.

“…….”

“…….”

There was nothing underneath. Nothing at all.

Rosetta pondered which of the three questions should come first: What on earth was going on? What had happened to the expensive jewels and dress she’d worn last night? And just where was this place?

“……What did you do with all my clothes?”

Rosetta wasn’t naive about relationships between men and women, and in her experience, this situation… was highly prone to misunderstanding. Yet Cardier replied calmly, without a hint of blushing.

“The maids changed you. I’m the one who tore your dress, though.”

“My jewels… No, my precious gems?”

“They were swept down the river. If you need compensation, I’ll buy you something even more expensive.”

It was somewhat absurd that Cardier would offer to compensate her for lost jewels, but only a fool would refuse free gems—especially ones he promised would be even more valuable. Rosetta quickly suppressed the slight upward twitch at the corner of her lips.

“Fine. Then where exactly is this place?”

“The Montrosa estate on Je-do.”

At that moment, Rosetta froze like a mouse waking up in a cat’s den. It was an instinct that lingered from her days as a saltwater-swallowing pirate. To Rosetta, ‘Montrosa’ was synonymous with Admiral. Even if Cardier bore the same name, it still carried weight.

Even if Valdemore and Montrosa were considered equals in influence and status, Valdemore was a ministerial family that had never so much as touched seawater. No matter how powerful or prestigious, they couldn’t compare to an admiral whose authority was directly felt and experienced.

“Wh—wh—what… Wh—why am I even here?”

Rosetta couldn’t even finish her question, swallowing hard instead. It would’ve been better to confront him more calmly. But the fact that she was lying right here, wide awake, in the heart of the admiral’s household—the family that frantically avoided even casting a shadow—was too shocking for Rosetta’s fragile nerves to bear.

“You had a high fever last night, and this estate was closer than the Valdemore residence.”

“…….”

“And my carriage was slightly wider than your brother’s.”

“…….”

Eastern pirates might treat chastity like dung, but Leah and Cardier were scions of families ranked among the top three in the empire. For noble houses responsible for producing heirs, preserving chastity was directly tied to honor.

They might gain freedom to indulge after bearing children, escaping their tiresome duties… But they were both unmarried, and not even formally betrothed. Yet one of them had ridden alone in a carriage while unconscious? And then woken up the next day in the other’s home? The most unbelievable part of this story was that Leah’s brother had simply let this go. Seeing her suspicious expression, Cardier produced a letter.

“Read this. It arrived this morning by special courier.”

On the front of the gilded letter paper was the Valdemore family seal—a lily and a sword. Somehow, the feeling it gave was deeply ominous.

Rosetta squinted and carefully tore open the letter. It began with lengthy greetings and pleasantries. And then… Rosetta furrowed her brow within a few paragraphs, and by the final line, she nearly crumpled the letter as if tearing it apart.

“What in the world does this mean?”

Her eyes blazed like fire, as though threatening to twist his neck if his explanation wasn’t sufficient. Cardier replied in a flat, indifferent tone.

“It’s an official letter from the Valdemore ducal house. To summarize: you’re my responsibility now.”

He explained in detail, as if worried she might not fully understand what she’d just read.

“So… why did they send this to you?”

“Because I tore your dress and kissed you. There were many witnesses.”

It was utterly ridiculous. Anyone hearing this would think she’d been assaulted. And kissed? That was a rescue measure to share breath! This protest letter was nothing but a pretext to ensnare Cardier. That bastard knew it perfectly well, yet acted as if he couldn’t resist grabbing the leash himself.

Rosetta couldn’t fathom why he was willing to stake his entire noble life on this. She couldn’t even be a proper partner to him! True, that was precisely the problem.

In her past life, out of deep affection, Rosetta had wished for Cardier’s life to shine brightly unlike her own. She hoped he’d marry a flawless duchess, serve as admiral forever watching over the eastern seas, and preferably never cross paths with her again! After all, if a pirate met an admiral, the moment would surely be their last—on the gallows.

Of course, she didn’t deny that Cardier’s position perfectly aligned with her goals. The Montrosa estate was in the east, he wasn’t in any rush to marry, and even his looks were considered the finest across the continent. Still, Cardier was morally off-limits. If she were to…

“Let’s get married.”

The anxious chain of thoughts abruptly snapped at Cardier’s words.