The two figures leaning against the closed door finally began to intertwine.

Their body temperatures rose hotter and hotter, and their heartbeats grew rapidly stronger.

Cedric seemed already addicted to the unfamiliar sensation he was experiencing for the first time.

After being immersed for a while, he finally separated his lips and looked at Rebecca in his arms.

Her cheeks were already flushed red.

Seeing this, another hot flame ignited in Cedric’s chest.

His mind grew more impatient, and he felt like vulgar curses might unconsciously flow out.

But he didn’t want to waste any more time.

Until this moment arrived today, how long a path had they taken to get here?

Cedric lifted Rebecca in one motion and headed for the bed.

As they moved from the door to the bed, there was not a single misstep in the actions between the two.

Everything felt natural, as if it wasn’t their first time together.

Perhaps that’s why.

At this moment, there wasn’t even the slightest gap between them for Cedric’s reason to enter.

And finally, at the moment they reached the bed.

As Cedric looked down at Rebecca unconsciously, he realized for the first time how fast his heart could beat.

And just as he was about to take her into his arms again.

“Ah, Cedric… Aren’t you going to put me down?”

Rebecca asked slowly as she raised her upper body.

Her enchanting eyes were still moist.

Cedric looked at Rebecca, breathing heavily.

“…Huh?”

He had just, no, for the first time in his life, gotten onto her bed, but what on earth was she saying?

Cedric looked at Rebecca with an obviously bewildered expression.

But she just blinked her red eyes and asked again.

“I said, aren’t you going to put me down?”

.

.

.

The feeling of reality seeping through the cracks of a sweet dream.

Cedric unconsciously opened his eyes slightly.

What he immediately faced was Rebecca’s fine forehead.

Soon he saw it gradually furrowing, and then Rebecca’s figure grabbing his shoulder and shaking it hard came into view.

“Cedric, wake up!”

A completely different situation and atmosphere from just before.

Cedric looked at Rebecca with a dazed expression.

Only after looking around belatedly did he realize he was still inside the carriage.

‘I was definitely in Rebecca’s bedroom until just now, so why suddenly…?’

Cedric slowly blinked his eyes, still drowsy with sleep.

‘Don’t tell me…’

A dejected sigh soon flowed from his lips as he frowned.

To have such a dream about Rebecca, even though it had been long since he passed his adolescent years.

A sense of self-loathing seeped deep into his lungs.

Just as he covered his face with both hands and lowered his head.

“Cedric, were you very tired? How could you sleep so deeply in the carriage, not waking up even after I tried for so long?”

Rebecca asked as if scolding him.

Still, she must have been inwardly worried about Cedric, as she gently grasped his hand and pulled.

“Do you have a headache? Did you drink a lot of champagne…? Let me see.”

Cedric put strength into his hand and tried hard to resist.

“…It’s not that.”

An innocent woman who couldn’t know his circumstances.

She would never know how dangerously her gentle voice filled with worry sounded right now.

Cedric finally managed to put on an expressionless mask and raised his head again.

And he quickly covered his lower body with the coat he had taken off beside him.

“What… just now?”

Rebecca asked with a puzzled expression.

But Cedric just cleared his throat a couple of times, pretending to be nonchalant as he rested his arm on the window frame.

“Go ahead first. I’m too tired to escort you today.”

“I don’t mind if you can’t escort me, but…”

Rebecca, who had spoken that far, leaned her body closer to Cedric.

“Are you really not sick somewhere?”

Cedric unconsciously held his breath at Rebecca’s unexpectedly close distance.

In his view, the sight of Rebecca’s lips protruding and pouting repeatedly kept entering.

“I said… it’s not that.”

Cedric turned his head away, trying hard to harden his expression.

At that, Rebecca glanced at him sulkily and straightened her bent waist.

“Are you really going to stay here?”

Cedric answered, barely holding back a sigh that was about to escape.

“…It seems that would be better.”

Rebecca, who had been wearing a puzzled expression all along, finally got out of the carriage.

And she turned her head towards Cedric, who was still inside the carriage.

“Then I’m really leaving. I had fun today, Cedric.”

With those parting words, Rebecca started walking towards the dark mansion.

Cedric helplessly watched her back as she never looked back once.

Only after seeing her finally enter the main gate of the mansion did he let out the breath he had been holding.

“Hah…”

At that sound, a scene from the dream suddenly came to mind.

Starting with that, scenes flashed by like a panorama.

Cedric squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

‘I must have finally gone mad, Cedric Twins.’

It was true that his feelings for Rebecca had changed recently.

The negative thoughts that used to bloom whenever he saw Rebecca had long disappeared, and sometimes he even felt glad when he ran into her.

He thought it was just because they had reset their relationship as friends after the divorce.

He thought that he was finally able to maintain a plausible relationship with her, but…

‘To have such a dream about Rebecca.’

Even during their married life when he had lived like a monk, nothing like this had happened.

When that thought came to him, extreme confusion rushed in again like dark clouds.

He kept pressing his throbbing temples and muttered softly.

“Is it because of that incident?”

The kiss he shared with Rebecca in the banquet hall.

It was so enchanting that it left such a huge aftereffect.

After being lost in thought for a while,

Cedric finally realized that he had been continuously recalling the sensation of those lips.

Another dejected sigh flowed from between his lips.

It seemed that this sigh would not dry up for at least a few days.

* * *

A few days after returning from the Dmitri family’s banquet.

I was all excited ahead of my first outing in a long time since that day.

‘Adrian must feel the same? He said it was his wish to go out with me.’

Perhaps because I finished preparing for the outing too quickly due to my excited mood.

I arrived at the first floor lobby much earlier than the appointed time.

As I was pacing while waiting for Adrian, a cute meowing sound was heard from somewhere.

Meow―.

I suddenly turned my head at the sound.

What I saw first was the huge frame hanging in the reception room of the lobby.

‘What, it’s that painting I dislike.’

That painting frame, which gave me an eerie feeling every time I saw it, was large enough to fill an entire wall of the reception room.

‘Is it a painting of a forest landscape? And of all things, with night as the background? No, why did they make such an unpleasant painting so big in the first place…’

Just as my brow furrowed involuntarily at the strangeness emanating from the painting.

‘Huh? It’s a cat?’

I belatedly noticed a cat sitting under the frame.

With smooth brown fur and golden eyes, it sat with its front paws together, staring at me intently.

I’m not sure if it was an illusion, but it seemed like a faint glow was flowing around the cat’s brown fur.

I took a step closer to the mysterious cat as if entranced.

“Um… hello?”

As I made eye contact from a little distance, the cat slowly blinked its golden eyes.

Then it gradually approached, sniffing, and started rubbing its body against my legs.

I knelt down and stroked its head.

“Why is there a cat here? By the way, you’re very handsome.”

Then, as if it understood, the cat stared straight into my eyes.

When I touched under its chin, it started purring, seeming pleased.

“You seem to get along well with people. How cute.”

As I smiled slightly, suddenly a bloodstain on the corridor floor entered my view.

Startled, I hurriedly examined the cat’s body.

Sure enough, there was a large wound on its lower belly.

However, the cat didn’t seem to be in pain at all, lying on its back with its belly exposed, constantly rubbing its head against my hand.

“Where on earth did you get such a wound? Wait a moment, I’ll treat you and then send you on your way…”

Just as I hurriedly stood up, a familiar voice was heard from the direction of the central staircase.

“Your Highness, are you here?”

It seemed Adrian was coming down the stairs.

When I turned my head back after glancing in that direction, both the cat and its bloodstains had disappeared without a trace.

‘…What was that? Did I see a hallucination?’

As I blinked slowly, Adrian, who had found me, ran to my side.

“So you were here, Your Highness. When I went to the Grand Duchess’s quarters, I was told you had already headed to the lobby, so I came straight here.”

“Adrian, just now there was a cat here…”

“Pardon?”

Adrian’s smiling face was flushed with excitement.

To think he would be so happy about going out with me.

I thought it might be better to talk about the cat later.

“…Adrian, it’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, it’s been about three days since we last met after the banquet ended.”

“Right, it’s been about that long.”

“Unlike usual, you didn’t call for me, so I was worried that perhaps I had made you uncomfortable that day…”

Adrian paused briefly and gave his usual gentle smile.

“I was really happy to know you didn’t forget our promise and called for me like this.”

I slowly shook my head towards Adrian.

“Uncomfortable? There was nothing like that. It’s just…”

It just felt unfamiliar all of a sudden.

When I remained silent for a while, Adrian gently prompted me to continue.

“It’s just?”

I smiled faintly and shook my head.

“It’s nothing. Did you prepare what I asked for in advance?”

Today was the day when ‘that item’ I had been eyeing for a long time would finally appear on the gift exchange market.

So I had asked Adrian to get the most up-to-date information on Henry and Camilla, my investment rivals.

Meanwhile, Adrian handed me some documents with a somewhat troubled expression for some reason.

“Here’s the latest investment fund information for Henry Bart and Camilla Dmitri.”

My brow gradually furrowed as I read through the documents Adrian handed over.

“It wasn’t this much even until yesterday. They doubled their investment funds in just one day?”

I pouted my lips while rubbing my chin.

“At this rate, it exceeds the investment funds I prepared…”

“…It seems that information about our funds has somehow leaked to Lady Camilla and Lord Henry’s side. I apologize, Your Highness.”

Adrian bowed his head in apology and then frowned.

“But I really don’t understand. As you know, the mixed-race demon servants cannot break their secret oath with the Twins family.”

“…”

“So where on earth did this information leak from…”

To this, I shrugged my shoulders.

“Well. Maybe someone who had something to gain from Camilla and Henry knowing my information did it.”

“Pardon?”

Adrian tilted his head, seeming to find my nonchalant attitude strange.

“Your Highness, at this rate, you might not be able to beat Lady Camilla and Lord Henry. Are you… alright with that?”

Adrian asked carefully with a worried expression.

“It’s fine.”

As I walked a few steps ahead, I let out a slight laugh and turned back to Adrian.

“Because I’m the one who leaked that information.”