Reniel was certain that Felix was in a dream state.

His hazy eyes looking at her were shining with their original red color, but held nothing else.

They became cloudy when looking at Ianathas, but sparkled like a beast’s only when looking at her again.

“Why did you wake up?”

“Because you weren’t there.”

“I see. I actually wanted to stay with you too, but Ianathas called for me.”

“So you were going to do indecent things here?”

“Indecent things?”

Reniel didn’t know what to say because of the flustered Ianathas who was grabbing her collar.

Amidst this, Ianathas checked Reniel’s chest through the open gap.

The chest was clearly smooth. It was a flatness that could not possibly belong to a woman.

Not only that. No matter how he looked, Reniel undoubtedly had a man’s Adam’s apple.

He looked at Reniel’s crotch with an uncertain expression. It became even more unclear.

“My lord, I was just trying to briefly check the vice chamberlain’s body.”

“Why? And even so, why did you need to undress completely?”

Ianathas realized that his lord was in a drugged state and belatedly opened his eyes wide in surprise.

“My lord, did you come to the 5th floor now?”

“Is this the 5th floor?”

Ianathas saw for the first time his lord’s behavior deviate from wandering only on the 3rd floor when drugged.

“Did you come all the way here looking for the vice chamberlain?”

Felix didn’t answer. He was just reaching out his arms to Reniel.

Reniel looked around cautiously before approaching Felix.

Ianathas was trying to regain his composure, deciding to thoroughly check Reniel’s body again later.

“Master, Ianathas suddenly told me to undress.”

“…Why?”

“I don’t know either. I said I didn’t want to, but I had to undress anyway.”

Reniel intended to shift the blame to Ianathas, who had put her in a difficult situation, and escape this predicament.

After all, none of this would have happened if Ianathas hadn’t told her to undress in the first place.

“…Ianathas.”

“My lord! This was really just to check…!”

“Shut your mouth.”

Even in his hazy state, Felix gripped his sword as if enraged.

“Let’s go to your room now, Master.”

Knowing it wouldn’t be strange if the drugged Felix committed murder at any moment, Reniel quickly pulled his arm and spoke again.

“…Alright.”

The dazed Felix was listening to Reniel better than expected.

“From now on, don’t leave the bed.”

“Of course. I’ll keep that in mind. Please give me the sword.”

Reniel received the sword from Felix with a good-natured smile, placed it on the floor, and then led him by the hand back to the duke’s bedroom on the 3rd floor.

Left alone, Ianathas put on his clothes that he had placed on the table and thought it was very difficult to accept this ridiculous situation.

Meanwhile, he was quite relieved that Reniel had a man’s body, as confirmed today.

If he wasn’t the Nirnberg duchess, there was no reason to kill him, and if he liked money, he could share a bit of the overflowing wealth of the Le Pelique duchy.

He didn’t seem to have a desire for honor, and even his ambition for success seemed to be for money.

This meant he was someone who could be controlled with money.

Moreover, he was someone who hadn’t caused any major incidents for 10 years.

Felix smiled unknowingly in relief, thinking he had finally found someone who could cure his long-time lord’s incurable disease.

It was also amusing to see Reniel’s strange expression when looking at his own body.

“Is he really a man…?”

But his intuition strangely kept saying that Reniel was a woman…

****

“When Ianathas calls, do you leave me behind?”

“I originally didn’t want to go.”

“We agreed you’d stay by my side. Why are you disobeying me?”

“We never made such a promise. Besides, I was going to come right back.”

Reniel laid Felix down on the bed as if handling a drunk person.

Felix, who had lain down obediently, raised his waist and tried to grab the liquor bottle.

“Aren’t you drinking too much?”

At her words, Felix glanced at the navy whiskey bottle in his hand. Then, with a hazy expression, he said:

“I quit cigars. Isn’t that enough?”

“Alcohol is bad for your body too.”

“…Then I’ll quit alcohol too.”

“Really?”

Reniel spoke almost with a cheer as soon as Felix said he would quit drinking.

From her perspective, she wasn’t very pleased with him drinking alcohol.

The smell of alcohol on him was so strong that she felt like she might get drunk herself every time his breath came close.

“Are you that happy about it?”

“Of course.”

“That I’m getting healthier?”

“Naturally.”

After saying that, Reniel took the bottle away from Felix completely. She put it on the bedside table and then looked at him as if urging him on.

Felix soon lay back down on the bed, and she ended up lying down too, as if being pulled, because he grabbed her.

“Master, you’re dreaming.”

“I suppose so.”

She had to embrace Felix as he burrowed into her arms, saying that.

His head was very heavy, and the sensation of his hair coming through her clothes was ticklish.

However, she didn’t show it and stroked his hair again, trying to put him to sleep.

If only he wouldn’t take off the ring.

As long as he didn’t discover she was a woman in the future, this much was nothing.

She could now receive her annual salary as a monthly wage.

Reniel couldn’t help but smile at that thought, and she was willing to hold Felix until he fell completely asleep.

Then, sometime later, she fell asleep without even realizing when.

****

When Reniel woke up, it was already morning.

“Ah…!”

She got up from the bed with a shout, flustered that she hadn’t helped Felix prepare in the morning.

What she saw was the clean room, just as she had tidied it and left last night, and the quiet atmosphere of the room where Felix seemed to have already left.

“Master?”

She looked around the rest of the room with the light peeking through the gaps in the blackout curtains. Then she got out of bed and went to the window to draw the curtains.

The room immediately brightened, but there was no one inside except her.

She sighed in relief, stroking her chest, realizing that her hair was still short, her chest was still flat, and she was still wearing the ring.

Dong, dong, dong.

Hearing the grandfather clock chime, she went out into the hallway to check what time it was.

What she saw was…

“Wow… it’s 1 o’clock.”

Reniel couldn’t shake off her surprise at having slept so deeply while she was supposed to put Felix to sleep, and returned to her room.

****

Reniel recalled that in the original story, it took about a year to a year and a half for Felix and Thanasis to become physically close.

That meant she could still accumulate money for at least another year.

“Hmmm hmmm hmmm.”

She hummed unconsciously as she gathered her things.

“What on earth is in the basement that you’re taking such fancy food down there?”

Recently, Reniel had been requesting fancy food from the kitchen to take down to the basement.

“Is there anyone who tells others about the master’s personal orders?”

But Reniel drew the line with the cook like that and smiled broadly.

The cook realized that her not telling was for his own good and nodded.

“Take care.”

Soon, Reniel headed towards the secret room with the tray of fancy food and a first aid kit.

Somehow, she felt strange the entire way down today.

It was still early summer, so it was cool in the evening, and naturally even cooler now at 1 AM.

But she couldn’t understand why it seemed to get hotter as she went further underground, as if entering an active volcano.

She tried to understand the situation, recalling the earth science she had learned in her past life, wondering if it was normally hotter when going underground.

“…Huh?”

But when she reached the door, she felt even stranger.

She hesitated whether to open the door because of the inexplicable heat she felt from the doorknob.

Soon, she put down her things beside her and took out the key, tensing up.

Then she turned the key with her sweaty hand, and the door unlocked with a click.

After that, she opened the door with a creak and felt along the wall to turn on the light inside.

At that moment.

“Ugh…!”

“Stay still!”

Thanasis was subduing Reniel and spewing flames.

She opened her eyes wide, seeing the flames around her and the restraints he had melted.

“Ah! Wait a moment. Don’t grab my hands!”

“Didn’t you hear me say to stay still?”

Then Thanasis grabbed Reniel’s hands to subdue her as she struggled, and in the process, the ring that was too big for Reniel…

Ting, roll roll roll!

It came off just like that.

Thanasis, seeing Reniel’s changed appearance, stopped subduing her and stepped back in surprise.

“You…!”

Reniel quickly stretched out her arm and put the rolled-away ring back on her finger.

“Yes? What?”

Reniel acted even more brazen due to being too flustered.

Her heart was pounding, but she ignored her state, pretending nothing had happened.

She took a breath as if to shout to the knights upstairs, as if nothing had happened.

But.

“Wait! I’ll give you a choice.”

Thanasis was no less surprised, but he continued speaking as if nothing was wrong.

He was relieved that all those reactions as a man and heartbeats he felt whenever he touched her were because she was the woman he had been looking for.

Thanasis withdrew his intention to kill her, certain of her identity.

Meanwhile, Reniel was terrified, thinking Thanasis might burn her to death, as his hand on her neck was extremely hot.

“Either leave here with me, or burn to death here.”

Thanasis immediately recognized her as the lost youngest daughter of the Nirnberg ducal family.

The Nirnberg duchess, she was his former fiancée.