“Why are you here, Chase?”

“I think your presence is more unexpected than mine, elder brother.”

“What’s strange about coming to my fiancée’s house?”

“What’s strange about coming to a friend’s house?”

Clearly, Eric and Chase were conversing with smiles, but the atmosphere was extremely uncomfortable.

Emma, sitting at the reception room table, felt awkward and looked back and forth between the two.

When Emma glanced at Edward, he was watching the situation with an amused smile.

‘That brother, really.’

As Emma rolled her eyes, Edward grinned and shrugged.

Feeling uncomfortable, Emma finally started gathering her homework.

“Emma. You haven’t finished your homework yet, have you?”

“It’s okay, elder brother Chase. I can do it by myself from now on.”

“Really?”

“Then I’ll go finish my homework in my room.”

Emma smiled brightly and left the reception room, dragging Edward’s arm as she went.

“Ah, why.”

As Edward was pulled out, he asked grumpily, and Emma scolded him to lower his voice.

“Why did you bring him here?”

“What? What’s wrong with my brother-in-law coming to our house?”

“Human. Don’t you see the atmosphere in there?”

“Hey, is that how you talk to your elder brother?”

“Are you really going to be like this?”

“What’s wrong with it? It’s something they’ll have to face eventually.”

“Why are you causing trouble when you’re not going to solve it?”

“They should solve it themselves. Or elder sister should. Honestly, I want to tell both of them to come to their senses but—. Ouch!”

Before he could finish, Emma kicked Edward in the shin.

“Emma, really? What are you doing?”

“Anyway, you’re not helping.”

Emma shook her head and started going up to the second floor.

Edward followed behind, grumbling.

[This is the timeline separator]

“……”

“……”

One with an expressionless face, the other with a smiling face.

Eric and Chase sat facing each other in the reception room, where Alicia, the other party actually living in this house, was absent.

The butler of the Lancaster Count’s mansion, who had been secretly watching, gently closed the door.

As he was wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, the Countess Lancaster passed by and asked.

“What are you doing here, butler?”

“My lady. Well—, the atmosphere in the reception room seems unusual.”

“Atmosphere? Who’s inside?”

“Count Russell and young master Chase are there.”

“Ah. Is that so?”

Before the butler could stop her, the Countess abruptly opened the door.

As Eric and Chase looked at her simultaneously, the Countess smiled her usual gentle smile.

“I’m sorry. It must be awkward with just the two of you, especially without Alicia here?”

“Mother.”

“Mother.”

The Countess, who entered with a bright smile, spoke kindly.

“So, have you two talked a bit? You’ve greeted each other before, right?”

“I went to greet the Russell Count’s mansion before.”

“Moreover, we’re involved in business matters as well.”

“Oh my, that’s fortunate. It’s not your first meeting then. I was worried it might be awkward with just the two of you.”

“Pardon?”

“Alicia said she’d come home after dinner.”

“…Pardon?”

[This is the timeline separator]

“Alicia. Thank you so much. You saved me.”

At Jena’s request, Alicia was reviewing a business proposal Jena was working on.

“No, it’s nothing. I enjoyed it too. It was quite an interesting analysis.”

Alicia smiled as she closed the file of documents she had been organizing.

Jena stretched widely in front of her and then carefully gathered the proposal pages and put them aside.

“Ah. With this, I can live comfortably for a while now.”

“Have you decided to properly work at your father’s business now, Jena?”

“Yes. That’s the plan. I found it interesting as I got into it.”

It seemed sincere, and Alicia smiled at Jena.

The previous Jena was the epitome of a noble young lady. So she seemed like she would quickly marry, form a stable family, and live well like other noble young ladies.

But for some reason, when they met again, Jena had become frank and uninhibited, completely different from her previous image.

That appearance looked much better than before.

“So how are you two? Is the Count still head over heels for you?”

“Rumors are usually exaggerated when they spread, Jena.”

When Alicia firmly replied with a flustered expression, Jena giggled.

But Alicia held her teacup with both hands, looking like she had something on her mind.

Jena looked at Alicia curiously, with a puzzled expression.

“What’s with this reaction? Don’t tell me you’re already in a rut?”

“Well—.”

Alicia hesitated for a moment, closed her mouth, and then drank all the cold tea in front of her at once.

“Why are you drinking tea like it’s alcohol?”

“……”

“What, is it really a rut?”

“It’s not that.”

Although she spoke firmly, Alicia turned her gaze to the teacup she was holding with a subtle expression.

She saw the tea that was now cold, with little left.

The problem wasn’t that it had gone cold, but that it hadn’t even boiled yet.

‘Just when it seems like we can finally break free from the contract.’

At some point, it became natural to think that a relationship unbound by contract was a given.

It seeped in naturally, like rainwater, so she hadn’t thought deeply about it.

‘It would only take one word.’

Alicia kept waiting for that moment.

Although she hadn’t realized it, she had probably been waiting even before Edward conveyed Eric’s feelings.

But Eric is just uselessly jealous and doesn’t say the important things.

Could this be what they call a power struggle to take the initiative that she had only heard about?

Crunch—.

Alicia frowned unconsciously and crumpled the documents on the table.

“……”

Watching Alicia’s changing expressions moment by moment, Jena started to get worried.

‘Is it really a rut? Is it cooling down quickly because it heated up quickly? Well, quite some time has passed’

Worrying and pondering, Jena hesitantly opened her mouth.

“Alicia.”

“Hm? Ah, sorry. I was lost in thought. What were we talking about?”

Alicia forced a smile as she came to her senses at Jena’s call.

Jena took Alicia’s hand with a pitiful expression.

“Shall we go for a drink?”

[This is the timeline separator]

As soon as the unexpected uncomfortable dinner ended, Eric returned to the Russell Count’s mansion.

Alicia didn’t return until the end of dinner.

‘Where on earth is she wandering around? How dangerous it is outside right now.’

Eric grumbled as he sat in the study after changing into comfortable clothes.

There was quite a pile of documents about missing spirit artists in front of him, but they weren’t properly registering in his eyes.

He sighed softly and rubbed his forehead.

Then he started to focus on the documents again.

‘Over 20 simple missing persons before the curfew, and zero people whose whereabouts have been identified.’

Because the Prime Minister emphasized confidentiality, he couldn’t properly utilize his subordinates, and because they were investigating it as simple disappearances, they mainly used the security forces, so the progress was slow.

‘Should I ask the Prime Minister for some spirit artist support?’

But what if even those spirit artists become targets?

He threw the document down on the desk and rubbed his face dry.

At that moment, the butler rushed into the study.

“Count!”

“What’s the matter?”

Eric asked casually as he flipped over the document and pushed it aside.

“Well, the young lady is……”

“What about Alicia?”

“She’s coming now.”

“At this hour?”

“Yes. But the young lady’s condition is a bit strange……”

Before he could finish speaking, Eric hurriedly got up from his seat and left the study.

“Oh my, let’s go together, Count!”

The butler hurriedly followed Eric.

Arriving on the first floor, Eric found Alicia slumped with her eyes closed inside the carriage standing outside the entrance.

“Mmm.”

“Alicia?”

Eric put his body into the carriage to check Alicia’s condition.

The smell of alcohol wafted strongly from inside.

“Ah, it’s Eric!”

As soon as their eyes met, Alicia smiled broadly.

‘Cute… No, this isn’t right.’

Eric quickly came to his senses and called out to Alicia.

“Alicia. Pull yourself together. Where did you drink and come in this state? What if something happens like this?”

“Eric—.”

Alicia stretched out both arms towards Eric, then her body slowly collapsed forward.

Eric caught Alicia in his arms before she fell.

“Pull yourself together. Where did you drink so much?”

“I drank with Jena—.”

“Jena? Lady Jena Hailey? Where did you drink?”

“At Jena’s house—.”

It’s fortunate that they drank at home, but did two women drink this much by themselves?

Eric clicked his tongue and picked up Alicia to take her inside.

The maid who had been fidgeting behind quickly went up to the second floor ahead of Eric and swiftly opened the door to Alicia’s room.

Soon Eric entered and carefully laid Alicia on the bed.

The butler who followed behind carefully placed a water jug and cup he had brought on the table.

“Excuse me, Count.”

“Yes?”

“I think it would be good to send a message to the Lancaster Count’s mansion.”

“Ah, please do.”

“It seems difficult for her to return home today, doesn’t it?”

“It seems so.”

“I’ll take care of it properly without mentioning that she’s drunk.”

“Please do.”

The butler bowed politely and then left the room with the dazed maid.

As he left, he thought. It was fortunate that the head maid who had left work early due to household matters wasn’t here today.

If she had been here, she would have made all sorts of fuss.

“Why did you drink so much?”

“Because I’m upset—.”

“Upset? Why? What? Who made you like this?”

Eric’s face suddenly turned grim.

“Who dared—.”

“You—. It’s because of you.”

“…Me?”

“You fool—. You don’t even know what’s important—.”

“I?”

“Uselessly jealous of Chase and all.”

“No, that bastard—. Never mind.”

Eric chuckled and closed his mouth.

What’s the point of talking seriously to a drunk person?

Then he stroked Alicia’s hair as if to soothe her.

“Go to sleep a bit.”

“I don’t want to—.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Hmm.”

Alicia tilted her head as if pondering.

She smacked her lips with her flushed face.

Unconsciously, Eric stared at those lips.

‘…Was patience originally meant to be used at times like this?’

Eric frowned at himself for having such a ridiculous thought.

At that moment, Alicia grabbed Eric’s face with both hands.

“Why, what is it? Why are you doing this?”

Surprised, Eric froze, not knowing what to do.