“Why don’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“You’re really not going to say it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“How much I-.”

“?”

“How much- …urgh.”

Alicia covered her mouth.

“…Let’s drink some water.”

Eric poured water from the jug the butler had brought into a cup and handed it to Alicia.

Taking the cup, Alicia whined.

“My stomach feels queasy-.”

“Of course it does. Hurry and drink this first.”

As Alicia’s body kept swaying, Eric supported the cup with one hand and her back with the other as he helped her drink.

“That’s enough. Now lie back down.”

As soon as Eric finished speaking, Alicia collapsed weakly back onto the bed.

“This is why you shouldn’t drink alcohol you can’t handle.”

Eric brushed Alicia’s disheveled hair and stood up from his seat.

He opened the door to call a maid to look after Alicia’s bedding, but they were all huddled right outside the door as if on cue.

The maids quickly lined up in place, watching Eric’s expression.

“We, we were worried about the young lady.”

“Good timing. I was about to call for you.”

“Pardon? Oh, yes. What would you like us to do?”

“Go in and help Alicia. Change her clothes too.”

“Yes, yes.”

The maids hurriedly entered the bedroom.

As soon as they entered, they saw Alicia already asleep on the bed.

“Oh dear.”

The maids shook their heads in pity. Nevertheless, they moved efficiently to change Alicia’s clothes and tidy up the bed.

“She really can’t handle alcohol, can she?”

“You can tell just by looking at her. I wonder if she’s ever had a drink before?”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

The maids finished preparing the bed and quietly left the room, careful not to make any noise with their footsteps.

As they turned around after closing the door, Eric was standing there, almost making them scream.

They quickly covered their mouths and bowed their heads to Eric.

“We’ve taken care of her, Count.”

“Does she seem alright?”

“Yes, she’s sleeping soundly now.”

“I see. Good work.”

“Not at all, Count.”

The maids bowed deeply and quickly left the area.

Standing there blankly staring at the closed door, Eric pondered.

‘What is it that I didn’t tell her?’

He couldn’t understand because Alicia had been rambling incoherently without proper explanation.

‘She must know all the rumors about me by now? There’s nothing left I haven’t told her.’

She would surely know that work-related matters were confidential, so it couldn’t be about that.

Feeling perplexed, Eric ran his fingers through his hair.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Why is the captain acting like that again?”

“Why is he staring at each of us with such terrifying eyes? Huh?”

“Is he deciding who to kill first or something?”

A few subordinates nervously asked Allen, the vice-captain, in hushed voices.

But even Allen didn’t know the reason.

Eric had been staring at his subordinates one by one with a serious expression since morning.

Because of this, the subordinates, including Allen, had been cautiously glancing around, and if they happened to meet Eric’s eyes, they would hastily lower their gaze and keep their mouths shut like dead mice.

‘That one cried and made a fuss when he was rejected last time. That one couldn’t even properly answer a woman asking for directions and ran away. Allen, that one… let’s not even go there. It’ll probably make things worse.’

Eric sighed, resting his chin on his hand.

‘Prince William is more interested in wandering off somewhere than in romance, so he won’t be of any help.’

In the end, Eric sighed and crossed his arms.

He wanted to seek advice from someone, but there wasn’t a single person around who could be of help.

‘Damn it. Next time we recruit new knights, we should pick ones with some dating experience.’

After pondering, Eric straightened his posture and turned to Allen with his usual expression.

“Allen.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Allen, who had been watching cautiously, stood at attention with unusual vigor, fearing he might be picked on, and waited for Eric’s next words.

“When is the recruitment schedule for new knights?”

“Pardon?”

Allen blinked at the unexpected question.

The subordinates listening nearby had the same reaction.

“Surely, Captain.”

“?”

“Are you planning to fire all of us?”

“Why did the conversation suddenly jump there?”

Eric frowned deeply and chided the whining Allen.

“If not that, then why are you asking about new knight recruitment? According to regulations, we can’t do ad-hoc recruitment except when there are large-scale vacancies!”

“I know that too-.”

“Of course, we’ve been teasing you lately because you seem a bit off your rocker due to the lady!”

“What?”

“We were worried you might get dumped or something!”

“……”

Eric closed his mouth.

But Allen, unable to read the atmosphere, continued to ramble on.

“Do you think we would do that hoping for something bad to happen to you, Captain? We’ve been really worried every time you say something nonsensical…”

Allen, who had been venting his frustrations, stopped talking as he sensed something was off and looked around.

When his eyes met Eric’s, Eric was smiling.

Gulp.

Allen swallowed.

“So that’s what you’ve been thinking all this time, Allen? I didn’t know you cared about me so much.”

“Uh, yes? Of course, I sincerely worry about you, senior.”

Allen stood at attention and answered with utmost discipline.

“It’s not just me. Our entire knight order is united in our concern for you-”

“Is that really true, all of you?”

“Not at all. The Captain is handling everything so well on his own.”

“We’ve never seen a situation improve when a third party gets involved in such matters.”

“Is that so, Allen?”

As Eric smiled mischievously, Allen glared at his subordinates and spat out a word.

“Traitors!”

Then Allen took off in an instant.

Eric sighed and crossed his arms as the subordinates snickered.

“I’m heading to the Grand Temple. Later, catch that guy and throw him into the daily inspection meeting.”

“Yes sir. Don’t worry and have a safe trip.”

“Alright.”

Eric stood up, grabbing his jacket.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Ah, my head.”

Alicia held her head with both hands as she sat at her desk.

‘Did I drink too much yesterday? I can barely remember.’

She was so surprised when she woke up in the morning.

It took her a while to recall yesterday’s events, wondering why she had woken up in Russell’s mansion instead of her room at Lancaster’s estate.

It was her first time drinking alcohol, so not knowing her tolerance, she had recklessly drunk as much as she could, which was the root of the problem.

“Well~ done.”

Alicia raised her head at Eric’s voice.

As usual, Eric was leaning against the doorframe.

“I see you don’t even knock anymore.”

“The door was wide open.”

“Ugh.”

Come to think of it, she had opened all the windows and doors earlier for ventilation because her head was hurting.

“What brings you here at this hour?”

“Playing hooky.”

“Playing hooky?”

“Isn’t it surprising that all the times I’ve played hooky so far have been related to you?”

As Eric sat on the sofa, Alicia also got up wearily and slumped down on the sofa.

“Why did you drink?”

“…I was happy to see Jena after a long time.”

“Since when did you two drink like that?”

“Ah. It was actually our first time drinking together.”

Alicia grimaced, still massaging her throbbing head.

Eric asked with a displeased look.

“Do you remember anything?”

“Hmm. To some extent?”

As Eric stared intently, Alicia averted her gaze, feeling caught.

“How much did you drink?”

“Umm. First, we drank a bottle of wine.”

‘That much is manageable.’

Eric nodded.

“Then we had about 2 more bottles.”

“?”

‘Isn’t that a bit too much?’

If so, it’s understandable why Alicia was so drunk yesterday. And why her head hurts.

“And then we drank the vodka that came as a gift.”

“What?”

“I think we drank about 2 bottles of that too.”

Eric stared at Alicia in disbelief for a moment before asking.

“…Do you usually drink a lot?”

“No, yesterday was my first time drinking.”

“After everything else, now you’re good at drinking too?”

Eric shook his head in exasperation, and Alicia smiled sheepishly.

“Am I good at drinking?”

“This isn’t something to smile about.”

“Tch.”

She had tried to gloss over it, but judging from Eric’s expression, that wasn’t going to work.

“But why am I here?”

“That’s what I want to know. Didn’t you say you remember some things? No?”

“Hmm.”

Eric, who had been looking at the contemplating Alicia with displeasure, asked quite seriously.

“What is it that I need to tell you?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Yesterday, you got angry at me for not telling you something. Don’t you remember that either?”

‘Oh no. So that’s why I’m here.’

Only then did she recall changing course to Russell’s mansion despite the coachman’s objections, insisting she needed to talk to Eric.

Fortunately, she hadn’t said anything, but Alicia held her head in her hands at the thought of doing something so foolish while drunk.

Is this why everyone says you should drink in moderation?

“Well, I don’t remember.”

“You drank so much that you can’t remember even after thinking so seriously? Are you sure you’re okay?”

Eric looked at Alicia with a worried expression as she firmly denied it out of embarrassment.

Unable to look at him properly, Alicia averted her gaze as Eric spoke in a serious tone.

“I’ve thought hard about it, but as far as I can tell, there’s nothing I’m hiding.”

“…Is that so?”

That was true.

Eric wasn’t hiding anything, he just wasn’t speaking about certain things.

“If Eric says there’s nothing, then there must be nothing. That’s fine then.”

“……”

Eric wanted to ask why she had said such things then, but Alicia’s lips were quite stubbornly sealed, so he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

After an awkward silence fell between the two for a moment, Eric changed the subject.

“I went to Lancaster’s estate yesterday, partly to drop off Edward.”

“Yesterday?”

“I was disappointed I couldn’t see you when I went for dinner, but I ended up seeing you after all. Though you don’t remember it.”

Then Eric smiled somewhat mischievously.

“Chase was there too when I arrived?”

Feeling somewhat guilty, Alicia quickly spoke with a serious expression.

“I didn’t call him.”

“I know. He wouldn’t have come if you hadn’t.”

Eric smiled.

“It’s okay, Alicia. I’m not saying anything about it.”

“?”

“You said you were being considerate. That’s enough.”

He might not trust Chase, but he trusts Alicia.

The fact that Alicia, drunk to the point of barely being able to move, had come looking for him surely meant that she trusted him the most.

Thinking this, Eric’s mood improved considerably from earlier.

But that was that, and Eric had to get an important promise from Alicia.