“Hello. Nice to meet you.”

As I offered my courtesies first, the guest who had arrived earlier hesitantly rose from his seat and clumsily reciprocated.

“Nice to meet you, Lady Creighton. My name is Peter Fisher.”

Of course, he was not friendly. The wariness towards me was evident in the thin man’s eyes, and his shoulders were also stiffly tense.

I looked at his weary face with a polite smile. However, that alone was not enough to completely dispel the shadow beneath his eyes.

“Do you know me?”

“You’re a famous person. I’ve heard the rumors.”

There was no use trying to feign composure. The bulging veins on his clenched hands were a clear indicator of how much he was struggling with the situation.

To be more precise, that was not all. The beads of sweat on his forehead, his shaking body, and everything else pointed to his unfamiliarity with this situation.

“There’s no need to be scared. I don’t plan on eating you.”

I meant to lighten the mood, but I wasn’t expecting much.

The way we relentlessly pursued and caught him while he was hiding in anticipation of retaliation was rough, and it took some time to arrange today’s meeting.

During that time, many thoughts must have crossed his mind, including considerations of the worst scenarios.

Of course, that worst case would still be less than what he had experienced.

I looked at his rough skin. Although the wound was large, the untreated injury had festered and rotted, and the treatment was still not complete.

And even when the treatment is complete, he won’t be able to return to his former self.

Ignoring the bitterness in my mouth, I opened my mouth again.

“Understandably, you would be nervous. You know who I am friends with.”

“……”

“You’ve seen it, haven’t you? How terrifying Creighton can be.”

My last words were more like a guess, but it seemed I was right. Merely mentioning it had him visibly shaken. He had definitely seen something.

I glanced at him but pretended not to notice, pointing to the chair.

“Shall we sit down, since the conversation seems to be a long one?”

“……”

“I should’ve prepared some tea. It’s quite chilly, being underground.”

I tried to lighten the mood with some everyday conversation, but suddenly things got hectic. Cheshire was quickly removing his coat before I could stop him.

“You won’t feel cold if you wear this.”

“I didn’t mean that……”

I tried to say that wasn’t what I meant, but then I felt warmth on my shoulder. The coat Cheshire had been wearing was now around my shoulders. It all happened in the blink of an eye.

“Cheshire, if you do this.”

“Ah, right. It’s against the rules, isn’t it? I’m sorry. I was just worried that you might be cold……”

I appreciated his concern, but his actions were faster than his words, which was burdensome.

I took off Cheshire’s coat and handed it back to him immediately. He seemed disappointed, but it was necessary.

“I’m sorry. This kid worries about me a lot.”

“It’s okay. It can happen.”

The man nodded lightly, but I clearly saw it. There was a momentary flash of disgust in his eyes.

It seemed like he was misunderstanding something, so I chuckled.

“We’re not lovers. We just have a deep affection for each other like siblings because we’ve known each other since we were kids.”

“……”

“You don’t believe me?”

“No. Why would I?”

His answer came immediately, but his expression darkened further.

He was clearly recalling some unpleasant memories. And those memories were probably related to the burns that covered his face.

I remembered Margaret, who had come to visit Creighton last year.

She had come to find me, holding a small bundle, after losing her husband and relatives in a sudden fire at her mansion, and had asked to stay for a while as she was left destitute.

“If that’s the case, you’re quite generous. I couldn’t have said so.”

“As for me.”

“You’re too clumsy.”

I looked straight at the man.

Although the man’s expression was serious, his flustered eyes could not completely hide his true nature. He wore his emotions on his face, unable to lie effectively.

He was not only inherently incapable of deceiving others, but he also lacked experience in that field.

“What do you mean.”

“Lord Fisher.”

“My brother passed away last year.”

The man hastily shook his head.

But I was not fooled. Even though I only saw him from a distance, I knew much more about him than he thought.

“Margaret often spoke about the Duke. So I knew that he had a twin brother who was one year younger and how to distinguish between the two.”

“…She spoke about me?”

“She said it was an accident. A sudden fire took everything away; her family, her wealth, everything burned and she was the only one who survived.”

Whenever Margaret recalled the past, her eyes moistened and turned red as if she was the heroine of a tragedy. She seemed to love her husband more than anyone else.

But the husband in those memories had a distorted expression.

“Looking at your expression, it seems I’m wrong?”

“…What kind of response are you hoping for from me?”