The maid quickly brushed off the snow sticking to her clothes.

In the meantime, the fox finished grooming itself and sat in front of Sepia.

As Sepia petted the fox’s head, she asked, “Are you cold? Should we go inside?”

However, the fox’s gaze was fixed on something else.

It bared its white teeth and growled, looking in the direction of…

“Roksan.”

After the coronation, there had been no news of him until he appeared in the palace garden.

“Do you raise this fox?”

“No, it appeared in the garden a week ago. I wonder if someone caught it and then released it.”

After saying that, she became even more concerned about the fox.

“Should I really keep it?”

As she pondered, the usually gentle fox growled while staring at the Duke.

“Ah…!”

The fox jumped in place and disappeared into the bushes.

Sepia sighed in disappointment as she looked at the pawprints in the snow.

“It’s gone.”

If only she knew where it spent its nights, she could help.

That was the most disappointing part.

As Sepia was looking at the spot where the fox had disappeared, she said, “It seems like you like the fox more than me.”

“Where did you get that idea?”

A flustered Sepia looked up at Roksan.

She had been kneeling while dealing with the fox, but now Roksan reached out his hand to help her up, and she took it.”
Here is the English translation of the Korean paragraph you provided, following your guidelines:

“Do you know that? Even among friends, jealousy can arise.”

Their gaze became closer.

After the coronation, Sepia did not attend any other gatherings.

She hoped that the scandal from that day would last a bit longer, enough to overshadow all the rumors.

But this was the garden of the Empress’s palace, and there were no prying eyes here, so there was no need to pretend.

“You speak as if you’re jealous of the fox.”

Here, it was fine not to offer help.

Roksan also found purposeless pretense uncomfortable.

He seemed to sense Sepia’s intention but pretended not to, smiling instead.

“Yes. A little. No, quite a lot. I hope you like me the most.”

It was a peculiar answer.

One that might lead others to misconstrue a more intimate relationship.

She hesitated for a moment but thought better of misunderstanding herself.

‘As a friend, probably.’

Or perhaps it was a type of act.

Roksan had a talent for making others misunderstand his words.

Suddenly, something like fluffy white feathers fell from the overcast sky.

It seemed that the momentary pause in the snowfall was about to end.

‘It’s going to snow quite a lot.’

Probably much more than what had already accumulated.

The falling snow adorned his hair and shoulders.

“Would you like to come inside for a moment?”

“I’d be delighted if you invite me.”

He responded to Sepia’s invitation with apparent happiness.

Sepia led Roksan into the Empress’s reception room.

Her guess was correct; snow was falling heavily outside the window.

Before the carriage was prepared, the maids brought refreshments first.

They seemed to have remembered how much help Roksan had given during the coronation.

The table was filled with an array of refreshments, almost embarrassingly so.

To conceal her embarrassment, Sepia asked, “What kind of tea would you like?”

Sepia had a limited selection of teas for herself, but various teas were prepared for guests.

Demios only liked cloves tea. Did he?

However, Roksan’s choice was unexpected.

“Do you happen to have Bremin red tea?”

Sepia was surprised.

Bremin red tea was a tea with a subtle sweetness, made from tea leaves dried only in the Hiron Empire.

Sepia had been accustomed to this red tea since her childhood.

And even after becoming the Empress of another empire, she continued to import this tea from the Hiron Empire.

‘How does he know about this?’

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that only Sepia enjoyed this tea in the Hiron Empire.

The Hironese probably didn’t even know such tea existed, and, more importantly, it didn’t suit their taste.