A cool breeze blew between the two people. At that moment, the scent of roses carried by the gentle wind tickled their noses.

Dmitri called out the longed-for name to Leah with an unbelieving face.

‘My daughter who has now returned to the earth. My Ariel.’

Leah’s red hair swayed in the wind like roses in full bloom in the garden. That wasn’t all.

Shining leaf-green eyes that seemed about to call out and run to embrace him were staring at him.

Dmitri reached out a trembling hand toward Leah.

‘Is this a dream?’

Yes, this must be a dream. Otherwise, how could his dead daughter be standing before him like this?

‘Ha.’

A deep sigh escaped through his lips.

As if certain it was a dream, Dmitri slowly closed his eyes and opened them again. His eyelids trembled like reeds swaying in the wind.

“It must be my time to die. Seeing you appear in my dream like this… Tell me, do you resent this father so much?”

“…”

“I resent myself. If only I had given you two my blessing back then, I wouldn’t have lost you so senselessly.”

The Duke of Belarus murmured quietly in a voice filled with regret. However, Leah, who had been listening silently to the Duke’s words, was quite perplexed.

She had merely spoken to him while walking in the garden, thinking the old man might be hurt.

She hesitated, unsure how to handle this situation.

‘It seems he’s mistaking me for his dead daughter…’

You’ve mistaken me for someone else.

Seeing the old man overcome with longing, Leah couldn’t bring herself to say he was confused.

‘What should I do?’

Just as Leah was pondering what to do, seeing the old man who looked like he might approach her at any moment.

“Leah.”

Leah turned at the familiar voice coming from behind.

It was Akkia.

Only when he saw Akkia drawing closer did Dmitri seem to come to his senses, his body stiffening. Hostility toward Akkia appeared on the Duke of Belarus’s face.

“Why are you…”

Dmitri had thought it was a dream when he encountered the dead Ariel.

That his daughter had come to see him because he missed her so much.

But the vivid sound of Akkia’s voice made Dmitri unable to hide his bewilderment, as it seemed too real to be a dream.

‘Could it be that this isn’t a dream?’

Belatedly, Dmitri looked at the woman standing next to Akkia.

“Duke of Belarus.”

‘What?’

Leah’s eyes widened at Akkia’s words calling out to Dmitri.

Leah had been out for a walk when she was drawn to this place, unknowingly led by the heavy scent of roses tickling her nose.

As if enchanted, she had been admiring the garden embroidered with beautiful roses when she spotted an old man. An elderly man with a dejected face, hanging his head without realizing he’d been pricked by thorns.

‘To think that old man was the Duke of Belarus.’

Leah’s gaze fell upon the Duke of Belarus. She had heard he was fierce enough to command the empire.

Yet to her eyes, he looked like nothing more than a heartbroken old man longing for his dead daughter. Belatedly realizing she had committed a discourtesy, Leah bowed deeply.

“I apologize for my rudeness, Your Grace Duke of Belarus. I am Leah, the apothecary of Duke Haidern.”

Only then realizing this was reality and not a dream, Dmitri felt dazed as if he’d been struck on the back of the head.

‘The apothecary of Duke Haidern?’

Looking at Leah again, he sensed an aura somewhat different from Ariel’s. The woman resembling Ariel looked even younger than his daughter.

‘It’s not Ariel.’

Only then did the Duke of Belarus realize he had mistaken another woman for Ariel. But it seemed strange to call it a mistake.

Could someone resemble Ariel so closely that even her father would be confused? Moreover, that vivid red hair could be considered the mark of the Belarus ducal family.

‘How strange. They look so alike.’

Only then did Dmitri’s reason awaken. Belatedly grasping the situation, he asked Leah in a trembling voice.

“…You say you’re Duke Haidern’s apothecary?”

“Yes, I’ve been terribly rude… Please forgive me.”

Commoners were not supposed to speak to nobles before being addressed. Yet she had asked if he was hurt first.

Fearing he might unleash his fury, Leah bit her lip. However, the Duke of Belarus seemed to have no intention of scolding her, merely looking her over.

“That dress…”

Dmitri’s eyes fell on the green dress of his dead Ariel. It seemed this misunderstanding occurred because she was wearing the dress his daughter used to favor.

Seeing the Duke of Belarus’s gaze on her dress, Leah hastily added:

“Ah, this was lent to me by the butler…”

“Barton?”

The dress Leah was wearing was a relic of the Belarus ducal princess.

Though it had been quite some time since Ariel’s death, her room remained largely unchanged from when she lived there.

He had maids clean it daily and care for the clothes. Because even though he saw his daughter’s death with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it.

That’s why the butler must have known how preciously he cherished his daughter’s belongings.

‘Perhaps Barton was thinking the same thing I was.’

This girl Leah resembled his dead daughter so closely. As if Ariel had come back to life.

‘Could it be, this child…’

Then the Duke of Belarus fell silent, as if lost in thought.

“Then Duke of Belarus, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

It was just as Akkia was about to withdraw with Leah.

“Wait.”

Dmitri’s subdued voice stopped the two. The gazes of the two who had turned around fell on Dmitri.

“About breakfast tomorrow. Leah should join us as well.”

“…Pardon?”

Leah’s eyes widened at the Duke of Belarus’s words inviting her to breakfast.

She wasn’t sure if it was alright for a commoner like herself to join the meal with Akkia and the Duke.

Leah looked at Akkia with an expression of not knowing what to do. Akkia seemed to share her thoughts, staring at Dmitri with a dubious expression.

“My, I’m simply suggesting we have a light meal together. The apothecary is my guest as well.”

The Duke of Belarus slightly raised the corners of his mouth at Akkia’s wary gaze.

.

.

.

“Barton, what do you think?”

Though it was late at night, Dmitri called Barton to his office as soon as he returned to the mansion. The butler Barton, who approached the desk in the office, nodded to the Duke.

“I think the same as you, Your Grace. She resembles her too closely to be mere coincidence.”

“So you think so too…”

The Duke of Belarus quietly closed his eyes. Even with his eyes closed, Leah’s image overlapped perfectly with Ariel’s in his mind.

‘Yes.’

He thought that perhaps Leah might be his granddaughter.

‘Ariel Belarus.’

She was Dmitri’s only daughter and the sole heir to the Belarus ducal family.

But who would have known? That the daughter he cherished more than his own eyes would elope with a mere guard.

And that the daughter who left home like that would return as a cold corpse. Dmitri shook his head vigorously as if recalling a terrible memory.

“Didn’t they say the child between the two had died?”

“Yes. That’s certainly what we were told.”

By the time they had scoured the entire continent to find Ariel’s whereabouts, it was already too late. His only daughter had already died from postpartum fever after giving birth.

If she was going to abandon everything and run away, she should have at least lived happily.

That guard fellow who took his daughter and ran away died not long after, and his daughter died giving birth to a child, he was told.

In the end, he held Ariel’s body that returned as a corpse in his arms and cried for days.

Because it was so unfair. She wasn’t a daughter he raised so preciously only to send off so senselessly.

At that moment, a thought flashed through Dmitri’s mind.

‘But what if the child Ariel gave birth to didn’t die?’

Once that thought occurred to Dmitri, he could no longer sit still. For the first time since Ariel’s death, the Duke of Belarus’s eyes sparkled and gleamed sharply.

“Make sure there is not the slightest negligence in preparing for tomorrow’s breakfast.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

The next morning dawned. Leah found herself unexpectedly attending breakfast with the Duke of Belarus and Akkia.

‘I’d better not make any mistakes.’

She had never been raised as a noble.

Therefore, she worried about being scolded by Dmitri for not knowing the dining etiquette of nobles.

“And to even give me such a dress.”

Leah examined her reflection in the mirror. Despite her insistent refusal, the butler Barton had lent her a dress again this time.

A dress with stunning lace embellishments.

It must surely be one of Ariel’s dresses, who had been the Duke’s daughter.

‘Is it really alright for me to wear this?’

If he kept the dead lady’s dresses, he must have cherished them terribly.

“Why are they being so kind to me?”

Tilting her head in confusion, Leah headed to the dining room. As she entered, she saw the table filled with foods she had never seen before in her life.

“If there’s anything you’d like to eat, feel free to say so.”

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

Leah smiled awkwardly and began eating. A well-done steak was served with a side of pea garnish.

She naturally pushed the peas to a corner of her plate. But somehow noticing this, Dmitri, who had been eating, suddenly asked:

“Do you perhaps dislike peas?”

“I’m allergic to legumes.”

“Allergic?”

She had only expected to be scolded for being a picky eater.

Dmitri’s eyes grew moist. Leah was utterly perplexed by Dmitri’s face, which seemed to be overreacting.

‘Why is he acting like this?’

As the meal continued, the Duke of Belarus doted on her to an uncomfortable degree.