It seemed that he realized he was not wearing a mask on his face just as I was surprised to see his face.

When he was touching his face with a stiff expression.

Swiftly

I turned my body and shouted with my eyes tightly closed.

“I didn’t see anything!”

A moment of silence passed.

I couldn’t see his face because I had turned around first, but soon after, I heard him laugh softly.

“If you say that, anyone listening might think you saw something?”

“No, it’s really too dark to see well. That’s why I fell into the creek……”

I was fumblingly making excuses when the water rippled. Despite my not moving, there were waves rippling from behind me.

Soon after, I felt Decain approaching me.

“Did you really not see anything?”

It was a dark and quiet forest. Decain’s whispering voice sounded secretive, as if whispering in my ear.

I felt like I shouldn’t be honest. But I didn’t want to lie.

I unconsciously put a hand to my forehead and responded quietly.

“It’s so dark that I don’t know what I saw. But even if I did see something, I won’t remember it, so don’t worry.”

That was the best response I could give. I hoped that this could quietly smooth over the fact that I had seen Decain’s face.

But there was no response to my words from Decain.

Just when I was starting to wonder, I heard his voice, softer than before.

“Are you worried that I’ll make you take responsibility or something?”

“What?”

“Merchants are commoners, right? Even if you run the top of Eghteion, if you don’t have a title, you’re a lowly commoner. Are you worried I’ll tear something from you?”

It was a sharp comment unlike Decain.

I knew the content of the original novel, so I tried to avoid this situation, but it seemed like he misunderstood my attitude.

“What are you talking about? I thought it was so romantic when you said you’d only show your face to the woman you love, I thought I shouldn’t see it.”

“…What?”

“Can I see your face?”

Again, there was no response from Decain.

Wondering if I had unintentionally hurt him, I opened my mouth first.

“You always hide your face with a mask, so I thought it was a very important thing, wasn’t it?”

“…It’s a filthy rule of the Eghteion top. As the son of the top’s owner, I can’t openly break it, so I wear a mask in public, but that’s it. It’s just to avoid getting caught.”

I didn’t know that Decain was wearing a mask because he was conscious of other people’s gazes.

In the novel “The Beloved Saintess”, the scene where Decain takes off his mask and shows his face to Noksia was so cool that I unconsciously attributed a great significance to it.

“What, was it something like that?”

There was no one around this valley.

As there were only Decain and me, if we both kept our mouths shut about seeing each other’s faces, there would be no problem.

Smoothly, I turned my head to look at Decain standing behind me.

Although I had seen it earlier, seeing Decain’s beautiful face up close again, it was even more vivid.

His wet hair and face were reflected in the moonlight, making him seem somewhat dreamlike. He had a figure that suited the phrase “exceptionally beautiful despite being a man,” with lines as delicate as a woman’s.

“You have a pretty face. It’s a shame to hide it with a mask.”

At my words, Decain’s face seemed to redden. But it was a dark night, so I couldn’t be sure if I was seeing correctly.

“…That doesn’t mean I wanted you to see my face.”

“What? You said it was like a rule you don’t really need to stick to.”

“That’s because you reacted so negatively. I was hurt in the moment.”

What, what?

I was so dumbfounded that I involuntarily opened my mouth and stared at Decain.

Seeing my surprised look, Decain narrowed his eyes and laughed. Only then did I realize he was joking.

“You, really!”

I splashed water from the valley at Decain in frustration.

Decain chuckled and covered his face with both hands to block the water.

“Ah, we’re friends, right? Can’t I play a joke?”

“Just once, just once! You startled me.”

After splashing water for a while, I suddenly remembered that Decain was not wearing anything.

I stopped splashing water and asked Decain, who I was looking at.

“But what were you doing here?”

“Don’t you know when you see? I’m bathing.”

“Bathing? Why in a place like this…”

“Your laboratory’s shower facilities are woefully inadequate. Especially, there’s no space for a man to shower alone. As you may know, it’s inconvenient for me because of my mask. Well, I also enjoy bathing outdoors.”

Piecing together Duke Pieren’s words, I realized something. I had been so surprised to see his face that I temporarily forgot the detail.

He wasn’t only shirtless as I saw. He was nude under the water that was unseen.

“What a maniac…!”

Unintentionally, I muttered a curse and got out of the stream.

I don’t know if Duke Pieren heard my words, but he looked at me in surprise.

“Did you know how to say such a thing?”

“Who in the world doesn’t know how to curse? Everyone just lives without doing it. Besides, you should have told me sooner in that condition. It’s embarrassing.”