“You asked me what the exact date is today. You even asked what year it is in the Imperial calendar.”

“He asked about the date?”

Riena questioned carefully, not understanding Cassel’s actions. Chester nodded his head.

“Yes. At the time, I asked if you were alright and said I would call a doctor, but you didn’t answer and only asked those questions. It was unlike you, so I remember it clearly.”

“So what happened?”

“I told you the date. You seemed to be calculating something, then soon said that time was running out.”

“Running out? Why did he say time was running out?”

Chester shook his head.

“I don’t know that much. It wasn’t a question I could dare to ask, and there wasn’t time anyway. You hurriedly prepared to go out.”

“……”

“After that, you left a message for me and the other Winkler castle servants to go to the capital, and left the territory alone with Sir Dean. There was no way to know where you were going or what you were going to do. Even the head butler didn’t know.”

Chester and Amy don’t know, but Riena knows what happened after that.

The two people who moved from the Winkler territory to near the Dyke territory by magic portal ran non-stop through the fierce rain towards the Dyke mansion.

On the way, they met Riena who was fleeing to the Berna territory, saved her from crisis, and even proposed to her.

‘Still, nothing is clearly resolved.’

Riena had been curious about what happened before Cassel came looking for her.

She thought that if she knew what was discussed in the Winkler territory, the clue would be solved.

But instead of resolving her curiosity, it became even more of a mystery.

Riena lightly waved her hand at Chester and Amy who were watching her.

“Thank you for telling me. You can go now. I have something to think about alone.”

“I understand.”

Chester, who was about to turn and leave, stopped with a small “Ah.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know if this is related, but…”

“Anything is fine, so if there’s something on your mind, can you tell me?”

Chester turned his body back towards Riena.

“On that day, it seemed that you were not only having a nightmare, but also feeling unwell.”

“…?”

“As if you had pain near your heart, you were clutching your left chest and swallowing the pain…”

“Left chest?”

Suddenly, the wound Riena had seen on Cassel not long ago came to her mind.

Coincidentally, the left chest covering the heart had a scar that looked like it had been stabbed by something.

That reddish one that hadn’t been there for long.

Cassel said it had been there since he was born, so there was no need to worry, and in fact, he showed no signs of pain when Riena touched it.

So Riena didn’t make an issue of it afterwards.

‘But he was in pain?’

Was that a real scar, contrary to Cassel’s explanation? Did he just endure the pain when Riena touched that area?

“So what happened?”

“When you came out after finishing preparations to go out, there was no sign of pain at all, so I thought it was nothing.”

“I see. He hasn’t seen a doctor since returning to the capital either?”

“Not that I know of.”

“I see.”

Certainly, Cassel hadn’t shown any signs of being in pain since meeting Riena.

So it could be dismissed as momentary pain from the shock of having a nightmare at the time.

But it kept bothering her.

Riena thought for a moment and asked.

“Chester, have you ever helped Cass dress?”

“You rarely receive help with dressing or bathing, so it’s happened only a handful of times.”

“Then…”

“…?”

“No, it’s okay. You can go now.”

Riena was about to ask Chester if he knew anything about the red scar left on Cassel’s body, but didn’t.

After Chester and Amy left, she was lost in thought.

‘What on earth happened?’

Given Cassel’s thorough and meticulous personality, it was hard to understand that he asked his attendant about the date in such a disheveled state.

She thought he would always be aware of the date.

‘And he even asked about the Imperial calendar? That’s really strange.’

And what about the pain in his left chest?

It was full of unknowns. Even if Riena pestered Cassel, he probably wouldn’t answer.

Riena sat in a chair, repeating thoughts over and over. But no clues emerged.

Cassel returned home late that evening. Riena had finished dinner with Noah earlier and was waiting for him.

“Ria.”

The door connecting their rooms opened and Cassel entered. He walked over hurriedly and hugged Riena tightly.

Sighing in relief, he quickly looked her up and down.

He gave no explanation, but Riena noticed that he was carefully checking to see if there were any swellings or scratches on her face, or any bruises on her arms and legs.

“I’m fine. Nothing happened. Really. Want to see?”

Only after Riena spun around in place did Cassel speak.

“I heard the Countess Dyke came to see you.”

“Yes, that’s right. I was going to tell you…”

She was about to say that the Countess had made a meaningful remark before leaving, but Cassel interrupted first and asked.

“What did the Countess do this time?”

“She didn’t do anything. Really.”

Riena tried to calm him down, but Cassel didn’t seem to regain his composure easily.

“Dyke clearly told people not to let anyone in, but it seems they completely ignored what I said. I won’t let this slide.”

“If you won’t let it slide?”

“I’ll reprimand those involved…”

“Wait, Cass. Calm down. Nothing really happened, so you don’t need to get angry.”

Riena took him, still breathing roughly, and sat him on the sofa.

“I said I would meet Mother. So there’s no need to reprimand anyone.”

“The very fact that they conveyed the situation to you is a problem.”

“I asked in advance. I told them to let me know if there was any contact from Mother.”

“Why on earth did you…”

“There are still things to be resolved with the Dykes, right?”

Riena patted the back of his hand, where veins were clearly visible, to calm him down.

“Sending Mother, Bianca, and Aaron back to the Dykes is my job to do.”

“That was something I was going to handle.”

“No, I didn’t want to leave that up to you.”

Seeing Cassel’s expression subtly distort, Riena quickly added.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you or can’t rely on you, but literally because it’s my job. I told you last time. I was pathetic and ashamed that I couldn’t solve one thing on my own.”

“That’s…”

“Of course, I know now that it’s not something to be so ashamed of thanks to you. But I wanted to solve it myself.”

Only then did Cassel seem to calm down a bit. Riena waited quietly until he fully regained his reason.

Having sorted out his breathing and expression at some point, he asked calmly.

“What did the Countess come for? Seeing her usual conduct, I don’t think she would have meekly agreed to return to the Dyke lands.”

Riena smiled bitterly. She wanted to deny it, but what he said was true.

“For now, she came to tell me about Aaron’s condition. That he’s much better so don’t worry.”

“I’m already getting reports on Aaron’s condition through the attending physician, aren’t I?”

“Well, I guess she still wanted to tell me in person. She seemed to want to express her gratitude too.”

Riena trailed off, organizing her thoughts.

‘What should I talk about first?’

There was a lot she wanted to talk about with Cassel.

Like the secret he’s hiding, the questionable death of the previous Count Dyke, or the matter with Johannes that the Countess mentioned.

After deliberating, Riena decided to first bring up the conversation she had with Chester.

She felt that if she talked about what she discussed with Countess Dyke, especially if she brought up the topic of Johannes, the opportunity to have a calm conversation with Cassel would disappear.

If the Cassel Winkler she knows heard the story about Johannes Belliard, he would surely leave the room to handle the matter right away.

“Cass.”

She reached out carefully and fiddled with his shirt. Pretending to fiddle with the buttons, she moved her hand and felt above his left chest.

Although hidden by the shirt, she had seen it a few times, so she could roughly trace where the wound was with her fingertips.

As if realizing that Riena was concerned about his wound, Cassel carefully took her white hand and kissed her fingertips.

It was as if to say, “I told you there’s no need to worry.”

“Before you came to find me, I asked Amy or the other attendants what you were doing.”

“…Before you came to find me?”

“Yes. I was wondering what state of mind you came to find me in, why you suddenly made that decision. I’m sorry if it felt like I was investigating. That wasn’t my intention, it just came up in casual conversation.”

“……”

Riena swallowed dryly and spoke again.

“There’s something I want to ask, but I want to hear it from you first.”

Riena looked up at him, still holding her fingertips to his lips.

“Is there anything you haven’t told me yet?”