Rosenia didn’t know why, but the maids looked at Llewellyn with flustered expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

She tilted her head, wondering why the maids were so shocked, but before she had any time to realize it, Llewellyn was in front of her. Looming, looking down from his height.

He was a very tall man, so she had to lift and raise her head to see his face. When their eyes met, his emerald eyes curved like crescent moons.

“You took a bath.”

“Oh, yes … My body was dirty from all that dust earlier during the fight.”

“It smells like lilac.”

“That, Duke …”

He held a handful of her hair in his hand and breathed in its scent, while Rosenia stared at him feeling embarrassed. Adrian might also be watching them right now.

Rosenia tentatively glanced towards the mirror, only to see Adrian seething with feral air that resembled a demon king from hell.

‘Hic…’

‘This-this isn’t the time to be doing this!’ Rosenia distanced herself from Llewellyn by taking two steps in retreat. Llewellyn raised one of his eyebrows and advanced to match her. She retreated again and shook her head with a determined look on her face.

Seeing her keep on glancing at the mirror, Llewellyn also looked at the mirror with a sidelong glance, and muttered an “Ah,” as if he had just noticed.

He slowly turned around and faced the mirror in a stiff posture without hesitation. However, on his face was plastered a smile crooked enough to provocate his opponents.

‘Please, don’t provoke Adrian!’

She gave Llewellyn a look while also giving him a tight pinch on his sides. Llewellyn flinched and returned a coy look. She blinked her eyes, apparently dazed. ‘What is this…?’

‘Why are you being coy?’

‘Don’t tell me you’re misunderstanding me pinching your side as skinship …’ Rosenia hoped Llewellyn understood her intentions, and impatiently looked at him and Adrian alternately.

Llewellyn and Adrian quietly stared at each other for a while. Then after a long silence, it was Llewellyn who first opened his mouth.

“Adrian Hill.”

“…”

“I invite you and Cloud Hill to the Castle of Rasiane Duchy.”

‘What…?!’

Rosenia stared at Llewellyn with her mouth agape in astonishment. Llewellyn grinned when their eyes met. He had a perfectly calm look on his face.

‘You want to invite Adrian and my father?’

It was unprecedented for the Duke of Rasiane to invite both the head and the members of the Hill family to the castle. So far, the relationship between the two families had been something along the lines of “good thing if they don’t declare war first.”

‘What on earth are you thinking?’

Rosenia blinked hurriedly and shifted her gaze towards the mirror. Just like she was wondering about it, Adrian also had a look of great bewilderment.

“Are you crazy, Duke of Rasiane?”

“Of course … I’m crazy. Would I do this if I wasn’t crazy?”

With lips raised in a sneer, Llewellyn shamelessly answered back the question that Adrian randomly threw in anger. He looked very annoying even to Rosenia who liked him. Rosenia didn’t want him to make that face in front of Adrian, who was already very angry.

Adrian burst out laughing and then smiled at him coldly. His red eyes were staring coldly at Llewellyn without an ounce of goodwill.

“If you’re going to call me and my father to talk nonsense, then I’m not going.”

“Oh, really? But …”

Llewellyn replied bitterly to Adrian’s reproach.

“Rosenia would want her family to come.”

“…?”

‘What, why are you suddenly dragging me into this?’

When Rosenia looked at Llewellyn in bewilderment, he frowned at her and signaled something with his eye. ‘Does that mean you want me to match your  words?’ It was really absurd, but Rosenia decided to join Llewellyn’s ploy for now. She didn’t know what he was thinking, but it was better than having both the Hill and the Rasiane family getting into a war.

Looking at Adrian’s eyes, Rosenia tried to make her words as plausible as she could.

“The Duke is right. I want my brother and father to come to the Duchy of Rasiane.”

“Huh…?”

“It’s better to solve this through a proper conversation than through a fight, isn’t it? I think maybe this opportunity will bring the two families together. Right, Duke?”

More and more lies kept pouring out of Rosenia’s mouth, matching Llewellyn’s previous absurd words. At her last question, Llewellyn grinned and nodded. His eyes, which stared at Adrian coldly, became extremely gentle when they turned to her.

“Just as Rosenia said, what I want is harmony, not enmity between our two families. I hope you can understand my true feelings, Adrian Hill.”

After taking in his words, Adrian clicked his tongue, as if he didn’t find the notion funny, but he didn’t act stubbornly anymore; however, he looked uncertain about what to say. Rosenia anxiously waited for Adrian’s answer.

After a while, Adrian opened his mouth.

“Good.”

“…”

“That invitation, I’ll accept it.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“Re-Really brother?”

At Adrian’s answer, Llewellyn and Rosenia both spoke at the same time. Adrian looked at her, pulling up an annoyed face, which then immediately turned into a complex look. He sighed and then said in a voice still bristling with anger.

“See you later, Rosenia Hill.”

“Hiik …”

Rosenia reflexively spat out a frightened yelp, while Adrian glared at her for a while, and then abruptly cut off the magic.

Adrian’s image in the mirror disappeared like a mirage and got replaced by the reflection of both Rosenia and Llewellyn standing side by side.

Rosenia stared at herself in the mirror, blinking her eyes dazedly, and then turned her head to face Llewellyn. He smiled at her and said, “Don’t worry, Rosenia.”

“…”

“Everything’s going to be fine.”

She had a lot to say to him but she refrained, as there were still many eyes watching them here. She swept a sweeping look towards the maids and spoke carefully.

“I’d like for us to be alone for a while.”

“…!”

Perhaps he misunderstood her, but Llewellyn looked at her with wide-open eyes and blushed. The maids were astounded when they saw Llewellyn’s face and let out a small exclamation.

‘Since earlier … the reactions of the maids have been unusual.’

‘What on earth is Llewellyn usually like…’

Rosenia looked away from the maids and faced Llewellyn again. She quietly waited for his answer, but Llewellyn didn’t say anything. He just stood there with a blushing face, not knowing what to do.

Eventually, she became frustrated and put her hand on his shoulder, repeating her words very seriously.

“I’d like us to be alone, Duke.”

“Rosenia …”

“I didn’t expect you to be this forward,” said Llewellyn.

He misunderstood her intentions, but thanks to this, the maids quickly left, leaving them both alone in the room.

“First of all, shall we sit down?”

”

“

What she meant was to sit face to face on the sofa or chair, but Llewellyn misinterpreted it and sat on the bed. Rosenia looked at him perplexedly. Llewellyn looked as shy as a new groom.

‘You really can’t make out heads from tails…’

The more she got to know him, the more she became aware of the unexpected sides of him. She initially only thought him to be a handsome and righteous duke.

Rosenia coughed a couple of times and slowly approached Llewellyn’s side. As she carefully sat next to him, he looked at her with anticipation. His long, graceful hands lay neatly on his lap.

She felt sorry for disappointing him, but the actual reason as to why she wanted them to be alone was to have a serious conversation with him. It wasn’t an appropriate time to engage in the amorous acts between lovers. She quietly avoided Llewellyn’s gaze and opened her mouth.

“Are you really going to officially send an invitation to my father and brother?”

“… Yes, I will.”

“What are you going to talk about with my father and Adrian?”

Disappointed that the situation turned out to be different from what he expected, Llewellyn’s face darkened. He looked at her with a sad expression and replied in a bleak voice.

“I will tell them that my heart is sincere towards Rosenia.”

“…”

“I will let them know that I’m surely going to marry you.”

“…”

“I will step forward and propose reconciliation between the two families.”

It was a straightforward answer. Rosenia nodded as if she had expected this, but suddenly stopped when a thought came to her mind. The thought, which had never left her mind before, kept on making her feel uncomfortable.

“Rosenia?”

“Ah … Well, I …”

Llewellyn called out her name as he noticed signs of her discomfort. Rosenia wriggled her hands on her lap and tried to open her mouth.

‘…Well, it’s not that big of a question, should I just ask him?’

She knew it wouldn’t take too much effort, so she smiled brightly and put aside her small worries. However, she couldn’t look straight into Llewellyn’s eyes and slowly opened her mouth.

“Duke, if…”

“…”

“If one day someone who can turn you into a complete divine being…”

“…”

“Just like what you did with me, with that person–”

“Rosenia.”

Before she could finish her words, Llewellyn’s cut her off. He sighed softly, slowly closed his eyes, and then opened them again. His unusual expression made Rosenia cringe back her shoulders and grip the hem of her dress. Her heart pounded unsteadily.

“The notion of anyone besides you … I …”

“…”

“I wouldn’t feel the same things that I feel when I see you.”

Llewellyn spoke in a calm voice. However, behind his curtain of steady calmness, behind those deep undulating eyes, was something dynamic and restless, threatening to break out.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what it was.

“The feeling when you see me, this …”

“Yes.”

She moved her body instinctively and leaned back. As if running away from him again. However, she could not move a single inch and she soon found herself trapped in Llewellyn’s arms.

With his hands on both her sides, he slowly leaned over and looked at her. Her heart churned, making her avoid eye contact. The air seemed to have thickened in an instant.

At last, Llewellyn whispered from such an intimate distance that she could even make out the fine lines from his irises.

“You are the only one I desire, Rosenia Hill.”