Roseline gasped as she woke up. Her body didn’t feel heavy, and her senses returned to normal, too. Like her consciousness had gone away for a moment and come back.

This time it was different.

In fact, the scene wasn’t different at all, but she had heard a young boy’s voice. Though she didn’t know who it was.

Whose voice was that?

No one came to mind. It was said that the faces of the people you see in dreams were made by combining the faces of countless people who you have seen in your life, but was this also the case for voices?

Suddenly, there was a knock from the other side of the door. It was much faster and rhythmical than the normal way maids knocked. Was it the Grand Duke visiting her room? Roseline bolted toward the door.

“Your Excellency?”

“Oh, I’m sorry to disturb you, My Lady. I came to check on your condition.” The person seen through the crack in the door was Heinz. “I came to change your bandage.”

Damien, who stuck his head out from behind him, greeted her with a nod.

“May we come in?”

“Oh, yes. Of course.”

It appeared strange to let them in since it wasn’t her room, but since they’d asked for her understanding, she had no choice but to answer. Thankfully she was just in her inside clothes, so there was no reason for her to change. Her clothes were noticeably wrinkle-free and her hair natural for having woken up after a nap.

“Please sit, Lady Crimson Rose.”

Roseline sat awkwardly when Heinz pulled over a single-person couch from the middle of the living room. She felt weird because it had been such a long time since she has encountered such gentleman-like behavior. Was it the first time since she’d broken off her engagement with her previous lover?

When she took a seat Damien placed the medical supplies on the table and sat diagonally on the long sofa. Heinz sat away at a distance, as he was not a doctor.

“The wound is almost healed.”

“I see. It doesn’t hurt, it must have healed right away ”

Damien looked surprised. Though it wasn’t that deep of a wound, he hadn’t expected it to heal so quickly.

“Do your wounds normally heal this quickly, My Lady?”

“Not really… I guess it did because I ate and rested well.”

Of course, it was important to rest. However, this meant that if she hadn’t rested properly the wound would have gotten infected or healed slowly. Was it better because she had rested enough? Damien rolled his ash-colored eyes.

“His Excellency also heals remarkably fast.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It takes him two days to recover from an injury that would normally require him to rest in bed for a month. I must say his regenerative powers are out of this world. I’ve always wanted to research it, but it isn’t my business, so I can not ask him.”

This was his way of telling Roseline that he wanted to ask her. She thought about it for a moment but pretended not to hear him.

“I wondered if there was someone else with that kind of physical feature, but I didn’t know you had it. Is that why His Excellency asked you to come here?”

“…you know why he brought me here?” Roseline asked.

Heinz nudged Damien’s side before he could reply to her question.

“Ow!”

“My apologies. Lady Crimson Rose. We can’t babble about what His Excellency has said.”

“But he hasn’t returned since the interrogation that day. It was nerve-wracking spending the last few days trapped in this room.”

Actually, it was only frustrating, but Roseline decided to make a big fuss about it. As expected, Heinz’s expression was slightly disturbed by the word ‘nerve-wracking’. The look in his eyes, Damien, who couldn’t hide his expression, darkened.

“Ahem… Lady Crimson Rose. Do you know that this is a very dangerous situation?”

It must be a serious situation because the Grand Duke had pocketed the criminal that the empress had ordered to arrest. Even the Grand Duke could face treason charges. Of course, if the imperial family and Grand Duke were at odds, the empire would be divided into two, so it wouldn’t go that far.

“Actually, the day you arrived at the villa Her Highness’s person came.”

It was good not to reveal that it was Count Wiegelhofen. Heinz mulled it over and quickly drew the line to how far he could speak with arbitrary judgment.

“Is he the one who came to catch me?” inquired Roseline.

“Please don’t worry. His Excellency sent him back.”

“Then you’ll be in an awkward position. There is no justification.”

Even if it was a charge, the Empress had a reason to catch Roseline.  But the Grand Duke had no justification to oppose it.

“So, he visited the Emperor.”

“What? How come?”

“…must have been to save you, Lady Crimson Rose.”

Why?

* * *

At that time, Melchor was having a private consultation with the Emperor alone.

“Melchor.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I don’t remember hearing the news that you have a fiance.”

Right, because it’s my first time talking about it.

Melchor spoke nonchalantly.

“My apologies, Your Highness. In the meantime, there was a reason to have to keep my marriage a secret.”