111. A Kiss Borrowed from the Alcohol

At his meaningful words, Roselia glanced briefly at Klaus.

Klaus, staring at her intently as if to pierce through her, made her turn her gaze away again.

Noticing the heavy atmosphere between them, Eva looked between Roselia and Klaus, confused.

“Are you two on good terms or bad?”

“Bad!”

“More on the good side.”

Both Roselia and Klaus spoke at the same time, causing Eva to look at them in bemusement.

Just then, a different server brought over the beer and potato stew Klaus had ordered.

Roselia raised an eyebrow when it wasn’t Nora but another server bringing the food. She glanced around, slightly puzzled.

Eva, covering her mouth with her hand, whispered softly,

“It seems like Nora is getting scolded by the owner in the kitchen.”

Eva’s words weighed heavily on Roselia’s heart.

But stepping in further might be too much for Nora to handle.

If Nora was indeed a woman of the bloodline, the most definitive way to find out would be to bring her to Johannes. But forcing her would be wrong.

The rest would have to depend on Nora’s decision.

With that thought, Roselia took a sip of the beer placed on the table.

After drinking expensive wine for so long, the sharp taste of the beer felt unusually refreshing.

Despite Klaus’s unwavering gaze on her, the beer itself wasn’t bad at all.

* * *

Roselia, who had never thought she’d be affected by beer despite drinking plenty of wine, found herself feeling dizzy after just one glass.

Dizzy, she had to rely on Eva’s support to leave the tavern.

“I’ll just pay quickly. Please watch over the young master for a moment,” Eva said, giving an awkward smile as she seated Roselia on an empty barrel outside the tavern and then disappeared inside.

“Is she okay? I didn’t think she’d be this sensitive to alcohol…”

Her mind was clear, but the world felt like it was spinning around her.

“I’m not drunk…”

Roselia muttered, but as she tried to stand, her ankle twisted, and she almost fell to the ground.

Klaus was quick to catch her, preventing her from hitting the floor.

Flustered, Roselia pushed away Klaus’s arm around her waist and sat back down on the barrel.

“I’m… fine. Please, just go.”

At her words, Klaus’s brow furrowed in displeasure.

“Are you telling me to leave a drunk woman outside the tavern?”

“I’m a man now, aren’t I?”

Roselia responded bluntly, and Klaus stared down at her, his gaze intense.

“In my eyes, you’re a woman.”

Suddenly, without realizing it, Roselia’s eyes met Klaus’s.

His gaze, as he looked down at her under the moonlit night sky, was so piercing it felt as if it could see right through her.

Unable to break away from his gaze, Roselia lowered her head and mumbled under her breath,

“If I didn’t have the scent, would you still be attracted to me?”

“What?”

Klaus asked, not hearing her clearly.

“It’s like pheromones… the scent of the bloodline… It’s something you’re instinctively drawn to…”

The way Klaus had been staring at Nora earlier kept circling in Roselia’s mind.

Perhaps it was the alcohol, but her true thoughts, ones she would never normally voice, slipped out. She bit her lip, trying to stop herself.

What if she had been drawn to the scent? What did it matter?

After all, they were not meant to be together in any way.

“It’s just a thought. If that’s the case, then you chasing after me must be because of the pheromones too. Maybe you should snap out of it,” Roselia said, trying to dismiss the matter.

At her words, Klaus ran a hand through his hair in frustration and responded coldly.

“So, you think that Nora, the waitress, is a woman of the bloodline?”

He clearly had noticed Roselia’s focus on Nora’s scent. He couldn’t just pretend otherwise.

Roselia, feeling a bit irritated by Klaus’s comment, stayed silent.

Suddenly, Klaus placed his hand on the barrel Roselia was sitting on and leaned down.

In an instant, Roselia found herself surrounded by Klaus’s arms. As she looked up, his face was so close she could feel his breath against her skin.

At Klaus’s meaningful words, Roselia instinctively turned her gaze away.

Ignoring her reaction, Klaus slowly lowered his head toward her shoulder.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of scent another woman gives off.”

Roselia could almost feel a shiver run through her neck as his breath brushed against her.

His low voice, almost at her ear, made her freeze, and then, with his lips still close, he whispered,

“I only respond to your scent, Roselia.”

Klaus took a deep breath as he spoke.

“Just like now.”

His lips gently brushed her neck, like a feather’s touch.

Only then did Roselia realize that the scent she had been controlling had now fully opened due to the alcohol. Her face flushed in embarrassment.

She hadn’t wanted Klaus to notice the scent she was giving off!

In a panic, Roselia tried to push him away, but Klaus had already gripped her wrist firmly.

Startled, she looked up at him, and Klaus smiled softly, his lips curving up.

“You’re finally letting me smell it, your scent.”

His dark blue eyes were filled with complex emotions—longing, yearning, relief, and even sadness.

Looking into those eyes, Roselia felt paralyzed, unable to move.

Before she knew it, Klaus’s lips were slowly drawn toward hers, as if pulled by a magnetic force.

She could have pushed him away if she wanted to, but strangely, once she saw the emotion in his gaze, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Maybe… maybe it was the alcohol that made her feel this way.

That’s what she convinced herself.

And as she looked at Klaus’s hair, shimmering in the moonlight, she slowly closed her eyes.

It wasn’t the urgent kiss driven by desire, but a soft and affectionate one—a kiss that felt both sad and tender.

It was like meeting a long-forgotten lover, and it made her heart ache, her eyes burn.

Perhaps Klaus felt the same, as his embrace tightened around her waist in a way that was both cautious and full of longing.

For that brief moment, Roselia wanted to forget everything—their situation, the original story, and even their future—just to follow her heart.

The noise of the tavern seemed to vanish completely, as if they were the only two people left in the world.

If only… if only that were true…

If they could just forget everything—their deaths, the people and situations surrounding them.

The softness of Klaus’s kiss made tears well up in her eyes, but that fleeting moment was shattered when the sound of the tavern door opening suddenly broke through.

Noticing Roselia’s stiffened reaction, Klaus pulled away reluctantly.

He then gently wiped her lips with his thumb, as if brushing away the lingering sensation of their kiss.

Looking down at her with a bittersweet expression, Klaus stood up.

“Ugh~ The owner made a mistake with the bill and started arguing. What a mess.”

Eva, having approached without any sense of urgency, looked at Roselia, who was still bent over, and raised an eyebrow.

“Uh… you can’t sleep here.”

Roselia barely managed to croak out, her voice still thick with the lingering emotions.

“I’m not sleeping, Eva.”

“You scared me! You’ll mess up your face if you sleep in a place like this. Wait a moment. I’ll get the carriage quickly!”

As Eva spoke, the familiar sound of a carriage pulling up in front of them echoed.

It was the carriage from Valtazar Hotel.

Impressed by Klaus’s preparedness, Eva opened her mouth in awe as Klaus, without a word, opened the carriage door and said bluntly,

“Get in.”

* * *

Eva swallowed nervously, sensing the unusual tension between Roselia and Klaus.

It could have just been a lack of conversation due to exhaustion, but the atmosphere was strangely tense. It felt as though she were an outsider in a space that only the two of them occupied…

Uncomfortably squirming in her seat, Eva fidgeted while the carriage continued its journey to the House of Euciliod.

Once the carriage stopped, Eva quickly opened the door, breathing a sigh of relief, and stepped out.

However, she froze when she saw the House of Euciliod’s master standing at the entrance like a sentinel.

L-lord…?”

Johannes was glaring at the Valtazar carriage with a stern expression. His gaze soon shifted to Roselia as she stepped out of the carriage, and his frown deepened when he noticed how disoriented she looked.

His eyes narrowed further when Klaus also exited the carriage, and he marched toward them with an uncharacteristically swift step.

Eva, now flustered, hurried to help Roselia and bowed her head deeply.

“What happened, Eva? I trusted you with this,” Johannes said, his voice cold.

Eva, her voice barely audible, replied, “It’s… It’s…”

“It’s not Eva’s fault. I insisted on staying longer to look around the port,” Roselia calmly interrupted, seeming less affected by the alcohol now.

But Johannes’s keen observation couldn’t be avoided.

“Did you drink?”

Roselia quickly raised her hand to cover her mouth, and Johannes’s sharp gaze shifted to Klaus.

“So, the Duke accompanied you?”

His voice seemed to hold an accusatory tone, but Klaus remained nonchalant as he lowered his head slightly.

“My judgment was poor. Please don’t blame Roselia or her maid…”

Klaus’s defense of Roselia and Eva only seemed to fuel Johannes’s anger.

“Do you know what kind of situation Roselia is in, in this empire, and you let her drink?”

Johannes’s reprimand made Klaus, who had been standing so firmly, lower his head slowly.

“The Duke is right, Roselia is already walking on thin ice. Now you’re practically pushing her under the ice,” Johannes continued.

“I’m sorry, Marquess, Klaus said, his usual stiffness softened as he bowed his head in an unusually humble manner.

Roselia was taken aback by the unexpected tone of Klaus’s apology. From their previous encounters in Rugbeljet, where Johannes had treated him as an intruder in his territory, it was strange to see his attitude shift so dramatically.

“It’s all my fault. Please don’t scold Roselia,” Klaus said, bowing even further.

The proud Duke of Valtazar had become so humble in his defense of Roselia that even the House of Euciliod’s master lowered his guard slightly.

“Enough. Go back,” Johannes commanded, his voice harsh.

Klaus merely nodded respectfully and stayed silent, standing there with a look of distaste.

The House of Euciliod’s master, still displeased, turned and began walking with Roselia.

As they walked toward the house, Roselia glanced back, her gaze briefly meeting Klaus’s.

Startled, she quickly turned away and followed Johannes into the house.

Klaus remained standing at the entrance, his eyes fixed on Roselia’s retreating figure, watching her until they were out of sight.

 

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