131. You want me too.

Roselia was aboard a ship of the Benuve Merchant Guild, inspecting the artworks to be traded with the Bellog Guild.

Bellog, meanwhile, was beside her, explaining Benuve’s artworks to Hyun.

“Marquis! There’s something on the list that’s missing!”

At the sailor’s words, Bellog, who had been passionately explaining to Hyun, turned his head in surprise.

“Uh… Please wait just a moment. I’ll be right back.”

With that, Bellog hurriedly disembarked from the ship.

Left alone with Hyun by chance, Roselia glanced sideways at him.

He simply stared out at the sea with a blank expression, unreadable as ever.

Roselia cautiously approached him and cleared her throat.

“I’m sorry for misunderstanding you before.”

At her apology, Hyun looked at her with a puzzled expression.

Seeing that he didn’t seem to recall, Roselia cleared her throat again.

“Um… At the hotel. I didn’t know you were part of the delegation…”

At her words, Hyun turned back to the sea and responded indifferently.

“No need to worry. I forgot about it too.”

How embarrassing…

In the end, she gave up trying to continue the conversation and turned to look at the sea as well.

Then suddenly, she remembered what Hyun had told her before the coronation accident.

“It would be better if you didn’t attend the banquet after the coronation.”

“A word of advice from a benefactor. I hope you take it to heart…”

It had sounded as if he knew something would happen to her in advance.

She vaguely recalled Eva once saying that there were people in Zelos who could see the future.

Surely not…

Still hesitant, Roselia cautiously spoke up.

“On the day of the coronation… did you know something was going to happen to me?”

At her direct question, Hyun slowly turned his head from where he had been gazing at the sea.

He looked into Roselia’s green eyes and replied calmly.

“Yes.”

His dark eyes, dry and emotionless, left Roselia stunned.

It didn’t seem like he was lying.

Staring at him in a daze, at a loss for words, Roselia found herself asking another question.

“Can you… see even further into the future?”

The question slipped out before she realized it, and she bit her lip.

What was it that she wanted to hear?

That she wouldn’t die?

That she would live a happy future with Klaus?

Even though she had asked the question herself, she clenched her fists tightly, afraid of what he might say.

Hyun, who had been quietly looking down at her, turned back to the sea and spoke again.

“I can’t.”

At his unexpectedly simple answer, Roselia looked up in confusion.

“Oh… So you can’t see far into the future?”

After a brief silence, Hyun added in a calm voice.

“It’s more accurate to say that I can’t see your distant future.”

Roselia looked at him, puzzled by his cryptic words.

“What do you mean by that…?”

But before she could finish, Bellog—having finished sorting out the merchant affairs—approached them.

“Haha! Well, that was just a small mix-up. Things don’t move along without me, it seems.”

As he spoke, Bellog sensed the awkward air between Roselia and Hyun and asked curiously,

“Did something happen?”

“Ah… No, nothing.”

Roselia replied with an awkward smile, and quickly changed the subject. Bellog, unfazed, launched into a boastful explanation about the artworks for the current trade.

“By the way, the goods you delivered from Zelos this time were incredible! But… as far as I know, there’s no ship capable of crossing the Western Sea yet. How did you manage to bring them over?”

At Bellog’s curious tone, Hyun replied flatly,

“We retrieved them from a sunken Zelos ship.”

“W-what?”

In other words, they hadn’t brought the goods across—but had instead salvaged them from a wreck.

“There must be dozens of ships from Zelos that sank trying to cross the sea. Just retrieving and delivering those is already a huge help to this business.”

Even if he made it sound simple, the fact was that most of the sunken Zelos ships were near the sea boundary, making it a life-risking task.

Bellog and Roselia looked stunned, staring at Hyun who spoke so casually about such a dangerous undertaking.

“Haha… Zelos really is something. Salvaging goods from sunken ships—you must be using magic or something! Haha!”

Even Bellog’s joke didn’t stir Hyun’s expression. He simply stared back in silence.

The awkward tension returned, and Bellog quickly changed the topic.

“A-anyway, if Zelos joins this merchant venture, it would be an enormous help. What do you think, Miss Roselia?”

Though the trade between guilds would be handled by Bellog, the actual business support came from the House of Euciliod, represented by Roselia—so her opinion mattered.

Roselia quietly turned to look at Hyun, recalling how recently Zelos goods had begun appearing among merchants’ stock, boosting trade.

Even the nobles were lining up to get a glimpse of Zelos products—what more needed to be said?

If Zelos joined the trade, it would be a welcome development with open arms.

But despite what her mind told her, a part of her heart remained suspicious.

Why was Zelos, which had shown no interest in other continents until now, suddenly reaching out?

Especially this man, Hyun—the representative of the delegation—was practically the face of Zelos.

Was he really getting involved in a foreign continent’s merchant business just like that?

Roselia scrutinized Hyun, suspicious.

But with his stoic face turned toward the sea, she couldn’t read a single thing.

If Klaus maintained a cold aura with a poker face, then Hyun was a man whose emotions were unreadable—like staring into a black veil.

After some thought, Roselia reached the realistic conclusion that there was no reason to reject the offer.

“If Zelos is stepping in, it’ll certainly help the business. I support it as well.”

At her words, Bellog’s face lit up.

After being stuck for another thirty minutes listening to Bellog excitedly boast about various goods, Roselia was finally able to disembark from the ship.

Just as she stepped off the Benuve merchant ship and entered the port, a familiar figure caught her eye.

Klaus.

Only then did the memory of the night a few days ago come flooding back, making Roselia blush and quickly avert her gaze.

At that moment, Bellog and Hyun came up beside her.

“Well, I have to go check out another ship now. You two take your time and look around.”

To Bellog’s cheerful words, Roselia nodded slightly, trying to ignore Klaus’s piercing stare.

And then, Klaus was confidently walking up to her.

Not knowing how to face him, Roselia kept her head down and stood frozen.

Though she had come to terms with her feelings for him, that didn’t mean all the complications had vanished.

Just as regret over the impulsiveness of that night began to creep in, Klaus came to a stop in front of her, as if reading her thoughts, and spoke.

“Why are you avoiding me again?”

His cold voice made Roselia answer with forced calm.

“I’m not avoiding you.”

But even as she said it, her refusal to meet his eyes made Klaus frown sharply.

He then turned his furrowed gaze toward Hyun, who stood silently watching, and gave a brief nod.

Outwardly a polite gesture, but clearly a signal to give them privacy.

Hyun, unfazed, gave a casual bow and stepped away.

Once Hyun had left, Klaus turned his eyes back to Roselia.

“Let’s talk.”

Even though his voice was softened, Roselia stiffly replied without looking at him.

“As you can see, I’m quite busy with business matters. Sorry, but let’s talk another time…”

She tried to pass by him, but Klaus caught her wrist and stopped her.

“It’ll only take a moment.”

As he pulled her along, not harshly but firmly enough that she couldn’t break free, Roselia looked startled.

Klaus led her to a relatively quiet spot before finally releasing her wrist and looking straight at her.

“If you’re not avoiding me, then why won’t you look at me?”

Roselia bit her lip and finally met his eyes.

“What is it you want to say?”

Pretending as if the night they shared never happened—like it was just a dream—Roselia’s behavior made Klaus’s brows twitch slightly.

He took a deep breath, trying not to push her too hard, and spoke as calmly as he could.

“Roselia… that night, I thought you were finally opening your heart to me.”

His voice, calm yet full of emotion, made her stay silent all the more.

Klaus’s gaze wavered with growing unease as he looked at her.

“Didn’t you feel the same as I did? That’s what I believed.”

Roselia barely managed to part her lips, her voice coming out in a whisper.

“It’s not the same.”

Her cold tone, feigned or not, made Klaus’s expression darken.

“Don’t lie to me. That night, you wanted me—just as desperately as I wanted you.”

“…That was then.”

“What…?”

The implication that it was just a fleeting feeling crushed Klaus’s expression again.

Roselia looked directly at him, her voice steady.

“I felt sorry for you… for getting hurt while trying to protect me. Maybe… it was just sympathy.”

At the word sympathy, Klaus’s shoulders visibly stiffened.

Noticing the effect, Roselia pressed on even more mercilessly.

“The Duke of Valtazar begged to serve as a mere servant if I asked. Maybe I was touched. And you even put your body on the line for me… I’m human too—I couldn’t help but soften.”

“Roselia.”

Even as Klaus growled her name, Roselia didn’t stop.

She had to end this.

A fleeting emotion wasn’t worth risking danger to him and others.

“I’ll be honest. Yes. I was moved that night. We… we match well physically, after all.”

Her voice, detached and cutting, left Klaus frozen.

Roselia looked at his stunned expression and drove the final nail.

“But that’s all. So I hope you don’t misunderstand.”

With those words, she turned coldly to walk away.

But before she could take another step, a strong pair of arms pulled her back and locked her in place.

Wrapped tightly in Klaus’s arms, Roselia couldn’t move at all.

Klaus leaned his head down over her shoulder, his chest heaving with ragged breaths.

She didn’t know whether it was rage or something else, but the breath on her neck sent a shiver down her spine.

“Don’t lie, Roselia.”

His voice, cracked and broken, spilled across her shoulder.

“You’re saying what we felt that night was just sympathy?”

His arms tightened around her.

“Goddamn it… I’m still drowning in that night like a madman, and you tell me not to misunderstand?”

His arms, which held her so tightly, were trembling now.

As if he was afraid she might vanish, he clung to her in utter confusion, and something inside her ached.

Sensing her turmoil, Klaus murmured into her shoulder.

“Don’t give me that crap. I could tell, even if it’s not as much as I love you… you wanted me too. That night made it clear.”