76. Don’t spread your scent in front of other men.

With his arm propped beside her for support, Klaus gazed deeply at her, causing Roselia to blush and turn her head away.

“I-I’m sorry. I still can’t control it. I’ll try harder,” she stammered, her cheeks tinged pink as she avoided his eyes.

Klaus’s gaze grew more intense as he watched her flustered demeanor.

“There’s no need to try so hard in front of me…” he murmured softly.

Roselia looked up at him in surprise, wondering if she had misheard.

“Pardon?”

As their eyes met again, silence descended between them. His midnight blue eyes, like the night sky, seemed to ensnare her, drawing her in as though under a spell.

The only sound within the carriage was the heavy breathing of someone—whose, she couldn’t tell.

Then, the coachman’s voice broke the tension.

“We’ve arrived.”

Roselia snapped back to her senses, hastily averting her gaze as she cleared her throat.

Goodness. She hadn’t even realized the carriage had stopped.

“I-I’ll step out first,” she blurted, flustered, quickly opening the carriage door and stepping out.

As Roselia hurried away, Klaus leaned back against the carriage seat with a deep sigh, as if all energy had drained from him.

And yet, his eyes seemed irresistibly drawn back to her small, retreating figure.

Unaware of it himself, a soft curve had appeared at the corners of his lips as he watched her disappear.

* * *

The dark room, filled with mahogany furniture, was deliberately left unlit, illuminated only faintly by the moonlight streaming in through a half-open window.

Grand Duke Rubelio sat on the sofa, his head resting back and his eyes closed as if lost in thought. Suddenly, his brow furrowed deeply.

The cause of his disturbance was a dark figure approaching his side.

The robed man, aware that he had interrupted the Grand Duke’s contemplation, lowered his head nervously.

“Antonio has returned,” he reported.

The Grand Duke’s already severe expression twisted into something even more grim.

“Bring him in,” he commanded.

At the Duke’s order, the robed man signaled, and the study door opened. Several men dragged in Antonio, who looked around in terror before his gaze landed on the Grand Duke. Desperate, he began to plead.

“Y-Your Grace! I did everything you asked! I even exposed to the Duke that Roselia is a woman!”

The Grand Duke’s expression remained utterly devoid of emotion as he looked down at Antonio.

From his reports, it seemed the Duke already knew Roselia’s true identity. Antonio’s false claim that he had revealed it himself was nothing more than an attempt to earn favor. Disgust flickered across the Grand Duke’s face at the pathetic display.

Oblivious to the disgust, Antonio, unable to read the dark expression in the dim light, crawled on his knees toward the Grand Duke, groveling.

“So… about the reward you promised…”

The Grand Duke’s gaze turned ice-cold as he spat out.

“You wretch, lower than a maggot.”

“Pardon?” Antonio stammered, caught off guard.

“If you were going to die, you should have died quietly in the streets instead of dragging your filth here.”

Finally sensing the peril, Antonio’s face went pale as he stammered.

“W-What do you mean by ‘filth’…”

A memory flashed in his mind—the voice he’d heard when the Duke had tried to kill him, someone yelling that killing him would solve nothing. Realizing that the Duke’s household must have tracked him, Antonio’s face turned ghostly pale, and he prostrated himself on the ground.

“I-I didn’t know! I only ran to save myself—”

“Then you should have just died where you stood,” the Grand Duke said, his voice cold and detached.

“It would have been a less painful death.”

Antonio stared at him, stunned, as though he had misheard.

“W-What…?”

“Take him away and deal with him,” the Grand Duke ordered flatly, as though instructing someone to remove a bothersome object.

At this, Antonio’s face drained of all color. Clinging to the floor, he cried out desperately.

“Y-Your Grace! I only did what you asked! You can’t do this to me—Your Grace!!!”

Ignoring his pleas, the men dragged him away like a discarded rag. Watching the pitiful sight, the Grand Duke turned to the man beside him.

“The Duke’s shadow agents,” he said.

“They vanished near the mansion,” the man replied.

Furious, the Grand Duke clenched the glass in his hand.

“Damn it! I should never have trusted a maggot like that!”

Unable to contain his anger, he hurled the glass with all his might. It shattered against the wall with a deafening crash, scattering shards across the floor.

Panting from rage, he glanced down at the broken pieces. His gaze lingered on them for a moment before he muttered, “Wait…”

He slowly bent down, picking up a shard of glass, and murmured to himself, “If I can’t deal with that woman myself, then I can always use someone else. I was overcomplicating things.”

The sinister grin that spread across his lips as he examined the sharp fragment was unsettling. The man beside him cautiously asked.

“What do you mean, Your Grace?”

“There was no need to go in circles. If the Crown Prince kills that woman, the relationship between the Duke and the Crown Prince will crumble, and that troublesome woman will be dealt with. Two birds with one stone.”

Though the man didn’t fully grasp the Grand Duke’s intentions, he bowed silently, refraining from questioning further.

The Grand Duke, ignoring him, gazed into the void, a dark and ominous laugh escaping his lips.

From beneath the mansion, Antonio’s screams echoed faintly, a grim accompaniment to the unsettling stillness above.

* * *

Roselia, perched by the window with a book in hand, cleared her throat awkwardly, unable to ignore Klaus’s gaze on her.

“Um… can I leave now?” she asked hesitantly.

“Not yet. It’s only been an hour,” Klaus replied flatly.

Roselia sighed, dropping her eyes back to the book in her hands. She had been stuck in Klaus’s study for nearly an hour, passing the time under the pretense of learning how to control her pheromone scent—something Klaus insisted required daily one-hour sessions together.

Peeking at Klaus over the edge of her book, Roselia wondered if the whole ‘pheromone control’ excuse was just a cover for him wanting to take a break. After all, he wasn’t even pretending to work. The papers he usually immersed himself in lay abandoned while he idly sat there for the entire hour.

“Is it helping?” Klaus asked abruptly, his tone blunt.

“I’m… not really sure,” Roselia muttered with a hint of frustration.

At her response, Klaus’s lips curled into a sly smile as he stood.

“Should I help you?”

As Klaus leisurely approached, Roselia panicked and raised her hand defensively.

“No! I’ll figure it out on my own!”

Her firm reply made Klaus frown, but he settled himself on the armrest of the sofa. Roselia stole a glance at him, then quickly turned her gaze away, ignoring the heat threatening to rise in her cheeks.

Was it possible to feel this way even while disguised as a man? she wondered. It was strange. Then again, he had kissed her back when he thought she was a man, hadn’t he?

As her thoughts spiraled, Roselia’s face flushed bright red.

Not again. That ticklish feeling in her chest was back.

She glanced nervously at Klaus, worried that her scent might have escaped again, stirring him up.

But Klaus seemed entirely unbothered, flipping through one of the books she had stacked on the table.

Maybe the scent didn’t escape this time, she thought with relief, turning her attention back to her book. Just then, a familiar voice came from beyond the study door.

“Duke, it’s Alejandro.”

“Come in,” Klaus said.

Alejandro entered, carrying a report. His expression turned curious as he noticed Klaus, unusually relaxed, perched on the sofa.

A pleasant scent drifted with the breeze from the window, drawing Alejandro’s attention. By the window, bathed in the golden sunlight, sat Roselia, quietly reading her book.

Her simple servant attire did nothing to hide the peculiar allure about her. Alejandro found himself staring, as if entranced.

“Are you going to report, or just stand there?” Klaus’s cold voice cut through Alejandro’s trance.

“Ah, yes! My apologies, Duke,” Alejandro stammered, presenting the report. “This is regarding the construction of Algrisha Academy. The foundation work is complete, and the main construction is set to begin next week.”

As Alejandro spoke, his eyes unconsciously flickered toward Roselia again.

Klaus didn’t miss it. His brows furrowed sharply.

“Alejandro.”

“Yes, Duke?”

“Rewrite the report.”

“Excuse me? Is there an issue with it?”

“There are many issues. Rewrite it.”

“But—”

Klaus’s frosty glare silenced Alejandro, who bowed his head and left the room, shoulders slumped.

With Alejandro gone, Klaus ran a hand through his hair in frustration before turning his gaze to Roselia.

“Roselia.”

His voice carried a faint note of dissatisfaction, prompting her to look up.

“Should I leave now?” she asked hesitantly.

Instead of replying, Klaus beckoned her with his fingers.

Confused, Roselia approached.

“Do you need something?”

Before she could react, Klaus pulled her onto his lap with a swift motion, his arm circling her waist. She gasped as she landed against him.

“Don’t spread your scent in front of other men,” he murmured, his face buried against her shoulder as he took a deep breath.

Roselia flushed, realizing that her scent must have escaped again.

Still, she couldn’t help but feel indignant. Whose fault was it that this kept happening?

“I can’t control it yet!” she protested.

“Hm…”

Klaus hummed thoughtfully.

Suddenly, he shifted, pressing Roselia down onto the sofa beneath him.

She blinked up at him, startled.

“W-What are you doing?!”

She exclaimed, her voice tinged with panic.

 

 

 

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