* * *
Allice’s POV
It was at that deep night.
I really don’t know if this is okay…
I pressed down on my wig as she walked through the mansion’s hallway. Currently, I am on my way back from the monastery. It was to keep my promise to Miona.
Why does she like it so much?
I had delivered what Miona asked for the last time, and Miona was overjoyed. It even made me feel like she was a completely different person.
“Can Lady bring me a new one every week?”
Miona even made such a proposal.
“Life in the monastery is harder than I thought. But I think I can endure it if I have Lord Carl’s clothes.”
So, I decided to bring clothes that are still warm from my dad’s body heat once a week.
Should I distance myself from her?
My opinion of Miona had changed slightly. First of all, the fact that she couldn’t adapt to the monastery life meant she had bad behavior. And now, she even had impure thoughts, moreover towards someone else’s man!
There really are strange people in the world.
My pace slowed down. No matter how much I tried to think of something else, my thoughts always led to one place.
But why isn’t His Highness looking for me?
Miona said that nobody from the imperial palace had come looking for me. Raios wasn’t looking for me. Surely, he must miss me. Why then?
As I wandered the mansion restlessly,
Huh?
I stopped. Because there was Sister Dana.
Sister Dana was walking down the hallway. I followed her quietly, holding my breath.
Where was she going at this late hour? Could she be entering Brother Viego’s bedroom again?
Gasp.
But the next moment, I was shocked. The room Sister Dana entered was—
Why is Sister Dana entering Lord Ignis’s bedroom?
It was obvious. What else would a man and a woman do together in a bedroom at night!
Oh gosh! How could she?!
First Brother Viego, and now Lord Ignis! It was shocking.
Did His Highness know that Sister Dana was such a woman?
While being hailed as a saintess by everyone! She played around with another man while still having a fiancé.
Sister Dana was the one who should be reflecting in the monastery!
I made up my mind. I must tell His Highness. This time, I would tell everything, including her incident with Brother Viego. After all, Sister Dana is His Highness’s fiancée, and this act was no different from cheating.
Deceiving people is wrong, Sister.
* * *
Ignis’s POV
“I’m here.”
As I opened the door, there stood Danae.
“I’ll come in.”
Dana brushed past my chest and walked into the room.
At that moment, I realized. Danae knew. She knew what would happen in this room tonight and still came.
“Here… I brought wine.”
What kind of expression was I making? She lifted the wine bottle with a slightly nervous look.
“Let’s drink together.”
Ah, of course, she would be nervous. I understood Danae. I was at ease, but she was a much younger, inexperienced girl who might need the help of alcohol.
“Sit over there.”
I brought two wine glasses and sat on the sofa. As I poured the wine, she watched carefully and spoke cautiously.
“Lord Ignis? Are you okay?”
“Huh? Why?”
“You’ve poured too much, haven’t you?”
Ah, I belatedly realized. The wine glass was already filled to the brim, almost to the point of overflowing.
Huh? Am I nervous?
I felt unusually tense.
“Didn’t you know? The best way to enjoy wine is to fill a glass to the brim and down it in one go.”
Then Danae smiled. “Really? I didn’t know that.”
How could she fall for that? So naive.
I wondered why I was so tense. But then the answer came quickly. It must be because of my conscience.
Do I actually have a conscience?
Throughout waiting for Danae in the room, I kept thinking of one scene. It was the day of the carriage accident. To be exact, the moment when bullets poured like rain. With the sound of gunfire tearing through the air, Danae approached gracefully as if walking on water.
If she had been hit by a stray bullet, she could have died.
Yet, Danae approached without hesitation to save me. To protect me. To keep me safe.
She’s not even a soldier, just an ordinary noble lady. Thinking about it made me sigh.
In truth, it was all a lie. The carriage attack was staged even by my faction. I already knew the scenario and was prepared for it.
Attack the carriage. Put Danae Windsor in danger. Then, I would throw myself to save her. Thus, I would gain her trust and win her heart. Ultimately, I would get my hands on Danae’s vault.
Of course, an actual force did intervene unexpectedly… It must have been the people of the crown prince or perhaps Viego Windsor.
I deliberately made Viego the likely culprit to make her cast doubt on the Windsor family so that Danae would leave Windsor for me and hand over the vast wealth hidden in the vault. And that plan really worked.
But is it really this easy? It was so easy that my conscience pricked me.
I deliberately put her in danger, and she tried to save me from it. What should I do with this foolishly kind girl?
“I want to hear about Lord Ignis.”
But is it really okay for me to be with her?
“What were you like as a child, Lord Ignis?”
Am I corrupting her?
“Tell me about your time at the military academy. Were you a troublemaker even then?”
It felt like standing before a pristine field covered in the first snow, so dazzlingly white and pure. And it felt like I was about to taint it. With my dirty boots, I was about to trample on that clear and clean thing.
“I was a model student back then. I even broke the shooting record that Brother Carl left at the academy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, what’s with that disbelieving look?” I pinched Danae’s nose.
“It hurts.”
Danae frowned in displeasure, which was cute. No, beyond cute… It made me imagine her other expression. Like the face she would make on a bed, for instance.
“So that old man, your grandfather, started taking an interest in me. Because I broke the record of his most beloved son.”
“Ah, I’ve heard that story before.”
“I must have looked useful. Your grandfather was obsessed with collecting talents. It’s annoying how he collects people like that…”
It was strange. Why was I so freely sharing my inner thoughts, which I never revealed to others? Perhaps because the person in front of me was too harmless.
For the first time in my life, I hesitated to share a bed with a woman.
First off, let’s just run away with her. Yeah, sleeping together can wait. When she’s a bit older…
But then, snap. The front of my pants burst open.
“…”
I calmly looked down at the burst area.
My reasoning and desire were always separate, but there had never been a moment when the gap was as massive as now. In fact, I was reaching my limit.
Danae’s unique body scent was intoxicating, and it was driving me crazy.
“Danae.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to?”
“Yes, pardon?”
“I want to do it with you right now.”
“I… I would like to talk a bit more first.”
So, Danae meant we would do it later. I decided to exercise more patience for Danae’s sake.
“Talking is good. I like talking.”
I looked down. It was as if it was about to burst from being so hot and swollen that I even wondered how it had been held back until now.
“But I’m a bit urgent. As you can see.”
“…”
“Is it okay to do it while talking?”
Of course, I knew it wasn’t polite— but not using anything from her and solving it myself was the most courtesy I could muster at the moment.
“Talking is also good. Just say something, anything…”
Danae’s face turned red. Then she managed to stammer, trying not to look down, and said something.
I leaned comfortably back on the sofa, lazily watching Danae while focusing on the task at hand. Occasionally, I answered her questions. Meanwhile, with my free hand, I drank wine.
At some point, my breathing became so rapid I couldn’t remember well. As everything flashed white, I closed my eyes and tilted my head back. Amidst the overwhelming pleasure, I barely managed to think.
Would Danae still like me after this? Would she still want to run away with me?
Since I had saved her from that fake carriage accident, she might be infatuated with the man who saved her. If it was just such shallow affection, this would completely shatter it, even after revealing such a lowly side of me. But, if Danae still looked at me with eyes full of affection as now, something might start within me as well. Something I had never done before.
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