After knocking carefully, Jaken opened the door when he heard “Come in” from inside and made way for Rozenne.

Rozenne cautiously entered through the open door.

The dimly lit room was filled with the red glow of candles.

Under the flickering shadows, she saw a man sitting with his back against the headboard of the bed, his face rigid.

Rozenne couldn’t approach him and stood by the door, staring blankly at Paikan. He too gazed at her silently.

She heard the door gently closing behind her. Even at that small sound, Rozenne flinched and trembled. The warm feelings from thinking about Harrieus just moments ago were gone, and now her mind was dominated by the thought that only he and she were alone in this room.

As she bit the inside of her cheek, unable to meet the man’s eyes, she heard a low voice from in front.

“Did you change your beautician?”

Rozenne frowned at the unexpected question.

“No?”

“Then your oil? Surely you changed the oil that makes your skin glow?”

“No. I didn’t do anything like that.”

Why would I apply such things to meet you? Rozenne swallowed the words rising in her throat and maintained a blank expression.

“Strange. You look different today somehow……”

At those words, Rozenne made a disgusted face as if she had just heard a cockroach’s confession.

“If you’re trying something weird, I’m leaving.”

“No. No, I’m not.”

Carl hastily withdrew his words and pointed to a chair beside the bed.

“Sit.”

Exhaling softly, Rozenne walked to the chair Carl had indicated.

Carl stared intently at her as she gradually approached.

Even when Rozenne gently settled onto the chair moments later, he didn’t take his eyes off her for a second, examining her figure slowly and meticulously like an artist observing a still life.

Uncomfortable under Carl’s gaze, Rozenne rolled her eyes around.

“Truly strange.”

His question about changing beauticians wasn’t just empty talk.

To his eyes, she seemed especially radiant today. With each step she took closer, his heart felt like it would leap out of his chest.

Until just the day before, Carl hadn’t perceived her as beautiful.

But now he felt blinded by her beauty.

Like a pearl covered in mud that had been washed clean to reveal its lustrous glow, her fine features that hadn’t caught his eye before now pierced his vision. That wasn’t all. The energy emanating from her since she entered the room. A rapturous energy was pouring out of her, so enticing that he feared others might sense and covet it. It was energy that perfectly matched his own.

‘And to think I believed all this time that Rozenne wasn’t Daphne.’

I must have been bewitched.

Carl felt ridiculously stupid.

Strangely, with Rozenne here now, thoughts of Cynthia didn’t cross his mind at all. Despite her having occupied a corner of his mind for some time.

Now only the woman before him, Rozenne, filled his head, eyes, and heart completely.

Unable to bear the continuing awkward silence, Rozenne swallowed hard and spoke.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to do that purification thing?”

“Are you really okay with this?”

Carl gazed at Rozenne with concerned eyes.

His expression showed more worry for her, who would share her energy with him, than for himself being consumed by poison.

Rozenne answered curtly.

“I already promised, didn’t I?”

Only then did Carl lie down with a slightly relieved expression.

Rozenne flinched slightly. She became tense about his intentions when he suddenly lay on the bed despite saying he wouldn’t make unreasonable demands. But contrary to her anxiety, Carl simply pulled his hand out from under the blanket and extended his pinky finger.

Rozenne grew puzzled as she looked at the pinky finger unexpectedly extended toward her.

What is this?

As she stared blankly at his finger, unable to guess Carl’s intention, he wiggled his pinky as if urging her.

Does he want me to hook fingers?

Rozenne tilted her head curiously and hooked her pinky finger with Carl’s.

At that moment, warm heat seeped from his large knuckles that firmly wrapped around her slender finger. Even though it was just the small contact area of a pinky finger, his body temperature felt more vivid because his finger was twice the size of hers.

“Hmm……”

Carl closed his eyes with a satisfied exhale like a well-fed lion purring. A serene, subtle smile hung on his lips.

‘Is, is this enough?’

Rozenne looked down at the man’s firm face with round eyes, surprised by the simpler and lesser contact than she had prepared for.

Then Carl, who had been savoring her energy like tasting fine wine, moved only his lips and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Rozenne. If you feel even slightly tired, pull your finger away.”

This person…… Is he worried about taking too much of my energy, is that why he only hooked pinkies?

Rozenne’s mouth opened slightly at this completely unexpected consideration.

At that moment, Carl pulled their connected fingers through the air and placed them on his chest.

Rozenne, who had been wearing a dazed expression, quickly came to her senses and tensed her arm to prevent her hand from being pulled. When her resistance stopped the hand midway, Carl slightly opened his eyes.

“You can allow this much. This way, purification works better even with just a pinky finger.”

“What?”

Rozenne narrowed her eyes as if she couldn’t believe him at all.

“Is that…… true?”

“Of course it is.”

Faced with Carl’s confident attitude, Rozenne finally relaxed her arm.

Feeling this, Carl smiled slightly and pulled her hand to rest on his chest. As the back of her hand touched his chest, Rozenne turned her head away with reddened cheeks.

“Finally feels like coming home.”

Rozenne quietly stole a glance at the man who was murmuring in a low voice.

‘Daphne……’

The man, with the most peaceful expression she had ever seen on him, mumbled in a barely audible voice and sank into deep slumber.

In his hazy consciousness, he heard the voice that had once made him excited and thrilled long ago. A clear voice tinged with innocence…… a voice that seemed like it would smell of herbs.

⁕⁕⁕

“Hey! Hey! Open your eyes! Are you dead?”

Carl opened his eyes at the sensation of someone shaking his body.

When he lifted his heavy eyelids, what reflected in his eyes was none other than the face of a young girl. The unfamiliar girl was looking down at him with flushed cheeks and large eyes.

Startled, Carl raised his body, which had been lying face down, in one swift motion. He immediately tried to pounce on the girl to subdue her, but something firmly gripped his ankle. Carl looked back at his ankle where a sharp pain was digging in.

A slender ankle was caught in a trap and bleeding. It belonged not to a dignified and majestic ruler, but to a fragile child.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

The girl who had been staring at the boy’s stiff back for a moment carefully spoke to him. Then she approached the bleeding young boy’s feet, knelt on the ground, and sat down.

“Wait. I’ll untie it for you.”

Carl looked at the girl with surprised eyes. But without noticing his reaction, the girl grabbed the trap that was biting the boy’s ankle with both hands. The steel trap was too powerful for a child only six or seven years old to release. Nevertheless, the girl exerted all her strength to pry open the trap that was clamped shut like the jaws of a beast.

Eventually, the tightly closed trap began to open slowly.

When the gap widened a bit, the girl shouted with trembling arms.

“Now!”

At the girl’s cry, Carl quickly pulled his foot out of the trap. Simultaneously, the girl lost her strength and released the trap. The trap closed again with a terrifying “clang!” sound.

“Whew…… that was close.”

Carl glanced at the girl who fell backward and muttered, then looked down at his own two feet planted on the ground. As he rotated his injured ankle in different directions to loosen the stiff muscles, the girl rose from her spot, brushed the dirt and grass off her knees, and approached Carl.

“Who are you? I’ve never seen your face around here. Where are your mom and dad?”

Carl stared at the girl silently. His blank expression made it impossible to tell whether he understood her words or not.

Finding his expression cute, the girl grinned and stroked the top of Carl’s head with her hand.

Since no one had ever stroked him like that before, Carl looked at the girl with a shocked face. Undeterred by his reaction, the girl put down the basket she had been carrying at her side and took out some green herbs from it.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

The girl placed the herbs on a flat stone and began crushing them with pebbles scattered around. Then she applied it to the boy’s ankle.

“There, this will heal quickly. My grandmother does this for me whenever I fall and scrape my knees.”