“I’m sorry……”

In a nearby drawing room, a voice so faint and timid that it seemed the very definition of shrinking into oneself could be heard.

“I misunderstood.”

Irina’s ears, peeking out from her hair, were bright red, and her hands, resting neatly on her knees, trembled slightly.

She felt overwhelmed with embarrassment every time she thought about what had happened earlier.

When Rio saw them in the corridor, he immediately pulled them apart.

Then Delphia took Irina’s hand and explained that the duke’s nightgown was designed to be loose-fitting.

‘Good heavens. I never knew that men’s clothing—not women’s, but men’s—could expose nearly half the body like that.

“I made a mistake because I didn’t realize Your Grace’s clothes were supposed to be so…… free-spirited.”

“I have never worn anything that could be described as ‘free-spirited.’”

Now dressed according to Irina’s wishes in clothing that covered him securely to the neck, Winfried released a deep sigh.

He pressed his fingers against the dark shadows beneath his eyes.

‘I cannot understand what any of this is supposed to accomplish.’

Once again, he could not bring himself to sleep in his bed that night.

The phantom voices and visions that plagued him did not subside until morning. By then, utterly exhausted, he collapsed onto the sofa, gratefully surrendering to the faint sleep that settled over him like mist.

How long had he slept?

An hour? Perhaps two?

He vaguely remembered stirring as the fog clouding his mind gradually lifted.

Then someone entered the room.

The intruder crept inside with painstaking care, trying not to make a sound. But Winfried had woken up the moment the door opened.

Step. Step. Step.

The person approaching must have been wearing slippers and walking on the carpet.

To Winfried, however, every footfall sounded like a military boot crushing the earth beneath it.

His entire body tensed.

Each footstep. The faintest rustle of hair.

His attention sharpened on every tiny movement.

The last hazy remnants of sleep had long since vanished.

The intruder extended an arm.

Something was held in their hand.

What was it?

A dagger?

Or perhaps a concealed weapon?

His nerves drew taut.

Although his eyes were closed, he was as alert as if they were open.

He had to wait for the right moment to take down the intruder with a single move.

Winfried held his breath.

Then, when the other person turned away…

“……!”

The intruder fell to the floor.

But something was wrong.

The figure pinned beneath him was far too small to be an enemy. More importantly, there was no scent of blood.

Instead, a fragrance unlike anything found on a battlefield teased his nostrils. It was difficult to compare it to any particular familiar scent.

If he had to describe it, he would say it smelled like fresh grass — no, like an untouched wheat field.

Such a fragrance could never exist on a battlefield.

‘Ah.’

Only then did his constricted vision return to normal.

The person he had pinned beneath him was not an enemy soldier.

It was the young woman he had carried to the estate himself two days earlier: the only daughter of Count and Countess Leonid.

‘What have I done?’

Winfried immediately retreated.

Unwilling to let her see the intense self-loathing twisting his features, he turned away and dragged a hand over his face.

“……Why are you here?”

She was someone he should cherish.

He should treat her with the utmost care.

She was someone to whom he owed an immeasurable debt.

The fact that he had lost all sense of reason and attacked her filled him with such profound self-disgust that he bit down on his lip.

“I asked why you are here.”

“I…… brought your meal. I heard you hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday……”

“Who asked you to do this? Delphia? Or the chef?”

‘Who in the world made you perform such a task?’

“I did.”

She appeared to bite her lip, causing her answer to falter briefly before she continued.

“I volunteered to bring it.”

“Ha……”

A deep sigh escaped his lips.

That same stubborn insistence had left her bleeding the previous day, and now she had nearly been injured again.

His concern twisted into irritation, sharpening his words before he could stop himself.

……No matter how worried he was, he should never have spoken to her that way.

Everything he said afterward had been nothing more than an excuse—a clumsy attempt to repair the damage.

“Your meal…… It’s still warm.”

The unexpected words brought Winfried back to his senses.

But by the time he turned, the door had already closed.

‘That was why I followed her—to apologize.’

He had never expected her to grab him by the collar.

Overwhelmed by this unexpected turn of events, Winfried pressed his fingers firmly against his eyelids once more.

After a sleepless night, even the light made his eyes ache.

He wanted to sleep.

At the same time, he did not want to.

***

“…….”

‘Is he angry?’

Irina peeked cautiously at the silent Duke of Winfried.

He remained motionless, his expression rigid. She could not tell whether he was angry or merely lost in thought.

‘Perhaps he still hasn’t forgiven me.’

Even Irina knew that touching a noble without permission was a grave offense.

But still!

‘His entire stomach was showing!’

Good heavens, how scandalous!

How could he walk into the corridor with his stomach exposed, practically half-n*ked?

‘How could he possibly do such a thing?’

Irina’s eyes began to spin as she recalled the incident.

‘Ugh……’

Irina covered her face with both hands.

Yet without realizing it, she peeked through the gaps between her fingers at Winfried, who was still standing there.

‘……But something looked different.’

Irina had never seen a stomach quite like his before.

Didn’t men’s stomachs usually either protrude or be sunken inwards?

But the duke’s looked firm, with strange lines dividing it into sections.

“……!”

Their eyes met.

Caught stealing glances at Winfried through her fingers, Irina gasped and immediately bowed her head.

“Lady Leonid.”

At the sound of him calling her, Irina turned her face away altogether.

“What in the world are you thinking about to make your face so red?”

“……Nothing.”

If there had been a mouse hole nearby, she would have crawled into it.

She lowered her head even further to hide her flaming face, unaware that the nape of her neck and her ears, visible through her hair, were already bright red.

“Shameless.”

She flinched.

“Pervert.”

“……I’m not!”

Irina’s head shot up.

She intended to insist that she truly was not, but the words froze upon her lips.

‘He’s smiling.’

The Duke of Winfried was smiling at her.

Her mind abruptly went blank.

Forgetting what she had intended to say, Irina merely blinked at him.

“After accusing me of being shameless, it appears you are the more indecent one.”

“I’m not. Truly.”

Irina discreetly turned her head away.

“Are you looking again?”

“No! I was only looking at the tea—cough!”

The tea she hurriedly swallowed to hide the fact that she had been staring tasted dreadful.

‘Wh-Why is it so bitter?’

Did nobles normally drink something this bitter without showing the slightest reaction?

“…….”

After glaring at the tea for a moment, Irina discreetly pushed the cup far away.

Meanwhile, Winfried approached and murmured,

“There are marks upon your wrists.”

He was referring to the places he had seized earlier.

“I’m sorry.”

Startled by his apology, Irina looked up at him.

Rubbing the corner of his mouth, he continued,

“I was having a nightmare at the time and reacted too aggressively.”

He reached out and gently brushed his fingers over the handprints upon her wrist.

“It looks as though this may bruise.”

“…….”

“I’ll summon Mr. Beren, the family physician. He can treat it before the bruises form.”

Winfried turned away.

“Wait!”

Thinking he was about to leave the drawing room, Irina hurriedly grabbed the hem of his clothes.

He stopped and looked down at her questioningly.

“I don’t need a physician.”

“It would be better to let him examine you.”

“Marks like these disappear quickly.”

Releasing his clothes, Irina rubbed her wrists again.

She did not want to summon an expensive physician over something so minor.

Besides, she had another idea.

“Um……”

Irina glanced up at Winfried.

“Instead of calling the physician, would you grant me one request?”

He nodded for her to continue.

Smiling, Irina made the request that would bring her grand plan forward.

“Please hire me as a maid in this household!”

“Denied.”

Silence instantly descended between them.

Winfried swept a hand through his hair and sighed.

“As I told you earlier, you are a guest in this household. You may stay here in comfort.”

“But……”

Irina bit her lip.

“If I don’t work……”

“You filthy rat! How dare you neglect the morning cleaning?”

A shrill voice echoed in her ears.

It had been winter, a day so bitterly cold that people sleeping in the streets froze to death.

“Do you know what we call someone who eats and lazes around without working? A worthless parasite!”

“Aaagh!”

‘He beat me terribly that day.’

However, the thought of being ostracized frightened her far more than the prospect of being beaten.

She did not want to die.

She wanted to live.

From that day on, she never stopped working, even when she was burning with fever or limping in pain from a fall.

Work was the only thing that had allowed her to remain in that dreadful tavern.

Irina drew a deep breath.

“Working…… is what gives me the right to stay here.”

“……?”

“I can’t remain here without doing anything. If I do, you could cast me out at any moment.”

She had no intention of returning to the slums.

Even if she did, she could no longer go back.

She had no idea what had become of Ben. He might still be alive, or he might be dead.

If he lived, Irina would be killed the moment she set foot in the slums. Yet even if he were dead, little would have changed.

Countless men had been waiting for an opportunity to seize Ben’s position. One of them had surely taken his place by now, and this time, that man would drag her to Baron Barodon’s estate.

‘That’s why I cannot be cast out.’

She had nowhere else to go.

The Duke of Winfried had promised that she could remain here, but……

How much faith could she place in words alone?

What guarantee did she have that he would never change his mind?

Her parents had probably made a similar promise before leaving for the battlefield. They must have told her that they would return.

But they never came back, and Irina was left alone.

That made it all the more difficult for her to trust a promise built upon nothing but words.

‘Besides, I still don’t understand why His Grace is helping me.’

Rio had told her that her parents had fought alongside the knights of House Winfried, who owed them a tremendous debt.

But was that really enough to explain why the duke had searched for her and gone to such lengths for her?

Irina clenched her hands tightly.

“I want to work.”

She raised her head and looked at Winfried, pleading earnestly,

“Please allow me to work.”

“…….”

The Duke of Winfried’s eyes narrowed as he studied her.

After remaining silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought, he finally nodded.

“Very well. I shall give you work.”

“……!”

“But you cannot work as a maid.”

“Why not?”

Irina’s eyes wavered in confusion.

“I’m very good at cleaning……”

“Are you? That is unfortunate. However, Eren has already hired every servant the townhouse requires. If I employed you as a maid, I would have to dismiss someone else.”

“But……”

She could not deprive someone else of their livelihood merely to secure her own.

Irina lowered her head dejectedly, but quickly raised it again.

“I’m good at other work too.”

She answered with determination.

“I may not look like it, but I can do much more than clean. I can scrub dishes until they shine, and I’m very good at scouring cooking grates after meals.”

She could also change bedsheets and wash laundry exceptionally well.

Even when the stream behind the slums froze over, hadn’t she always managed to return with the laundry perfectly clean?

“So after failing to become a maid, you intend to become a kitchen maid instead?”

Logan smiled faintly as he looked at her.

“Unfortunately, I already have another task in mind for you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Logan held out his hand.

Irina placed her hand on his broad, calloused palm. He closed his fingers around hers and helped her to her feet.

“Your work will begin in a few days.”

He gazed at Irina with a faint smile.

“For today, I shall show you around the estate. We cannot have you becoming lost while attempting to work.”

‘He truly intends to give me a job!’

Irina nodded eagerly, her eyes sparkling.

The smile upon Winfried’s lips deepened.

“Your Grace?”

As he escorted her naturally out of the drawing room, Irina cautiously asked,

“What kind of work will I be doing?”

At her question, the duke lifted the corners of his mouth.

“It’s a secret.”