“Rest well, my dear.”

Kayla’s warm lips drew close to my forehead and then pulled away again.

Right, I will marry for my own happiness.

In that case, I first need to meet my favorite character, Siobhan, but I have not even caught a glimpse of his hair yet. Since Siobhan is part of the imperial knighthood, I suppose that is only natural.

Still, since Hylus and Siobhan are close, if I stay by Hylus’s side, the chances of meeting him should increase.

Alright, let’s aim for the third engagement!

Because of Brandt, who kept tearing up every time he so much as crossed paths with me, I had dinner in my room that evening.

“Miss, are you really alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Father should be able to eat his dinner in peace without crying too.”

“Yes, well, please call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Summer.”

Summer had stepped out, and I was just about to scoop up a full spoonful of warm corn soup and bring it to my mouth.

Tap.

Tap.

The sound of something hitting the window reached my ears. Thinking I had misheard, I went ahead and put the delicious-looking corn soup into my mouth.

At that moment.

Hylus, draped in a black robe, opened the window and strode boldly into the room.

“Yur Gra?”

The food in my mouth made it impossible to pronounce properly.

“Eat first, then we will talk.”

“Your Grace?”

“Do you normally eat in your room?”

“Ah, not usually. Today there were some circumstances…”

There was absolutely no way I could tell Hylus that it was because my father had been crying.

“Your father sent a letter saying he would like an engagement first.”

He already sent the letter.

“And you?”

“Pardon?”

“I came to ask what you think.”

Thinking of Brandt, who had cried all day, it seemed right to have an engagement before the marriage.

“Let’s do the engagement first and then get married.”

“Very well.”

“But, did you come all this way just to say that one thing?”

“I have no way of contacting you.”

“How did you get here? Judging by the fact that you came through the window, it doesn’t seem like you rode a horse.”

At that question, Hylus said nothing and simply opened his palm. What rested in his hand was a magic stone.

“It’s a transport magic stone.”

It was my first time seeing a magic stone in person.

“Then, does Your Grace also know how to use magic?”

“A little.”

“Even without a magic stone?”

“I naturally have magical energy within my body.”

Oh, of course you do.

My gaze, which had been glancing sideways at Hylus, naturally drifted toward the magic stone he had brought.

The smaller the magic stone, the more expensive it became. This was because it needed to be easy to carry. The process of reducing a large raw magic stone to a small size was difficult.

It was not simply a matter of breaking it into smaller pieces. Once it was reduced below a certain size, it would lose its magical energy and become nothing more than an ordinary rock.

What Hylus held in his hand was a three-centimeter stone, the minimum size that could be processed among commercially available magic stones.

Just how much does this cost!

“I also have something to give you.”

After finishing his brief words, what he showed me was a communication magic stone.

“I cannot come to your home every single time.”

“I have never used one before.”

“That’s alright. This one is made so that ordinary people without magical energy can use it too.”

“Thank you. But Your Grace, please do not come through the window like that next time. It is dangerous.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“This is the third floor.”

“The third floor is easy enough to climb up and down.”

“……”

I had forgotten. That Eden Cler was of the Hylus family.

“By the way, are you going to keep calling me Your Grace?”

“Why, yes?”

“We will soon be engaged. You should call me Eden.”

“……”

“Isn’t that right, future Duchess?”

“Since it is only soon and not yet, I will continue to call you Your Grace for now. Once the engagement ceremony is held, I shall reconsider at that point.”

“Hmm…”

Knock knock.

At the sound of a voice coming from inside the room, Summer, who had been waiting outside, knocked on the door. In that instant, without thinking, I rushed over to Hylus and covered his mouth with both hands.

“Miss, do you need something? I heard voices.”

“Oh, um, yes. My throat is a little dry. Could you bring me some water?”

“There is water in the room…”

“I would like cold ice water, please!”

“Understood.”

It was only after I heard Summer leave that I realized I had been covering Hylus’s mouth.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I just did it without thinking…”

Becoming aware of how close we were, I stepped back to put some distance between us. In that instant, my leg caught on the chair nearby and my body lurched sharply to one side.

“Oh.”

Before even a short gasp could escape me, I was caught by Hylus’s firm arms. From the momentum of it, the robe Hylus had been wearing slipped off.

It was not the silver color resembling moonlight that I had known, but a black color similar to my own hair.

“Why is your hair col…”

“I dyed it temporarily.”

“You dyed it?”

“My natural hair color is bright, so even with a robe on, I stand out.”

For someone whose face itself stands out, hair color hardly seems like a significant concern.

Looking at Hylus with black hair, I felt a strangely familiar sensation.

To check whether my feeling was right, I used my hand to cover the lower half of his face.

“Oh?! Back then, in that forest…”

The man I had seen in the forest had been wearing a mask, but the shape of his eyes and the smooth line of his nose bridge connecting them were unmistakably Hylus.

Knock knock.

“Miss, I’m coming in.”

“Let us continue that conversation another time.”

It was certain.

The place where I had first opened my eyes in this world, the man I had met in that forest. The very man who had paid no attention whatsoever to obviously dangerous beasts yet had reacted sharply to the presence of a person.

“Miss, why are you standing there?”

“Hm?”

“The window is open too?”

“I got a little warm while eating, so I opened it. I was just about to close it.”

“Here is your water. Please finish your meal. I will close it on my way out.”

Come to think of it, the hair of the man I had seen in the forest had been patchy in color. As though the dye had been wearing off.

So the man I had helped in the forest back then was Eden Cler?

At the time, I had not been able to assess the situation clearly, and I had no chance to focus on the man’s face. But if it was Eden Cler, he would have seen my face, and he would have figured out who I was.

Then, at the imperial palace party in the garden, had he known who I was and helped me on purpose?

Just as I was trying to recall the first time I had met Hylus, a thunderous roar rang out inside my head.

Along with the roar, my heart began racing at an uncontrollable speed, then stopped for a brief moment. It was a pain as though someone had grabbed it with their hand to keep it from beating any further.

“Ugh.”

Unable to say a word from the indescribable pain, I could only clutch at my chest. Just as I thought I might die from it, the pain squeezing my heart disappeared. The moment the pain vanished, I let out the breath I had been unable to draw in or release in ragged gasps.

“Hah, hah.”

“Miss?”

At the alarming sound of my breathing, Summer, who had been closing the window, quickly came to my side.

“Summer, I…”

Thud.

The moment I lost consciousness, I also lost my balance. The only reason I did not hit my head on the nearby bed was thanks to Summer, who had launched herself from the window to catch me.

***

When I opened my eyes, I was not in a forest or a bedroom, but in a space of nothing but darkness. The sensation of floating in midair told me that this was not reality but a dream.

I moved my feet toward the faint light filtering in from far away. As I drew closer to the light, fragments of voices began to reach my ears.

“…heavens, great… there is.”

What are they saying?

Drawing closer to hear what was being said, what I saw was me.

No, it was the real Eloa Rumania.

“It does not matter.”

“Even though it is a side effect that could cost you your life.”

The person Eloa was speaking with had a face hidden beneath a black robe, but the voice was that of an elderly person.

A sorcerer?

At Eloa’s resolute expression, the sorcerer removed the robe. Upon seeing the sorcerer with the robe removed, I could not suppress my shock. No, anyone in this situation would react the same way.

Is that me? Why am I over there. No, more than that, was I also a character in this novel?

Amidst the confusion, the voices of the two reached me once again.

“Do you have everything you need?”

“It is all here.”

“Good, you brought it all. You are well aware of what the greatest problem with this sorcery is, are you not?”

In response to the sorcerer’s question, Eloa nodded with a resolute expression instead of answering. What she handed to the sorcerer was a strand of her own hair and a small glass vial containing a thick, dark crimson liquid.

The sorcerer reached into their robe and produced a silver dagger, then poured the dark crimson liquid from the glass vial over the blade.

What on earth are they doing?

Even though I wanted to shout for them to stop, no voice came out. I tried to get closer to stop them with my body, but no matter how much I moved, the distance between Eloa and me would not close.

The eyes of Eloa, who had taken the dagger stained with the dark crimson liquid, met mine.

No, what are you doing!

Stop!