Chapter 22

Neria clutched her chest at Aaron’s overwhelming presence as he entered. Her heart pounded wildly, but it felt more like fear than excitement.

After sending off his aide and carriage, Aaron hesitated a few times before knocking at the front gate, where the butler appeared.

She couldn’t see the butler’s expression, but just as Neria had recognized Aaron from the window, he must have been utterly shocked.

If not, he wouldn’t have dashed into the mansion as if running to inform the master of such a precious guest’s visit.

“What do I do?”

The Duke’s reason for visiting was obviously her. He wouldn’t have business with her father, Earl Warwick, or her mother.

Neria, always a bit sloppy, became even more so when flustered. Thoroughly rational and logical decisions were for those with iron hearts, not for a quirky, ordinary person like Neria.

She rushed to her vanity and dusted her face with red powder until her arms hurt.

When she looked in the mirror, her face looked like she was about to climax, pierced by the Duke’s enormous—

‘…No, no! I’m supposed to look really sick! I’m suffering from a highly contagious flu!’

Just then, someone knocked at Neria’s door. She could hear the commotion beyond, and the excitement over the visit of Aaron Denicar was palpable.

Startled, Neria spun around and dove onto her bed. She scrambled under the covers just as someone entered.

“Rejoice! Do you know who’s visiting the mansion? It’s… Oh, My Lady?”

Neria half-opened her eyes and lowered the blanket to show her face. She mimicked the look of someone feverish—definitely not someone in the throes of passion.

“Oh my, My Lady!”

The maid gasped and asked,

“Are you feeling unwell?!”

“I’m not well.”

Neria scratched her throat, making her voice as rough as possible.

“I think it’s something highly contagious. I’ll get better if I rest.”

“Oh dear, what a time for this…”

The maid trailed off, looking very sorry. She was clearly troubled at having to deliver the news of My Lady’s unavoidable condition to Earl Warwick, who was expecting her to come down dressed like a flower.

Neria felt a little sorry for the maid, who would have to bear her father’s irritation, but she had no choice if she wanted to avoid Aaron.

Avoiding Aaron might make things more complicated, and this kind of evasion was only temporary. But in her current state, Neria couldn’t make a rational decision.

“I’ll bring you some medicine.”

“Hot milk with honey will be enough.”

“Alright, My Lady.”

The maid sighed with pity and left the room.

Neria worried that, unlikely as it was, Aaron might break into her room.

Fortunately, Duke Aaron left the mansion without hesitation, leaving only a message wishing her a speedy recovery.

He flatly refused Earl Warwick’s invitation to stay and open his best whiskey, even for a short time.

“Neria!”

After seeing the Duke off, the frustrated Earl Warwick shouted something through the door, but she ignored him.

Just as Neria guessed, Aaron’s purpose was to see her.

What did it mean to make her “bear an unavoidable responsibility”? Come to think of it, Aaron had called her a witch in his dream.

‘Could it be… the Duke wants a witch hunt—returns?’

According to history lessons, witches who tormented others with evil spells were all burned at the stake. Even now, with exorcist priests at the temple, why wouldn’t there be witch hunters?

If a royal and Northern Duke like Aaron accused her of witchcraft, his words would surely carry authority.

‘I don’t want to be burned at the stake!’

Neria shook her head furiously, trying to banish the ominous thoughts.

Maybe she was just worrying too much. Aaron, whom she’d met at the temple and the outdoor salon, had been kinder than during their formal meeting. Contrary to rumors that he shunned women, he treated her specially.

‘Wait a minute. Maybe the “responsibility” the Duke mentioned… isn’t anything serious…!’

The indecisive Neria tried to think positively.

Until she remembered the tentacle that had attacked his back entrance and maid him lay an egg, and all the shameful acts that had made Aaron recoil.

‘It’s the stake after all…! The stake…!’

Neria pounded the bed in silent agony.

Just then,

The maid, returning for the empty milk glass, looked suspicious.

“My Lady.”

“I told you I’m sick.”

Neria whimpered, pretending to be ill, but the maid furrowed her brows deeply.

“Yes, I’m sorry since you’re sick. But Duke Denicar left a note for you, asking me to deliver it without Earl Warwick knowing.”

Neria forgot to keep up her act and opened her eyes wide.

“Really, without my father knowing?”

“Yes.”

The maid approached the bed and discreetly placed something in Neria’s hand. Having done her job, she quickly left with the empty cup.

Judging by the weight of her sleeve, she’d probably received a tip from the Duke for delivering the message secretly.

Leaning against the bed’s headboard, Neria nervously unfolded the half-folded paper.

There was a brief apology, worrying that his hasty visit might have caused her father to be overly fussy. He seemed concerned that Neria would be nagged by Earl Warwick later.

「…For this reason, I won’t disturb you while you recover. I’ll wait for your message. -Aaron」

There was nothing about dreams or responsibility. Neria wasn’t grateful for Aaron’s consideration; instead, she broke out in even more cold sweat.

‘What do I do now?’

Neria threw the Duke’s note into the fireplace and began to worry.

‘I mean, how do I face someone I did those things with?’

No solution came to mind. Remembering their dream encounter, Neria kicked the blanket roughly, weighed down by empathetic shame.

‘Can’t I just buy some time…!’

Thankfully, the heavens didn’t only help those who helped themselves. Just as she wished, an excuse to delay the “bomb” appeared.

That day, Duke Aaron wasn’t the only one who visited the Warwick family. News arrived that her second eldest sister, who lived in another region, had given birth.

Normally, the sickly Neria wouldn’t be able to accompany her mother. But Earl Warwick was away for two days on social business.

Her mother didn’t bother seeking her father’s permission.

With her mother’s approval, Neria was able to leave the capital for two weeks. She cheered.

***

Aaron’s mansion in the capital was about to be vacated soon. He would be returning to the North soon.

Dagon, who had to select goods purchased in the capital to take North and handle confidential documents, was especially busy at this time.

He ran here and there with the mansion manager, and had to report every detail of Aaron’s remaining schedule in the capital, but his boss seemed distracted.

Aaron spun his pen in the study, muttering with a serious expression.

“Why hasn’t she contacted me?”

He was genuinely troubled.

Dagon, who had just given instructions to the butler in the study, glanced at Aaron. He quietly waved the butler away, who was puzzled by the Duke’s muttering, and sighed inwardly as he spoke.

“Shall I report?”

The subject was omitted, but Aaron knew exactly what he meant.

“No.”

Aaron snapped, then changed his mind.

“Actually, Dagon. Report.”

The diligent aide Dagon immediately pulled a stack of papers from the nearest drawer. It was a record of every move made by the Warwick family over the past two weeks.

He hadn’t reported in real time, but it didn’t mean he hadn’t investigated.

“Where should I begin?”

“From the very start. Everything.”

Dagon nodded and began reciting the investigation details in a businesslike tone.

“After your visit, Your Grace, Lady Neria Warwick was bedridden with a lingering flu and couldn’t go out for two days. She missed all the small parties she usually attended… At this rate, you’d expect the house doctor to have visited, but apparently not. They seem to rely on basic medicine, but there’s a limit to that… This family, really…”

Not knowing Neria’s flu was fake, Dagon clicked his tongue at Earl Warwick’s stinginess for not calling a doctor. Aaron, too, pursed his lips and glared at the air in displeasure.

“Fortunately, she recovered completely and went shopping with her mother, the Countess. And… she bought underwear at Handsome Boutique… Ugh, why did I even write this down.”

Dagon glanced at his superior, worried that Aaron would scold him for reporting such trivial details. His handsome superior had his fingers laced under his chin, deep in thought. He looked like a commander strategizing at a war table.

Dagon admired the Duke’s imposing and beautiful face again.

Though he was currently receiving a report on a young lady’s every move, he was the Northern Duke. He was probably already thinking about what he’d have to do upon arriving in the North. But contrary to Dagon’s thoughts, Aaron was thinking—

‘Red, of course. Neria likes provocative red, and it suits her.’

“The color is red… Ugh. I’ll just skip that.”

‘…As expected.’

When his prediction proved correct, Aaron couldn’t hide his pleased smile—but at the sound of fluttering paper, his lips tightened.

“The next move… Ah, she went to the city of Orin with the Countess for her elder sister’s childbirth. According to the maid, they’ll be away for a week. If the schedule holds… she’ll be back tomorrow. That’s all, Your Grace.”

“Well done, Dagon.”

Dagon looked at Aaron and flinched. His superior’s eyes had gone cold.