McCloy Duchy.

Rosie, who was having her hair braided by a maid, was nervously biting her nails.

‘The Center Director. How dare you report me? I won’t let this slide.’

An investigator from the Imperial Palace visited yesterday. The pretext was that she had instigated the murder of a guide from Chelsea Center.

The accuser was said to be the Center Director, ‘Duncan Scott’.

She wasn’t immediately arrested, but she had to attend a judgment at the Imperial Palace in a few days.

Her punishment would be decided there.

Rosie immediately went to her father and claimed her innocence.

Her doting father told her to trust him and ordered her to stay confined in the ducal residence.

She had no doubt that her father would resolve this well.

Her father could even make the judgment itself fall through.

But Rosie didn’t like this whole situation.

She felt stifled, being stuck in the ducal residence for days, unable to even go to the banquet hall.

“…My Lady. Are you satisfied with your hair?”

Rosie looked at herself in the mirror.

Perhaps it was due to her anxiety about possibly being punished.

Her face was a mess. Her eyes were sunken, and her cheeks were hollow.

Even her skin color seemed to have turned sallow.

To think she was once considered one of the beauties of the Eldora Empire…

“Do it again! What kind of hairstyle is this?”

Rosie vented her frustration on the maid.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll redo it.”

Rosie’s eyes, glaring fiercely at her reflection in the mirror, flickered with anger.

It felt like this whole situation was all because of Yerena.

‘I should have quickly confirmed that woman’s death.’

On the day she pushed Yerena off the cliff, she had ordered the knights who went to the Center with her to dispose of her body.

But the knights found nothing at the bottom of the cliff.

It was as if someone had retrieved Yerena’s body.

Rosie returned to the ducal residence right after.

Though the aftermath felt unsettling, staying at the Center any longer would only increase unnecessary witnesses.

And there was no possibility that Yerena could have survived falling from such a steep cliff.

She regretted thinking carelessly that some forest beast must have taken Yerena’s body.

‘To think it was the Center Director who retrieved Yerena’s body.’

The Center Director had been displeased with her.

The reason was that she, an ordinary person, frequented the Center.

So he must have secretly reported to the Imperial Palace after accidentally witnessing what she had done.

Because he disliked her!

Rosie slammed her fist on the dressing table.

“Damn him.”

With her father behind her and no evidence, she wouldn’t be punished.

Rumors might spread in high society, but that didn’t matter.

Whether they mocked or cursed her as a murderer, if anyone dared to insult her to her face, she would thoroughly punish them.

As the young lady of the ducal family, a power player in the empire, she had that power.

But there was another problem.

‘What if Benjamin thinks badly of me?’

If he also comes to believe that she killed Yerena…

She was worried about potentially earning Benjamin’s hatred.

Rosie bit her lower lip hard.

‘He disliked Yerena anyway, so it should be fine, right? He might even like it. I got rid of that eyesore of a woman for him.’

She thought it would be stranger if Benjamin reacted sensitively to Yerena’s death.

He had no interest in anything except that woman Diana.

At that moment, the voice of a maid outside the room was heard.

“My Lady. A guest has arrived.”

A guest? There shouldn’t be anyone coming.

“Who is it?”

“Benjamin is waiting for you in the drawing room.”

“W-What?”

Rosie sprang up from her dressing table.

Benjamin visiting the ducal residence…!

It was a historic event she had never experienced before.

‘Of course! Benjamin must be pleased that I eliminated Yerena! That’s why he came in person!’

Rosie checked her appearance.

Perhaps Benjamin might even confess to her today. Her face began to glow with premature excitement and anticipation.

***

As she approached the drawing room where Benjamin was, the smell of blood became overwhelming.

Rosie couldn’t help but furrow her brows as she scanned her surroundings.

‘Did Father return from hunting? How sloppy to spill animal blood.’

That’s what she assumed, but there were no bloodstains visible anywhere in the corridor.

It was strange.

When she finally arrived at the drawing room, Rosie couldn’t help but be shocked.

The source of the blood smell was present in the drawing room.

“Be-Benjamin.”

Her voice trembled slightly as she called out to Benjamin.

Her eyes fell upon Benjamin, whom she had longed to see.

Benjamin, stood tall amidst the blood-covered knights of the ducal family.

He maintained his neat appearance.

An impeccable black uniform and neatly settled hair. The only evidence of a struggle was the red blood on his pale cheek.

That blood must be from the ducal family’s knights.

Rosie, who had been ready to rush to Benjamin upon seeing him, took a step back.

Benjamin’s gaze, which had been fixed on something outside the window, turned to Rosie.

He looked somewhat tired.

“Hello.”

Benjamin’s voice was cold.

Rosie, unable to even think of approaching him, looked at the knights sprawled on the floor.

They weren’t dead but seemed to have sustained quite a few injuries.

And…

‘Aren’t these the knights who were with me when I pushed Yerena off the cliff?’

Rosie felt that something was going terribly wrong.

The feeling that her assumption of Benjamin visiting to defend her was mistaken.

She bit her lower lip hard.

“What are you doing? Not even greeting me.”

Benjamin’s head tilted to the right as he said this.

He raised his right hand, gesturing for her to come closer.

She was truly scared.

What Rosie had liked was Benjamin with his perfect poker face and mysterious aura, not this cruel Benjamin.

He seemed unfamiliar to her.

But she couldn’t just stand there trembling.

Rosie approached Benjamin one step at a time, very slowly. Her legs were shaking like aspen leaves.

Finally, they faced each other up close.

Only then did Rosie manage to part her lips with difficulty.

“W-What’s going on here? Did the ducal family’s knights offend you, Benjamin?”

Benjamin rolled his eyes.

“Offend.”

“…Yes.”

“They did.”

He reached out and firmly grasped Rosie’s chin.

“Say it with your own mouth.”

“W-What?”

“What offense they committed.”

“……”

“You know too.”

Benjamin’s eyes, now face to face, were completely devoid of warmth.

Though it wasn’t the season for cold, Rosie felt a chill and shrank back.

The more she met his gaze, the more she felt he was seeing through her thoughts.

She almost wondered if Benjamin had the ability to read minds.

So she couldn’t lie. Rosie ended up confessing what she had done.

“Don’t tell me… you’re doing this because of Yerena?”

Benjamin replied without a moment’s hesitation.

“Yes.”

“B-But you disliked Yerena too, didn’t you? Shouldn’t you not care what happens to her?”

This time, Benjamin firmly grasped Rosie’s nape.

“Ugh!”

Her airway suddenly constricted. It was the first pain of this kind that Rosie, who had grown up spoiled, had ever experienced.

She flailed her arms, trying to break free from Benjamin.

But she couldn’t escape Benjamin’s grip at all.

‘S-Scary. Benjamin is so scary.’

Rosie’s face turned pale.

“I never told you to dislike her.”

“……”

“I’m saying you don’t have the right to dislike her.”

He was speaking as if he had liked Yerena. However that couldn’t be true.

Rosie knew how insignificant Benjamin thought Yerena was.

He even called Yerena a ‘loser’.

For him to now care about Yerena…?

It was unthinkable.

Just as she was about to lose consciousness from lack of air, Benjamin released Rosie’s neck.

“Ugh! Hah! Ha……”

Catching her breath, Rosie felt somehow indignant.

While she didn’t understand Benjamin’s thoughts in harming her, this had all happened because of Yerena.

Thinking she couldn’t just stay silent, Rosie’s lips parted wide.