The Grand Duke’s hand sensually brushed over skin that gleamed white under the moonlight.

A woman as beautiful as a fully bloomed rose curled her shoulders and whispered, “It’s too bright. I feel embarrassed.”

“It’s alright.”

The Grand Duke smiled with a gentle face. From their passionate kiss just moments ago, some of the woman’s red makeup was smudged around his lips.

He lightly wiped it away with the back of his veined arm. Then he wrapped his arms around the woman’s slender waist and lifted her up.

“No one can see us.”

The Grand Duke, who had seated the woman on the railing, stared at her like a leopard eyeing its prey.

His firm, large hands removed the last piece of cloth covering her body. A body too sensual and soft to belong to a maid who only did menial chores was revealed.

“Your Grace…!”

He reached between her legs and slowly moved his hand toward the woman’s most intimate rosebud. A deep rose fragrance enveloped the two.

“Your Grace…!”

The Grand Duke’s movements, powerful yet nimble like a black leopard, could be felt from below.

The woman closed her eyes.

“Your Grace…!”

With every touch of the Grand Duke’s fingers, the woman twisted her body intensely.

“Your Gra—”

※※※

“AAAAARGH!!!”

At the death-rattle scream cutting through the silence, Cassel’s gaze naturally fell upon the woman before him.

Ignoring his gaze, the woman was now attempting to repeatedly bang her head against the desk.

“I need to die. I don’t deserve to be a writer!”

Despite the woman’s violent words, Cassel half-heartedly pretended to dissuade her with an indifferent face.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“Your Grace, should I even be writing? Perhaps I should quit now……”

“I told you that you can only quit when I tell you to.”

“But as I read it again, the same content keeps repeating. It’s probably the same as the chapter before last, and probably the chapter before that……”

“You mean the parrot woman’s ‘Your Grace’ chanting part?”

Rose, the woman who had just been trying to bang her head on the desk, looked at Cassel with an incredulous expression as if nothing had happened.

Then she replied in a tone that suggested she could hardly believe what she’d heard.

“Parrot woman? My protagonist is a rose. The most fragrant rose in the Empire.”

“How strange. She only gives off a rose scent but repeats the same words like a parrot with her mouth.”

“The Grand Duke never gets tired of it! He’ll love only her for his entire life!”

“I’m sure he will.”

Cassel turned his gaze back to the proofs he had been reading.

While Rose was writing, he always sat like this at a table set up behind her, either handling work or proofreading.

Looking at his upright profile, Rose declared firmly, “Your Grace doesn’t understand. This profound world of er＊tic novels……”

“I can pride myself on being the most well-versed among the nobility. Thanks to whom.”

“That’s……”

“Moreover.”

Cassel continued speaking, pointing at Rose half-heartedly with the hand holding the documents.

“I know very well that this parrot-like section needs to be completely revised through this proofreading.”

Rose drooped her eyebrows with a dejected expression, having had her most painful point called out.

It was a remark that properly trampled on a writer’s pride, but she couldn’t deny the truth of it.

Rose was in a slump these days. No, she had been in a slump for a very long time.

To be precise, she had nothing left to write. She muttered weakly, “Should I really quit……”

“Watch your words in front of your employer.”

“Then should I run away from here……”

Cassel finally raised his head to look at her again.

“If you run away, I’ll catch you. You might not be intact except for your arms.”

“My employer always resorts to threats…… I’m tired of churning out writing like pulling flour dough…… Maybe running away is……”

Rose grumbled with her lips pushed out three feet.

Unable to tolerate any more complaints, Cassel rose and approached her.

A large, dark shadow fell over Rose’s body. The shadow reprimanded her in a cold voice.

“You seem to have forgotten, but this is a contract. We have an obligation to complete this book.”

“But Your Grace, if I could have even a short break……”

“Now, answer only with yes or no to what I’m about to say.”

Rose couldn’t talk back anymore and hung her head low. Then she mumbled something under her breath so Cassel couldn’t hear.

Cassel amazingly understood it and pointed it out again.

“Lynx, viper, flour-pulling machine? Interesting insults, but they seem rather useless right now.”

She had forgotten he was skilled at reading lips. This time, Rose truly shut her mouth and apologized.

“I’m sorry……”

In fact, all of the Grand Duke’s words were theoretically correct.

Rose had been a maid who wrote illegal pulp novels, and the Grand Duke had mercifully spared her life despite knowing this fact.

Even though the protagonist of that novel was the Grand Duke himself.

“So sit down and write.”

Cassel said clearly. When Rose tried to say something else, Cassel blocked her.

“Answer only with yes or no.”

“……Yes.”

“Then……”

As Cassel was about to return to his seat, Rose suddenly let out something like a loud battle cry.

“NO!!!!”

Having fired her true feelings with vigor, Rose jumped up and approached him closely.

Cassel’s expression turned embarrassed at Rose’s face coming so near. Rose boldly looked straight at him and said:

“I’m sorry, but I really can’t write! I have absolutely nothing coming to mind. I might as well observe cats mating at this point!”

Then, as if she had nothing to lose, she began frantically moving around the spacious room, venting her creative frustration.

This mainly involved pounding the bed vigorously, or straining to open the locked window.

After watching Rose’s behavior for a while, Cassel let out a deep sigh.

“Perhaps……”

Then, running his hand through his hair, he slowly began:

“Could it be because you have no experience?”

Rose’s body, which had been flailing like an angry puppy, froze like a statue. She asked with an expression of disbelief:

“So…… are you saying I can’t write properly because I lack experience?”

“If we consider it.”

Rose’s face grew increasingly flushed.

“I-I’m a woman too, you know!”

“Ah, that……”

Cassel seemed flustered by his own words and stumbled a bit.

“What kind of experience am I supposed to have as a woman in the Empire? If it had been possible, I would have certainly tried various things as much as I wanted to!”

“You really say whatever comes to mind.”

Rose, still with a reddened face, continued to argue passionately.

“Your Grace, on the other hand, is free in every way, from gender to position. But as far as I know, Your Grace is also a virg—”

“Hey.”

Cassel stepped closer to Rose and moved his lips as if to make some rebuttal. This time, Rose retorted mischievously:

“Could there be some physical issue?”

“There’s absolutely nothing like that.”

“You never know. Since you’ve never tried—”

“Wait.”

At that moment, Cassel held out his hand to stop her as if something had suddenly occurred to him.

“Are you saying you would have tried various things if you could?”

“What? Of course. If I were a man……”

Rose narrowed her eyes, sensing something strange.

“Why……”

“You need experience, and as it happens, you seem interested in my body? Doesn’t anything come to mind?”

“What are you saying, really!”

“Considering you look at my forearms and chest before my face when facing me.”

Cassel’s body had somehow moved closer to Rose. Her pupils darted around, unable to find their bearings.

Rose wasn’t foolish enough not to notice what the Grand Duke was proposing.

“Still, this is too sudden……”

“If you refuse, I won’t ask again. But it’s true that we’re pressed for time to find another solution.”

Rose knew that if she rejected this proposal now, Cassel would never ask her the same question again.

“W-well then……”

And Rose had no particular reason to refuse this.

She actually had a great interest in his body.

It wasn’t just great interest. The source of Rose’s er＊tic novels was Cassel’s face and body itself.

Rose said, pretending to give in reluctantly:

“It’s for research……”

Cassel’s face came closer. When Rose reflexively squeezed her eyes shut, a gentle hand lightly caressed her eyelids.

“Why not relax your eyes? It’s not particularly romantic.”

“Ah, I’ll—”

Before she could finish speaking, their lips collided.

A tongue that briefly wandered around her lips naturally intertwined with Rose’s.

Cassel lifted Rose’s body and led her to the bed. Unlike his usual self, there was a hint of urgency in him.

Pressing down on her chest where her heart felt about to burst, Rose surrendered herself to the soft bed. And she looked up at Cassel who had naturally climbed on top of her.

‘Is this even possible?’

For someone claiming to be inexperienced, Cassel was leading the situation quite skillfully!

In the brief moment their lips parted, Rose stammered a question:

“A-aren’t you too skilled at this?”

Between strands of pitch-black hair, Cassel’s smiling face appeared. And soon a clear answer came:

“Well. It might be because I’ve been reading some decent novels lately for reference.”

Their lips met again before she could respond further.