After changing, Elena opened the dressing room door herself. Judging that she didn’t need to open it fully, she opened it little by little before eventually opening it completely. She kept opening the door looking for Rudfelix, but when he wasn’t there, she felt deflated.

“He’s not here.”

Walking around in the dress attracted more gazes, but the person she was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

“Did Senior Quiet come?”

When Elena asked, Miche shook her head.

“He left a little while after you entered the dressing room, Miss.”

A maid passing by to attend to things informed her.

“If you wait here, I’ll find out where His Highness is.”

“No. I’ll go myself.”

Planning to search for him herself, she grasped the hem of her skirt. Though her rarely-worn shoes were uncomfortable, she thought she would find him quickly.

By the time she realized this was a mistake after circling the vast mansion for an hour, it was already too late.

After circling the mansion and returning to her room, Elena collapsed limply onto the sofa.

She massaged her sore ankles from the shoes. If she had known she would be walking so much, she wouldn’t have worn them.

“Where did he go?”

If something urgent came up, he could have at least said so.

“A note?”

She discovered an unfamiliar small piece of paper on the table.

〈Garden, Confession〉

Just two words.

“Is this all?”

It meant if she went to the garden, he would confess.

Suddenly receiving a confession would be strange, but now she felt like hesitating at the entrance of a cave while knowing a tiger had its mouth open inside.

She wondered if this was why he had asked her to wear the dress.

“Last time he suddenly told me he liked me, and now he’s openly saying he’ll confess.”

He certainly wasn’t an ordinary person.

“But why am I acting like this?”

Her hand gripping the paper tightened—evidence that her heart was wavering toward him.

“I found him. He’s in the garden.”

Just as she was hesitating, Miche rushed in breathlessly with the news, effectively pressuring Elena.

“Aren’t you going to see him?”

“I could go or not go.”

She lowered her eyes and fidgeted with the paper. Only after pressing, rubbing, and crumpling it until the edges became soft did she let go.

Even after Miche left the room, Elena remained seated in the same spot.

“Why am I hesitating?”

The two-year limit she knew about when she started applied only to her job as an aide, not to their relationship.

Even if he opposed the crown prince as a villain, the fact that she had already received his favor and become his aide wouldn’t change.

From the moment her father received his favor, a connection with the Grand Duke’s household had been established.

“Is that why I’m hesitating?”

In truth, it wasn’t even that. From the beginning, she hadn’t wanted him to end up on the scaffold as a villain. She hated the idea of such a brilliant and splendid person ending in death.

“Indeed……”

She unfolded the crumpled paper. The elegant handwriting captured her eyes.

“It doesn’t feel real.”

That was the closest answer to why she had drawn a boundary in her heart.

Despite feeling his affection several times, she had remained passive because the shadow of the original work loomed large.

Though she knew this was a world where real people lived, perhaps it would have been easier if she hadn’t known the mind of the author who created his character.

“Ah, I don’t know.”

Deciding she should go anyway, Elena stood up.

Though it was a burdensome place since she would have to answer Rudfelix’s confession on the spot, she hated making him wait even more.

* * *

The garden was a place he visited twice daily without fail.

With stone walls as boundaries where flowers and trees harmonized, it created a unique atmosphere.

She walked along the maze-like path, tapping the chest-high stone walls.

Her skirt brushed against the grass, following belatedly and wrapping around her legs, while the jewels collided with each other, producing clear sounds.

The chiffon sleeves tickling her wrists made her increasingly conscious of the dress.

“Your Highness.”

Elena spotted Rudfelix standing like a cactus jutting out from the stone path. Their eyes met as he turned at the sound of her footsteps on the grass.

He looked only at Elena. Her eyelids trembled as she exhaled to suppress her tension at his silent urging to come quickly.

Elena approached, forcibly feigning composure.

“Did you discover the note late?”

His sudden formality momentarily confused her.

‘Ah. I changed clothes.’

After a brief moment of confusion, Elena clutched the soft skirt touching her palm.

Now Rudfelix was treating her as Lady Elena, not as his aide.

“I found the note late and also hesitated.”

“Did you think about how you would answer if you received a confession?”

“Yes.”

As Rudfelix took a step closer, her hands unconsciously tightened.

“Do you truly like me, Your Highness?”

This was something she had wanted to ask directly at least once. She wanted to confirm if his feelings were more than mere fondness.

“I don’t know why it didn’t feel real that you would confess. That’s why I hesitated before coming.”

“I tried to control myself as much as possible because I didn’t want to overwhelm you with my feelings……”

Rudfelix removed his hand from his pocket.

“It was unnecessary consideration.”

His direct gaze and tightly closed lips looked more like someone facing an enemy who needed to be killed rather than a woman he loved.

“Embracing you, kissing you, sleeping in the same bed. I regret only imagining these things. Since you doubt my feelings so much, I should have pounced on you earlier.”

Embracing, kissing, sleeping in the same bed?

Unable to hide her reddened face, she listened to his intense confession.

“Take my hand. Enter the ball tomorrow with me as your lover.”

The hand he extended seemed demanding, but ultimately contained his desperate desire for her.

‘My words about it not feeling real were hurtful.’

Having doubted and mistrusted him, she had nothing to say even with ten mouths.

As she stared blankly at his fingertips trembling slightly in wonder, his hand began to withdraw.

At that moment, she instinctively grabbed his retreating hand.

“Ah, really……”

Elena lamented that her heart had already gone to him.

“I like you too.”

She closed her eyes tightly and revealed her honest feelings.

“Do you truly like me?”

Not a forced answer?

Rudfelix tried to confirm her sincerity just as she had done moments ago.

Feeling that this too was her fault, Elena grasped his hand even more firmly.

“If I hated it, I would have frowned, startled, and said I hated it terribly.”

She raised only her head while still holding his hand.

“I like you.”

Elena closed her eyes tightly and confessed her heart.

“If you had hated me, I would have been deeply hurt.”

Her closed eyes flew open at his changed tone. His mood swings were more extreme than a chameleon’s.

“It’s not like that—that’s why my body tingles, why I work harder for Your Highness, and why I’ve tried to adapt quickly since coming here.”

“I’m glad it’s because of me.”

“As Your Highness’s person, I want to become close, and I don’t know how to react when told I’d make a good daughter-in-law.”

“Would you have run away if that weren’t the case?”

“Yes.”

Rudfelix burst into laughter at Elena’s honesty.

“Do you know what it feels like when your heart itches, Your Highness? No matter how much I scratch, my hand can’t reach it, so it keeps itching. I wish someone would open my chest and scratch it, but not just anyone can do that. Only Your Highness can.”

“That’s a somewhat frightening response to a confession.”

“I don’t actually want you to cut me open.”

Rudfelix’s hand wrapped around Elena’s neck and jaw, rising to her cheek.

“From now on, stay by my side.”

“As your aide and lover?”

“In any form.”

She pondered another reason why his confession didn’t feel real.

His face, too beautiful to seem human, was drawing closer.

“It’s a lie. I can’t believe it.”

“!”

Startled, Elena grabbed Rudfelix’s hand and turned her head. Rather than moving away from him, she clung to him.

“How can this be possible?”

A woman muttered as she walked across the grass.

The sound of a branch breaking with a ‘crack’ came from beneath her feet.

Staggering from the shock, she walked precariously as if about to fall.

“You like your aide?”

Who was she?

It was an unfamiliar face, and since anyone could enter the garden, there was no reason to reproach her for overhearing.

Usually in such situations, most people would politely withdraw, but.

As the woman’s muttering continued, he removed his hand from Elena’s cheek only to have it captured again.

Rudfelix showed his determination not to let go by interlocking their fingers tightly.

“Your Highness?”

Finding this strange, she turned to look at him and saw him frowning deeply.

“How could you?”

The woman’s eyes, glaring at Rudfelix, were filled with resentment and anger.

“Sekyan.”

A name tinged with irritation came through Rudfelix’s clenched teeth, as if he knew who she was.

‘Sekyan?’

Who was that?

It wasn’t a completely unfamiliar name.

The desire to know who she was must have been intense, as it came to her surprisingly quickly.

‘The aide.’

She was that competent aide Rudfelix had acknowledged.

That aide appeared wearing an elaborate dress.

Thoroughly shocked, she stared at their clasped hands as if wanting to tear them apart.

* * *

Sekyan, Sekreya was a marquis’s daughter from the Kingdom of Kristian.

“Sekreya, why is your lip sticking out like that?”

“Life is boring.”

She simply found life tedious. She acquired any knowledge without difficulty and possessed everything she wanted.

Except for being born a woman, she had no obstacles in life.

“Is that so? Shall we go buy a necklace? Or get you that new dress that just came out?”

Outside, he was a stern Marquis, but at home, he was a father who anxiously tried to gauge the mood of his only daughter.

“Where’s Mom?”

“She went out saying she had a meeting today.”

“Sigh, how tiresome.”

Meetings, meetings, meetings.

The Marquis tried to accommodate his daughter’s mood in place of his wife who was too busy with social gatherings to care for her daughter, but it wasn’t easy.

“Maybe I should run away from home.”

“What? Darling, the world is dangerous. How could you run away?”

Sekreya, resting her chin on her hand and gazing out the window, replied flatly to her father who was trying to dissuade her anxiously.

“Then what should I do when I’m bored?”

“How about attending meetings with your mother?”

“No thanks. I hate when ugly animals pretend to be butterflies while talking about gathering around flowers.”

“Then…… work, yes, would you like to work?”

The Marquis blurted this out inadvertently but then tried to tempt his daughter with it, thinking it might be a good idea.

“Work?”

Sekreya showed brief interest before lowering her head again.

“Work would be predictable. If it’s just sitting and making choices like last time, I’ll pass.”

Though he said he’d give her work, he’d probably only assign tasks where she just sat and lifted a finger.

As she grumbled, the Marquis stamped his feet. He grew anxious, fearing she might actually run away if left like this.

Making his daughter happy was his daily routine. So no one found them strange.