Liana sat in the chair a servant pulled out for her. But her gaze was constantly directed only toward the roasted whole chicken.

“Eat.”

“Yes.”

Liana, who politely ate soup first, cut off a chicken leg and held it in her hand, tearing it deliciously with her mouth. Across from her, Dain watched the scene with fascination while elegantly cutting his steak.

“Would you like one?”

She held out a chicken leg out of conscience.

“No. You eat it all. I don’t like chicken.”

Dain said while subtly leaning his back away.

“Really?”

Why doesn’t he eat this delicious thing?

Since chickens were natural enemies of snakes, snake clan members could eat chicken dishes but didn’t like them.

Dain remembered Liana once saying she liked chicken. So even though he didn’t eat it, he had instructed the chef to include chicken dishes in the dinner menu.

“Liana, go to Rozella.”

Rozella was a small city where the duke’s villa was located. It was a place with beautiful scenery and hot springs where the Pruis ducal family had traditionally gone for vacation.

“Rozella? Where is that place?”

Liana’s expression became puzzled while eating due to Dain’s sudden words. Him telling her to go meant he wasn’t going.

“It’s a resort.”

“Oh, yes. What about Your Grace?”

“Go alone. Not for long, and since I’ve never given you a long vacation, go rest there for a week.”

“……Yes, thank you.”

Though Liana gratefully accepted his words, she wondered if something was wrong and stared at him intently.

Dain pretended not to notice her gaze and poured wine into her glass.

“You said you were a theater actress before coming here?”

“Yes, just a minor role actress.”

“Hmm…… Why weren’t you the protagonist?”

He had no particular interest in theater, so he had rarely watched theater performances. He just vaguely thought it would be good to be the protagonist.

“I had a short career and my skills were still immature. Working hard and someday standing on stage as the protagonist was my dream.”

Dain’s eyebrows twitched while looking at her. Was her dream? He was somehow bothered by Liana’s past tense answer.

“You can continue.”

“……That seems somewhat difficult, you know.”

Liana’s expression became bitter.

She had already quit the theater company. To pay off the baron’s debt, she might have to stay at the duke’s castle for several years, or even decades.

Though the duke treated her more kindly than expected and she received good money as payment for night services, returning to theater seemed difficult.

“……”

Dain’s expression darkened. She gave up her dream to come here.

Since he was just someone she had to pay debt to, it seemed unreasonable to talk specifically about her future. Even if she said she wanted to do theater and asked to be released, he had no intention of letting her go.

In the suddenly awkward atmosphere, both continued eating in silence.

“Um…… Your Grace, don’t you have family?”

When the meal was almost over, Liana asked carefully.

“Both my parents passed away. I have one maternal grandfather. He lives far away.”

Dain hesitated, then answered calmly. His mother was the only daughter of a southern count family and a snake clan member.

His parents died together in a carriage accident. He was ten years old then. He closed his mouth, thinking that if he talked about family in detail, she might discover that he was from the snake clan.

“I see.”

Liana also didn’t ask further, sensing he was reluctant to talk about family.

* * *

The next day, Liana got into the carriage with Kelly.

“Welcome, Lady.”

“It’s been a while, Ben.”

Liana exchanged familiar greetings with the coachman. Ben was the coachman who had taken her to where public carriages stopped when she went to the tavern.

She had become quite friendly with the castle servants. The servants, who initially didn’t pay much attention thinking she would leave soon, had become much friendlier lately and came out to the carriage with kind faces to see her off.

“Have a good trip, Lady.”

“Yes. Thank you. Everyone stay healthy.”

Dain looked down from his office window at Liana getting into the carriage surrounded by servants.

“It’s like she’s going to war.”

She seemed to have a power that drew people to her. Many approached her voluntarily.

‘Was that why the count was drawn to Liana too?’

Dain’s expression turned cold thinking of Count Stans.

He should have blocked access from the beginning rather than letting men approach her easily.

Rozella was a two-day carriage ride away. Since he gave her a week’s vacation excluding travel time, it was enough to relieve accumulated fatigue and rest.

The carriage carrying Liana slowly departed and exited the castle gate.

Watching the departing carriage, Dain felt his heart ache. He felt empty and longing, like something had been pulled out of his body.

‘No way. She just left, there’s no way I’d miss her already.’

Dain thought his mind was confused because pheromones still remained in his body.

“When we get to Rozella, there are glaciers and hot springs too. Isn’t it amazing that glaciers and hot springs are together?”

“I see.”

Kelly chattered excitedly like a lark. Liana was also in a good mood from the outing after a long time.

The carriage that left the duke’s castle raced across wide fields at high speed. Plane trees stretching straight toward the sky lined both sides of the road.

“Oh my, they’re pine trees?”

When the plane tree path ended, tall pine trees appeared one after another.

“Are pine trees fascinating to you?”

Kelly’s eyes widened in wonder, finding it curious that she was amazed by pine trees common in the duchy.

“Ah……, I had never left the imperial capital. I didn’t know there were pine trees in the north too.”

“I see. There are many pine trees here. You’ll be able to see them to your heart’s content.”

“I see.”

She hadn’t noticed when leaving the duke’s castle, but feeling the outside wind and looking at trees and scenery made her feel energetic and very refreshed.

They say you need to let wind into your nose once in a while, and Mom’s words were never wrong.

“Mom……”

Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since she visited Mom’s grave.

‘Mom, Baron Brian wasn’t as good a person as you thought. Don’t think about such a man there, meet a good man and love happily.’

Liana thought her mom might have gone to another world like herself. There was no law saying only she should possess into a strange world.

If Mom had also transmigrated like herself, she hoped Mom would forget a despicable man like Baron Brian and meet a wonderful man to live happily there.

* * *

The party that stayed overnight at an inn halfway between the duke’s castle and Rozella arrived at the villa in Rozella late the next afternoon.

“Wow……!”

Exclamations poured from Liana’s mouth seeing Rozella’s magnificent scenery. Behind the villa, mountains rose sharply like painted pictures surrounding all directions, and white perpetual snow covered the mountaintops.

“It looks like ice cream.”

“What? Hahaha.”

Kelly blinked her eyes and burst into laughter wondering what she meant.

“When you freeze cream it becomes ice cream, and that mountain shape looks just like ice cream. I want to take a bite.”

“It does look delicious. That mountain is called Mount Rope.”

Kelly said this was her first time coming to Rozella too.

“Mount Rope. The scenery is truly beautiful.”

“The previous duchess gave birth to His Grace here.”

“Really?”

So it was Dain’s hometown. Thinking it was the place where he was born made her feel somehow more intimate.

‘Come to think of it, Dain resembles Mount Rope.’

Dain was a man who was magnificent, mysterious, and even beautiful like Mount Rope. The white snow piled on Mount Rope reminded her of his snow-white hair.

Liana enjoyed the beautiful scenery and freedom, immersing herself in happiness after a long time.

Meanwhile, Dain, who remained alone at the castle, suffered from headaches, breathing difficulties, and insomnia after Liana left. He had pain in his heart too and couldn’t breathe well.

‘The medicine definitely has no effect.’

He had sent Liana far away without keeping her close to confirm the medicine’s effectiveness. If the newly developed medicine was effective, his physical condition couldn’t be like this.

“Tell Director Baron the medicine has no effect.”

“Is that so?”

The attending physician tilted his head hearing his words. The suppressant developed this time had the strongest effect among all medicines developed so far when tested on other snake clan members.

It was something that not only prevented pheromone generation but also cleanly resolved accumulated pheromones.

“If the medicine is effective, won’t I stop seeking women?”

“Do you mean the lady? Probably so. If you have no personal feelings for the lady.”

How could I have feelings for Liana?

Of course he had no feelings. There was no reason to have any.

So the medicine had no effect.

He was suffering so much from insomnia and breathing difficulties that he wanted to run to Liana. Moreover, his thirst intensified and even his heart pounded violently.

“Since the medicine definitely has no effect, tell them to research again.”

Dain ordered the attending physician with an irritated expression.

“Yes, understood, Your Grace.”

Meanwhile, Liana was peacefully enjoying her vacation.

‘This is nice.’

Though full spring had come to the duke’s castle, white snow still covered Mount Rope.

‘That snow probably won’t melt all year round. It would be fun to ski there.’

She suddenly thought of when she was in the real world. She had gone to ski resorts with family and camping in forests too.

Liana, who had been immersed in memories, soon shook her head with a bitter expression.

‘What’s the point of thinking about it. I can’t go back anyway.’