Adriel seems to have lost his mind.

“Thank you for the invitation.”

“……”

He, who had no memory of inviting anyone, held out the bouquet in his hand to me. With his ears flushed red, he said:

“I’ve prepared a small gift as a token of gratitude. I thought it would be nice to have roses that resemble you in the mansion.”

I stared quietly at the bouquet before slowly opening my mouth.

“Um… I genuinely can’t remember. Did I send you an invitation, Sir Knight?”

“Two days ago, did you not say in your reply that you would invite me?”

Two days ago? If it was two days ago…

That was the day Adriel had sent a letter saying he wished to discuss something about that strange power from before, asking when we could meet.

I had been in the middle of tracking Deus, knowing I would be busy for a while, so I remembered writing back to tell him we’d meet later.

Right. A reply.

No matter how I thought about it, I had never invited him.

So what on earth did this man see that made him think I had invited him?

Puzzled, I furrowed my brow, and Adriel reached into his br*ast pocket and pulled something out.

It was the very letter I had sent him two days ago.

“It took me a little time to decipher.”

Decipher? What was there to decipher in a simple letter saying I was too busy to meet?

I looked down at the letter Adriel unfolded and held open before me.

[I received your letter.

I’m curious about what you wished to discuss, but I already have plans in two days’ time, so I’m afraid our meeting will have to be postponed.

If you don’t mind, I’ll extend an invitation later, so please come to the mansion.

In anticipation of our next meeting, I will bring this letter to a close.]

The letter Adriel had brought was certainly the one I had sent.

Except…

“What are these circles?”

I pointed to the circles drawn around certain words and asked him.

“Are they not a cipher hidden within the letter?”

“This… is a cipher?”

When I connected the circled words, a single sentence took shape.

[In two days, an invitation, please come.]

“……”

I stared at him, utterly at a loss for words.

This man had no intention of reading my letter properly from the very start, had he?

“Had I not lost sleep going back over the letter, I would never have caught your meaning.”

Whether he couldn’t see my baffled expression or simply didn’t care, he spoke with a tone that was somehow rather proud of himself.

Truly…

Imagining him jolting awake in the dead of night, hunched over the letter by candlelight, going over it again and again, I found myself beyond words.

“……”

I was clearly beyond words, and yet…

“What is the matter?”

Seeing that face of his, still apparently unaware of what he had done wrong, I thought he was somehow a little…cute.

In that instant, I caught myself mid-thought and froze.

Smack!

I slapped myself on the cheek, and Adriel startled violently, grabbing my hand.

“What are you doing all of a sudden…!”

“……”

I silently shook his hand off with cold composure. Then I narrowed my eyes and looked at him.

Hey. You said you wouldn’t push.

Your words and your actions don’t match, for someone who said he’d let go as though he had no lingering feelings left.

Not wanting to let him fall any further into misunderstanding, I drew a firm line.

“Sir Knight, I did not hide any cipher in this letter.”

“…Was there not?”

“No. It truly only meant I was too busy to meet. There was not a single other meaning to it.”

Adriel blinked blankly.

But before long, the realization that he had made a tremendous mistake dawned on him, and his face began to flush a deep red.

“Then this letter…”

Watching him flustered as he tucked the letter back into his br*ast pocket, I was the one who felt more embarrassed.

I rose from the sofa in the drawing room and gestured toward the door.

“Anyway, please head back quickly.”

At that, Adriel’s broad shoulders visibly drooped, his expression falling into a sulk.

But was it my eyes playing tricks on me?

Why did that large man look so small just then?

I deliberately looked away from him, looking for all the world like a large dog caught in the rain, and said what needed to be said.

“I have errands to run and need to head out.”

As I said that and moved to leave the drawing room first, Adriel snapped his head up urgently and asked:

“Might I ask where you are going?”

“Hm? Ah… well. Just. I have someone to meet.”

To be precise, it wasn’t meeting someone so much as tailing them.

After the incident at the Imperial Palace, I had been following Deus.

The story, already unfolding ahead of schedule unlike the original, had been gnawing at me so badly I couldn’t sleep, because I had a feeling the reason was connected to Violet, who had cursed me.

“Someone… you are meeting.”

“Yes.”

Adriel paused briefly.

Why is he suddenly acting like that?

He had been hesitating as though he wanted to ask me something, when he abruptly turned to me with a grave expression.

“Is it a man?”

“Hm? Well, yes…”

Why would he ask something like that…?

I answered flatly, and Adriel’s expression darkened in an instant.

“Could it be… that person you mentioned from your childhood. Is he a man?”

Someone I was close with in my childhood? Who would that be…

Ah, could he mean my brother from my past life?

The memory of telling him about my past life suddenly surfaced.

At the time, Adriel had seemed to think my wretched brother was one of my older retainers.

But why was he bringing up my brother now…

I looked quietly at Adriel’s red eyes, waiting for my answer. Those eyes, as though flames were surging within them, were terribly sharp.

Ah. Could it be…

Is he jealous right now?

“I didn’t know you were such a jealous person, Sir Knight.”

I sighed and asked, as though joking.

“At this rate, will you tell me not to even speak to men later?”

“……”

“…Please hurry up and say no.”

“Would that be acceptable?”

Would it?

At his earnest question, I looked at him as though I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

But in the end, I couldn’t hold it in, and I burst out laughing and shook my head.

“Please don’t do that. A man who is possessive is not attractive.”

“…I will endeavor to improve.”

“Well, do your best to…”

I snapped my mouth shut.

Do your best at what? I should have told him to let go of these feelings since it would never come to that.

Perhaps because my guard had dropped.

Without realizing it, I had been swept along by his pace.

This won’t do.

After a moment’s thought, I looked back at Adriel.

“Would you like to come along?”

At my sudden proposal, Adriel’s eyes went wide, as though he had received an offer he never dared to hope for.

“You are permitting me to accompany you?”

“Yes, well. Since it’s come to this, I thought we might as well go together. You don’t have any urgent business, do you?”

His eyes lit up in a flash.

“I do not. I wish to follow. Please allow me to accompany you.”

“Hm?”

No, what do you mean, allow…

“A, alright. Let’s go together.”

I told him to get ready to go out and come back down, then left the drawing room.

And as I thought of him waiting inside the drawing room, I made a silent resolution.

I need to remind him of what Rosemary used to be like to him.

If I imitate those days when she was called a villainess, that man will eventually grow sick of me and pull away.

“……”

When I imagined Adriel recoiling in disgust at me, my steps grew heavy for a moment, but I steeled my resolve once more and climbed the stairs.