“Do you think you and I could live like siblings? I was your servant all my life. Surely you don’t wish for me to live exactly like my mother who went mad.”

She chuckled and shook her head.

“Young Master. Let me be clear. I have no obligation to relieve your kind guilt.”

“……”

“Being at Romeo’s side is my choice. Actually, even when I was in Valher, he was my lover. We joined bodies countless times.”

Tybalt’s eyes creased.

“……You say he was your lover—meaning he isn’t now?”

“……”

“Being at his side is what you want.”

She had no obligation to answer faithfully. Rosaline hardened her expression and took a long breath.

“What I want right now……”

Was to embrace Romeo and see his dimpled smile beaming with pure joy.

“……is my luggage that I brought when coming here.”

White snowflakes passed between them. Tybalt looked down at her for no small amount of time before slowly nodding.

“……Alright, if that’s what you want.”

Before his words finished, he grabbed a passing soldier and gave some order. Soon after, a supply soldier who seemed to be in charge guided them to a building used as a warehouse. It was a solid structure built by stacking bricks rather than a sturdy tent. The place seemed regularly maintained—candles wrapped in glass glowed softly high on the walls.

The soldier gestured inside.

“If you go deep inside and look to the left, it should be there. There were no specific instructions, but I heard they set it aside just in case.”

“Thank you.”

When Tybalt casually greeted him and tried to enter with Rosaline, she stopped abruptly.

“I want to go in alone.”

The soldier couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“This is a warehouse on military grounds. There’s even food supplies, so what makes you think……”

Tybalt grabbed the shoulder of the soldier approaching Rosaline.

“Kata’s incarnation is said to be mentally unstable. Be flexible.”

“……”

“It’s a time when anyone’s head might fly.”

The dumbfounded soldier glared at Tybalt, then opened his mouth as if defeated.

“If problems arise, the head that flies will definitely be yours, Sir.”

“Understood.”

After the soldier disappeared and Rosaline entered the warehouse, he spoke quietly from the doorway.

“But, Rosaline. You’re really alright?”

“……”

“You say you’re there because you want to be, but you look sad.”

His manner of speaking was too similar to Juliet’s. Even what he said. Even his words that seemed oblivious yet struck the mark.

Rosaline smiled meaninglessly.

“Did I look happy when I was with the Capulets?”

He looked chagrined. Thinking something alone, he scratched his head and readily admitted it.

“That was presumptuous of me.”

I’ll wait until you come out—he added that and closed the door. She looked at the door swallowed by darkness and recalled his kindness. The Capulets’ kindness was nothing but deception to her.

Of course, there’d been times she’d thirsted for that faint kindness. But now that she knew it only strangled her, there was no reason to care about it.

Only Romeo mattered, the one who’d given her emotions that seemed ready to burst.

Only after catching her breath could Rosaline examine the interior. The inside reeked faintly of the military but was warm, and though there were no weap*ns, cloth and clothing were neatly folded or grain was piled up.

Going to the corner as the soldier said, her luggage wrapped in cloth lay in a small space. It was cut from clothes a dead man had given her when she became an umbra heading to Arsha. Rosaline sat down as if chased and unwrapped the bundle.

“It’s here.”

Tears burst forth when she found what she wanted. Rosaline smiled brightly without wiping the tears flowing like a broken dam.

“To the ugly Rosaline.”

These were letters he’d written her. Since there weren’t many, she’d been able to bring them to the monastery by asking Gabriella. After that, she’d rolled them up in a small pouch and carried them around.

[Do you know you always sleep with your mouth slightly open? Even when I press your chin to close it, it opens little by little. Conversely, when you pretend to sleep, I can see your eyeballs rolling under your eyelids. You can’t even see anything, foolishly.

So, why did you pretend to sleep this morning?

Watching you intently, you seemed to expect something, so I did nothing. But tonight you’ll have to tell me. Just what bizarre thoughts went through that tiny head of yours.

Romeo.

P.S.: If you weren’t hoping for a kiss but were just embarrassed about oversleeping, you don’t need to say anything.]

Next to the postscript was a carelessly drawn smiling face.

[You were singing while brushing your hair at dawn. It sounded like a lullaby—sing it for me too. I can act like a baby if you want.

R.]

[Today Capulet came looking for the prince. Looking at their punchable faces ugly mugs faces made me want to kill them, but even if I cut off their necks, you wouldn’t seem to smile, so I stopped.

I want to see you smile.

A man whose patience is worn down.]

Above the word “worn” was written in tiny letters: ‘How’s that? Don’t I seem quite like a tedious, vain man “pretending” to be literary?’

“I want to see you smile too.”

The smile lingering on Rosaline’s lips as she chuckled and muttered quickly disappeared.

She wanted to laugh together, of course, and wanted to be strength for Romeo, but the more they were together, the more they seemed to sicken each other. Hardest to bear was him looking most agonized when with her.

Then she’d inevitably feel wronged. Did I do so terribly wrong? Even after explaining why I left him, must his anger last so long? If you can’t let me go either, couldn’t you accept me?

Just as I reject the Capulets, will you reject me to the end?

There must be another way. Those few months together in Valher had been happier than any other time in her life.

Can we again……

Bang!

Rosaline stood at the violent sound shaking the warehouse. A man stood rooted like a nail in the light from the open door at the center, breathing heavily with his back to the light.

“Romeo?”

She didn’t know when he’d arrived, but he’d clearly rushed straight from the battlefield with only his armor removed. Whether he heard her call or not, he muttered like someone in a daze, his gaze gauging whether she was real.

“I thought you’d disappeared.”

“……”

“You weren’t there……”

Behind him—precisely outside the door—a thin groan was heard. Tybalt lay groaning as if he’d been struck in the face, with several soldiers approaching to support him.

The moment Rosaline noticed this, the door slammed shut. A hand shot out from the darkened shadows and grabbed her. Her lips collided with his the moment she was pulled against his chest.

With one arm around her waist and his other hand cradling her head, he coiled his tongue like a snake and pressed against her mucous membranes. She followed as he backed away with the force and depth of the kiss.

When her back touched the wall, his hand slid down and lifted her b*ttocks and thighs. Rosaline wrapped her arms around his neck as if she wouldn’t refuse either.

Their gazes met and their lips parted. He pressed his forehead to hers and whispered viciously.

“Did he ask you to go with him?”

“No……”

“Liar.”

Romeo’s mouth twisted, caught between laughter and tears.

“The way you cover for him, worried I might kill him—quite a sight.”

Holding her with one arm, he gently grasped her arm wrapped around his neck with his other hand. At the end of the naturally bent arm was a crumpled letter. Romeo’s cold gaze curved with amusement.

“What’s this?”

“……You……”

Rosaline’s throat tightened at Romeo’s appearance so different from the Romeo in the letters.

“A letter you gave me.”

Romeo tilted his head as if about to kiss her any moment. His red eyes blocked Rosaline’s entire view.

“Burn it.”

“No.”

“I said burn it.”

Smiling, he pushed her against the wall. Her skirt slid up to her thighs and his abdomen pressed between them.

“Never… ngh!”

He penetrated without f*replay. The pain was brief. Her insides locked seamlessly with him and quickly grew wet as he moved in and out at an angle that drove her mad, and at his finger play rolling her cl*toris with his hand placed in the gap, Rosaline’s pained moans transformed into gasps mixed with pleasure.

“How long do you plan to hold onto them?”

He smiled with teeth showing. With the dimples she loved deeply carved in. But with an expression not gentle at all.

Facing this, Rosaline felt her chest ache dully. Unable to bear the feeling of growing distant despite touching, she wrapped her legs around his waist so he could penetrate to the very end. The thick c*ck’s surface pressed inside, and when the tip touched the end of her walls, her clenching inner walls convulsed.

“Hah!”

Rosaline tightly embraced his neck and gasped. He also released a deep groan and ej*culated while thrust deep. Then without withdrawing his mischievous smile, he shook his hips.

“Moving with the intention of ending it quickly.”

“Ah, ngh.”

“Should I call it clever, or should I call it impudent?”

Her climax wouldn’t subside as his ej*culate wetly soaked her inner walls and pressed her sensitive spots. Then only beast-like moans filled the space between them. Tears and saliva flowed from pleasure too hard to handle, and below was brutally crushed.

When she came to her senses much later, the letter in her hand had disappeared. Rosaline cried silently for a long time.