Chapter 1 – Theo and Rosie

Her head felt like it was about to split apart.

Rosie clutched her throbbing forehead and slowly opened one eye.  

The harsh light pouring in through the wide-open curtains made her eyes scrunch up.

Not only her head, but her whole body seemed to be screaming in pain. She barely managed to turn over and bury her face in the pillow. It seemed she had drunk far too much last night.

But—

Where was this place again.

Rosie blinked and looked around.

On top of that, her body felt somehow different than usual.

That is to say—

It felt like she was bare-skinned right now.

Rosie slowly turned her head to the side.  

A dark purple velvet curtain, embroidered lavishly, covered about half of a window so wide that one could see clearly outside. It was certainly beautiful and luxurious, but it was a window and curtain she had never seen before.

And so was her pale shoulder, which was clearly completely bare.

Rosie’s eyes widened in shock.

‘Where is this?’

Just as she tried to trace back her memory of last night, a low, rough groan sounded, and a heavy weight settled onto her back.

It was unmistakably a man’s voice. A cold sweat ran down Rosie’s spine. The unidentified man pulled her closer and wrapped her in his arms.

She bit her lip hard and covered her mouth to keep the scream threatening to burst out.

‘Did he wake up? What do I do. What do I do. What are you going to do, you crazy Rosie!’

But after that, the man did not move at all. He must have shifted in his sleep.

Rosie swallowed dryly and very carefully lifted her head. And the moment she confirmed the man’s identity.

Her face turned deathly pale and froze.

This could not be happening. It could not.

‘I have to get out. Now. I have to run away from here.’

To slip out of the man’s hold, Rosie began moving as slowly as humanly possible. She could not understand how just one arm could feel so heavy. She moved inch by inch, barely even breathing. It was the quietest she had ever been in her life.

At last, once she had escaped his arm, Rosie threw on her clothes at the speed of light. She did not even have time to check whether she had dressed properly. She swept the accessories lying on the table into her bag. After gathering her shoes and belongings, she tiptoed out of the room.  

She shut the door as silently as possible and quickly moved away from it.  

Only after she had gone far enough that the sound of her heels could no longer be heard did Rosie look back. The door remained still. It seemed the man was still fast asleep.

“Whew.”

Letting out a long sigh, Rosie quickly put on her shoes. Then, without looking back once, she left the building.

* * *

As soon as Rosie entered the house, she carefully made her way toward her room, trying not to run into any of the servants if possible. It was a little ridiculous that all those childhood games of hide-and-seek were useful at a time like this.

“Finally, my room.”

After safely opening the door and stepping inside, she collapsed onto the bed. Her bag slipped from her hand and fell to the floor, its contents scattering across it.

What on earth happened.

Rosie blinked blankly and muttered,

“This is insane. This is insane. I’m insane.”

Just then, the door flew open.

“Miss!”

Mia, Rosie’s personal maid, rushed over the moment she saw her. Shaking Rosie, who was sprawled face-down like a corpse, Mia lowered her voice and said,

“Where in the world were you all night? Do you know how worried I was that the Earl might come looking for you?”

“Urgh! Don’t shake me, Mia. Ugh! I think I’m going to be sick!”

At the sound of Rosie retching, Mia stepped back.

“You drank?”

“Yeah….”

Rosie answered weakly.  

She drank…. she definitely drank. A lot, probably. A whole lot.

“Goodness. You really should know when to stop.”

Despite Mia’s scolding, Rosie lay there silently for quite a while. Worried because she was not moving at all, Mia slowly approached the bed, but then Rosie suddenly sat bolt upright.

“Mia…. What am I supposed to do.”

Startled, Mia flinched and asked,

“Huh? What is it, Miss?”

Rosie, who had been staring blankly, shook her head hard.

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

Watching her with a bewildered look, Mia began picking up the belongings scattered across the floor.

“Would you like a bath? Shall I prepare the water?”

Rosie, who had slumped back onto the bed, nodded. Then a moment later, as though she had suddenly remembered something, she shot upright again and cried out,

“No!”

“Goodness!”

Startled by the shout, Mia fell backward and landed on the floor.

“Sorry, Mia. I’ll just wash up by myself. Go on out. Hurry. Quickly. Right now.”

Mia tilted her head at her unusually strange young lady today, then nodded uneasily.

“All right. Call me if you need anything.”

Rosie buried her face in the bed and merely waved one hand as if to tell her to leave already.

Mia cast her a worried glance, seeing how different she was from usual, and soon left the room.

As soon as she heard the door close, Rosie slowly lifted her head and checked the room.

“Whew. I almost got caught.”

She hurried to the bathroom. Her hangover made her feel like she might retch again, but first she had to wash up.

Once inside the bathroom, she untied the ribbon fastened around her chest. Her clothes fell to her feet. Passing beyond the layers of clothing that dropped one by one, she walked toward the mirror.

“That crazy b*stard.”

She had taken a rough look earlier before getting dressed, but it was worse than she had thought.

Rosie’s body looked as if there was not a single unmarked place on it. Her pale white skin was flushed red here and there, as if crimson flowers had bloomed all over it.

She could practically tell without looking just how much biting and kissing there had been.

No. This should not have happened.

He and I should never have ended up like this!

Rosie stood in front of the mirror, clutching her hair and stamping her feet, but it was already too late. What was done was done.

* * *

“Ha!”

A hollow laugh escaped Theodore. Having woken up, he rubbed a hand down his dry face and laughed as if the whole thing were absurd.

In the hotel room, warm sunlight streamed in. The space beside him, where he had expected someone to be after last night, was empty.

He reached out and brushed his hand over the bed, where the traces of the previous night remained exactly as they were. As his fingers traced the faintly smeared marks and the streak of red blood, he could vividly picture her hot response beneath him last night.

Those blue eyes that had looked at him with reddened rims still lingered before his eyes.  

But there was no warmth left in the sheets. It seemed she had been gone quite a while already.

“This is unbelievable.”

A large hand roughly swept back his hair. His glossy black hair fell tousled under his fingers.

How could she possibly run away, leaving him behind.

The great Theodore Elmer Durand had slept with someone only to be discarded afterward. That could not be allowed.

“Rosemary.”

Theo ground his teeth and threw off the blankets as he rose.

* * *

Perhaps she truly had been exhausted, because after bathing, Rosie fell asleep the moment she lay down on the bed.  

She had been sleeping soundly, unaware even that someone had opened the door, and had only just woken up.  

The room was dim with the curtains drawn, perhaps by Mia, so she could not tell what time it was. Still bleary-eyed, Rosie stretched wide. The soft fabric wrapping around her body felt nice. She was just rubbing her face into the smooth pillow when—

“Did you sleep well?”

At the low voice she had not expected, Rosie jerked in surprise and sat up on the bed. After blinking several times to focus, she saw a dark figure seated on the sofa, facing the bed.

“Rosemary.”

“Eek.”

Rosie pulled the blanket up to her chest as if it were a shield.

As her vision cleared further, she saw Theo, arms crossed, watching her.

“T-Theo…. How did you get in here….”

“What do you mean, how? It’s not as if I’m someone who can’t come here.”

That was true.

Theodore Elmer Durand and Rosemary Addis Deacon.

The two of them were childhood friends who had grown up together since birth.

Their mothers had been famously close friends in high society. One had married into a Dukedom, the other into an Earldom, and in the same year, both became pregnant and gave birth.

That was why Rosie and Theo were somewhat closer than most people.  

Ordinarily, no gentleman would be allowed into a lady’s room while she was dressed only in her nightclothes like this. Had it been anyone other than Theo, he would have had no excuse even if he were dragged off by the city guard that instant.

But the two of them had grown up together since childhood and had never especially drawn such lines, and because of that, both families likewise attached no special meaning to such visits.

Especially since Theo had often come to wake Rosie, who had always struggled to get up in the morning, no one thought much of it whether he entered her room early in the morning or in the evening.

They were friends.

The sort of friends who chased frogs, played pranks, teased each other, and played hide-and-seek together. Up until now, there had never been even the slightest feeling between them that went beyond friendship.

At least, that was what Rosie thought.

Of course, the people around them, except for the two families themselves, did not seem to think so.

And.

That was also the same reason Calvin, who had been her boyfriend until yesterday, had broken up with her.

“E-Even so. If you just come into a lady’s room like this….”

Rosie trailed off and tightened her grip on the blanket.

“Since when did we ever care about things like that?”

For the first time in her life, Theo’s voice sounded chilling to her. Her mouth went dry, and she swallowed hard.

“Besides that. Don’t you have something to say to me?”

“Huh? Ah. Uh. Well….”

Rosie found it hard to meet his gaze as he stared straight at her, and her eyes darted around in search of somewhere else to look.

When she hesitated, Theo rose from the sofa with slow, deliberate movements. Startled by the way he moved, Rosie stared at him with wide eyes.

The closer he came, the farther Rosie edged backward little by little. Unfortunately, she soon found herself pressed against the headboard.

With steps like a leopard’s, Theo approached and braced a hand on the bed, trapping her between his arms. His long shadow fell over her as though it might swallow her whole.

Rosie could only clutch the blanket like a lifeline and curl up, as if trying to fold her body into itself, unable to retreat any farther.

“Do you remember last night?”