Chapter 21

“I’m sorry.”

Theo said nothing. His face looked troubled, but he just kept staring out the window.

“And the orders?”

“Yes, I’ve checked.”

Ruth quickly handed over the documents to Theo.

He glanced through them calmly and let out a deep sigh.

“What’s the point now.”

“Pardon?”

Ruth asked at his low mutter, but received no answer.

“Keep up the security.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Theo looked out the window and thought of Rosie, who had tried to hold onto him.

Her blue eyes, on the verge of tears, clung to him, but that brief moment of doubt had already pierced his heart.

‘Did I really fail to give her enough trust?’

Honestly, he thought if he dragged things out, she would open her heart to him. He was confident about it. But it was all just arrogant self-deception.

‘Threatening letters, of all things. Not even surveillance or shadowing. How did you see me, Rosie?’

“Ha.”

A long sigh escaped him.

“Earl Deacon wouldn’t doubt you without reason. He’s careful about everything.”

But Ruth’s comfort meant nothing to Theo. He didn’t care what Earl Deacon thought. Only Rosie mattered to him.

* * *

“My Lady, please stop crying. Your face will be all swollen tomorrow.”

Mia sighed as she pleaded with Rosie, who had been crying on and off for hours, wrapped up in her blanket.

“I hurt Theo. I……”

Rosie mumbled with a stuffed nose.

He had never not been on her side. Never, not once.

Even when she broke the family’s heirloom vase at the ducal residence, he took the punishment for her.

And she doubted him. Even if it was just for a moment, Theo, always quick to notice, would have realized instantly.

“What do I do. Waaah!”

“Oh, My Lady.”

The moment Theo turned away from her replayed in Rosie’s mind. When his cold gaze left her, it felt like her heart dropped.

‘I should have held him then.’

Rosie sniffled, thinking she should have held onto him and apologized.

She knew better than anyone he wasn’t that kind of person.

How could she even think, for a moment, that he wrote those letters?

“Stupid, idiot.”

After trying to comfort Rosie for a while, Mia must have decided it was useless, because she quietly turned off the lights, got ready for bed, and left the room.

Rosie tossed and whimpered for a long time, and just as she was about to fall asleep, the door opened quietly.

Startled, she blinked her big eyes and watched as someone entered, closing the door softly.

“Are you already going to sleep?”

He took off his coat and hung it on a chair. He was wearing a neatly pressed uniform, different from usual, probably from working late.

“Theo.”

Rosie sat up, tears still hanging from her lashes.

He unbuttoned his shirt and approached, kneeling on her bed. Every movement made his toned muscles dance beneath the open shirt.

“Why did you cry so much?”

His big hand cupped Rosie’s red cheeks. The cool touch felt soothing, and Rosie rubbed her face into his palm.

Afraid he’d pull away, she grabbed his wrist with both hands.

“I’m sorry, Theo. I’m really sorry. I just…… I was so anxious. When you left like that, I was so upset.”

Rosie sniffled as she spoke, tears falling from her big eyes.

“It’s okay.”

“I’m really sorry.”

He smiled gently at her, just as always. His hand on her cheek was endlessly caring. Theo hadn’t changed. She relaxed, closed her eyes, and enjoyed his touch.

“It’s okay, Rosie. We’re nothing, anyway.”

“Huh?”

Rosie’s eyes widened at his suddenly cold voice.

“We’re nothing. You don’t want to marry me. I’m not enough for you.”

“No, it’s not like that……”

His hand slowly withdrew. The warmth left, and it felt like the spot froze.

“It’s okay. I don’t want to marry you anymore, either.”

He stood up, cold and stiff.

“You’ll spend your life with someone ugly and fat and old like Calvin. You know how many women chase after me? I’ll marry the one who trusts me most.”

He curled his lip and moved farther away.

“What? Theo! No!”

Rosie crawled across the bed to grab him.

“Poor Rosie. After being with someone like me, how will you ever be satisfied with someone like him?”

He sneered at her. Suddenly, a glamorous woman with long red hair pressed her chest to his arm.

“Goodbye. Take care, Rosie.”

“No!”

Rosie’s eyes flew open.

“My Lady, are you alright?”

Mia’s worried face appeared above her.

Rosie was panting, breathing hard. Mia handed her a glass of water.

“What kind of dream did you have, to be so upset?”

‘It was a dream.’

Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness.

Rosie drank the water in one gulp and threw off the blanket, jumping out of bed.

“My Lady! Where are you going?”

“I need to wash up and go see Theo.”

“Wait, My Lady!”

Mia stopped her and led her to the mirror.

“Are you going to go like this?”

The mirror showed a puffy, swollen face from crying all night—the ugliest girl in the world. She couldn’t meet him like this.

“You have to calm your face first.”

Rosie nodded weakly and trudged back to bed.

Mia gently placed a cold towel over Rosie’s eyes.

‘Theo. Please wait for me. As soon as my eyes go down, I’ll come.’

Rosie closed her eyes and imagined yanking the hair of the glamorous woman from her dream.

* * *

It took a whole day for Rosie’s face to return to normal. When she finally recovered, she stepped off the carriage in front of the ducal residence.

She nervously adjusted her clothes with trembling hands.

Thinking about meeting Theo made her face flush. Usually, he was the one to come first after a fight, so she felt even more nervous.

“It’s okay, Rosie.”

She placed a hand over her chest and took a deep breath. With her heart barely steady, she started toward the ducal residence. By the wall, she saw the faint outline of a person—a silhouette she knew well.

She squinted and whispered,

“Calvin?”

Her steps hesitated, but then moved toward Calvin. He’d said his cousin was gravely ill and he’d gone to the countryside.

‘I haven’t heard he’s back yet.’

Why was he here?

Beside the row of trees by the wall, in a quiet spot, he was holding something and talking to someone.

“……He got caught?”

“That’s right. So it’ll be hard to deliver letters for a while.”

As she got closer, their voices became clearer. And what Calvin held in his hand, too.

“I told him, just say the Young Master ordered it, as you asked……. The mood at the ducal residence isn’t good. Wasn’t it just a love letter?”

“Well, you don’t need to know the contents. The Young Master cares a lot about the people at the ducal residence, so he’ll take care of it. Here, deliver this one more time.”

He tried to hand over a white envelope. Specifically, one with navy tulip designs at the four corners.

Rosie instinctively covered her mouth and drew in a breath.

‘It was Calvin.’

She quietly stepped back, trying to leave. Her heart started beating wildly for a different reason.

“It’s difficult now. I don’t think I can do this one.”

“Hey! You owe me!”

“I’ve already paid you back. I don’t want to get dragged into this. I’m going now!”

The man talking to Calvin closed the door without hesitation.

“Ugh! D*mn.”

Calvin turned, and his eyes met Rosie’s before she could escape.

“Oh?”

He looked surprised for a moment, then smiled.

Goosebumps rose all over Rosie’s body. He changed his expression in an instant, stuffing the envelope into his pocket and approaching her.

“Rosie, what brings you here?”

Rosie bit her lower lip. There was nothing she could do now.

“You sent the letters, didn’t you?”

“Letters? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just got back from the countryside.”

He lied without changing his expression.

“Then what’s in your pocket?”

“Oh, I found it on the street. Rosie, it’s been a while. Let’s go have some tea.”

Rosie pushed away his arm as he tried to put it around her shoulders.

“I heard everything you said earlier. Theo will find out who you were talking to. How could you do something like this?”

“Ha. Theo, Theo. Always Theo.”

Calvin sighed and muttered.