Barmas moved the dish with salad closer to her, maintaining a casual expression despite the cold sweat running down his back.

“Enough with the suspicions and finish your meal. It would be a waste to leave food that was prepared with such care.”

“…Alright. I was about to continue eating anyway.”

Romei nodded while giving Barmas a skeptical look before moving her fork. Fresh, crisp vegetables were skewered on her fork and entered her mouth.

While savoring the freshness of the vegetables and the tangy taste of the balsamic vinegar, Romei couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling in the corner of her heart.

‘I feel like I’m forgetting something important.’

The sensation that a memory was on the tip of her mind yet remained elusive made her feel even more uncomfortable.

Moreover, Barmas’s obviously awkward reactions and responses were enough to fuel her suspicions.

However, by the end of the meal, Romei still couldn’t dispel the discomfort that felt like a heavy stone on her chest. It was because the memory wouldn’t surface.

For Barmas, of course, it was fortunate that he had escaped Romei’s razor-sharp interrogation.

After confirming that she had finished her meal, Barmas called a servant to clear the dishes. Then he spoke to Romei, who was quietly wiping her mouth with a napkin.

“I need to visit my office for a while. There’s some business to attend to.”

“Oh, really?”

“It shouldn’t take long. If you need anything, do what you usually do and order the servants around. The same goes for anything you might need. Don’t hesitate to ask.”

“I understand. You must be tired of saying the same thing over and over.”

“Not at all. I worry that if I don’t remind you, you’ll wander around on your own and collapse again.”

“I told you I won’t do that anymore…”

When Barmas brought up that embarrassing memory again, Romei blushed deeply and grumbled.

Entranced by the flush spreading across her pale face, Barmas reached out and caressed her now fuller cheek with his thumb. Feeling the warmth on her cheek, Romei’s large eyes naturally looked up at him.

Unlike the past when they were completely empty, Romei’s blue eyes now had a clear light in them, just like when they first met. The embarrassment and shyness she felt also shone through without reservation.

Barmas saw his own reflection in Romei’s eyes, which resembled the surface of a large blue lake.

He definitely loved Romei.

“Barmas…?”

Awakened from his contemplation by Romei’s question, Barmas gave a faint smile before withdrawing his hand from her. The warmth that had touched her cheek gently receded.

“…Your bright red face looked cute, so I wanted to look at it a bit.”

“…”

“Well, I’ll be going now.”

With those abrupt words and an unaffected expression, Barmas left the bedroom.

The servant who was clearing the dishes momentarily froze, though Romei couldn’t have noticed. This was because her face was so flushed it seemed ready to burst.

‘I think he’s been reading too many romance novels…’

It was truly a shocking comment. Even more shocking was that he said such things with a completely straight face.

However, unlike before, strangely enough, it didn’t feel particularly bad. It might have even felt good.

‘Was this my preference all along?’

Confused and flustered by her own reaction, Romei absently stared at the space Barmas had vacated while touching the left side of her chest.

Her heart was beating remarkably fast.

* * *

Sitting on the bed, turning pages of a book while inhaling the fragrant rose scent flowing through the open window, Romei raised her head to check the time.

More than an hour had passed since Barmas left the bedroom. He had clearly said he needed to go to his office for a while and added that it wouldn’t take long.

It wasn’t unusual for Barmas to occasionally head to his office even when he was with her. However, this was the first time it had taken so long. Normally, he would return to the bedroom in less than 30 minutes.

‘Why is he so late…?’

Romei closed the book, got up from her seat, and slipped her feet into the neatly placed soft slippers. Then she slowly walked to the door.

Her physical condition hadn’t completely returned to its perfect state, but it wasn’t bad compared to when she first woke up from her months-long deep sleep. At least she had recovered enough to go from here to the office.

‘…Should I go check on him?’

Barmas had told her to use the servants if anything happened, but she didn’t want to ask for help with something so personal and trivial.

‘Besides, I think he’d be happy if I went to find him…’

She was worried about Barmas not returning to the bedroom, and partly wanted to surprise him too.

Just when Romei had made up her mind and grabbed the locked doorknob to open it—

Thump! Thump-thump!

Someone suddenly knocked on the door roughly. Actually, it was closer to pounding than knocking.

Startled by the sudden loud noise, Romei backed away from the door, and a familiar voice came from beyond it.

It was the voice of Rajie, the familiar whom she hadn’t seen for a while.

“…Excuse me for a moment.”

With those words, the door flung open and he entered the bedroom.

Looking up at Rajie, whose steps conveyed an inexplicable tension and urgency, she saw that his face was more serious than she had ever seen before.

Something had clearly happened.

Romei asked:

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Rajie, struggling to figure out where to begin explaining the extremely urgent situation, finally voiced the most important fact.

“Lord Barmas has collapsed. That’s why I need your help.”

“…What?”

Romei reacted with a slight delay, unable to believe what she had heard.

This was Barmas, not just anyone. He was someone so powerful that merely facing him made one feel overwhelmed.

That such a Barmas had collapsed was unbelievable.

Above all, he had been perfectly fine, walking and moving around until just moments ago. There was no way he could collapse so suddenly.

“That can’t be. He was completely fine until we had our meal together.”

Rajie expressed understanding of Romei’s sentiment but firmly stated:

“It may be hard to believe, but it’s true. He collapsed as soon as he arrived at the office. We’ve tried various emergency measures, but it seems beyond our capabilities.”

“…What exactly is happening?”

When Romei asked about the clearly abnormal situation, Rajie stared at her with a contemplative expression.

Despite having come all the way to the bedroom to find Romei, he was hesitating whether it was alright to tell her this.

Romei instantly thought that the reason for his collapse might be related to the sense of discomfort she had felt during their conversation today.

Rajie was hesitating because he had to reveal something Barmas wanted to keep hidden, without his permission.

Romei knew a very good way to resolve his dilemma.

“I’ll take responsibility.”

“…”

“You can say you told me because I threatened to kill myself if you didn’t tell me. Will that work?”

With Romei’s simple solution, Rajie promptly reported the situation, seemingly having waited for just such an opportunity.

“Lord Barmas has been suffering from chronic life energy deficiency for the past few months.”

“…Chronic life energy deficiency?”

Romei questioned the unfamiliar term that suddenly struck her ears. Rajie calmly continued, suggesting that this was the reality, however unbelievable it might seem.

“It’s natural that you don’t know, since he ordered us to keep it secret from you. He even threatened not to spare us if we let it slip.”

“But… Barmas said he gets life energy through his familiars. That seemed sufficient…”

“That’s true, but also not true.”

After firmly refuting Romei’s assertion, Rajie added an explanation.

“It’s true that he can obtain life energy through familiars. However, the energy brought by familiars is of lower quality than what’s directly consumed, and there’s also a limit to how much can be ingested.”

“…”

“Actually, I find it more surprising that he managed to endure this long on the energy brought by familiars.”

“…”

“Anyway, as the life energy deficiency persisted, his condition worsened progressively, and now he seems unable to endure any longer, which is why he finally collapsed.”

Romei quietly listened to what he was saying. The surprised expression she had shown earlier, suggesting disbelief, was nowhere to be seen, and she now wore a serious face similar to Rajie’s.

“After arriving at the office and calling for us, he collapsed. We tried forcing the life energy we had gathered into his mouth, and even stimulated his s*xual senses semi-forcibly using an aphrodisiac just in case…”

“But he didn’t wake up.”

When Romei asked, completing the sentence for Rajie who had sighed deeply without finishing his words, he quietly nodded.

To this, Romei asked:

“If neither the life energy gathered by familiars nor the aphrodisiac works, how can I help Barmas?”

Rajie answered like someone who had anticipated such a question from Romei.

“I’m sorry to say this, but we would like you to directly provide enough life energy to wake Lord Barmas up.”