The space filled with the smell of old paper and aged ink had an atmosphere that felt weighty even in the settled air. The only sound breaking the quiet stillness was the occasional turning of a page.

Lariella sat at a large desk placed in one corner of the library.

What she was reading now was a book transcribing the discourse between two famous philosophers of the Empire who had talked through the night. So absorbed was she in the wit and composure of the ancient philosophers that she didn’t notice the brief sunlight pooled on the windowsill had lengthened enough to reach the desk.

Knock knock.

Around the time the lengthened sunlight was turning yellowish, someone knocked on the heavy wooden door.

Lariella was certain that the person outside the door now was the servant sent by Kais. It seemed the meeting was about to end.

Unable to tear her eyes away from the book with only a few pages left, Lariella answered without looking toward the door.

“Come in.”

As soon as her permission was given, the sound of the door opening was heard. Then a set of footsteps walked in, thud thud, and stopped beside the desk where she was sitting.

Lariella turned another page and asked:

“So, when did they say the guests would be leaving?”

Then a low male voice answered her question:

“The guests all left half an hour ago.”

Lariella, who had expected to go out soon to see the guests off, was startled and raised her head.

“What? But why are you only telling me now……”

But she couldn’t finish her sentence and instead opened her mouth wide as if her jaw had dropped.

Standing beside the desk was not a servant sent by Kais, but Kais himself turned into a servant.

The Duke of Elmano who had been wearing a long, splendid jacket and displaying his dignity in front of the nobles was gone, and in front of her stood a man wearing the short black jacket worn by servants, holding a silver tray with a teacup and teapot.

“What, wh-what is……”

Lariella was so surprised that she stammered, but Kais remained completely composed.

He put down the silver tray he was holding on the desk and took the teacup from it to place in front of Lariella. He even carefully adjusted the direction of the teacup handle, as if he were a real servant.

“It’s all my fault. I should have informed the mistress before the guests left, but I was busy and completely forgot.”

As he spoke, he picked up the teapot that matched the teacup and poured fragrant tea into the cup with a gentle stream.

“So I’ve prepared this tea with care as an expression of apology. Please grant me your generous forgiveness.”

Lariella looked alternately at the teacup placed in front of her and at Kais who was modestly filling the teacup, with an astonished face.

She bore some responsibility for this situation since she hadn’t personally checked when the guests would leave due to her desire to read in the library. So she could understand that he had forgotten his promise to send a servant in advance because he was busy and distracted dealing with the guests.

The problem was this man who appeared in an outfit that didn’t suit him at all and was pretending to be someone else with a straight face.

A few days ago, he had also wrapped himself in a black cloak, claiming to be Sir Morini, and climbed over the terrace into her room. This time too, he was clearly up to something strange again, using the excuse of apologizing for not keeping his promise.

“Kais, you’re again……”

Calmly meeting Lariella’s suspicious gaze, Kais curled up the corner of his mouth in a slight smile.

“I haven’t told you my name yet. I am Letty, a servant newly assigned to serve the madam.”

Lariella looked at Kais, who had become even more shameless than last time, with an incredulous face.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to be my lover this time too?”

At Lariella’s pointed question, Kais answered with a broad smile:

“You’ve guessed exactly right, madam.”

“Well.”

Lariella let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded and reached for the teacup Kais had poured. Before responding, she intended to first moisten her throat, which had become dry from reading books for so long.

Just as she was about to take a sip with the teacup at her lips, Kais spoke with a grin:

“If you drink that, I’ll take it to mean you accept me as your second lover.”

At those words, Lariella put the teacup back down in alarm without even moistening her lips.

“Why, why does drinking this have that meaning? You said this was prepared as an apology for not informing me in advance about the guests leaving.”

“There’s no law saying a cup of tea can only contain one meaning.”

Lariella narrowed her eyes at her husband, who was annoyingly shameless.

A few days ago, when he appeared dressed as Sir Morini and asked her to accept him as her first lover, Lariella had readily nodded, thinking she could go along with that level of playfulness.

But the man who was both Kais and Sir Morini, and also Sir Morini and Kais, seemed determined to fulfill the roles of two people, alternating between them as he held, sucked, bit, licked, rubbed, and thrust into her.

The price for her imprudent decision came back as severe muscle pain and a hoarse voice.

Having been thoroughly tormented all night by both Kais with the cloak and Kais without the cloak, Lariella was determined not to easily fall for his tricks this time.

Lariella swallowed dry saliva instead of tea and looked at the man who was her husband, her first lover, and now wanted to be her second lover as well.

“So, Kais, no, um…, Le-Letty.”

Lariella quickly corrected the name she had called because she momentarily recalled Sir Morini who would indecently slap her bottom every time she called the wrong name.

Kais, who noticed why she had corrected the name, raised the corner of his mouth mischievously and answered:

“Yes, what is it, madam?”

Lariella lowered her eyelashes demurely and continued in what she thought was a rather firm tone:

“You said you wanted to be my lover, but I don’t need any more lovers. I already have an energetic husband, and also a lover who is no less vigorous than him. My bedroom is already overwhelmed with those two men, so withdraw your intention to become my second lover and please leave now.”

Though her lips were firmly pressed together as if she had made up her mind, Lariella’s heart was soft. And Kais knew that fact all too well.

“Hmm, is that so?”

Kais deliberately lowered his thick eyebrows and put down the teapot he was holding on the desk.

“Then I suppose I’ll have to throw this tea away.”

When Kais muttered in a dejected voice, the corner of Lariella’s firmly closed lips twitched.

Confirming this reaction from the corner of his eye, Kais bit his lower lip inward to suppress the laughter that was about to escape and drooped the corners of his eyes even more pitifully.

“This is the first tea I’ve ever brewed myself. I went to the kitchen and personally selected each tea leaf with care to prepare it for the madam, but you won’t even take a sip……”

Facing Kais’s clearly disappointed expression, Lariella felt sorry even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“No, I wasn’t refusing to drink the tea, it’s just that you said if I drink it, I have to accept you as my lover……”

But Kais pretended not to hear her words and just muttered in a dejected voice.

“I wasn’t even hoping to enter the madam’s bedroom. I just wanted to bring warm tea while you were here in the library, select books for you, do transcription work, and spend time with you……”

While mumbling in a drooping voice, Kais reached out slowly toward the untouched teacup.

“But there’s nothing I can do. If the madam refuses, I have no choice but to withdraw.”