After the s*x ended, Rowen gathered her clothes carelessly and stepped outside. For some reason, Tehern seemed to be avoiding looking at her face as much as possible.

She opened the door just a crack, checked that no one was around, then closed it behind her and left. As usual, she limped along toward her room tucked away in a corner.

“Hello.”

She had taken maybe ten steps from Tehern’s room when a voice suddenly spoke from behind a pillar. Rowen turned her head immediately toward the sound.

“Good evening, Rowen Erin Hydra.”

Prince Michael stood leaning against the pillar, bathed in the pale blue moonlight spilling in through the window.

The moment their eyes met, it felt like every sound around her suddenly cut off. Whether that was just her own perception or some actual power he used, she could not tell.

“……”

This was the man who had never once managed to remember her name, always asking for it again every time they met. Yet now he spoke her full name clearly and precisely. The feeling that gave her was not good.

Surely he had not seen her leaving Tehern’s room? Her heart pounded rapidly, but Rowen forced herself to sound calm as she asked.

“What brings you out so late?”

“Taking a walk.”

Michael answered gently. He had been smiling warmly at her ever since he first spotted her.

That smile eased her mind a little. She let herself hope that he had not seen anything.

“And here you are, coming out of Tehern’s room this late.”

“……”

“Did Tehern invite you into his room?”

But her hope shattered instantly. He had clearly already watched her leave Tehern’s room before saying a word. Her hands began to tremble faintly.

Simply seeing her leave Tehern’s room alone would not be enough to deduce that she was a woman. But there was no denying that the sight had piqued Michael’s curiosity.

Rowen felt his gaze travel slowly over her entire body. It occurred to her that Michael might be even more frightening than Tehern.

Her hands and back grew damp with sweat. Still, she decided to answer his question.

“Ah, well, yes. Yes, that’s right…… Older Brother Tehern invited me……”

“Lucky you. He’s never once invited me.”

“……”

“You know how blunt Tehern can be.”

“……”

“Ah! Or would you invite me to your room instead, Rowen?”

Rowen, who had been listening to him with her head bowed, snapped her head up. Michael looked down at her with a playful smile.

Unable to keep meeting that radiant face, Rowen dropped her gaze again. Staring at the floor, she made an excuse.

“But my room is tucked away in such a remote corner. It would be too cramped for you, Brother, and too hot, and……”

As she rambled, Michael suddenly chuckled. He placed a hand on Rowen’s shoulder. The weight of it made her flinch.

“I’m joking. Relax.”

“……”

D*mn it. That did not sound like a joke at all.

Even so, Rowen found herself thinking, absurdly, that she probably sweated enough just now to wring out a whole rag.

Still, hearing it was a joke was a relief. Rather than invite Michael into her room, spending more time with Tehern seemed far preferable. Tehern, for all his faults, was simpler than expected, while Michael’s thoughts remained impossible to read.

“By the way, you jumped from the second floor because you were scared of Tehern, but you don’t seem that scared of him now, considering you’re spending time together this late.”

“Ah, that’s……”

“I’m curious what exactly the two of you got up to in there.”

Every word out of Michael’s mouth felt like an arrow piercing straight through her heart. Being sliced apart by a sharp blade disguised as a joke, that was how it felt. Rowen, once again at a loss for words, could only stare at the floor.

“……”

A short silence passed. Michael looked at his trembling little brother with something close to pity and smiled softly. Then, just as he had the first time their eyes met, he crooked his finger.

And with that, the sound of insects chirping, absent until now, returned to Rowen’s ears.

“You must be tired. Go on and get some rest. It’s already so late, and I kept you here far too long.”

Despite saying he was curious what they had gotten up to, he let her go far more easily than expected. He did not press for an answer the way he had before, which suggested he never actually expected a response. He only said it to tease her.

Rowen bowed deeply to Michael. Michael waved back in return.

“Goodnight, Rowen.”

Michael said her name once more as they parted, as if to prove he would never forget it again.

* * *

After Michael caught her leaving Tehern’s room that late night, Rowen’s mind filled with anxiety that someone besides Tehern might uncover her secret too.

Tehern was a bastard obsessed with women’s bodies, so she could get by simply by spreading her legs for him. But Michael did not seem like the type to actively pursue a woman’s body. He always wore a warm expression, yet his true thoughts remained completely unreadable.

That did not mean she wished Michael were the same type of person as Tehern. Spreading her legs for Tehern alone was already disgusting and horrifying enough. Rowen simply hoped, desperately, that Michael would never discover her identity.

Lost in tangled thoughts, she arrived at her destination. She now stood in front of the dusty lecture hall.

“……”

This was the very lecture hall where Rowen had opened the window and jumped out, breaking her ankle. In other words, it was also the place where she once caught Tehern sleeping with a maid.

Given the history of the place, Rowen did not feel particularly pleased about the current situation.

So why did she come here? Obviously, because Tehern summoned her here.

She had a rough guess as to why he chose this particular location. It was not hard to figure out. This was, after all, the same man she once caught having s*x with a maid in this very empty lecture hall.

But even so, was he really planning to do this here, in broad daylight, with plenty of people around…? Even if the lecture hall was currently unused, it was still an open, exposed space, and the risk of being caught by someone was high.

Of course, Tehern would not care either way whether they got caught. Exposure was Rowen’s problem to worry about, not his.

Still, Rowen hoped, desperately, that her suspicion was wrong, and opened the door to step inside. Tehern, sitting with his back against the wall just as before, lifted his head.

“Older Brother, I’m here. Why did you call for me?”

Rowen spoke sweetly, trying to keep him in a good mood.

“What else would I possibly want from you besides f*cking?”

What came back instead was a crude, careless answer. She expected as much, but hearing it directly from his mouth still left her stunned.

Tehern probably did not care either way, but if Rowen got caught having s*x with him here, she would be executed immediately. And not just her. Her mother Erin would die alongside her.

“But what if someone walks in by accident and recognizes my face……”

“Nobody cares about your face. And how many people in the Crystal Palace do you think even know the face of some nobody with no backing and no talent?”

The man most interested in her face, ironically, lied through his teeth without hesitation. Then he grabbed something sitting beside him and tossed it at her. It hit her square in the face, and she stumbled but quickly regained her balance.

“This is……”

What he threw was a maid’s uniform. Just like before, a silver wig came tucked inside it. She remembered the last one being torn to shreds mid-act, so apparently he already found a replacement.

“What are you doing? Change into it already.”

Tehern pressed the still-frozen Rowen impatiently.

This man wouldn’t even blink if she and her mother were dragged to the execution block and beheaded……

Rowen and Tehern shared nothing but their bodies, no real relationship beyond that, so his indifference made complete sense from his side. But that did not stop the anger rising inside her regardless. Rowen kept her head down where he could not see and let her face twist with resentment.

Her feelings toward him were never good to begin with, but today he felt more repulsive than usual. That a large, muscular, handsome man could feel this repulsive was, in its own way, quite a talent on his part.