“You know she has beautiful ears too? Perfect form – that’s exactly what that is.”

Gillian somehow found himself subtly pulling hair from under his hat to cover his ears.

“That habit of slightly raising her eyes is the best. It’s incredibly s*xy.”

Wondering if he had such a habit, he raised his eyes in thought, then suddenly realized and quickly lowered them. Then he looked at Andrea with fresh eyes.

‘She was watching all sorts of things.’

Meanwhile, Andrea was still talking with an excited expression.

“And she generally has an indifferent attitude like she has no attachment to worldly affairs, but she’s kind. She’d push teacups closer and hold up parasols when the sun shines.”

‘That’s just basic manners.’

He didn’t even remember doing those things.

But suddenly, Andrea looked down at the river with a bitter smile on her face.

“When I first realized I liked her, I wasn’t without confusion either. I tried to suppress my feelings. For a while, I didn’t attend gatherings with her. But the more I did that, the more I realized my heart.”

Come to think of it, there had been a time when Andrea hadn’t attended gatherings, claiming she wasn’t feeling well – apparently that was the reason. But as Gillian, he had just thought that was how it was and had only sent flowers and a card wishing her a quick recovery out of courtesy.

Then, out of nowhere, Andrea collapsed like her legs had given out. Reflexively trying to catch her, Gillian also knelt down on one knee beside her.

“She’s so… beautiful. Of course someone like me couldn’t reach her.”

The hat Andrea was wearing as she murmured didn’t have the flower decoration he had seen during the day. It had been a cheerful decoration that seemed to represent her excited heart for what was just an outdoor lesson but felt like a picnic for two – whether she had torn it off herself in disappointment or lost it somewhere while wandering around.

Passersby stared strangely at them sitting collapsed on the ground as they walked by. Gillian looked at Andrea with her head hung low and asked.

“Where’s your maid? Why are you alone like this?”

Only then did Andrea look up in confusion.

“You know Anna?”

How would he know?

Of course, as Priscilla, he knew the somewhat tough-looking young maid who was always attached to Andrea’s side, but from the standpoint of meeting Andrea for the first time today, it would be stranger for him to know her, so he made an excuse.

“Someone from a well-off family would naturally have a maid.”

Whether Andrea was convinced or not, she soon became dejected and muttered.

“I can’t show Anna this side of me either.”

“Then your maid must be looking for you.”

“I told her I was sleeping over at Camilla’s.”

Camilla was Andrea’s best friend and the daughter of a bourgeois doctor’s family. Anyway, that’s why she was comfortably wallowing in self-pity alone like this.

Then Andrea tried to drink more alcohol.

“Stop drinking.”

He snatched away the bottle and was startled. The enormous bottle, so large he wondered where one could buy such a size, was lighter than expected.

“Did you drink all of this?”

Then Andrea, half-crying, rambled on.

“No matter how much I drink, I don’t get drunk. I guess I can’t even get drunk properly. What exactly can I do right?”

“Geez…”

‘She’s just a lightweight.’

Though Gillian was quite a good drinker himself, he wasn’t at the level where he could down all of this straight in one go.

But suddenly, Andrea looked at Gillian. Like she was seeing him properly for the first time.

“Oh…”

Since this was the first time she was looking at his face head-on, Gillian flinched, wondering if she had recognized him.

“You look a bit similar.”

Then, before Gillian could react, she chuckled and rested her head on her knees.

“Or maybe I’m just missing her.”

A still somewhat warm night breeze blew over.

Actually, in this situation, it was more reasonable to think he was just someone who looked similar rather than doubt the premise that Lady Priscilla was a woman. It would be stranger to think that someone she thought was a woman might actually be a cross-dressing man.

“Get up. I’ll take you home.”

It seemed like Andrea was about to fall asleep at this rate. So when he took away the bottle in her hand and helped her up, fortunately she hadn’t fallen asleep yet and stood up unsteadily. Gillian gestured toward a carriage at the end of the bridge. Then Andrea grabbed his coat.

“No… If I go home in this state, I’ll be kicked out.”

Then she made an effort to stand properly and bowed deeply to Gillian.

“Thank you. Unknown passerby. You listened to a drunk person’s complaints and you’re so kind. If you come by in a few days, I’ll repay you. My name is Andrea Ulrich.”

He couldn’t understand why she would readily give her name to some street thug who might come demanding something. Even if she hadn’t told him, it wouldn’t have been difficult to find out the name of such a conspicuous person, but her telling him herself was a different story.

“Be careful going home.”

Then Andrea turned and walked away. Gillian watched her retreating figure for a moment. Though she was a bit unsteady, she was walking properly, and since this wasn’t a dangerous area, the chances of something serious happening were low if she stuck to the main roads. She might lose some money to pickpockets, but that could be considered charity.

There was nothing more he could do for her.

Thinking this, he turned around.

***

The door opened.

“Cami~ Camilla~”

Andrea shouted excitedly. Somehow she was getting more and more excited. Not knowing that her drunkenness was getting worse, she waved her arms around.

“I’m here~”

Then she threw herself onto the bed with a thud.

Gillian, who had dumped her on the bed, collapsed heavily on the edge of the bed and ground his teeth while looking at her grinning face.

‘What Camilla.’

Though the small-bodied Andrea wasn’t heavy, chasing after and dragging along a drunk person who staggered around, spun in circles, and wandered far away the moment he looked away wasn’t easy even for him.

Thirsty from his vigorous nighttime exercise, Gillian pulled the cork from the bottle he had taken from Andrea and drank from it.

So why had he, who had just turned away, ended up carrying Andrea here? 

Because drunk people don’t realize how drunk they are.

***

After seeing Andrea leave, Gillian had turned away but was still worried and looked back one last time. Fortunately, Andrea was walking properly. But while he was watching, she went up to another woman who was looking at the river and asked.

“I wonder how cold it would be?”

‘That girl…!’

It was absurd. Regardless of gender, did she just need someone to talk to?

Gillian swallowed a sigh. Since it didn’t seem like she had been targeting him specifically, their encounter here really seemed to be coincidental.

Feeling inexplicably irritated, he watched Andrea approach the woman, but the woman was disgusted by Andrea’s alcohol smell and just left. Then Andrea looked around like searching for her next prey, and when she didn’t see anyone noticeable, she started staggering away again.

‘This time she’ll really leave, right?’

The moment he thought that, Andrea, who had been walking fine, suddenly fell over without tripping on anything and didn’t move.

“…!”

Gillian was startled and ran over.

“Andrea!”

He immediately turned Andrea over and shook her.

She had greeted him looking fine at the end, but like how people briefly regain their senses just before death, her reason had briefly returned before completely flying away. Yeah, honestly, it didn’t make sense for her to be fine after drinking all that alcohol.

“Hey, snap out of it!”

Worried something might be wrong, he shouted in panic, but he heard a low snoring sound. Looking down in disbelief, Andrea was sleeping while snoring slightly.

At the faint rumbling sound, Gillian’s eyes turned cold.

***

No matter how much he shook her, she wouldn’t wake up, so he had no choice but to bring her to a hotel. Actually, it was closer to an inn that could barely be called a hotel, but Gillian didn’t have the money for the kind of high-class hotel Andrea would normally go to. Besides, who knows who he might run into if he went to places in her usual social circle.

Of course, anyone could find out where the Ulrich mansion was – even a beggar under the bridge could tell you. But he couldn’t return a daughter who was literally ‘wasted’ to the mansion. It was partly for Andrea’s dignity, but honestly, more than that, he felt like he’d get blamed for something he didn’t do if he tried to take her home. He wasn’t sorry, but he didn’t have that kind of loyalty either.

As Gillian set down the bottle he had finished drinking on the bedside table, Andrea, lying face down, mumbled.

“Thank you. Unknown passerby. You’re really so kind~”