“Huuuu.”

After taking one last long breath, Dahlia trudged up toward the small door. It was fortunate it was winter. She could thoroughly hide her messed-up body. She gulped down the tea that had already gone cold. She desperately needed something to drink after sweating so much.

Dahlia put on a robe and covered herself with a blanket to avoid the eyes of the maids drawing bath water. It would hurt terribly when the hot water touched her wounds, but she absolutely couldn’t show it in front of them. After the maids finished preparing the bath and left, Dahlia transferred hot water to the wooden bucket they used to carry water. This way the water cooled quickly and was convenient for showering.

“Will this really be enough for you?”

“I have to go out for dinner soon anyway. If I eat too much, it won’t look pretty when I put on clothes.”

After finishing a refreshing shower, Dahlia received a late lunch. It was impossible to go out without eating anything at her age now. Her hands trembled and her body felt completely drained. So she responded to Lucy’s words refreshingly. This much shouldn’t arouse suspicion.

“Still, please eat more.”

The kind Lucy looked at Dahlia with a worried expression. Most of the mansion’s servants were James’s well-mannered hands and feet. They were very interested in Dahlia and didn’t give her time alone. Saying they would be her conversation partner, that she might be lonely because the master was on a business trip. The reasons were various and persistent.

“Half a sandwich is enough, really. I’m really fine, so you should go work now.”

“I’ll do your hair before I go.”

So Dahlia had been increasing her alone time by using the excuse of practicing to prepare for simple outings by herself. Because she didn’t know how many people James had prepared to monitor her in the mansion, she was wary of everyone. She had no secrets worth hiding from him, but she didn’t want to expose all her private life either.

“No. I want to do everything from start to finish by myself today.”

“Won’t it be tiring?”

“It might be, but I want to brag to my husband that I did everything myself.”

At her cheerful madam’s stubbornness, Lucy finally left the room. Only then did Dahlia comfortably remove the blanket. She skillfully applied more ointment and wrapped small amounts of bandage so it wouldn’t show on her clothes. She chose a pale purple dress that looked faded, pearl earrings and necklace, and wore matching shoes. Four times a month, on days when she had ‘show-off dining out,’ Dahlia always braided her hair down.

“There’s no way to make a woman look more seductive than revealing her neckline.”

Dahlia recited the sentence written in the ‘Disguise Techniques’ textbook like someone possessed. Wondering if she really looked that way, she styled her hair like this every time she went on dates with James. Since James hadn’t shown any particular reaction yet, Dahlia was still trying for now.

“Even revealing the neckline can’t help against a poker face.”

But isn’t everyone’s taste completely different? There was a reason why it took so long just to figure out the target’s preferences in the intelligence department. Dahlia thoroughly denied the sentence from the textbook. She finished her cheek makeup with a brush and applied calm pink lipstick. She added pearl decorations to her thickly braided hair.

“Don’t dress too excessively, but also not too insufficiently. Especially if it’s your first date with him.”

Looking back now, much of the textbook’s content was written vaguely. Was I naive or stupid to believe and follow it so faithfully? There were helpful parts, but there were also many parts that weren’t.

Dahlia carefully examined her face reflected in the mirror. Despite her well-dressed and glamorous appearance, her face was expressionless. In front of others, bright smiles came out easily, but when alone, even hollow laughter wouldn’t come out. Was it true that spies needed broken expressions and hearts to be advantageous?

Unlike other spies, Dahlia had no peers who received training together. Dahlia, who became a war orphan due to the ‘Five-Year War,’ was adopted as the foster daughter of Peter Corellin, who was the S11 agency director at the time, and began to be known externally as the precious youngest daughter of the Corellins. To social circles, they explained the gap by saying that she, who had a weak constitution, had been raised at her maternal family, House Sherden, since birth, and came up to the capital when she reached school age.

Like her sister Catherine had done, Dahlia also called tutors in various fields to the house for education. However, if there was a difference from Catherine, it was that she also separately received thorough intelligence agent training. Among agents, those who knew of Dahlia’s specially trained existence could be counted on one hand.

“……Mrs. Luperton.”

“It’s been a long time, Kevin.”

But what were the odds of a retired spy accidentally encountering someone who knew her identity at a restaurant entrance? James untangled the arm Dahlia had linked with his and gripped her hand strongly. Because strength was gradually leaving her body as she smiled awkwardly.

Kevin naturally greeted James as well. Dahlia was already mentally confused and on the verge of collapsing to the floor. It was exactly the same as when she saw Chloe. She deliberately breathed through both her nose and mouth while deeply inhaling the cold air. She had never been like this when seeing Peter and James, but whenever she saw former colleagues, her condition rapidly deteriorated.

“What’s wrong, honey? Do you feel sick to your stomach?”

James led his wife to a bench. He slowly sat her down and asked Kevin to turn around and shield Dahlia. Dahlia, who covered her mouth with a handkerchief, barely managed to utter a word.

“……I must have eaten lunch too hastily.”

Her pale face looked somewhat better hidden behind the handkerchief. James called back the carriage that was about to leave.

“Bent, we’re going back home. My wife seems to have severe indigestion.”

Kevin tried to help support Dahlia as she staggered onto the carriage, but was blocked by James’s hand.

“I’ll take care of my wife’s affairs myself. It was nice seeing your face, Kevin.”

“Yes…… Please go in, Director.”

Leaving behind Kevin’s strangely stiffening face, James got into the carriage. Dahlia closed her eyes and counted numbers backwards. Even so, she couldn’t calm down. James put his hand into his jacket’s inner pocket. Yellow pills poured out from a small brown bottle. He held out a hip flask and two pills to his wife.

Dahlia swallowed the pills and quickly brought the flask to her mouth. Even if it was strong liquor, she only thought about quickly calming her stomach with medicine. But the liquid inside the hip flask was different from her expectation. Instead of whiskey or rum strong enough to burn her stomach, it was lukewarm water. Thanks to this, her stomach felt comfortable. But why wasn’t it alcohol? James was a famous drinker. There were over five liquor cabinets in the mansion, and he had quite a variety of hip flasks in different shapes.

Like someone who hadn’t drunk water for days, Dahlia gulped down the water. Even after drinking it all, it wasn’t enough. But her heartbeat returned to normal and her breathing became comfortable. She opened the carriage window wide. She let the rough wind coming in brush past her face. The formless coolness gradually stripped away her current anxiety, making her feel refreshed.

“Do you carry water around too?”

After getting some air for a moment, her green eyes became clear. Her face also looked fine, and her questioning voice was no different from usual. Only then did James, relieved, take the hip flask and answer.

“Sometimes.”

“A person who puts water in this……”

“No. I sometimes put it in by mistake.”

“Ah……”

Dahlia wanted to ask whether he really did it by mistake, or whether he deliberately aimed for hits and misses like a lottery game. However, she thought not many people would brazenly throw questions at such a firm answer and emotionless face.

“You seem to be a bit better now.”

“The medicine works well.”

Dahlia’s face, thin without any cheek fat, looked gaunt. James joked and withdrew his gaze from his wife who played along with his rhythm.

“Lie down on the bed and rest a bit. You can even take sleeping pills and sleep deeply if you want.”

“It’s not to that extent.”

“Rest.”

Even at his somewhat high-handed attitude, Dahlia didn’t bend her opinion. At the end of their tense conversation, it was surprisingly James who raised the white flag. He thought it wasn’t right to give more orders to a sick person here. Though his heart was full of worry, there were limits to what he could show, making him frustrated. He could only stare at the scenery passing quickly outside the window.

As soon as they arrived home, Dahlia changed into pajamas and lay comfortably on the bed. She didn’t even glance at the sleeping pills placed on the nightstand. She had heard Doctor Jones’s opinion that taking tranquilizers and sleeping pills together might not be good for the body. Besides, weren’t sleeping pills there to be taken when you couldn’t sleep? Due to the aftermath of fatigue from the fundraising event, Dahlia could fall asleep right now.

“Why do you think I hired you? What on earth are you thinking as you go about!”

But was it because of that? Dahlia, who had fallen asleep in an instant, woke up to James’s angry voice. Was this why he had told her to take sleeping pills and sleep? She came to her senses while drinking water. Then she slowly opened the door and went out to the corridor.