“Ah, but my big sister said ten percent belongs to us.”
“……There appear to be at least a thousand in there. If ten percent is yours……”
“Yes. Twelve!”
“……”
How on earth did she arrive at that calculation? Kiers masked his baffled expression and rested a hand against the back of his neck. Still, seeing Rose beaming with utter delight, he could not bring himself to correct her.
He placed a hand on Rose’s shoulder with a faint, inscrutable sigh.
“……The little lady walks a bit slowly.”
Rose’s eyes widened when he dropped down to one knee again. As Kiers extended his hand once more, the count flinched, yet the Grand Duke looked only at Rose.
“……What do you say? I believe I can get you there a bit faster.”
“……Um.”
“Is it because you find me frightening?”
When Kiers asked mildly, Rose shook her head so vigorously that he almost worried she might lose her footing and fall.
“No. Lord Grand Duke Brother-in-Law isn’t scary at all.”
“That is a relief—”
“Your eyes sparkle like moonlight!”
“……”
“Look! They’re almost the same color as Rose’s hair!”
Rose took the ends of her hair on one side, holding them up beside his face with a delighted grin. Yet both Kiers, who was staring directly into her eyes, and the count beside him instantly caught their breath and froze.
Kiers’s throat bobbed heavily as his eyes gradually widened.
“What color did you say my eyes are?”
“Silver!”
At Rose’s confident reply, Kiers pressed his lips tightly together, then released them with a steadying breath.
“……And what of my hair?”
“Gold, like the sun!”
“……Y-Your Grace.”
Hush. Shaking his head at the count, Kiers laid a gentle hand upon Rose’s head, careful not to startle her. Rose nuzzled her head into his touch as if it tickled, without a single trace of vigilance or the fear one would show toward a beast or a monster. Kiers’s voice took on an unprecedented gravity.
“Rose, have you ever mentioned this to your sister?”
“To Sissy? Um, no. I was going to, but she told me not to.”
“……”
“I’m not supposed to talk about Lord Grand Duke Brother-in-Law to her. She might not like it.”
“……”
He didn’t know whether to be pleased or irritated. Kiers rose to his feet with a resigned sigh. When a voice rang out from far off in a near-wail, calling Rose’s name, he turned around.
“Rose, you had better hurry to your sister.”
“Yes! Lord Grand Duke Brother-in-Law!”
“……Yes. And it would be best if you never mention this to your sister.”
Mhm. Rose nodded at what amounted to a request. In truth, she was so gentle and timid by nature that she had never intended to speak of it once her sister told her not to. Right now, she was only squirming with her whole body, desperate to dash away to the sister calling out for her.
The moment Kiers released her, Rose bolted across the garden.
“Sissyyy!”
“……Rose!”
Watching the two embrace as if they were long-lost family reunited across a war, even though it had barely been two hours since they parted, the men felt a strange sense of bewilderment. Unable to simply laugh it off, the count masked his agitation and stepped beside Kiers.
“Your Grace, it appears the youngest lady has……”
“We cannot be certain yet.”
“……”
“Summon Kenier. Immediately.”
At Kiers’s order, the count showed a troubled look.
“However, Your Grace, Kenier is not one to remain in a fixed dwelling—”
“Set fire to the Magic Tower if you must. That will draw him out.”
“……”
Kiers turned his red gaze away without an ounce of warmth. Knowing it was by no means a jest, the count dared not object any further.
“Even so, Your Grace, if this is truly the case……”
“……Then,”
A tangled sigh escaped his lips. Stroking his chin, he watched his future bride hold Rose tightly in her arms, checking her face over and over.
“I can only say my wife has brought along an astonishing dowry indeed.”
◇ ◆ ◇
Gasp, pant!
Running down a mountain path engulfed in pitch-black darkness, my legs gave out beneath me. A scream tore from my throat as my ankle twisted, yet I couldn't afford to stop here. Forcing strength back into my knees, I fled, but the road stretched on endlessly. Gasping for air until the metallic taste of blood rose in my throat, I shoved through the tangled branches.
Neigh!
The sounds of the horse pursuing me drew nearer and nearer. Clutching my chest as my heart seized with terror, I looked back just as a black steed reared onto its hind legs right behind me.
“Get away! Get away from me!”
“……Why should I?”
Leaping down from the black horse, the owner of that voice strode steadily toward me. The heavy crunch of his boots sounded unnervingly familiar. As he closed the distance by another step, a silver blade glinted at his waist.
Ah, he’s going to strike me down with that sword!
I squeezed my eyes shut and awaited the end. A miserable helplessness washed over me at having no way out, warred with the contradictory wish for it to be swift and painless. Yet…… no matter how long I waited, I was still breathing.
What was happening? Trembling, I carefully pried one eye open—only to find that instead of a sword, it was his body pressed right up against mine. His taut, bare physique, stripped of clothes before I had even noticed.
“A-Are you insane? What are you doing!”
“That is because……”
His night-dark hair brushed past my nape and grazed my ear.
“You were the one thinking this far ahead.”
“Aaaaargh!”
I bolted upright in bed, clutching the duvet to cover myself. What in the world was that dream? It had been far too vivid, leaving me panting heavily for a long time.
Only when I spotted Rose sleeping soundly beside me did I clap a hand over my mouth.
……Insane. Truly insane. Of all the things to dream about, why that?
I wiped the beads of cold sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. I wasn’t some adolescent going through puberty, so why on earth was I having such dreams at this age, in a place like this? I wanted to bury my face in my hands and bawl.
……Right. This is all that man’s fault.
Gritting my teeth, I recalled the culprit behind all this turmoil. Lord Grand Duke, why on earth did you have to say something like that?
The memory of Kiers’s mocking smirk was utterly infuriating. He probably didn't have the faintest clue that a single word of his had caused such a mess. Then again, a man's primal nature doesn't just crop up overnight; that astonishing prowess of his was undoubtedly alive and well right now. That was why he tormented people like that, even in dreams……
Wait.
As I tried to recall the dream to curse him further, I kicked off the blankets. The cool air cooled me down slightly, but my neck and the inside of my mouth were still burning with residual heat. I fanned myself with one hand.
Bella Mayfield. Let’s be a little honest here. It’s just me and my own thoughts anyway.
Propping my chin on one hand, I narrowed my eyes thoughtfully. In that dream, when he looked at me like that, skin against skin, about to unleash all those techniques…… did I really hate it?
4. Not Such a Bad Deal
A sudden chill ran down my spine.
You’ve completely lost your mind! No matter how starved for romance you are, how could you…… Well, to be fair, he is undeniably skilled.
Honestly speaking, there’s only one reason people read R-rated novels: to watch an incomparably potent and vigorous male lead provide blazing, diverse nights beyond anything one knew existed.
Of course, this had to be rooted in a poignant romance, but books with ‘romance alone’ were a dime a dozen elsewhere.
……Right. That was it. I paid my hard-earned money to read that, yet when faced with the prospect of it happening to me, I was scared out of my wits. Naturally, my body is precious, so fear was warranted, but it wasn't as if I intended to swear off men for the rest of my life. Someday, with someone, I'd end up sleeping with a man anyway.
If that was the case, why not the most vigorous man in this world? A man already blessed with peak physical stamina, whose abilities in that department bordered on the divine?
“……Yeah, it’s not such a bad deal.”
I murmured, resting my chin on my hand. Even if this was just a coping mechanism to resign myself to the inevitable, who cared? At least it was better than dealing with an incompetent man constantly begging for it, wasn't it? No matter how much I might thrash and resist, the story's protagonist had already set his mind on it.
Where was I? Inside a novel. A world where the male lead's will was the law, a buff, and the absolute truth. On top of that, Kiers wasn't some self-made lead scraping his way up from the dirt; he already held titles, fortune, and everything else. If I tried to run away just because I didn't want this, what odds would I possibly have?
I looked down at my scrawny body under the filtering moonlight. With my current stamina, I predicted I would last three minutes on the run alone, and about one minute and twenty seconds if I took Rose along.
