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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: A Single Strand of Silver Hair
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“Hk.”

I didn’t have time to think.

“Give it here!”

I quickly snatched the silver hair from Jayden’s hand and hid it in my fist.

“Why are you making things awkward by asking about someone’s gray hair?”

“Gray hair?”

“Yes, my gray hair!”

“But to me, it looked closer to silver than white…”

“You must have seen it wrong. It was definitely a gray hair.”

Aren’t white and silver pretty much the same anyway? I decided to just insist.

“Look closely. It’s white.”

Though I told him to look closely, I just shook the hair frantically in front of his eyes.

“I’ve been worried about getting more gray hairs lately. You really had to point it out.”

After I added a little whine to my voice, Jayden soon wore an apologetic expression.

“That was thoughtless of me. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’ll forgive you since you apologized.”

“But I had no idea you were getting more gray hairs. You look the same as always.”

“Well, that’s a relief. *Yawn*, I’m sleepy, let’s just get to bed.”

“Yes, sister.”

Watching Jayden lie down, I barely managed to calm my pounding heart.

*Damn it! I nearly had a heart attack!*

Of all things, why did a strand of Kirie’s hair have to be stuck to the pillow from last night?

I was careless. I thought I’d checked for any traces during the day, but I didn’t inspect the pillow carefully enough.

The silver hair probably didn’t stand out because the pillowcase is white.

*Why does he have to have silver hair?!*

I found myself needlessly blaming Kirie’s silver hair, which I had found so delightful just yesterday.

Strictly speaking, though, it was Jayden’s sharp eyes that were incredible for spotting a single strand of hair that neither Kirie nor I had seen.

Peeking through half-closed eyes, I saw Jayden lying perfectly still under the covers, a picture-perfect posture.

It was the kind of pose you’d find in a textbook on the proper way for a nobleman to sleep, if such a thing existed.

*What a scary guy…*

Fortunately, however, he seemed to believe my excuse that the silver hair was just one of my gray ones.

It wasn’t because my excuse was perfect, but rather that the possibility of another man staying in my bed seemed not to have even crossed his mind.

After all, saying he’s the epitome of a nobleman is just another way of saying he’s extremely conservative.

I recalled a conversation I’d had with Jayden the other day.

It happened in the carriage on our way to Lady Mosella’s tea party to meet Kirie.

The conversation, which started with the tea party and its host, Lady Mosella, naturally shifted to Kirie.

It was quite well-known in high society that she was an ardent admirer of the charming court magician.

“To be honest, I dislike him.”

Jayden evaluated Kirie with rare, direct, and scathing words.

“Relationships between men and women should be conducted between two people with the tacit approval of their families, on the premise of marriage. Is that not so?”

“Uh, yeah. I guess so?”

“It is common sense! And yet, a man who holds the important position of court magician goes around seducing countless women… I don’t know what the world is coming to.”

Watching Jayden click his tongue, I had only one thought.

*This guy is a serious prude.*

The nobles of this world were generally conservative, but dating freely wasn’t taboo.

Love matches were less common than arranged marriages, but they happened from time to time.

After all, hadn’t Marquis Lindsi himself, though it was his second marriage, taken a commoner as his wife?

But Jayden seemed to possess such antiquated values that it was a wonder he could even be polite to Charlotte’s mother.

Just then, Jayden spoke, his eyes still closed.

“Sister, please just endure it for tonight.”

“Endure what?”

“This situation. Even if we are siblings, it is improper for an adult man and woman to share a bed.”

“Come on… It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is an important matter.”

“…”

How would Jayden react if he knew that three other men had been in this bed, a bed he considered improper for even a brother and sister to share?

The mere thought sent a chill down my spine, and I felt relieved that I had flatly denied it when he found the hair.

I could explain, *‘Actually, there are three other people with the same curse as you,’* but that was a future I didn’t much care for either.

I couldn’t possibly predict how the four of them would react.

*No, let’s not worry about it too much.*

I tried to quell my anxiety.

Raynerd, Yugen, and Kirie’s curses were already broken. Jayden, too, would be back to normal by tomorrow morning.

Therefore, the only thing I needed to worry about was what to get from Jayden as a reward.

“In any case, I will tell you the details later. Mmm…”

Jayden’s voice gradually trailed off, heavy with sleep.

“Sleepy?”

“Yes. Finally… I think I can sleep…”

His emotional tone hinted at just how many long, sleepless nights he had endured.

“Sister, good… night…”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Jayden was fast asleep.

“You too.”

I propped myself up on one elbow and looked down at his peacefully sleeping face.

That’s when I noticed the dark, deep circles under his eyes.

“So rigid.”

Since the owner of those dark circles seemed to be in a deep sleep, I poked them with my finger.

“While you, who lives under the same roof, were hesitating, three others have already come and gone.”

Considering you need a bit of nerve to get by in this world, this young master was probably in for a lot of hardship.

“Well, who am I to worry about anyone else?”

My situation, having been reincarnated as the villainess of a novel, is a bigger problem than Jayden’s, who is promised the marquis’s title.

I slowly drifted off to sleep, thinking of the bleak future that awaited Charlotte in the novel.

* * *

The next day, in the afternoon.

Jayden and I met again in the garden, the same place we’d met yesterday, around the same time.

There was no better place in the Lindsi estate for a secret conversation.

For Jayden, who enjoyed quiet walks, even the gardeners refrained from entering this area at this time.

“Hey, don’t you think that was a little harsh?”

I was still a little miffed about what happened at breakfast.

“You know I keep getting scolded for oversleeping these days, yet you just ditched me and left? How petty.”

“I tried to wake you several times this morning, but you wouldn’t get up, sister.”

Jayden said defensively, looking troubled.

“The maids were about to come, so I couldn’t keep trying to wake you.”

“Fine, I’ll give you that. But why did you have to chime in while I was getting scolded by Mother?”

“I wasn’t exactly chiming in, I just added a word. The Marchioness turned to me and asked what I thought. I couldn’t just stay silent.”

“So you just had to add your snide little comment? What? ‘You’re absolutely right’? ‘My sister needs to improve her lifestyle’? Whose fault do you think it is that I overslept?”

If this kid hadn’t shown up last night, I wouldn’t have fallen asleep at dawn, and I wouldn’t have been so groggy when the maids tried to wake me.

“B-but you said you were uncomfortable with me acting overly familiar.”

Jayden had his reasons.

“I was trying to act like I used to…!”

It was true. When Jayden went back to being sharp and cold with me, the Marquis and Marchioness seemed somewhat relieved.

Like they were thinking, *‘Yes, this is how it should be.’*

Now that I’d vented my complaints, I felt better, so I got to the point.

“Anyway, forget about that. Did you sleep well last night? Is the insomnia gone?”

At my question, Jayden’s eyes sparkled.

“Yes! It’s been so long since my mind has felt this clear.”

Just as he said, he did look to be in good condition.

“And you’re not hearing the voice anymore?”

“Not at all.”

He answered clearly, and his answer remained the same the next day, and the day after that.

“Success!”

Five days after sharing the bed with Jayden, I stopped checking on his condition daily.

Every day, Jayden slept soundly through the night without any issues, and the voice was gone for good.

The bed’s curse was broken.

Nothing else particularly noteworthy happened in my daily life.

*This peace… is nice.*

Playing, eating, and sleeping at home. Although Marquis Lindsi had practically lifted my confinement, my life wasn’t much different than before.

Even before I was reincarnated, I only worked because I had to make a living; I was naturally a lazy person.

Another good thing was that this laziness of mine was perceived by the Marquis and the rest of the household as a sign of self-reflection.

Thanks to that, the way people looked at me had recently grown much warmer.

“By the way, when is that Raynerd guy going to give me the reward he promised?”

As I was lazing around in bed in the middle of the day, a small sound reached my ears.

The source of the tapping sound was the window leading to the terrace.

Thinking, *This is it,* I quickly opened the window.

“Scree.”

A white bird perched on the terrace railing let out a short cry.

“Aww, did my little cutie come to visit?”

Despite my cheerful greeting, the sharp-featured falcon merely held out one leg quietly.

As expected of the Crown Prince’s beloved bird, it had a very haughty and solemn demeanor.

“What message did His Highness send?”

The falcon must have been brought here by Raynerd during his last visit to the marquisate, as it cleverly remembered the location and now served as a messenger.

It was something I’d only learned three days ago when I received the first note from Raynerd.

*‘He asked me to wait a little longer then.’*

He seemed busy catching up on all the work he’d put off due to his insomnia.

But sending a second note now must mean he’s more or less finished with his work.

*‘In that case, this must be a message about my reward!’*

My heart swelling with anticipation, I untied the scrap of paper from the falcon’s leg.

And then I read the contents…

“Huh?”

The lines written on the note were not what I had expected.