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58.

"...Of course Your Majesty treats me well."
"Hmm."
He responded as though uncertain.
"You give me delicious food, pay me generously, and whenever I try to leave, you hold me back with bonuses." ‌‌‌
So I began enumerating everything Cassian Artez had done to me, one by one.
"Is that all? You have an uncanny ability to discern what I wish to do."
As I spoke, I felt a surge of ‌indignation.
I was someone who remembered kindness, so I ‌‌‌‌retained every memory of how Cassian Artez had treated me so well.
Of course, I also vividly remembered how thoroughly he had exploited my labor. ‌‌‌
At my words, Cassian Artez pulled me into his embrace with empty hands.
"Then, Roselita Salice."
"Yes?"
Cassian ‌‌‌Artez's voice dropped suddenly.
After breathing deeply once, he rested his forehead upon my shoulder.
I felt I ought to see what his expression was like now....
But held as I was in his embrace, with him obscuring his face besides, I could not.
As though he were hiding something from me.
A moment of silence stretched between us.
"...Your Majesty?"
I shifted my body, wanting to see him properly, but Cassian Artez's arms held me firmly and would not release me.
Soon a suppressed laugh rippled from near my shoulder, ‌‌and he spoke with his voice deliberately lowered.
"For your sake...."
"For... my sake?"
"The 23-year-old vintage wine I prepared separately—you don't need that, then?"
No, that's a different matter entirely!
As I hastily ‌‌‌‌turned my body, his arms released me far too readily this time.
And in their place was nothing but that infuriatingly smug ‌‌‌‌‌smile, no different from usual, gazing down at me.
"...You were teasing me again, weren't you?"
I asked Cassian Artez with wounded indignation, and he drew me close once more, pressing a kiss to my cheek.
"Perhaps Roselita Salice should have been less endearing."
It came with that exasperating smirk, as though nothing had happened at all.

*

The night had grown deep.
Under normal circumstances, the Ball would have concluded long ago, but with the Emperor himself in attendance, Roselita Salice had been forced to remain until the very end, entertaining the nobility.
Cassian Artez entered her bedroom, carrying the soundly ‌‌sleeping Roselita Salice in his arms as the maid opened the door for them.
"I'll take care of it, so rest now, Joan."
At his words, Roselita Salice's devoted maid regarded him with suspicious eyes before reluctantly leaving the room.
'Everyone truly ‌adores my young lady far too much. This is becoming troublesome.'
I wished to keep her in my arms a little longer, but matters were not proceeding as I desired.
Of course, it was Cassian's sincere conviction that he had neither the right nor the ‌‌‌inclination to object, ‌‌‌provided she faced no danger.
He carefully ‌‌‌laid the sleeping Roselita Salice upon the bed, ensuring she would not wake, ‌‌then drew the blanket firmly up to her shoulders.
Though I knew I should abandon such greed and return to the Palace at once, I found myself wishing to gaze upon her face a little longer in the pale moonlight.
Since the moment we first met, only the sight of her ‌‌‌face had ever truly brought me peace.
Cassian watched over her, gently removing the hairpin from Roselita Salice's hair with tender ‌‌care.
'She used to wake like a ghost the moment we arrived home.'
Today, even when I gently shook her, she could not open her eyes, so I had been forced to carry her here myself.
It was troublesome work, yet I felt nothing but gladness.
It seemed proof that Roselita Salice was gradually lowering her guard with me, revealing glimpses of herself bit by bit.
'This expedition was certainly grueling.'
It had been physically demanding.
Not merely the expedition itself, but even after returning to the Capital City.
The moment I entered the Winter Palace, the Countess Attendants led me away to bathe and dressed me properly, and that face of hers—the one that wanted to leave work ‌‌‌immediately upon seeing me.
I felt both apologetic and endeared by it.
'I truly must not be greedy....'
Yet ‌‌even knowing this, my heart continued to flow only as it wished.
Roselita Salice was quite perceptive, and ‌‌she always noticed the greed I failed to contain.
Each time, I managed to gloss over it somehow, but I knew well that I was approaching my limits.
During the expedition, I had honestly been half-mad, and it was true that I had caused Roselita Salice unnecessary worry.
So I must not nurture my desires further. ‌‌
There were far too many threats she would have to endure by my side. Cassian felt he deserved to go mad simply for having ‌‌‌‌exposed her to such crises thus far. ‌‌
Though as my ‌‌betrothed, I could have prepared a bedroom in the Winter Palace and had her rest there, bringing her to her own home instead was an expression of self-restraint, ‌‌‌a way of binding myself.
Cassian spoke softly, caressing Roselita Salice's cheek with his knuckles as she slept peacefully.
"So do not do anything dangerous, Roselita."
I earnestly wished for all such burdens to remain mine alone.

* ‌‌‌

When I woke up late, I nearly lost my composure upon hearing from Joan, the attendant, that Cassian Artez had escorted me all the way to my bedroom.
The fact that I was still wearing my dress, combined with how my hair had been neatly arranged for my comfort, made me feel as though I might faint.
I should have drunk at least a tall Americano with four shots instead of my usual light one...!
Yet in response to my panic,
"You do so much for the Second Prince on a daily basis, miss. I think it's only right that he does this much for you!"
Joan, an attendant who had been at the Winter Palace since childhood, dismissed Cassian Artez's efforts as nothing and told me to set my mind at ease.
"Besides, I don't think the Second Prince would be disrespectful to you over ‌‌‌something like that, would he?"
Well, that's true, but...
As I regained my composure, I also realized just how grave a mistake I had nearly made.
To voluntarily head to the Office on the very first day of my leave.
'No, I can't. I absolutely cannot.'
Francis Ashwood and the Administrative Officials who hadn't participated in the expedition would surely be working frantically.
If I went to the Winter Palace now, I would certainly be seized and put to work immediately.
Moreover, I would undoubtedly encounter numerous nobles while entering the Palace.
I shuddered as I recalled the countless faces I had met at yesterday's Ball.

'My goodness, aren't you the future Second Princess! You seem particularly dignified today.'
'Seeing the accomplishments you've made, ‌‌‌I truly believe you ‌and the Second Prince are perfectly suited for ‌‌‌each ‌‌other.'
'To have obtained the Flare Dragon's Lair without any losses—it's ‌‌simply breathtaking.'

Until now, at best they would say things like 'only Roselita Salice as an advisor can handle the Second Prince,' yet now they were acting as though I and Cassian Artez ‌‌‌were a romantic match rather than a political one.

'You two really are perfect together, aren't you? Love is truly magnificent.'
'I heard ‌‌you moved to save Cassian Artez even when your life was in danger!'

They hadn't responded to the engagement materials ‌‌‌‌I had so painstakingly prepared, yet now they were ‌‌treating me and Cassian Artez as ‌‌‌‌though we were bound by love rather than political calculation.
Since we claimed it, they were willing to believe it.
They were all just trying to grab scraps falling from the Lair.
As I grumbled and wondered just how much nonsense ‌I had written, Joan, who had finished tidying the sheets in the meantime, scolded me sharply.
"Before you look at the newspapers, wash up first and change your clothes, miss!"

*

After bathing ‌‌and changing into comfortable indoor wear, then finishing the brunch Joan had prepared, a ‌‌‌‌‌courier arrived with perfect timing to deliver the mail.
Though the quantity.... ‌
"All ‌‌of these really came for our young lady?"
It was such a massive pile that even Joan gasped in astonishment.
"It seems like more than double what arrived when you first went out for the tax investigation, Miss."
Back then they were protest letters, but now they were invitations and flattering correspondence—that was the only difference.
I moved the letters to the reception room and began sorting them by examining the outer envelopes to guess their contents.
Joan spoke with a pitying tone as she watched me pull out a ‌‌‌‌notebook and pen.
"...Our young lady works even on her days off."
My ‌‌‌‌dear Joan really knew how to ‌‌‌strike where it hurt.
But I couldn't simply ignore them—there were people I needed to cultivate for Cassian's future, and besides....
'I mustn't be caught off guard a ‌‌‌‌third ‌‌‌time.'
The events from the original story were weighing on my mind.
Though Cassian and I had shared the burden, similar crisis situations to those in the original had occurred in Ilium and the Snow Mountain.
If that was the case, then weakening those events was the best I could do right now.
'Living as an extra is truly exhausting.'
By the time I ‌finished grumbling and sorting through various party invitations and donation requests, the doorbell chimed to announce a visitor.
Wondering if it might be Cassian, I casually draped a shawl over my shoulders and headed outside.
"I apologize for coming without notice—I hope I'm not disturbing Roselita's rest?"
A far more welcome guest had arrived.
"Wilhelmina!"
"I'm not trying to steal your time, but I heard you're taking four days off starting today—"
"Would you ‌‌‌like some tea?"
When I made the suggestion to Wilhelmina, who was embarrassed and ‌‌trying to change the subject, her eyes widened in surprise.
"Is that alright?"
"Of course—I've been wanting to see you terribly."
Since the Ilium incident, we'd continued exchanging letters, ‌but between settlements and expeditions, we'd only glimpsed each ‌‌‌‌other in passing at the Imperial Palace.
Even at yesterday's ball, I couldn't have a long conversation due to the scrutiny of the other nobles.
As I opened the door wide, Wilhelmina stepped inside without hiding her joy.
Behind her was Wilhelmina's Attendant, who had accompanied her to Ilium as well, and she too smiled softly upon seeing Wilhelmina's excited expression.
"What kind of tea do you prefer? Our Joan is better at brewing coffee than tea, but—"
I said this while guiding her into the reception room.
I added that I was glad to have this private time with Wilhelmina, my first since returning to the Capital City.
But contrary to my happy mood, Wilhelmina's face went pale as she looked at the pile of letters stacked on the table.
"...Roselita, surely not."
"Oh, no. This isn't work His Highness Cassian gave me—"
I hastily defended Cassian, jumping to conclusions.
"...Did you become friends with Hanella?"
With ‌‌‌‌a soft thud, an envelope that appeared to be an invitation ‌‌‌fell from Wilhelmina's ‌‌‌‌hand.
Her face was colored with shock.

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