“Gah, you startled me!”
Startled by the sudden, low but clear voice, I spun around in shock.
On the far side of the spacious room, Rastan was sitting on the sofa, looking in my direction.
Feeling my pounding heart, I let out a sigh of relief this time.
“Phew… When did you get here?”
Thinking I was alone, I had been about to loosen my clothes comfortably, but when I hastily pulled the front closed, Rastan averted his gaze slightly to the side.
“I came in first and was sitting here, but you did not seem to notice I was here. I watched for a bit, wondering what you were thinking so deeply about.”
“If you were here, at least make some noise! You scared me.”
“My apologies. I did not think you wouldn’t notice me when I was standing right in the middle of the room. But… you said you are leaving?”
As the tips of Rastan’s elegant eyebrows drooped and his gaze fell, that familiar forlorn expression appeared.
The kind of expression that made the viewer’s heart sink and feel apologetic for no reason at all.
Calming my startled heart as I looked at that face, I walked over to the sofa.
“Not right now. Our contract is for one year, remember?”
“That is true, but… did I not say it earlier? That while you are here, it would be easier to think of yourself as Duchess Blake.”
“If I start thinking like that already, even during the engagement period, would I not seem shameless?”
“No one here will think that.”
Rastan met my eyes directly, emphasizing his words with a gentle yet firm gaze.
“During the contract period, since it is one year, please do not think about things like contracts or timelines, and approach this sincerely. To the point of deceiving even yourself.”
I suddenly recalled the absurd thickness of that contract.
That contract, which had all sorts of ridiculous things written in it, made me feel as though even what he had just said might be written there as a clause.
‘At this point, I wouldn’t even be surprised if it said something like “commit fully to method acting”…’
Whatever was written in it, all of this was ultimately my fault for not carefully reading through the contract that had been plainly handed to me three full times.
With a slightly resigned feeling, I muttered,
“Yeees…”
At that, Rastan rose to his feet, the corners of his lips lifting in satisfaction. Seeing that reminded me of the question I had asked earlier but never received an answer to.
“Right. What did you come to this room for?”
“I came to sleep.”
“…Ah, it’s already time to sleep.”
This, too, had already been going on for several days.
By now, Rastan came to my room every night as if it were only natural, and slept beside me.
He said he was merely doing his best to fulfill the contract, and I had nothing more to say to that, so I had no choice but to accept it.
“You should be used to it by now. It would be easier for both of us if we just think of the bed as something we will be sharing from now on.”
It wasn’t wrong, but for some reason it still felt faintly annoying.
I changed into my nightclothes and went to the bed, lying down beside Rastan.
When I glanced to the side, his high, straight nose and lips that felt strangely more sensual than usual today filled my vision.
Seeing that, I blurted out the thought that came to mind without much consideration.
“Come to think of it… you are not kissing me tonight?”
“That cannot be. Are you disappointed that I did not?”
His handsome lips had already curved upward on one side.
He immediately moved closer under the covers, pressing his body against mine.
Even as I was pulled into his arm, I held on to the last shred of my pride.
“N-no, the disappointed one would not be me, it would be you!”
“It is only natural that I am disappointed. I was just wondering whether you were too.”
Rastan slowly stroked my hair with one hand, as if handling something precious and dearly loved.
At his touch, my chest softened helplessly, and both my cheeks flushed red.
He leaned in just like that and lightly kissed my forehead. The spot where he touched felt as if a bloom of heat flared up, making my body flinch for a moment.
“I will look forward to your answer someday. And I cannot exactly skip today’s goodnight kiss.”
Tilting his face down, he gently nipped at my lips.
Chup, chup.
The soft, wet sound of our lips meeting and parting echoed quietly through the room.
Calling our kiss a goodnight kiss felt strangely fitting.
After all, thanks to this kiss, he really would end up having good dreams.
***
Ris was on her way back after taking a rare short vacation to visit her family and spend some time with them.
Normally, she dressed neatly with practicality as her top priority, but when visiting her family, she always wore her finest clothes to show that she had been doing well.
Because of that, today she looked almost like a young lady from a lower noble House.
Feeling happy after seeing her family, Ris walked lightly through the Capital while humming to herself, when her gaze was drawn to a crowd of people gathered in one place.
Seeing poorly dressed people lined up in a long queue, she looked toward the front and spotted a simple sign that read “Food Distribution”.
It was a place where food left unsold by shops were donated and distributed for free to the poor.
In that line, Ris noticed a familiar face.
‘Oh?’
It was Helga, looking shabby and unkempt.
Perhaps embarrassed to be standing in line with the poor, she had pulled a hood down low, covering her face more than her head, which only made her stand out even more.
Even though she herself looked disheveled, whenever her body brushed against the poor people standing in front of or behind her, she irritably waved her hands, snapping at them to keep their distance.
Before long, it was Helga’s turn.
Since the food being handed out were those that shops could no longer sell, the quality was, in truth, hovering right on the boundary between edible and inedible.
What was being distributed today were wilted vegetables, fish whose freshness had significantly declined, and bread that had just begun to grow tiny spots of mold.
Even so, most of the poor were grateful to be able to obtain even that much, carefully taking their allotted portions.
“Oh dear, there’s fish today. We’re lucky. If I just cut off the ends of these vegetables, they should be fine.”
“I should hurry home and make dinner for the kids with this.”
But every time Helga received an item, she openly twisted her face in displeasure.
“Tsk, giving this to people to eat, honestly…”
At that, the volunteer handing out the food looked Helga up and down as if dumbfounded and replied curtly.
“I’ve never seen someone complain like this while taking handouts. Hey, if you don’t like it, don’t take it and leave. There are people lined up behind you who want this.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Did anyone threaten you to take this? Either shut up and take it, or if you don’t like it, step out of the line.”
“Well…”
Helga, her pride wounded and lips clenched tight, ultimately snatched the vegetables from the volunteer’s hands.
“I’ll take it, I said I’ll take it!”
Her attitude remained unpleasant until the very end, and all the volunteers frowned as they watched her, but she pulled her hood further down over her face and gathered the ingredients into her basket before leaving.
With her gaze fixed on the ground, she hastened her steps to get away as quickly as possible, when the hem of a neat dress suddenly blocked her path.
Jerking her head up, Helga came face to face with a familiar figure.
No, at first she didn’t recognize her right away. But as she stared, the familiarity sank in, and she realized who it was.
“You, you are!”
“Hi. Long time no see.”
Ris greeted her casually, swaying slightly as she offered the half-hearted greeting.
Helga only remembered Ris as the girl who had followed Evelyn and worked as a maid in her mansion, and she trembled with indignation at the sight.
“H-how dare you speak so casually to me…!”
“Then what, should I call you Madam?”
“Of course…”
Just as Helga was about to say “of course,” she suddenly realized something.
Right now, she and Ris weren’t in a relationship of noble and commoner, nor of mistress and maid.
Ris read Helga’s thoughts from her expression and let out a small snort of laughter.
“I’ve been doing very well. How about you?”
“What is this…!”
“Ah, you don’t have to pretend you’ve been doing well. I know very well that you haven’t.”
“Hah…?”
Now seeming to understand, Helga glared at Ris and forcibly lifted one corner of her mouth.
She didn’t want to lose to a mere girl who had once been nothing more than a maid.
“Hmph, did that Evelyn brat tell you to look into everything?”
“Not exactly. I helped out with some of it myself, so I know it pretty well.”
“W-what? Helped out? What could the likes of you possibly know?”
“I ate at that place for a couple of months. I know everything there’s to know.”
Helga looked as though she wanted to hear in detail what Ris had done, but Ris leisurely glanced around instead.
“Oh, perfect timing. There’s something suitable right here. Wait here for a moment. If you do, you won’t regret it.”
