Chapter 44
I should have checked myself in the mirror before coming out!
Sebastian came to my room at this hour, so I didn’t think to check myself properly in the bathroom and just came out as I was.
Erika’s heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst at any moment.
At that moment, Sebastian saw Erika and opened his eyes wide.
“Did he notice?”
But what came out of his mouth wasn’t what Erika had feared.
“Uh, what? You took a bath?”
“No, no! I-I just washed my hair!”
Both Sebastian and Erika blinked rapidly in embarrassment.
“This isn’t the time to be standing around like this!”
Snapping back to her senses first, Erika quickly turned around.
“J-just wait a moment. Please wait!”
Without waiting for Sebastian’s reply, she dashed straight back into the bathroom she had just come out of.
She couldn’t hear Sebastian following her.
Erika locked the bathroom door tightly, then quickly took off the towel wrapped around her hair.
She inspected the wet towel carefully with hawk-like eyes, but luckily there was no trace of red dye anywhere.
“It seems like it only affects the hair.”
Erika hurriedly squeezed the water out of her hair with the towel again.
Then she looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
Her wet red hair looked darker than usual.
There was no sign of her original silver hair color peeking out at the scalp anymore.
“Phew, that’s a relief.”
Erika finally breathed out a deep sigh of relief.
Then, looking at her reflection, she puffed out her cheeks.
Because she had just taken off the towel haphazardly, her hair was tangled all over.
Her naturally curly hair already made it look poofy…
Not wanting to face Sebastian like this, she hurried to find a comb but couldn’t find it anywhere.
Then she suddenly remembered something and her shoulders slumped weakly.
“Ah… the comb is outside…”
Her face quickly fell.
“What should I do?”
After a moment’s thought, she started roughly combing her tangled hair with her fingers.
“Ouch!”
But tangled wet hair doesn’t come undone so easily.
Her fingers kept catching in the knots, and every time it pulled her scalp so much that tears welled up.
Still, knowing Sebastian was waiting for her in the room, she couldn’t give up halfway.
Enduring the pain, she roughly untangled the worst parts quickly.
Only then did she go back to her room.
Sebastian was still waiting.
“Uh, um… so… I guess I came over too suddenly?”
He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and muttered as if making an excuse.
Erika shook her head while fidgeting with her hands.
“It’s okay. You’re not asleep yet.”
Sebastian glanced sideways at Erika, then cleared his throat awkwardly.
He put one hand on his waist, gestured toward her, and said,
“By the way, where’s your maid? Why are you alone like this?”
“I took a bath earlier, but something got on my hair… I couldn’t just wipe it off, so I washed it.”
“I see.”
Sebastian nodded and looked at Erika intently.
“But maybe because of your hair, something feels different from usual?”
“…Maybe because it’s not completely dry yet.”
Blushing, Erika walked over to the dressing table and picked up a comb.
“Embarrassing.”
It was the first time she’d shown herself like this — so disheveled.
Even if she wasn’t looking pretty, she wanted to appear calm…
Erika couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling.
Sebastian’s gaze followed her.
Today, she was unusually quiet and somewhat distant, which didn’t feel like the usual Erika.
Had he said something wrong?
Other than opening the door without knocking or waiting for a reply, he couldn’t figure out what it was…
Feeling unsure, Sebastian looked back at her.
Meanwhile, Erika sat at the dressing table and started combing her hair, but it wasn’t going well.
Struggling alone, Sebastian quietly stepped behind her and reached out.
“Give it here. I’ll do it.”
He almost took the comb from her hand.
Without giving her time to dry it further, he carefully started combing her hair.
Erika unconsciously held her breath.
Sebastian didn’t seem experienced with this kind of thing.
She thought the comb teeth would catch on the tangles and pull painfully on her scalp like in the bathroom.
But surprisingly?
Even though she tensed her body expecting pain, her scalp didn’t hurt.
Sebastian combed her hair smoothly without any snag.
Erika peeked at Sebastian’s face standing close behind her through the dressing table mirror.
He wore an extremely serious expression, focused on her hair.
She found that quite unexpected.
“…Grand Duke.”
“Hm?”
“You’re really good at combing hair.”
“Am I? I’m not sure.”
Sebastian answered while continuing to comb.
“I can’t just do it recklessly. If I do it like I usually do, it might hurt you.”
That meant he was being careful.
Hearing that, Erika’s neck stiffened slightly.
For some reason, her face flushed and her throat felt ticklish.
Before long, Sebastian finished one side.
He gathered the smoothed hair and tossed it over Erika’s shoulder.
At that moment, something shiny on the nape of her white neck caught his eye.
Sebastian recognized it instantly.
In a slightly hoarse voice, he spoke.
“A necklace.”
“Huh?”
“You’re wearing a necklace.”
“Ah… yes! I never take it off. Thanks to you, Sebastian! Thank you.”
Sebastian’s Adam’s apple moved noticeably.
He held his breath for a moment, then slowly exhaled and smiled faintly, almost imperceptibly to Erika.
“…This is a first.”
“A first what?”
Erika tilted her head slightly.
Sebastian took both sides of her small head, gently returning her hair to its proper place, and replied.
“You calling my name.”
Erika’s eyes widened in the dressing table mirror.
“Oh my, look at me.”
Judging by her reaction, she must have said it unconsciously.
“Sorry, Grand Duke. W-why did I say that?”
Erika scolded herself and immediately corrected her address.
Sebastian somehow felt a little disappointed.
“You can just call me whatever you want. It’s not so bad.”
“Really…?”
Erika asked cautiously, and Sebastian nodded readily.
“We’re married anyway. When we get older, will you still say ‘Your Grace, the Grand Duke’ or something?”
He teased playfully, lightly tousling Erika’s neatly combed hair.
“Ah!”
Her fine hair dried quickly after a few strokes.
But Sebastian didn’t want to let go so easily.
He liked the slightly cool temperature compared to his body and the soft texture wrapped around his fingers.
“Feels just like feathers.”
He played with Erika’s hair, wrapping it around and releasing his fingertips.
He didn’t know why he was having so much fun doing something he never did even when she was much younger.
How long had he been playing with her hair like that?
Sebastian snapped back to reality when Erika asked a question.
“But, why are you here at this hour in my room? Was there something you wanted to talk about?”
“Oh.”
Sebastian closed and opened his eyes slowly as if suddenly remembering.
Red strands of Erika’s hair slipped through his fingers like sand.
Feeling an inexplicable strong regret, he parted his dry lips.
“I wanted to talk about your ability.”
“My ability?”
Erika looked at Sebastian through the mirror.
He too looked at her face and spoke again.
“The barrier that appears. You can sense it in advance.”
“Ah…”
“Does your father know about that too?”
“Marquis, no… my father doesn’t.”
Erika answered stiffly, shaking her head.
“I never sensed anything like that while living in the capital. Even while moving. To be exact, I first sensed it the day Bonpiju died.”
“I see.”
Sebastian nodded faintly.
He felt more confident in his theory that the blessing he received from the old sage might be connected to Erika’s power.
And he had to admit it was a very useful ability for him at this point.
The barrier that appeared in the northern forest caused relatively little damage because it was a sparsely populated area.
But there was no guarantee it would always be like that.
“What if a barrier opened right in the middle of the city…?”
Just imagining it was terrifying.
