Because I hadn’t expected Rastan to openly use the word “kiss”, my vision spun.
Realizing that there was no point in pretending not to know anymore, I surrendered and had no choice but to admit it.
“…I did not do it knowing it was your dream. It was just a mistake….”
“Then that makes it even more impressive. It means you were not trying to change my dream on purpose, but that you usually have such thoughts.”
At those absurd words, I widened my eyes.
“I have not! Only yesterday! I was thinking about what you said, and I fell asleep without realizing it, so I did not know it was a dream— gh.”
At that, Rastan’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction. Only then did I realize that I had been led by his words, and I hurriedly shut my mouth, but it was already too late.
“I see. So to sum it up, after hearing what I said yesterday, you fell asleep while imagining kissing me, and then kissed me in my dream.”
It was completely accurate, but I couldn’t just agree with all of it like that. Trying to refute him somehow, I blurted out anything that came to mind with a dizzy head.
“I, I only touched your lips! After that, you were the one who kept—”
Unable to bring myself to finish the sentence, I trailed off, and Rastan let out a small chuckle.
“It was sweet.”
At the unexpected choice of word, my face heated up again.
“You are crazy!”
I cried out in shock, but he continued calmly.
“It was like giving a waterskin to someone who was dying of thirst in the desert. How could I possibly just let our lips touch politely and stop?”
It was definitely me who had pulled him in first and pressed my lips to his in the dream, and yet, why was I the only one feeling this flustered?
Because he was being irritating for no reason, I shot him a light glare.
“If I went into more detail, you might stop breathing.”
Rastan looked at me with slightly curved eyes, then, as if letting me off, lightly shifted the topic.
“Since we confirmed it in the dream, I wanted to say that if you are fine with it, I would like you to do it in reality as well, whenever you want.”
I reflexively felt my face heat up, but I reminded myself that he wasn’t saying this purely out of emotion right now.
Still, wanting to be sure that was really the case, I deliberately pointed out his intention.
“…Because the nightmare-suppressing effect is certain?”
I had expected him to answer with a light affirmation, but Rastan replied a little slowly, as if dreaming.
“That too, but… I genuinely liked it as well. Even if you might not have.”
“Y-you liked it…?”
I was startled when I realized I felt relieved by his saying that he liked it.
“Evelyn, what about you?”
“W-well, what is there to like or dislike?”
Unable to bring myself to say that it had been blissful, I deliberately twisted my words, pretending it had only been done to change the nightmare.
“Oh, right. Yesterday you said it feels like you are building up resistance to my ability. Then does that mean we will have to keep raising the level of contact from now on?”
“Who knows. Whether kissing will be enough, or whether the resistance will continue to grow and even that will become insufficient. We will have to wait and see.”
“If that happens, then?”
“…Then I will have no choice but to make you the Duchess of House Blake.”
He phrased it indirectly, but the meaning implied by those words was so clear that my chest thumped heavily.
“Ah…”
Rastan met my eyes with a deep, lingering gaze.
He clearly knew exactly what kind of expression made him most captivating. Even now, judging by the openly bewitching look in his eyes as he stared at me.
“I am curious whether you still do not want to get married, even now.”
“Well…”
Out of habit, I was about to answer, “That is right.” But perhaps because I was entranced by the strange atmosphere Rastan was giving off, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
‘Is that so? Is that really true?’
Of course, even now I still leaned toward having no intention of getting married. It hadn’t been long since I had become free from that jerk Gerald, and this was exactly the time to fully enjoy that freedom and sense of release.
‘But what if it wasn’t a marriage with just anyone, but a marriage with Rastan?’
That definitely felt different. I had never concretely imagined married life with Rastan, but at the very least, it was clear that it wasn’t something I disliked or wanted to avoid.
‘Uh…?’
I was flustered by the emotions I kept newly realizing within myself. Because I didn’t want those feelings to be noticed, I deliberately spoke coolly.
“If all you need is someone to save you from nightmares, then even if the contact became very deep, is there really any need to go as far as marriage?”
Of course, that didn’t mean I had even the slightest intention of becoming something like his mistress. Even taking into account the outrageous nonsense Rastan had once said about making him my lover.
I was simply being deliberately difficult, even though I knew that for the nobles here, especially someone as responsible by nature as Rastan, that kind of thinking was natural.
Yet Rastan showed not the slightest sign of being flustered or hesitating, and simply smiled as he replied.
“That is exactly why. If you do not yet have certainty about me, then could we not start with an engagement?”
“Start with an engagement…”
I murmured blankly at the unfamiliar phrasing.
“Taking time to find out whether you want to share not only your body with me, but also your heart and your life. An engagement is not marriage in itself, so how does that sound?”
‘Oh.’
Strangely enough, his words sounded perfectly reasonable. Honestly, they also provided a convincing justification for my heart, which had already leaned quite a bit toward him.
‘That’s true. In any case, if I’m going to help Rastan overcome his nightmares, I have to stay here together with him, and he said he would provide considerable benefits during the engagement period.’
More than anything, had I not actually found the days I spent with him… quite pleasant? To be honest, if not for the issue with Rosie, I might have already accepted his proposal of engagement.
“…I think I will be able to reach a conclusion soon. Please wait just a little longer.”
Rastan nodded readily.
“Think it through carefully and make a decision you will not regret. Still, if possible, I hope that decision turns out to be a positive one for me.”
At that time, I was overlooking something. What Rastan had proposed to me was an engagement, yet the conversation kept drifting toward what came after that.
Hearing words like marriage and lifetime over and over, it even started to sound like an engagement was something light, something that could be easily canceled.
***
Once several of House Lansval’s crimes came to light, the investigation team practically turned everything about the House and the trading company upside down and stripped it bare.
They even went so far as to conduct a retrospective tax audit on the Lansval Trading Company covering the past ten years.
‘They must be thinking that since so many huge things came pouring out once they started digging, if they dig a little more, all sorts of things will keep getting caught.’
Even if it wasn’t like Korea, investigators here were still civil servants who needed results.
They were clearly hoping to rack up a large portion of this year’s cleared cases right here.
House Lansval was already beyond any chance of recovery, but they were like hyenas scraping off even the last scraps of meat clinging to the bones of their prey.
That part was fine, but because of it, people who had even the slightest connection to House Lansval or their trading company were also dragged into the investigations. Even if there were no suspicious circumstances, they were summoned as witnesses first.
“There was an opinion that you should be summoned and questioned as well, but…”
Today again, Rastan was briefing me on the progress of the investigation while having tea with me in the afternoon.
Well, since I had been Gerald’s fiancee, the idea of checking whether I had cooperated in his crimes or heard something made sense in itself.
I was about to nod, thinking that was possible, when Rastan frowned slightly, wrinkling the bridge of his nose as if displeased.
“I could not allow that. I already smoothed it over by saying that you had broken off the engagement and that you were someone with no connection at all, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“Hm.”
Even if the engagement had been broken, if the investigators dug into what happened before that, there was honestly plenty of reason for them to summon me.
The fact that his explanation worked meant that Rastan had crushed the investigation team with his authority.
‘Maybe, possibly, he even used that power of his. The one that manipulates other people’s thoughts.’
In any case, thanks to him, I didn’t have to be dragged to the Security Department, get tangled up with House Lansval again, and be suspected and interrogated for no reason, so it was a good thing.
That was a completely different matter from me providing tips about House Lansval’s crimes from my side.
‘It really is nice that Rastan has command authority over this investigation.’
As I thought that far, I recalled a plan I had been considering for a while.
Now was exactly the right timing to bring it up.
