SEM 61

SEM

Chapter 61

“Yes. They say you don’t feed a fish you’ve already caught, don’t they? His Majesty may have the Grand Duke at his side, but he’s already far too accustomed to him.”

No one rebuked the young Marchioness, who so casually brought up Greddy’s name in front of Eliana without a shred of guilt. Instead, they exchanged sidelong glances and sneering looks, testing Eliana’s reaction.

“In fact, isn’t there an expert in this very field among us?”

Following the Countess’s gaze, all the ladies turned their heads. At the end of their sight sat Eliana.

“Pardon?”

Startled out of her thoughts—thoughts of her earlier conversation with Greddy—Eliana’s eyes widened when all attention suddenly converged on her. She immediately put on a dazzling smile. Wearing an expressionless mask was second nature to her; she could hide her feelings anywhere, anytime.

“Now that you mention it, there is an expert here.”

At Rozella’s piercing look, Eliana’s lips trembled faintly.

The scorn flickering in Rozella’s lowered eyes, paired with the curl of her mouth, left Eliana struggling to breathe. Yet, as always, her well-practiced mask covered her true self.

“With no one less than Her Majesty the Empress speaking so highly, I can hardly refuse, can I?”

Rozella froze, teacup halfway to her lips. She hadn’t expected Eliana to laugh and turn her mockery back so gracefully.

“You act as though you really do have some exceptional talent.”

Claire stepped in for the uncomfortable empress.

“Have you heard the saying? That sneezes, poverty, and love cannot be hidden?”

Her soft voice, paired with lightly lowered brows, fluttered through the tent.

When Eliana deliberately avoided their eyes and took a calm sip of tea, the silence that followed drew every gaze back toward her.

“Lower your gaze. Take your time, so it’s the other party who grows restless—not you.”

“The moment your impatience is revealed, they’ll lose interest in you. And when they do, your worth will plummet.”

The lessons drilled into her—with whippings, when necessary—were etched into her body even without thought.

“So what are you saying? That I should cough theatrically in front of the young merchant lord?”

The Marchioness, unable to endure Eliana’s waiting game, pressed her impatiently.

Lifting her eyes from her teacup, Eliana turned her gaze directly on Rozella. Her blue eyes blinked as they studied the empress, lounging lazily with her legs crossed, lips curling in a crooked smile.

“When love arrives, the one in it is always the first to know. And when love departs, they are also the first to know.”

“What did you just say?”

“When love comes, the body stirs before the mind—so the person in love is the first to realize it. But when love leaves, the heart denies it, and so the person in love is always the last to admit it.”

The tent fell silent as the women mulled over Eliana’s words.

“Utter nonsense.”

“Is it?”

Eliana replied indifferently to Rozella. But Rozella was far more unsettled than she wanted to admit.

The truth was undeniable: she had burned for days after that searing kiss. She had brushed it off as nothing more than the natural aftermath of being with the emperor too often. Yet now, Eliana’s words cut uncomfortably close.

Moreover, when they met the second time, Florian had remembered her perfectly. She still hadn’t returned the jacket he’d given her that day.

“Hm.”

Rozella hummed softly. She had never once been loved by Matteo. Nor had she ever felt her own heart race for him.

Pressing lightly against her chest, she lifted her gaze. Across the tent, near the entrance, Eliana was gazing outside.

Seeing her steal glances whenever she could, as if desperate to remain near Greddy, stirred a sour jealousy in Rozella. Worse still, Eliana had unwittingly unsettled her own heart, and she now had no idea how to steady it.

“Shall we go out now?”

Rozella rose, passing her teacup to a maid. At once, the others followed in her wake.

Eliana was the last to step outside the tent. She glanced around. Compared to the dawn, the forest looked like an entirely different world.

Sunlight filtering through green leaves was more beautiful than any man-made lamp.

As the ladies emerged, servants busied themselves, taking hawks from their cages.

Occasionally, loud noises echoed from afar—the men must be driving game. Birds flapped wildly, scattering into the skies.

Eliana tilted her head back to watch, then accepted the thick glove a servant offered.

“The talons are sharp, my lady. Please take care.”

At her nod, the servant removed the cloth blindfold from the hawk’s eyes.

Shriek!

With a powerful beat of its wings, the hawk soared upward.

The hunt had begun.

“You really were here.”

Greddy, lying in the bushes uncaring of the dirt staining his clothes, cracked an eye open at the shadow falling across him.

He roughly scrubbed at his deathly pale cheek with one hand, then raised his arm to shield his face.

“…”

“Nothing here has changed, has it?”

Rozella circled around him, her eyes roaming the familiar scenery. The lake ringed with tall trees was close to the clearing, but few came here deliberately.

It was the only lake in Orante Forest, the only place where the sky above the woods shone so clear.

“What do you want now?”

His husky voice was tight with restraint, his face still covered.

“No one knows. Greddy.”

“…”

“You know as well as I do that the price of this secret is beyond reckoning.”

Her singsong words made his jaw clench. His teeth ground together so hard they trembled.

“…”

“Don’t love her.”

At that, Greddy lowered his arm. Rozella stood over him, gazing down coldly.

Her expression was so severe it left him momentarily speechless. He let out a long, heavy sigh.

Her demands were always absurd—but this was beyond anything he had heard before.

“And who exactly do you think I’m in love with?”

He sighed again.

Conversations with Rozella were always one-sided. But when she suddenly began spouting cryptic nonsense like this, it drove him nearly mad.

“They say sneezes and love can’t be hidden.”

He listened in silence, though the urge to strangle her flared hot in his chest.

He couldn’t. Murder must remain a singular act.

The veins stood out on his clenched fists. His jaw locked tight as he forced himself to endure.

“They say when love comes, the body knows first. Desire stirs, and you can’t restrain it. What nonsense! As though you’re some rutting beast.”

“Maybe what’s frightening you isn’t love, but the body’s craving. If you can’t control how your body burns every time you see her, then yes… it must be love.”

When Eliana had said that love announces itself first to the body, Rozella had instantly recalled this very conversation with Greddy.

His eyes had held no deceit when he spoke.

Different times, different places—and yet both he and Eliana had voiced the same truth, even apart. Such synchronicity could only exist between true partners.

Do you think I’d ever hand over what I couldn’t have to someone like you?

The image of Eliana’s shyly lowered face as she spoke of love ignited an unquenchable fury in Rozella.

“…”

The longer Greddy stayed silent, the harsher her words became.

“Do you hate me for this? Don’t delude yourself! You were the one who started it!”

His face twisted at her accusation. The original sin lay with him—he had no one else to blame.

Rozella sneered down at his bowed head, then turned away. Unlike when she had arrived, her departing steps were light, almost buoyant.

“My, men really are impossible. You’d think they could rest for a single day.”

The Countess shook her head. The men, who had drunk heavily all through dinner, had now left to smoke cigars.

“They’re simply excited from hunting again after so long,” Rozella said, agreeing lightly.

Now it was truly the women’s time. Having traded hunting clothes for dazzling gowns, they gathered around Rozella like moths to a flame.

Exhaustion pressed in on Eliana, who rubbed her temples discreetly.