Chapter 1: A Confounded Witch

 

 

 

Chapter 1: A Confounded Witch

 

SLEEPING early the night before and waking up before sunrise—Rose started living like an ordinary human since moving into the Azm mansion. She deemed it a necessary sacrifice to leave first thing in the morning to tend to the field at her hermitage.

The best part about the arrangement was that she no longer needed to be mindful of nighttime clients. It didn’t matter that she had refused any middle-of-the-night requests after the break-in, because she had programmed her body to snap awake at the sound of the bell that rang without fail whenever someone came to the dock. She finally learned the joys of a good night’s sleep without being disturbed by the bell, which was set off by both man and beast.

The Azm carriage escorted her to and from the hermitage. She was allowed to live as she wanted, spending her days at the hermitage and nights at the mansion without ever being forced to attend the balls, banquets, or garden parties she often heard rumors about.

∴ ∵ ∴

SHE awoke to the smell of baking bread before sunrise.

What a satisfying way to wake up! Rose twisted out from under the blankets, which were softer than anything she’d had the pleasure of touching, and poked her face through the opening like a bagworm. She sniffed the air, filling her nostrils with the tantalizing smell of wheat.

Rose always had them prepare bread to take with her for lunch. Tala, who was a wiz in the kitchen, was even capable of baking different kinds of breads!

Depending on the bread of the day, Tala would make sandwiches with ham or jam, but Rose was just as happy with plain bread.

I wonder what type she baked today. Rose’s lips lifted in a small smile. She was fully aware that she couldn’t go back to subsisting on just lettuce anymore.

Rose slipped out of bed after inhaling that savory aroma to her heart’s content. She opened the closet as she made a mental note of her activities for the day. Rows of clothing Harij had picked out for her hung from the pole.

None of the pieces were too extravagant in design, but the material was superb. Each item had been expertly tailored to survive her jaunts into the forest. All the skirts and dresses matched the kingdom’s style of a sheath cut with no flare.

Until now, Rose hadn’t owned more than one change of regular clothes—that didn’t mean she was in dire need of more and couldn’t afford it, though. Not only was that normal for commoners, but she also didn’t feel the necessity for more when robes were the staple of a witch’s wardrobe.

Though she thought it unnecessary, her heart still danced like a little girl’s when she laid her eyes upon the stunning dresses. Her joy only amplified with the thought that these were all presents from the man she loved. He likely thought of her as he picked out each and every one.

WHOOSH.

Air blew through the dresses—Rose had lightly punched one to hide her embarrassment. The dress swayed softly as if being exposed to a gentle breeze rather than her fist.

After pummeling the gift from her darling like a sandbag, Rose wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand. It was only early spring, and she was already uncomfortably sweaty.

It was unbearably embarrassing to have Harij and the others fawn over her when she dressed up, but she could convince herself to wear something fancier if she made the excuse “This is all I have to wear anyway.” She had already turned her mother’s old dress that was full of stains and frayed at the hem into a rag.

“…You got this.” Rose gripped the hanger like a snake’s head to motivate herself to go through with it.

Struggling to put on pretty dresses was one of her newly acquired morning routines since coming to the Azm estate.

She picked a blue dress reminiscent of the spring sky with shades of gray and purple. Although the sleeves were embroidered, the dress was mostly plain with subdued colors and a simple cut, making it easier for the shy witch to pick it.

She ran a brush over her hair to the bare extent necessary, then yanked the collar over her head and shoved her arms through the sleeves. After tying the ribbon just under her chest, she looked at the mirror.

The collar is oddly loose. Is that the style? Rose tugged on it, wondering if she was wearing it wrong. The collar flopped around her neck. She was uneasy leaving it in this flimsy, undependable state. After all, a witch moves constantly throughout the day. Leaving it flapping around her neck risked her clothes coming off every time she moved.

Thinking there had to be more to it, she reached for the back of the collar, and her fingers brushed against unhooked buttons.

“…There are buttons on the back?!”

Rose was a witch. A normal witch never had anyone help them change.

Her grandmother had dressed herself, and her mother had likely done the same. Today marked the first time Rose learned of the existence of clothing with buttons on the back.

Rose stared at the mirror. She was frowning at her pathetic state. Getting changed was the most tedious of activities.

“……”

She continued to silently glare at herself in the mirror. Then she fiddled with the buttons, hooking as many as she could before pulling her robe on over it. She was unlikely to remove the robe anyway—no one would discover she had a few buttons loose.

The first day, she came without her robe on because she had to cut through the city to get there, but she usually wore it within the mansion. For witches, robes were necessary for concealing their identities and secrets. For Rose, robes were necessary for her to deal with other people.

Rose opened her bedroom door and heard a small yelp on the other side.

It was Mona, the maid who arrived the same day as Rose, who was adorably startled by the door. Five servants worked at this estate, but only the butler, Safina, and Mona lived there. Tala, who single-handedly took care of all the food, returned home early in the evening before coming back again at the crack of dawn.

The servants who had always worked at the Azm estate readily accepted Rose. Being mistaken for the new maid at first seemed to have worked in her favor. Not to mention the trust they placed in the fact that Harij had chosen her, and that she had a friendly, established relationship with Safina.

People tend to judge a person based on how the people they trust see them. So Rose was a tad baffled by their familial treatment of her, considering that people in the past had always viewed her negatively because she lacked their trust.

“Ah! Witc—milady!”

But Mona was different. She was visibly frightened every time she saw Rose. She didn’t have the same confidence in Harij that the other servants did yet. Though she never looked at Rose with contempt or harassed her, it still hurt to see the girl’s face turn paler than the sheets whenever they crossed paths.

“…Good morning. Do you need any assistance?” Mona asked Rose in a trembling voice as she fought back her fear. Asking someone this terrified to button her collar would surely be cruel.

“No.”

“Then I will tidy up your room in your absence.”

“Please do.”

Rose was used to not mingling with others. After she lightly bowed her head, Mona quickly took her leave.

“Is it always like that between you?” a voice suddenly asked behind her as she was staring at Mona’s departing back.

Startled, Rose jumped about one apple’s height off the ground within her robe, which caused her to land back on its hem and nearly fall over if not for the arm that caught her by the waist from behind.

“Hey! Don’t play around—it’s dangerous.”

I’m not playing around, thank you very much. Rose looked over her shoulder at the speaker and found Harij there, as she suspected.

The strength went right out of her knees as if she were ascending into the heavens. She left everything to gravity and Harij and let her eyelids fall shut.

Some time had passed since she began staying at the Azm estate, but this was the first time she had seen Harij dressed so casually. She didn’t think she could ever open her eyes again, but his appearance was already burned into her mind, blissfully torturing her with its brilliance even with her eyes closed.

Tousled bangs. Sleepy eyes. A freshly shaved chin. His exposed neckline—the sight was far too stimulating for Rose. To make matters worse, by closing her eyes, her other senses became more sensitive. She could smell his aftershave and acutely feel his arm around her.

Rose carefully crossed her arms over her chest, paying extra care to make sure her lips didn’t break into a smile.

“…What game are you playing now?”

“I was just reveling in the thought that ‘this must be how a devout believer feels when they finally meet their god…’”

“I see.”

That was an awfully taciturn reply coming from him—he probably didn’t understand what she meant. How could he? As long as Harij was unable to view himself objectively, he would never be capable of sharing in the bliss Rose felt around him.

Still, I wish someone would have told me sooner that Harij would be home today.

Harij’s already irregular working hours became even more irregular when he was working a case. To that end, no one could ever predict when he would be home.

If only she had known ahead of time, she would have gotten out of bed sooner and picked out the dress faster. Why, she would’ve even woken up earlier! Grrrr! Rose scrunched up her nose at this loss.

She slipped out of Harij’s hold and nestled against the wall. She wanted to cling forever to that flat, inorganic surface without irregularities to restore her peace of mind.

Ticktock, ticktock.

The magnificent grandfather clock in the hallway ticked away the time.

“…Had your fill yet?” Harij delicately asked the witch who was becoming one with the wall.

“Yes. What did you need again?”

“You really don’t care in the slightest about me, do you?”

How could I not care about you?! If only I didn’t—it would’ve been that much better. Rose eyed Harij with disbelief over his idle complaint. He appeared to be completely in the dark about her feelings for him despite the thunderous drumming of her heart.

“I was asking if she always acts like that around you.”

“You phrase it as if her behavior is wrong, but I believe she is devoted to her work simply because she didn’t flee the moment she found out I’m a witch…”

Tala and the other servants were the strange ones for openly accepting Rose as the lady of the house.

The nicer Tala and the others were to her, the more nervous and emotionally tired she became. For Rose, who had never been this deeply involved with humans for this long, it was extremely tiring to interact with others while carefully choosing her every word to make sure they never discovered she couldn’t tell a lie.

“I’ll speak to her.”

“You needn’t make such a big deal out of such a small thing.”

“Nothing is too small when it comes to you.”

Rose didn’t really grasp the issue, but she could tell he was showing a lot of love and concern for her. She tightly drew her eyebrows together and squeezed out her voice through downturned lips.

“Just…please don’t be too harsh. Go easy on her.”

“I will.”

Rose wasn’t an expert on how households like this ran, but she knew a thing or two about servants. Only a handful of eccentric nobles ever visited the Witch’s hermitage themselves. Most of the time, their less important servants acted as the representatives in their requests for the witches’ secret potions. They were so low in the hierarchy that they were instantly expelled the moment they failed to gain their lord or lady’s trust. The fact that her own judgment and casual opinion could affect another’s life was too heavy of a burden for Rose—especially when it was a good person’s life.

Relieved, she let all the tension out of her body—and felt her dress slip right off her shoulders under her robe as she did. It was common for her to experience wardrobe malfunctions when she was mostly skin and bones and had sloped shoulders.

She stuck her hand inside her robe and yanked her dress back up. But the unbuttoned back collar flapped loose again and slid right back down.

“What are you doing?” Harij eyed Rose suspiciously as she fidgeted around under her robe.

“Uh, nothing really, just…”

Both the dress and the room were provided for her by Harij. If she changed the topic to avoid mentioning the buttons, he might take it as her being dissatisfied with him.

“Haha…” Rose ended up letting out a dry laugh. She was perplexed by how distressing it was to be cared for by someone. If she kept living only thinking about herself, she could have easily changed the topic without telling a lie, but it was becoming more difficult to interact with others as she grew attached to them.

However, the funny thing was that she actually didn’t mind it—despite how troublesome it was.

Not believing it was nothing for a single second, Harij cocked an eyebrow at her. “What is it?”

“Ah, um…it’s the buttons…”

Harij scrutinized Rose when she glanced away from him. “…Don’t tell me they are unhooked?”

“Mm-hm…”

Hearing her hushed reply, Harij grabbed her by the arm. In no way could it be called a gentlemanly escort, but Rose followed him without question. She had the strong inclination that she mustn’t oppose him right now.

Harij opened a door and swept inside. By all appearances, he had brought her into a linen closet.

Rose’s room had been right in front of them, so it would’ve been the closest and best option to avoid prying eyes. So why did he pick this spot? She returned her gaze to Harij to casually ask him about it and noticed he was sullenly glaring down at her. She promptly bit her tongue. Silence is golden.

“Your robe…”

“Pardon?” She asked for clarification because she had been too lost in thought to understand him. This prompted Harij to scrunch up his face as if he had been punched in the gut while he wrenched out the rest of his sentence.

“…Remove your robe.”

Rose deeply regretted making him fill in the blanks for her.

There was nothing lewd about it. After all, he wasn’t trying to make her strip but help her dress. No question about it.

Nevertheless, Rose froze from head to toe at his order. Not even a single hair on her body moved.

She jerkily turned her back to him, then slowly lowered the robe over her shoulders. Though she wasn’t exposing all of her back, he definitely saw some skin. Just how many buttons had she managed to hook anyway? Was she somewhat covered? Or was she revealing more than was decent? The more aware she became of his gaze, the more her skin burned.

Harij slowly reached out and gingerly touched the buttons.

POP!

She heard a button come undone, and the dress loosened. What the heck? This isn’t what we agreed on! She panicked but didn’t utter a word of complaint out loud. With her eyes wide and lips pressed together, all she could do was concentrate on each and every touch of his hands.

Harij grabbed the sides of her dress. Whether or not he knew of Rose’s inner turmoil, his every move was deliberate. His touch was more delicate than if he were peeling overripe peaches.

She sensed the buttons being hooked as he raised the sides of her dress together. He must have undone the other button because Rose had it in the wrong hole.

Only the sound of their breathing and rustling clothes could be heard in the linen closet at dawn. Somehow, it felt as if the very air in the room had grown thinner. The more conscious she became of his hands and breathing, the harder it was for her to breathe.

Harij’s hands stopped moving after he finished hooking the buttons on her collar.

Is it over? Her mouth was too dry to ask. She couldn’t speak, nor could she move, because she was too afraid she would brush against Harij’s fingertips. So she stayed that way for a good few seconds.

“…I’m done.”

Less time passed than Rose had thought. It lasted ten to fifteen seconds at most, and it still left her drained. What in the world was he looking at? She decided to convince herself he was just confirming all her buttons were properly in place.

“Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Truth be told, she wasn’t inconvenienced by it, but she was fine if fixing her clothes put Harij’s mind at ease. Indeed, the matter was of little concern to her now, so she just wanted to leave the closet—at once. It felt as if something invisible was trapped in the room with them. Her cheek felt like fire against the back of her hand, which likely meant she was red up to the back of her neck. Embarrassed, she lowered her head.

Harij was the one who said he was done, and yet he didn’t move an inch. He was standing in the way of the door, so Rose needed him to move to leave. But she had to summon the courage to ask that of him. She didn’t know what it was, but something in the air completely overwhelmed her.

Time passed without her being able to so much as fidget. She felt so suffocated by the oppressive air, she couldn’t even look over her shoulder.

“…Um, are you…angry?” Rose asked after mustering all her courage.

“No. Not in the slightest,” Harij answered.

“You aren’t? But…” Rose tilted her head, confused.

Harij’s voice is certainly not angry—but what’s with his tone? What’s with the entire atmosphere?

Harij must have sensed her confusion—he stirred behind her.

“I’m…”

“…Ah!”

Of all the things, Harij slid his fingers into the opening of her collar and stroked her nape. Gooseflesh appeared all along her skin, sending delicious shivers throughout her body, and her knees went weak while his fingers traced the contours of her neck.

“…holding myself back from doing stuff like this. Get it?”

“Uh-huh.”

Rose covered the back of her neck with both hands as she sank weakly to the ground. That moment of unmoving silence earlier had been from Harij staring down her cherry-red neck.

In retrospect, Harij’s fingertips never brushed against her skin—not even once—when he was hooking her buttons. She had never toyed with a person’s buttons before, but clearly they should never be touched without extreme caution.

“I’ll head to the dining room first,” Harij said, leaving the linen closet.

Rose had no reason to go to the dining room when she didn’t eat breakfast, but her feet still carried her there once she regained her calm.

Harij was nowhere to be found when she arrived. Puzzled, she looked for him in the kitchen.

Tala noticed her as she hummed and flipped food in a frying pan. “Oh, hello there. Do you need something, milady? Would you like to have breakfast?”

“No.”

Rose, who could only tell the truth, chose to keep her conversations with anyone other than Harij to a bare minimum. The servants took her behavior to mean she was shy.

“Why not have a cup of tea since you came all this way, then?”

“That sounds lovely, thank you.”

Tala smiled when Rose bowed her head, and she set about preparing the tea. She was a woman with a good head on her shoulders and an uncompromising attitude toward work, but unlike Rose’s grandmother, she had no problem showing kindness as well.

She pulled over a chair for Rose since she was standing there with nothing better to do.

“Would you like milk? We just got a fresh batch in today.”

“Yes, please.”

“A lot? Or a little?”

“Just a little.”

“You’ve got it.”

After Rose sat down, Tala placed the teapot on the table with a clink and then added a tea cozy on top of it. The quilted covering, with its many florid layers of fabric, may have been made by her.

An hourglass was placed next to it, and Tala returned to the stove. Rose rested her cheek against the table as she waited for the sand to finish falling. The smell of fried eggs, rushing footsteps, and the clanking of tableware were all new yet nostalgic things to Rose that tickled her pink. She discovered she had a soft spot for them, though her expression didn’t show it.

“Here you are. I was looking for you,” Harij said to Rose when he finally arrived to find her sipping dark black tea with just a splash of milk.

“Oh, you were waiting for His Lordship? What a delight it is to see you two on such good terms.”

Tala laid out Harij’s breakfast on the dining table. Rose’s teapot was also whisked away to the dining room without her permission. Aww. Rose was staring longingly after the teapot when Harij offered her his hand.

He wants me to take his hand. I know that much. I do, but…

“How long will you make me wait?”

“Sorry…”

Rose timidly placed her fingertips on his palm. He enveloped her fluttering fingers securely in his hand. He then expertly guided her out of the kitchen chair and began walking without so much as blushing. Rose was the only one who felt so embarrassed she wanted to flee. Who wouldn’t be when they were escorted just a few steps from one room into the other?

“Did you get lost in your own house?” Rose jested to escape her discomfiture as Harij pulled out a dining chair and eased her into it. Then again, she couldn’t be so sure he wouldn’t get lost, given how big the mansion was.

However, she received a firm “No” from him as he took his own seat at the table. “I was cooling off.”

“If you say so.” She tilted her head, contemplating the hidden meaning of his words as she took a sip of her tea. As soon as it clicked for her, she nearly spit out her drink. She pressed her lips shut and desperately swallowed the liquid—then immediately began gagging on it.

“Are you okay?”

She bobbed her head between coughs. Though she doubted she was really okay.

∴ ∵ ∴

ROSE was excited. She had a little hop to her step and a restlessness to her when she boarded the carriage, and it piqued the curiosity of the footman who always came to pick her up at the edge of the forest.

The carriage returned to the Azm estate while she was caressing a jar like a precious baby in her arms.

Illuminated by the sunset, Rose headed straight for the chicken coop rather than the foyer. She approached the enclosure with feather-light steps. The chickens clucked and gathered at the wire mesh as if celebrating an emotional reunion.

“Have you all been good?” she asked them.

“About as good as can be.”

Rose was startled by the impossible reply that came just as she had uncorked the jar and was about to pour out the contents. She quickly turned around, hiding the jar behind her as she did.

Before her stood the lord of the estate—Harij.

The hem of his work clothes was caked with soil, which told her he had only just returned home. Looking around, Rose spotted the stable boy leading his horse to the stables.

“Welcome home.”

For some reason, whenever she said this to him, an unnatural silence fell between them. After opening and closing his mouth like a deer eating something foreign, he stiffly returned her greeting. “I just came back.” Then he moved on to another topic. “By the way, what had you rush over here in such a hurry?”

Apparently, he had been watching her since she disembarked from the carriage. Her hand tightened around the jar behind her back.

“Nothing that concerns you, Sir Harij.”

“Then, what are you currently hiding?”

If someone else were to witness the same scene, they might come to the conclusion that the Witch was about to cast a suspicious spell on the chickens. However, Harij’s tone made it clear that he found the entire thing amusing.

“Can we…keep it a secret?”

“Too bad. Everything that happens on these grounds will reach my ears… Besides, who are you trying to keep it a secret from, if not me?”

Grandma…also known as Ms. Tala.

Giving in to the inevitable, Rose presented him with the hidden jar. Within the transparent glass, the things she had painstakingly gathered wiggled.

She opened the lid per his orders. The moment he saw what was writhing around inside it, his handsome face twisted, and his cheeks twitched. Even that expression was sexy to Rose.

“…Those are…”

“Earthworms,” Rose responded morosely.

Several of the livelier earthworms were trying to crawl up the side of the jar, so she flicked them back inside. Returned to the bottom, they rejoined the others squirming around. The mass of worms she had collected tangled together, creating a writhing vortex where it was impossible to tell what head and tail belonged to which worm.

“They all came from the forest. I didn’t take any from the field, and all of them are too injured to use for potions—”

“…Okay. I get it. Don’t explain anymore. I don’t even know where to begin with you.” Harij covered his mouth with his hand and slowly withdrew from her.

“…Do you hate worms?”

“I wouldn’t willingly stare at them,” he flatly declared in a rush of words. Armed with something he disliked, Rose stepped toward him.

Harij took a step back. Rose took another step forward in pursuit. He retreated yet again.

“Th-This is surprisingly fun…”

Rose was enjoying herself so much she couldn’t help expressing it. It was sheer bliss being the one to corner him for once when it was usually the reverse. But her joy didn’t necessarily translate into his.

“In other words,” Harij said forcefully to stop Rose from inching closer, “you were trying to feed them to the chickens?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you want to keep that a secret from Tala?”

Miffed that he’d suddenly turned the tables on her, Rose pursed her lips as she caught the worms attempting to make a break from the jar again.

“I know Ms. Tala feeds them in the morning, so…I thought she might be angry if I give them treats…”

Everyone has different policies regarding livestock and pets, but when Rose had chickens, her grandmother never approved of her feeding them treats. Rumor had it that grandparents were sweet to their grandchildren and loved to secretly give them snacks behind their parents’ backs. She had no recollection of ever receiving such a thing from her grandmother, but behold, Rose found herself in a similar predicament right now. Or at least that’s how she viewed it.

Then again, back then, she did gather the earthworms from their garden. Her grandmother must have been frustrated to lose such a valuable natural ally.

“Really? That’s all this was about?”

She had asked him to hide it from Tala, whom she associated with her grandmother, in the heat of the moment, but seeing Harij’s response made her wonder if she was overreacting.

“…She won’t get angry?”

“Why would she?”

“If she sees me, she won’t think the witch is cackling to herself, saying, ‘I’ll fatten you up to eat later, my pretties!’?”

“What fairy tale did you get that from? If you are that worried about it, I’ll tell her for you. Do what you want.”

“R-Really?!”

Rose beamed at him from underneath her robe. Seeing her joy brought a smile to Harij’s face, but he scowled when his gaze landed on the squirming creepy-crawlies.

“…You probably shouldn’t feed so many to them at once.”

Rose decided to follow his advice. She plucked a few earthworms out with her fingers and fed them to the chickens. Then she scooped some soil from the flower bed into the jar, covered the mouth with a handkerchief Harij handed her, and tied it off with hemp twine.

Air could still pass through the cloth, so they should stay alive for a while.

“…Where are you taking that?”

“To the room you’ve provided me.”

The gardener would use them if she left them by the flower bed.

“…The maids will swoon when they enter your room.”

“I will hide them under the bed, then.”

Rose carefully slid the jar under her robe. Harij stared at her abdomen—to be precise, at the jar hidden there. He looked like he still wanted to argue the point with her, but he headed toward the mansion without another word.

Harij opened the front door—the same heavy door Rose always had to push with all her strength—and he did it singlehandedly. His strong arms made her heart do a little flip.

She walked up the steps to the entrance, fascinated by his strength, and accidentally tripped. She instantly snapped back to her senses but couldn’t catch her balance in time.

“Ouch…”

“Are you okay?!” Harij rushed to her side.

“Yes, I think—”

“Be more careful! What if something more serious happened?!”

She stared at Harij’s dead serious face, thinking he was blowing the whole thing out of proportion. But he didn’t return her gaze. Instead, his eyes were trained on Rose’s abdomen—on the jar packed to the brim with earthworms and soil.

“You have more than yourself to think about right now.”

“I guess so,” she said robotically.

If Rose fell and the jar broke, the gorgeous entrance would be full of squirming worms and dirt. When Harij noticed her staring at him with deadpan eyes, his face turned unusually guilty.

“I went too far. Sorry. Can you stand? Take my hand.”

After being helped to her feet, Rose concealed the jar beneath her robe again and headed for the door.

Harij, who opened the door with one hand again, suddenly stopped moving. Curious, Rose peered inside and found a furious Tala standing there with her hands on her hips, exuding a demonic aura.

Rose shuddered and stifled a cry. She was struck with the urge to beg for forgiveness.

“…Tala, what—”

“Oh, woe is me! How could it have come to this?! This humble servant can never face Lady Azm again!”

“…Huh?” Harij’s voice cracked and his jaw went slack. Tala’s anger seemed to be directed at him, not Rose.

“I misjudged you, Young Master. How…? How could you ever lay your hands on an unmarried young woman?!”

Rose jumped underneath her robe.

“You were raised by parents who provided such a perfect example of a loving marriage, and yet you are trying to trick this fine young lady into being your m-mistress?!”

“I am not, Tala. Calm dow—”

“You expect me to be calm, Young Master?! I have served you since your infancy, but I have not been this disappointed in you since the day you rode off on your father’s horse during a hurricane without permission!”

“I keep telling you to quit calling me young master. Besides, that wasn’t me, but my older brother. I was only serving as the lookout in front of the stable to make sure the stable hands didn’t find out—”

“You have excuses for everything! You never mentioned anything about there being a woman in your life—is this the reason why you suddenly brought her home with you? And here I was feeling all relieved you were finally going to settle down since you suddenly changed into a loving man! Boy, was I wrong! You are such a letdown!”

Tala laid into him hard. From the looks of it, Harij couldn’t stand up to her because things had been like this between them since he was a boy. No one seemed to be brave enough to stop her. Several servants watched the scene unfold from a corner of the hallway, their faces whiter than snow.

“Give me a chance to talk first. I haven’t done a single thing you think I have, Tala.”

“Then why were you sneakily discussing things you want to keep a secret from me near the chicken coop? Hmm?!”

“It’s not what you—”

“And just now, when milady tripped and fell, you shouted that she has more than herself to think about!”

“…Let me finish—”

Harij was overwhelmed by Tala’s relentless onslaught. Not even Rose could get a word in edgewise.

“I have been looking after milady for over a month now! I was worried when she didn’t experience the monthly womanly malaise during that time, but…I never imagined it was because you were already involved in such immoral acts…!”

A variety of complicated coincidences had led to Tala drawing a terribly wild conclusion. Rose couldn’t blame her for the misunderstanding after hearing her reasoning.

“Are you listening to me, Young Master?!”

“I am. Hear me out—”

“Well, well! Men always try to silence women the moment they are put in a precarious position. I will not allow any impropriety!”

Tears filled Tala’s eyes. She could even be heard sniffling. She was probably disappointed thinking Harij had taken advantage of Rose. Harij was further daunted by her accusations.

“I will come clean.” An expressionless yet inwardly flustered Rose thrust her hand outside her robe.

“…Milady? What are you—” Tala gasped when she saw what was in her hand—she must’ve seen the earthworms squirming around inside the soil-filled jar.

“This is what I asked him to keep a secret from you, Ms. Tala. This is also what you misunderstood to be in my belly…”

The worms wriggled around, asserting their existence.

Silence fell over the room. The servants watching from the far corner stared on with what could only be described as disbelief.

“Earth…worms?”

“I wanted to…feed them to the chickens…”

Only then did Tala realize her mistake. Her eyes fluttered open as she exclaimed, “Oh dear! M-My Lord, I truly went too far… I’m so sorry.”

“I kept telling you to listen to me first.”

Harij didn’t seem to mind. He seemed keener on ending the whole conversation as quickly as possible.

“I charged you with such a shameful accusation as well, milady…”

“It’s all right. This is nowhere near as bad as the time I was accused of being a man-eating witch.”

“Oh, you are too silly.” Tala broke into a broad smile. She took Rose’s comment as a joke. Deep lines creased Harij’s brow as he realized some people actually spoke of her that way.

“By the way, I would like to…” Rose thrust the jar of worms toward Tala, inciting her to scream. “…keep this in my room.”

“You may…if His Lordship permits it…,” Tala said hoarsely, her tone suggesting she sincerely hoped Harij would refuse in her place.

Rose looked to Harij. He nodded his approval with a sour look.

Tala breathed a sigh of despair, and the servants watching from the hallway fell to their knees.

∴ ∵ ∴

TAP.

Rose woke up to the sound of a shoe colliding with something hard.

The room was pitch-dark with the lights out. Only moonlight shone through the windows, creating a beautiful piece of art on the floor by framing the rug with a square border.

Her curiosity was piqued by the small sound that would’ve normally never bothered her before, and she rose from bed, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

Her light-pink tresses softly fell away from the soft, silky bedclothes. She placed a hand on the bedside table to help her stand.

The table was a part of the dowry Tien had delivered the other day with three donkeys. Rose didn’t hate seeing the furniture Tien had chosen in the room Harij prepared.

After running her hand gently over the side table, she headed toward the noise.

It came from one of the adjoining rooms connected to hers. She stood in front of the door—the only door that was locked.

It was designed to be unlocked only from her side. She pinched the small lever that acted as the lock between her fingers and gently opened it.

“…?!”

The door opened to Harij. For some reason, he was sitting with his back leaning against the door. He had lost his balance when she pulled open the door and landed on his elbows.

They gaped at each other, as if they had just spotted the dead crawling out of a tomb. He clearly never expected Rose to be awake, much less notice he was there.

“What are you doing here…?”

“Nothing…”

Harij stood up, lost for words. His appearance was in perfect order. He was likely about to leave for work. Rose couldn’t fathom what reason he had to be sitting perfectly still in front of a locked door just before work. He was still searching for a response when he really looked at her, and he promptly returned to his room. He came back with a single quilt and draped it over her shoulders. She was only wearing a thin chemise, after all.

Rose gratefully accepted the quilt, which smelled of soap and Harij.

“Are you always up this late at night?”

Harij answered her question with another question.

This is why nobles are such a hassle, Rose thought, though she answered him anyway.

“No. I just happened to be awake today.”

“I see.”

“Sir Harij… Did you need something from me?”

“No… Just, before going to work, I thought— No, never mind.”

“What is it? It’s unusual for you to be so inarticulate. Do you have a fever?”

“No,” Harij retorted sullenly. Then he began muttering as if a confession were being forced out of him. “…I was just checking to see if you were still inside.”

“…You can see through walls?”

“I can’t. I can just sort of sense when a person is in a room.”

Rose had never tried that before. She was both impressed by his skill and exasperated by his answer.

“Why wouldn’t I be inside?”

“No, I knew you would be, but…”

He was being evasive again. Or perhaps this was him being embarrassed about needing to anxiously check on her despite knowing she would be there.

“For that matter, I am taking refuge here because we decided my hermitage is too dangerous at night. Where else would I be, but here?”

Rose had nowhere else to go. Shock froze Harij’s face as if that fact had only just now occurred to him.

“…That’s true, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.”

Harij’s expression grew pensive as he seemed to be contemplating things. Even his scrunched-up face was beautiful. Rose never grew tired of basking in the brilliance of his features, but she found something that interested her even more than him for once.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Rose stretched her neck to peek inside the room concealed behind him.

She discovered for the first time that the locked door actually connected to Harij’s bedroom. The other space was just as dark as hers, but she tried to see as much as she could anyway.

Noticing her interest and neck stretched out like a turtle’s, Harij quietly asked “…Want to come in?” after several beats of silence.

She nearly answered “Absolutely” without a second’s thought until she looked up at his face.

He was gazing down at her with eyes quieter than the nighttime lake in the dead of winter. Her curiosity was immediately dispelled. Fear came in its place.

She had this gut feeling that the moment she accepted his invitation, everything about their relationship would change. Rose may not have understood what his invitation entailed, but her instincts filled her with dread.

The tension between them instantly melted away. The corner of Harij’s lip quirked up.

He placed his hand on top of her tousled hair and ruffled it.

“I’m glad I got to see you, even if briefly. You can go back to sleep,” he said before disappearing into the darkness beyond the unlocked door.

Rose realized he had granted her mercy that night but was clueless about what it was. All she could do was stare endlessly at his door while being draped in the quilt that smelled of him.