CH 12

It was only when they came to the side of a large road that Rosalie stopped her quick strides.

“That was a very tactful response, Duchess.”

“It seems so.”

“But how did you know that I didn’t want to reveal my identity?”

Rosalie glanced at Derivis, who was smiling. It was a smile that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking, but Rosalie didn’t care and pretended not to know.

“It was a hunch. I’m glad to see that it helped you.”

Her lifeless words made Derivis’s eyes sparkle with interest.

“Your dagger skills are also fascinating.”

Due to the situation, she ended up demonstrating her dagger skills without hesitation. She didn’t feel the need to keep it a secret, but she didn’t bother explaining either and just turned her attention to passing carriages.

“I think I’ll head back for now. I don’t think I’ll be able to see much more of the capital in this state.”

“But you look great, though?”

“…My clothes are now covered in blood.”

Rosalie said, looking at her soiled cape, and Derivis pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her. 

“It’s okay. I’ll go back.”

“But I listened to your request.”

Rosalie tilted her head at Derivis’s sudden remark, then remembered what he had said to her at the training ground.

“I don’t usually listen to requests, Duchess.”

As Rosalie made a thoughtful face, Derivis smiled.

“Take it and wipe it.”

Derivis turned to face Rosalie and touched her cheek with his index finger. Apparently, he wanted her to wipe the blood off his cheek with his handkerchief.

Reluctantly, Rosalie wiped her cheek with his white handkerchief.

“Then I’ll use it gratefully, Your Highness.”

“You can call me by my name.”

When Rosalie gave him a puzzled look at his unexpected request, he shrugged.

“If you call me by my title, it feels distant. We defeated the villains together.”

“How dare I call Your Highness’ name so casually? I respectfully decline.”

Although her words and gestures were polite, that was all. He felt that she found him bothersome and he shook his head as if he found it amusing. Then, he called over an empty carriage that was slowly coming by.

“Get in.”

“I’m okay, you can get on first.”

“I still have some things to do.”

Rosalie, who had no choice, climbed in, and he gently closed the carriage door behind her. He stood and stared until her carriage was out of sight, then turned.

When he was captured earlier, he roughly overheard the whereabouts of the rebels’ hideout. Since the Imperial guards would not easily find it, he planned to finish things off for good.

⊱⊱⊱────── {.⋅ ✧✧✧ ⋅.} ──────⊰⊰⊰

When Rosalie arrived at the mansion, Martin, Whitney, and Emma freaked out when they saw the red stains on her clothes. They demanded to know if she was hurt, and she tried to calm them down by saying she was fine.

Toronto, who had been watching the scene, chuckled.

“That’s not the Duchess’ blood, is it? See, that’s what happens when you mess with her.”

At Toronto’s words, which seemed unconcerned and only amused, Whitney gave him a nasty look.

“Duchess! How did you fight? Well, I can only imagine. Hehe.”

Rosalie, eyebrows twitching at Toronto’s snarky attitude, said as she took off her cape.

“Well, we’ll see tomorrow during training. Look forward to the morning training, Toronto.”

“….Y-Your Grace…?” 

Ignoring Toronto’s call, Rosalie went upstairs to her room. Afterward, Toronto slapped his own mouth like crazy while Whitney laughed with delight. 

“Hey… am I the only one training? You should train too, d*mn it.”

Whitney, who had been snickering, turned pale and grabbed Toronto by the collar, swearing like crazy.

The next morning, as Rosalie had warned, hellish training took place. Whitney was determined to give Toronto a good beating, but Toronto crawled out of the training grounds. Barely able to catch his breath, Whitney turned to Rosalie and asked.

“Your Grace, aren’t you tired?”

“I am.”

Whitney shook his head as Rosalie wiped the sweat from her face and replied nonchalantly. Her breathing was a little ragged, but she didn’t seem to be struggling. In fact, it was peaceful compared to Toronto, which was crawling across the training grounds.

“No, if you’re struggling, how come you don’t show it?”

“It’s mental strength, mental strength.”

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Rosalie headed up to her room, leaving the two of them behind, both of them looking exhausted.

After taking a bath and having a simple lunch, Rosalie was reviewing documents when Emma, who was next to her, whispered.

“Lady Bella always does expensive facials before going to social events… I think she went to a skincare shop yesterday and today too…”

Rosalie looked up from her paperwork at the whisper.

“I’m busy, I don’t have time for that.”

Emma looked crestfallen at Rosalie’s firm reply. Soon, there was a knock on the door, and when Rosalie gave permission, Martin cautiously opened it.

“Your Grace… A guest has arrived…”

His hesitant demeanor puzzled Rosalie and she instructed him to lead the way. Martin led the way to the foyer of the mansion, where Derivis was waiting.

“Hello, Duchess.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to play with the Duchess. You didn’t seem to have any plans.”

“How did you know that I had no plans?”

Derivis pointed to Martin with his chin. When Rosalie saw Martin’s pale complexion, she couldn’t help but imagine how much Derivis had been harassing him.

“Am I bothering you?”

When Rosalie could not easily answer Derivis’s question, he nodded as if to tell him, and Rosalie answered immediately.

“A little bit.”

Derivis chuckled in amusement at Rosalie’s subsequent response.

‘He’s even crazier today…’

Watching him smile as if he were enjoying himself, Rosalie bit her tongue inwardly. The maids who had been watching the scene blushed and bowed their heads, wondering what was so interesting.

“Oh my, did His Highness the Crown Prince really come to see the Duchess?”

“He came all the way to the mansion, it’s for sure.”

Rosalie heard the maidservants whispering and giggling and gave them a slight frown. Martin, who noticed Rosalie’s discomfort, scolded the chattering maids and sent them away.

“You didn’t seem to enjoy the capital city properly yesterday, but I know how to enjoy the capital city better than anyone else.”

Rosalie’s eyes flickered ever so slightly at the confident statement. Her tour of the capital yesterday had certainly been quite interesting and entertaining.

“Play with me, Duchess.”

‘Is playing really that fun…? Come to think of it.’ 

As he continued to persuade Rosalie to play, she remembered her young cousin’s favorite blue penguin in glasses that he loved to watch, before she entered the novel.

‘I can’t seem to remember the name…’

Although she couldn’t remember because she hadn’t looked closely, she remembered that the penguin seemed to like to play a lot, too.

“If you don’t have fun playing today, I won’t ask you to play anymore.”

Finally, Rosalie instructed Emma to get her coat. Derivis dropped all his escorts and headed to the capital town with Rosalie. 

It was the social season, and the capital was generally lively. As they walked down the street, Derivis caught sight of a crowded street vendor.

“This looks like fun.”

The street vendor that Derivis was interested in was offering a picture guessing game. The street vendor, who looked at Derivis and noticed that he was wearing expensive clothes, spoke in a low voice.

“Oh~ come join in! If you pay one silver and guess the same picture, you win double, two silvers.”

At the street vendor’s words, Rosalie glanced beside him.

The basket on display was filled with gold and silver coins, inviting the viewer to take a chance, but Rosalie could tell it was a scam by the vendor’s unnatural movements and puffed-up sleeves.

“It’s probably best not to do it.”

Despite Rosalie’s objections, Derivis handed over five gold coins. Rosalie touched her head with a small sigh.

The merchant swallowed his saliva at the gold coins and began flipping and shuffling the picture cards.

“Difficulty levels are high, medium, and low. Which one do you want?”

“I’ll choose high, for the prize.”

Upon hearing Derivis’ answer, the street vendor quickly began shuffling the cards. Then, he spread out the cards and pretended to quickly flip over the ones with pictures on them.

“Pick one!”

The street vendor laughed slyly. Derivis looked at Rosalie, who was standing next to him.

“Do you want to make a bet with me?”

“You mean guessing which picture it is?”

“Yeah. We can make a wish as the bet, like whoever wins can wish for the other person to stop bothering them.”

Rosalie snorted at Derivis’s suggestion.

“Fine. But I’ll flip the cards myself instead of the street vendor.”

Rosalie glanced at the street vendor’s sleeve as she spoke, and Derivis nodded as if he had already caught on. The street vendor tried to protest, but he quieted down when he saw the bag of coins Derivis was holding out.

‘No one has ever succeeded at this level anyway.’

The street vendor had planned to take a large sum of money from Derivis, so he didn’t show the pictures properly. He was confident that they wouldn’t succeed even if he didn’t intervene.

“Let’s begin.”

At his signal, the game began. As the game progressed, the street vendor’s face began to turn pale. Rosalie and Derivis were matching the pictures accurately and without error with a monstrous speed that the vendor had never seen before.

“How…!”

The game ended in an instant with the street vendor’s scream. Derivis began to count the cards with a joyful expression.

“5, 6… I won.”

Rosalie counted the cards again in disbelief. But even after counting again, it was clear that she had lost.

Along with the defeat that Rosalie experienced for the first time, her competitive spirit was ignited. She was determined to win against Derivis today.

“I’ll tell you my wish later.”

Derivis turned and began to walk away. The street vendor was relieved that he wasn’t taking his winnings, but Rosalie’s firm voice made him pale again.

“Give me the money.”

Eventually, after collecting all the money in the basket, Rosalie came to Derivis’s side.

“Did you take all the money?”

“I’m not charitable enough to give sympathy to a swindler.”

Rosalie answered flatly. An ordinary noble wouldn’t even bother to look at such a small amount, but the sight of Rosalie clutching the bag of money so tightly made Derivis smile.

“You’re really funny.”