"See you tomorrow. Goodnight and may you have sweet dreams, Albert."
Feeling her breath up close and hearing her words, Herbert couldn't help but feel the chill crawl up to his spine. Just as he was about to stop her, she slammed the door shut before scurrying away back to her room.
Herbert panicked. Things weren't supposed to go the way that they did. He had once belittled Ingrid for being stupid enough to even come in without a plan but it turned out that she did and he was the foolish one all along.
"Did I just mishear that? No, she clearly called me Albert. She shouldn't have made the mistake of calling me Albert when she had already been calling me Herbert all this time. She wasn't supposed to know that in the original story. Just what the hell happened to her before she had regressed?"
As he kept on mumbling to himself, Herbert soon reached the bed. He understood that he wouldn't be getting anything clear by just thinking about it so he decided to temporarily set it aside for now. Although his body wasn't tired, he had been using his mind the whole time. It didn't take long for him to eventually fall asleep with a frown on his face.
The next morning, Herbert was still dressed in the same clothes that he had fallen asleep with last night. As he woke up, the first thing that he thought of was Ingrid. After a good night's rest, he now had a clear mind that formulated many questions.
By going through with the premise that she knew his real name, he thought of two possible scenarios. The first was that this wasn't her first-time experiencing regression and this means that she must have lied when she answered Herbert's second question. The second scenario was that this was the first regression but she had a history with Albert in the first timeline which wasn't mentioned in the book. Herbert was inclined to think more in the direction of the second scenario as he searched the memories that originally belonged to him in this world.
While Herbert was thinking so, he heard a knock on the door coming from a maid telling him about the breakfast being ready. As he started to groom himself, he soon made his way downstairs to enter the dining hall.
As he was walking, he eventually reached the door to Ingrid's room. In an almost unbelievable turn of coincidences, Ingrid also happened to be leaving her room. She looked pleasantly surprised.
"Good morning Sir Herbert."
Ingrid smiled and accompanied him to eat breakfast. On their way there, the both of them saw Helene who had puffy eyes sitting together with the rest of the Rozenbloods. Cloven who was silently eating narrowed his eyes when he saw Herbert hand in hand with Ingrid. It was exactly as his daughter had said. He inwardly scoffed at Herbert's actions, he finally understood why he had come here. Although he wasn't particularly outstanding, there was a reason that he had been able to securely grab the position of Duke when Ingrid's parents died. Originally, he would have long planned to remove Ingrid as whoever married her would pose a threat to the succession of his son. However, he would often postpone this decision due to the guilt that he felt, but it was also because of this that Helene often felt jealous of Ingrid.
He wouldn't have minded it if it were anybody else that tried to woo Ingrid away, that would instead have even lifted a burden off his chest. As far as he was concerned, anyone would be fine except for someone from the Ravenmoons. The Ravenmooons are a threat, while it may look great that the two powerful families could gain an alliance through a political marriage, it wouldn't be so if the other side is overwhelmingly stronger.
As the head of the family, he was also in the know about the current trend of the Lionstone Kingdom. The current peace and stability are just the calm before the storm, many nobles had already started heavy militarization. If even his Duchy was one of those that had long been prepared for war, who's to say that the Ravenmoons aren't prepared for more when they are currently at their peak?
The Rozenblood family and Herbert continued their light meal despite the odd and awkward atmosphere. Once they have finished, Cloven cleared his throat and looked at Herbert with a fierce glint in his eyes.
"I don't want to hinder your travel back to Umbra any longer, are you already prepared to leave this afternoon, Herbert?"
"Please, you aren't a hinder at all."
Herbert smiled back at him, his smile was dazzling and made Helene's face hot. Although she still had puffy eyes, she had made the effort to cover them up with some powdered cosmetics. Seeing how her father had finally started to take action, she inwardly cursed at Ingrid for even having the gall to be stealing Herbert away from her.
"If there aren't any problems then I would be sending an escort group to fetch you this afternoon."
After saying that, Cloven wiped his mouth. Since Herbert didn't say anything about him leaving, he had decided to push the matter through on his own. Otherwise, the wolf that he had invited into his own house would certainly wreak havoc.
"Thank you for your kind consideration. My stay here had been quite pleasant, you and your family have been so accommodating and hospitable, it's to the point where I am considering to even ask to stay for a little while longer."
At this point in time, Herbert no longer had any major objectives that he had to accomplish by staying with the Rozenblood family. Overall, he understood that he had no issues with leaving, but he also understood the concept of not following the flow of the enemy.
Cloven felt irritated, no wonder the nobles from the capital had also found Herbert to be quite troublesome, it turns out that he was this annoying. Although he was already feeling anger towards Herbert, he still had a couple of tricks up his sleeve.
"Is that so? I've heard that you have spent quite an amount of time with my daughter last night. Have you been smitten by her beauty? I wonder if you intend to take her as your wife?"
After hearing Cloven mention this, Helene had her eyes glisten as she glanced at Herbert's eyes. She knew that it was her chance once again. So, she sat straight and smiled gracefully and even winked at Herbert.
Herbert wanted to laugh at his behavior. Cloven did not intend for Ingrid to stay with Herbert but he didn't mind it if Helene married him. However, with great self-control, he managed to erk out a reply, but before he could even do so he was surprised to see Ingrid that had decided to sit herself on his lap. He was once again speechless, how shameless could she get?
"Thank you for your blessings, uncle. Although we had only met for a short amount of time, we just seem to understand each other as if we knew each other from long ago. I never thought that Sir Herbert would also take a liking to little old me."
After saying so, she pecked him on the cheek before giggling in his arms. As she kept her head close to Herbert's chest, she hid her smile that was blooming. Her face was red with excitement as she had once again made not only her cousin frown but also had the rest of her family's faces turn dark. She couldn't believe that she would get the chance to do so, first thing in the morning.
Although Herbert wanted to push her off, he knew that he still had to play the part. So, with a smile, he placed one of his arms around Ingrid's waist before returning Ingrid's kiss on her forehead. His reaction was smooth and seamless as if it was the most natural thing to do.
"The hospitality of the Rozenbloods is indeed top-notch."
Their shameless actions had silenced the room. Nobody else could hear anything except for Cloven's heavy breathing.
"I see, unfortunately, the two of you would once again be separated this afternoon. Also, I didn't think that Ingrid would get easily intoxicated. Helene, why don't you help your sister upstairs? Lock her up until she gets a little sober."
The upset Helene followed her father's words and helped Ingrid, who didn't resist, to her room. When the two of them left, Herbert carried on the conversation with Cloven as if nothing ever happened. Eventually, he also excused himself before leaving. When he reached his room, he instantly removed his clothes. Unfortunately, Ingrid's smell still attached itself to his body, so with a sigh, he decided to take a full bath to thoroughly clean himself.
On the other hand, Ingrid was also currently feeling as aggrieved as Herbert. Once she had reached her room, Helene had given her a slap in the face. She still felt her left cheek burning. The joy that she had felt earlier had almost disappeared.
"Oh, dear Ingrid, I hope that sobered you up. You shouldn't go drinking so much in the morning."