Truthfully, it wouldn't have been easy for a commoner's letter to pass through the walls of a Duke's estate.
Well in the first place, no one would think that it's believable that the correspondent was a noble, too.
However, Damian didn't seem to have any plans of pointing out the discrepancies here.
This was also a result of the 'forced trust' he had brainwashed himself with.
'I won't doubt Rosetta. That's why Rosetta's words do not hold any lies.'
So it was the same as forced trust.
Either way, this was something good for Rosetta.
'How did you exchange letters?' —If she were to be asked a question like this, she had prepared answers in advance, but the more excuses she made, the more suspicion would be thrown at her.
So it was much better not to be doubted from the very start.
"It was like that. And the incident with Katie made me miss him for no reason. He's the only one who lifted me up, the only one who comforted me from loneliness. Actually, that's why I went out. Maxwell… No, my friend. I wanted to see him. I'm just so very exhausted."
The voice eventually trailed off, followed soon by silence. When she glanced at Damian, whose expression was very dark, he was looking at Rosetta.
He stared at her for a long time, then he swept his face with a large hand. After which, he opened his lips and spoke with great difficulty.
"…But Rosetta. That's not enough justification for making someone your escort knight. Our family is a family of knights. There are many people who belong to the chivalric order of our family. And more than that, being an escort knight is an even more honorable position. It's not something that could be granted just because he's your childhood friend."
Lying beneath his calm tone was a hint of distress.
As though it was painful for him just saying this.
Rosetta stayed silent and didn't speak, but she slowly reached for her teacup as she looked up at him.
The tea inside the cup rippled along with her trembling hands.
"…I know. I'm asking for too much. He's already here, but there are restrictions. Even so…"
Damian quietly listened to Rosetta's words.
"It's been thirteen years. Thirteen. Our nanny held Alicia and I by our throats at that time. In all those years, did anyone ever tell you about it, Brother?"
There was no answer.
There was nothing to answer. No one ever told him the truth.
Among the servants in the detached building, those who worked near me and Alicia were all in the same league as Marie.
They stuck to Katie's side, satisfied with the crumbs coming their way.
'Come to think of it, I haven't seen Marie.'
She wondered for a moment, but it ended there. Marie wasn't important right now.
Clearing her dry throat for a moment, she opened her lips to speak again.
"It's so suffocating. It really feels like I was being strangled. The fact that people hide their terrible innermost thoughts with smiling faces… it makes me feel sick and nauseous."
Her tone was a cross between anger and sadness.
No, it only sounded like that. Rosetta paused for a moment as she took in a short breath.
"Compared to them, Maxwell saved me without any hesitation. He threw himself for a childhood friend who he only exchanged letters with a few times. When I saw this, to be honest… I was happy. I was happy to know that there's someone who could do something like that for me. In a world where I don't know who I should trust, it finally felt like there was someone I can rely on here by my side."
She placed her hands on the table.
As her trembling fingertips touched the teacup, the small clatter permeated the air.
Damian tightened his lips together, but he still wouldn't reply.
"Since he earned some money from mercenary work, I thought that he wouldn't be so bad with a sword. That's why…"
"Rosetta."
"…Maxwell is a genuine friend. He makes me feel like I can breathe. Brother, please… You said you'd grant me a favor. This is my only wish."
As her plea grew longer, Damian bit his lower lip strongly.
From this point on—the moment he considered this forced trust, the moment of strife, it could be said that it's in the bag.
'Bringing in a commoner friend for a ducal princess of ambiguous parentage?'
Truthfully, it wasn't something that could be easily pulled off.
Rather than just his appointment as a knight, there were more things that should be given attention to, such as other people's opinions and the inevitable complaints and contempt of the other knights.
It would have been easier to keep him in the mansion as a 'servant' or an 'attendant'.
Right now, if Rosetta's request to make him an 'escort knight' was to be approved, then it would be a cause for celebration in her case.
Even so, despite being aware of the facts, Rosetta had to make him an escort knight.
Regardless of what would happen, it wouldn't raise eyebrows if they were seen together, and communication even within the mansion was possible for them.
This was the only position that would make sense for other people's eyes.
In addition, if a knight other than him would follow Rosetta around, then her movements would be limited.
Instead of marching forward yet doubling back again, it was better to solve problems straight away when it was right in front of you.
If she were to be stuck with someone who couldn't be trusted, then she would have to hide more things, and inevitably, there would be more restrictions on her.
That's why she was trying to make Cassion her escort knight, even if it was difficult to achieve.
Once again, it wasn't something that could be easily pulled off.
However, it wasn't entirely impossible.
There was very little that a rich and powerful individual couldn't do if they would insist on it.
If there was something they couldn't do, then it could be that they lacked their own money and power.
This is how this dirty world goes round.
It was like this as well in modern times, where corruption and nepotism—based on which school you went to, which region you're part of and which relatives you had—were rampant.
If you can point a finger at it, you can just buy it off.
A pronounced silence weighed heavily in the air.
Within that stifled room, even the sound of breathing disappeared.
The cold air finally broke as Damian sighed briefly.
Behind that sigh, he closed his eyes tightly.
After a while, his eyes opened and his gaze went straight towards Rosetta.
It was a sign that he had decided.
With a hint of trepidation, Rosetta met his gaze.
"First of all… I understand."
It was a slow, but affirmative answer.
He seemed to wish he could express his qualms about it right away, but in the end, it was a positive answer that he uttered.
And Rosetta nodded right then, fearing that he would change his mind quickly.
"Thank you."
"…Instead, the final decision will be given after that man wakes up. But just in case, we'll have to check his identity and listen to his intentions."
"Yes, Brother. Please go ahead."
At this point, Rosetta thought that their conversation was already done.
Damian reached towards his teacup and sipped his lukewarm tea. So to match him, Rosetta sipped her own cup.
However, Damian continued to sit there even though his cup was now empty.
Should Rosetta hint at him to leave? By the time she thought about it, Damian opened his lips again.
"But there's a condition."
…You should have said this sooner.
There was no reason to lift someone up only to drop them back down on the ground again.
'Ah, life isn't easy.'
Fatigue was setting in. Anyway, she already knew that nothing would go that smoothly.
Cassion ran away and returned. Blanca was testing her. Damian was talking about a condition.
Suddenly, it felt like her life was filled with too many ups and downs. And as she tried to hide this, Rosetta closed her eyes as she asked.
"A condition?"
"Yes, a condition."
He gave a firm response.
As if he wouldn't back down no matter what.
Right. Rosetta thought that it was inevitable that a condition would be attached to this to some extent for him to accept this ridiculous request.
Instead of answering, Rosetta only nodded.
And Damian's lips opened slowly.
* * *
After their conversation, Rosetta and Damian separated in the hallway and went their own ways.
Damian headed towards the main mansion whereas Rosetta returned to where she had just been.
On the way, Rosetta encountered Alicia in the corridor.
And it was clear that she was waiting for Rosetta.
Not Damian. Rosetta. She waited for Rosetta. It was a strange feeling.
But Rosetta was certain that it didn't feel terrible.
If asked if she was fine, then she would answer she was fine.
But it seemed as if Alicia was going to scold Rosetta.
Or, it felt like she was going to force Rosetta to tell her what happened.
Alicia asked Rosetta to have dinner with her later, and Rosetta nodded.
They then separated there at the hallway, and Rosetta headed straight to the guest room where Cassion was.
She stood outside the room for a moment to listen in, but the room was quiet.
Both the maids and the doctor, who were busy going in and out of the room, seemed to have left.
She raised a hand to knock, but she thought against it and just opened the door.
Entering the room that was dead silent, she saw Cassion sleeping there.
Right now, it was just before sunset.
Under the dim sunlight, she could see his finely closed eyelids.
And as she listened to his even breathing, she couldn't tell if he was really sleeping or just pretending to sleep.
Before arriving at the mansion, he swallowed a very well made sleeping pill that would render him unconscious for the story of him 'collapsing after rolling down a flight of stairs' look believable.
Thanks to this, he fell asleep without any problems earlier.
But was he awake now? Or was he still asleep?
Strangely, as Rosetta looked at the sleeping Cassion, she didn't want to wake him.
Was it because exhaustion, sadness and suffering had finally set in on this day?
Or was it because the still silence seemed to give him serenity?
'…I have to tell him about the condition to become my escort knight.'
She thought about it for a moment as she leaned back against the door, but she soon walked forward slowly towards the bed.
With a stream of sunlight on his face, a long shadow stretched under his thick eyelashes.
'What is this. He's pointlessly handsome.'
She was amazed yet again.
Under the sun that shone on him like a spotlight, he looked exactly like a porcelain doll.
It was a shame that he covered his eyes with his long hair before, but at least, if he had shown his face more back then, then they would have had a lot of problems deceiving people about his identity.
In the first place, this was a face that would be imprinted on people's minds at just one look.
She stared at Cassion, who at first glance looked serene yet at the same time uncomfortable, then quietly closed the curtains and left the room.
Ka-chak.
The sound of the door closing resonated along the hallway.
This time, she leaned against the door once more. Unlike inside the room, the surface that touched her back this time was cold.
'Now that I think about it, there's no need to talk now.'
Anyway, it was only during the night that there wouldn't be many servants wandering around the place, so there was someone she'd have to meet tonight.
By the end of her conversation with that person, Cassion would wake up from his nap.
Nodding slightly, Rosetta stood up straight. Unlike before, when people were busy coming and going through the corridors, it was now quiet.
To the extent that the sound of her footsteps echoed.
The cool air blew by her ankles as she passed through the hallway.
* * *
Rosetta's footsteps could be heard through the door.
The lithe, elegant footsteps resounded in the room where only breathing sounds permeated.
By the time the footsteps faded away, the man's eyelids opened slowly.
The sunlight that had poured over his face had since disappeared, and a curtain of shadow was instead cast over him.
Maxwell. Or, Cassion.
The man with two names stared at the ceiling with eyes that were as black as ink.
It felt like the scent of roses lingered at the tip of his nose.
And somehow, that scent made it difficult for him to open his closed eyes.
Rosetta.
It was Rosetta's scent.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────