Dahlia, who had been staring blankly at the man's eyes glowing with a redder light than before, quickly turned her body.
Dahlia, leaning against the wall of the cabin tangled with vines, calmed her startled heart.
'Did he, did he make eye contact with me...?'
The pounding sound of her heart, heard in her ears, showcased its presence.
This is bad. It's ruined.
In the original story, the heroine only found out about the lover on the emperor's birthday!
Dahlia, repeating the recent situation in her mind, sighed and spat out a curse.
She began to worry, fearing that this situation might cause the future to go awry.
'First, I need to get out of here.'
At the moment when Dahlia, nervously biting her lips, was about to step away.
She hurriedly hid to the opposite side as she sensed someone's presence inside the cabin.
And just as Dahlia hid, the cabin door opened. It was Clayton.
He briefly gazed at the window where Dahlia had been standing, then, without any hesitation, turned toward the mansion.
Once Clayton's presence completely disappeared, Dahlia, who had been hiding, cautiously revealed herself.
'Phew. Maybe he didn't see me.'
Dahlia, letting out a sigh of relief, brushed her chest. It must have been her imagination that they made eye contact.
Feeling much calmer because of this, Dahlia was about to head back to the mansion.
"I thought I was going to die from frustration."
An unfamiliar voice was heard. It was a rather deep voice to be a woman's.
In response, Dahlia unconsciously turned her head toward the source of the voice.
Then, beyond the window, she saw someone roughly taking off a turquoise dress.
"Why is this dress so cumbersome?"
Was it from that moment? She realized that something was going strangely.
Dahlia stood there, blankly staring, not fully grasping the situation unfolding in front of her.
Thud, thud.
In an instant, breast prosthetics began to fall one by one onto the collapsed dress, and soon, the red hair that had been curling down to the waist spread out on the floor like seaweed.
And standing on top of that, slightly tilted, was one person. Rose Hertz.
The woman, who was known as the male lead's mistress in the original story, was actually...
"...A man?"
It was a man.
With the shock of feeling like her head had been hit with a hammer, Dahlia's eyes met Rose's as she was changing into different clothes, and both of their bodies froze, unsure of who was first.
"..."
"..."
Perhaps ten seconds, but it felt like ten days.
Both people, caught in an embarrassing situation, screamed simultaneously.
"AAAH!"
"KYAAAAH!"
At the same time as the scream, Dahlia snapped back to her senses and covered her mouth with both hands.
"W-what? The duke's lover is a man? This wasn't even in the original story!'
Dahlia was overwhelmed by a great shock.
In the original, the story of the mistress was not given much attention, and even if the character died and disappeared midway, she never imagined such an important fact would be revealed.
'Am I actually reincarnated into a BL novel?!'
Thus, she had a reasonable suspicion that the genre of the novel she had reincarnated into might have changed.
Goodness, the person who was known as the male lead's mistress in the original story turned out to be a cross-dressing man.
She was so stunned that she couldn't even close her mouth.
Moreover, look at the face of the man who had been pretending to be a woman just a moment ago.
He was so beautiful that no one could possibly suspect him of being a woman—undeniably a beauty!
Dahlia, gathering her trembling heart, carefully asked to confirm the genre of the novel she had reincarnated into.
"…Is my husband, Clayton, by any chance… gay…?"
Just as she was about to ask that, the man, understanding Dahlia's intent, hurriedly left the cabin and shouted toward her.
"No, it's not like that! Duke Seiya is not gay!"
"...."
"I completely understand what the duchess may have misunderstood. So, how should I explain this...?"
Rose, having quickly realized that Dahlia was the duchess, stammered, clearly feeling awkward.
As if trying to gather his thoughts, he rolled his eyes around, and then, with a determined look, he tightly closed his eyes.
"Actually, the duke doesn't know that I'm a man."
"...The duke doesn't know? That you're a man?"
"...Yes. So please, don't let the duke know!"
'What is going on right now?'
It seemed the wig he wore was just to hide the length, as his hair was also red when he took it off.
This meant the man was indeed from the Hertz family's bloodline.
It was hard to understand why he had gone to such lengths to dress as a woman and become the duke's blood bag. More than anything.
"How could the duke not know you're a man? If he drinks your blood, he would know... Ah!"
Oops.
Dahlia, shocked, covered her mouth with both hands after saying it.
And the man was just as shocked as she was. He looked at Dahlia with eyes even wider than before.
"...Did you know? The duke's secret?"
"Ah, well, that's…"
"I just blurted out that I knew the male lead has to drink blood!'
How should she handle this? She couldn't just say she read it in a book.
As Dahlia was trying to think of a plausible excuse.
"Oh, I see. The duke must have told you the secret of the Seiya family. Well, of course, as the mistress of the Seiya family now, it makes sense that you would know."
Contrary to her worries, it passed without raising much suspicion.
However, if she accepted what he said, it could lead to the author making a mistake later.
Dahlia began to come up with an excuse to make sure he wouldn't tell the duke.
"The duke didn't tell me directly. I just happened to... see something similar... Anyway, the duke doesn't know that I know this secret. So, about that..."
"I understand."
He nodded as if he understood what Dahlia was trying to say.
"I'll keep it a secret from the duke. But in exchange, I ask that what the duchess saw today also remains a secret."
The man bowed lightly to Dahlia and politely made his request.
'What could his story be?'
A man. Or rather, someone who seemed more fitting of the word 'boy'.
"I understand. I'll keep it a secret from the duke. But why are you cross-dressing? Could it be...?"
Do you, perhaps, like the duke?
The words hung in her throat, but she barely swallowed them.
But the man, noticing what Dahlia had almost said, quickly waved his hand.
"Not at all! It's nothing like that. It's just... because of my sister."
"Sister...? I haven't heard anything about there being two children in the Hertz family…"
"Yes. It's one of the secrets of our family."
As if there was nothing left to hide, he began to reveal stories that weren't even asked about.
He was born as a fraternal twin, and the fact that they were twins was kept hidden.
"Rose is my twin sister's name. My real name is Lloyd Hertz."
Lloyd took on the role of the duke's blood bag in place of his sickly sister, Rose.
He said that if his sister had done her role, she wouldn't have lived for long.
"Well, why didn't you just tell the duke and come out as Lloyd? Why go through such dangerous lengths...?"
Lloyd shook his head, as if her question wasn't so simple.
"It was promised that only the blood of a 'woman' carrying the Hertz family's bloodline would be offered to the Seiya family. It's a vow that's been passed down for a long time."
An old vow, made long ago—perhaps even when the curse of the Seiya family began.
He didn't know exactly what it was, but it was the beginning of the long-standing connection between the Hertz and Seiya families.
'This is more complicated than I thought.'
I thought it was just a business contract between families.
'Why wasn't this mentioned in the original...?'
Having remembered the ending fairly well, she was puzzled that such an important secret wasn't in the original, but she soon shook it off.
"Then, why were you changing your clothes here? What if the duke finds out...?"
At her question, Lloyd scratched his head, realizing that he was in an awkward situation too.
"Oh, that's because... blood splattered on the dress. Rose always feels sorry that I go to the duke in her place, and if she sees the blood on the dress, she'll probably cry all night. So, when the dress is stained with blood, I change here before going."
"Oh dear..."
Seeing Lloyd respond with an awkward smile, Dahlia couldn't help but feel sympathy.
Because of that, Dahlia took Lloyd's limp hand and spoke.
"If you have any troubles in the future, feel free to tell me. I'll help with whatever I can."
"Madam..."
Thus, their friendship began.