"······No."
The simmering turmoil in my stomach cooled in an instant.
"When you only look straight ahead and run, you miss a great deal. Thanks to you, Madam, I find myself reflecting on my own blind spots."
I had been somewhat startled to learn of Joel's trail of actions, but I feigned a calm acceptance.
"Well done. Matters like these are exactly what you should bring to my attention."
"······Are you believing me, then?"
"Because I don't think you would lie to me, Madam. And you have no reason to."
"Ah······."
"I will keep a close eye on Joel from now on."
A thread of relief brushed across Rose's face, which had been wrought with nervousness the entire time.
'I thought I shouldn't hide the truth.'
Rose's resolute expression as she said those words overlaid itself in my mind. She had endured the risk of provoking my resentment in order to tell me the truth.
It was a far cry from that first night, when she couldn't bring herself to explain why she wanted to inspect the wine.
This also meant that Rose had come to trust me a little more.
'Things will be easier going forward.'
Since she would now believe that I, too, suspected Joel the personal physician, Rose would likely voice her opinions more proactively. Conversations about the解毒 would become easier as well.
I felt a genuine appreciation for Rose, who had mustered such courage.
"Th-"
I needed to say thank you, but this stiff mouth of mine was, as ever, the problem. The words simply wouldn't come out.
"Th······."
"Yes?"
"······You've worked hard."
"Not at all, sir."
Even at that single gruff remark, Rose's face lit up as though someone had kindled a candle inside her.
"Thank you, Your Excellency."
Seeing her look even happier about it than I felt made the whole thing rather strange.
I was debating whether I should add something more when—
Thud, thud.
The ears I had kept trained on the open door detected footsteps. They were unmistakably heading toward this room.
In the original work, Rose had finished searching the room and left safely. In other words, Joel wouldn't return to this room for another two hours, as usual.
So that presence wasn't Joel.
"Madam, this way."
"Yes?"
There was no time to answer. I snatched Rose by the arm and pulled her toward the back of the room.
Rattle!
I yanked open a large wardrobe and checked inside. It was a hiding spot I had scouted the moment I entered the room earlier.
'This should fit two people.'
I crammed myself into the wardrobe and pulled Rose in after me.
"Your Ex—"
"Shh."
I wrapped one arm around Rose and grabbed the wardrobe door with my other hand.
Click.
The moment I barely pulled both doors shut—
Click.
The door opened and someone entered.
"Ugh, my stomach."
A woman's groaning voice drifted in. From the context, it was likely a maid working in the castle.
"Ugh, I'm so sick of these cramps. Ugh, I hate it, I hate it."
Clack.
The grumbling maid's footsteps drew closer. I held my breath and focused on the sounds outside.
Clack, clack.
The maid's footsteps came right up to the wardrobe, then passed by as if grazing past it.
"Now where was it······."
The maid's voice clearly moved away. Then came the rattling sound of drawers opening and closing.
Servants ought to have their own supply of ointments and medicines. It seemed she had simply run out and come to grab more.
"Joel, I'm sorry. But my stomach hurts so much. Please forgive me."
The maid muttered to herself as she rummaged through the drawers, completely absorbed in her search. She didn't seem to suspect for a moment that someone had been in the room.
'Thank goodness.'
I swallowed a sigh of relief. A moment later and we would have been caught.
If the maid had discovered us, there was no guarantee this wouldn't reach Joel's ears. I needed to be careful around everyone except Rose.
"Hoo."
With the situation outside momentarily settled, I could finally focus on the situation inside the wardrobe.
It was pitch black inside.
But after a moment, faint light bled through the crack between the doors, and my eyes, growing accustomed to the dark, began to distinguish shapes.
"Heup······."
Rose had both hands covering her face. Her nape and shoulders trembled faintly.
It seemed she had covered her face because it was flushed hot—or perhaps to hide it from me.
"······."
I was about to speak to Rose, but I stopped myself.
The space was far too narrow, our bodies pressed completely together. Because of that, there were things I could sense even without seeing them.
No—there were things I could sense all the more clearly for it.
Rose's body heat, which was more pleasant than I expected, and the sensation of her fine hair tickling the tip of my nose.
And lastly, a faint fragrance, something akin to flowers.
'What is this scent?'
It was the kind of fragrance that stirred from touching something soft and yielding, intensely gentle.
The unfamiliar scent ignited an intense curiosity within me.
"······Hoo, haa."
Ragged breaths spilled through the gaps between Rose's fingers covering her face. She had barely suppressed the sound, but her breathing was clearly labored.
Thump— thump— thump—
Rose's racing heartbeat transmitted through our pressed bodies. At the same time, the unmistakable presence of something with considerable volume pressed against me.
'Impressive.'
No, wait—how could someone that slender be so endowed there?
I caught myself drifting into unrelated thoughts and shook my head. Then I asked Rose.
"Are you alright?"
I whispered as quietly as I could, so nothing would escape outside.
"Hilk."
Rose startled and lifted her head.
Swish.
I had been prepared—I tilted my chin up to dodge. Then I studied Rose's complexion.
Through her slightly lowered fingers, I could see her wide-open eyes. Those gentle, ox-like eyes were trembling wildly.
"Madam?"
"F-fine. I'm fine······."
Rose answered with difficulty and then tried to subtly pull her body away from mine.
Sway—
Rose's hair shifted lightly, stirring a shallow breeze. Because of that, the fragrance that had been faintly tantalizing me all this while now flooded my nose.
Twitch.
An impulse surged through me in that instant.
Even if I buried my nose in the soft skin touching mine, I wanted to take this scent deep into my lungs. A dark, thick impulse.
"······."
The habit of restraint, honed over a long time, suppressed the primal urge. And so I was able to keep from pressing my lips to Rose's nape.
But I didn't want to let this fragrance go.
Squeeze.
When I tightened my arm around Rose—
"-!"
Rose instinctively placed her hands on my chest.
"······!"
This time it was my turn to flinch, and I froze on the spot.
That touch—neither forceful nor bold, just a gentle placement of her hands—carried tremendous destructive power.
What were these small palms, and what was the warmth transmitted through them, that my entire body felt as though it had been seized and I couldn't move an inch?
There was a bigger problem.
From the moment I became aware of Rose's body in that way, a certain part of me that I couldn't control at will had begun to assert itself.
'······No, this isn't right.'
Getting aroused just because we were trapped in a tight space, pressed together? I wasn't some beast in heat.
Calm down. She's a child. A child who blushes at the slightest exposure······.
Suddenly, the image of Rose from that first night came to mind—her cheeks flushed pink as she looked at me.
The thin nightgown Rose had worn had traced the lines of her body. Including certain parts I hadn't fully registered at the time.
'······Damn it.'
That was counterproductive. I needed to think of something else.
Fortunately, Rose didn't move anymore. She simply turned her head slightly away from me and cast her eyes down, as though in resignation.
Rose's body, now completely immobilized, was trapped in my embrace. I felt a strange sense of relief at that fact.
······No, wait. Relief?
'Have I lost my mind?'
The obsessive male route from the original work—one I had been so wary of—had crept right up to my doorstep. The moment I realized I had unwittingly climbed aboard a current I never wanted, my vision swam.
It was then.
"Your Excellency, please."
Rose whispered, as though it took everything she had.
"Your arm······ please."
"Why."
"I can't······ breathe······."
"Mm."
Only then did I ease the pressure of my arm. But our bodies remained pressed together.
"Haa······."
Rose exhaled a fluttering sigh as though she had finally been granted a reprieve.
The problem was that the warmth of that breath landed right around my neck. Hot, damp breath settled against my nape like a dousing.
Twitch.
I tensed involuntarily at the unfamiliar sensation. The center of my body began to assert itself once more.
'This is problematic.'
I needed to get out of this wardrobe before Rose noticed. I began praying for the maid to leave quickly.
Time inside the wardrobe seemed to crawl at an agonizing pace. In that narrow, sealed space, I could feel nothing but the person in front of me.
Rose's warm body heat, the weight of her two hands resting gently on my chest, her pitiful breaths tickling my ear—each time they registered,
'Damn it.'
I swallowed something down while cursing under my breath. Two conflicting desires tormented me: the wish for this moment to continue, and the wish for it to end already.
"Is it this one and······ this one?"
To make matters worse, the maid was terribly slow. She rifled through nearly every drawer before finally finding what she wanted and beginning to shuffle about.
'That voice. I'll remember it.'
A petty thought crept in—that I should track down that maid later and give her a good scare. Amusingly, it made it somewhat easier to fight the one asserting itself.
"Ugh, next time I need to stock up properly. I'm dying here······."
Click.
The grumbling maid finally closed the door and left.
"······."
Only after waiting long enough for the maid to move a safe distance away did I—
Click.
Reach out and open the wardrobe door.
Moonlight poured into the wardrobe, revealing Rose's figure. Her cheeks flushed hot red, the faint sheen of sweat along her collarbone and nape—
And the hair clinging to that skin was far too stimulating.
"Y-Your Excellency."
Lips, tinted a pleasing pink, moved.
"Please let go now······."
The eyes I met looked as though they were frightened—or as though they were longing for something.
If I didn't release my arms here, how would Rose react? If I bit into that moist, pink flesh, what would happen?