"Your Grace...?"
"Don't move."
I bound Rose in place with those two words, then strode toward her. The thick carpet of the bedroom swallowed my footsteps entirely.
In just a few strides, I reached Rose's side.
"Pardon me."
I lifted Rose as she was.
"Gasp!"
Rose made a choked sound and froze. Then she only rolled her eyes, staring at my face. Unable to bring herself to speak, she was questioning me with her gaze alone.
'Why? Why me? Why?'
Seeing her thoroughly flustered, it seemed an explanation was in order.
"The floor."
"Ah."
Rose let out a soft exclamation and craned her neck to look down. Shards of the shattered wine bottle and the damply soaked carpet greeted her.
"I'm sorry... This is, well. It's my fault, after all."
Rose muttered in a voice that barely crept out.
'Only apologize when you've truly made a mistake.'
Perhaps because of what I had once told her, she added an unnecessary caveat.
"It must be a wine you treasured..."
"Not particularly."
If I had treasured it, I wouldn't have left it sitting here. What did she think was in it that she drank it?
Anyway, this was no time to be casually chatting. I could see Rose's ears growing redder by the moment.
I began taking long strides while still carrying Rose.
"Um, Your Grace."
It was only a short distance to the bed, but Rose squirmed as if even that was too much to bear.
"Please put me down. I must be heavy..."
"Not at all."
I answered flatly.
"You're quite small, my lady. Light enough to be lighter than my sword."
"What? I'm not that light."
"Make sure you eat well."
I added, glancing at Rose's gaunt cheeks.
"- Like you did earlier."
"-!"
Rose's cheeks burst into flames. It seemed she had only then recalled the way she had been enthusiastically eating in the dining hall.
Sabak—
After setting Rose down on the bed, I pulled the cord beside the table.
"Stay still."
Rose, her entire face crimson, could only watch what I was doing.
Knock, knock.
A knock came at the door, and—
"Excuse me."
A maid opened the door and entered.
"Spilled some wine. Clean it up."
"Yes, Your Grace."
The maid carried out the order without batting an eye. She calmly wiped the carpet and cleared away the glass shards, as if she couldn't see Rose sitting on the bed and me standing beside her.
'Has she worked in the castle for long?'
There were three virtues that the servants of House Schmaichel must possess. Eyes, mouth, and hands. The ability to turn a blind eye, to keep one's mouth shut, and to handle tasks swiftly.
Only by adhering to these could one endure long in this castle. No—only such people survived.
However.
A master who had never once set foot in the marital bedroom had now gone so far as to seat his lady on the bed.
How could she keep this to herself? This was information that every servant would need to know going forward, both in serving Rose and in serving me.
'Would the rumor spread through the castle by tomorrow?'
'The two of them seemed quite close,' 'the madam's face was all red,' 'they were even drinking wine together'—
Rumors like those.
'Excellent.'
I had deliberately called the maid for this very purpose. If Rose hadn't broken the wine bottle, I would have found another excuse to summon one.
"Is there anything else you require, Your Grace?"
The maid who had finished cleaning asked politely.
"Two wine glasses, and some food to pair with the wine."
"Yes, understood."
The maid withdrew quietly as if nothing had happened. But in the final moment before she closed the door and disappeared, I saw her gaze land on the bed, and I was certain.
'The rumors will have spread by tonight.'
The door closed without a sound, just as it had when the maid first entered.
"Put these on."
I handed Rose a pair of spare slippers.
"There might be glass fragments left."
"Thank you."
"I'll have the carpet replaced tomorrow."
Rose slipped on the slippers and stood up awkwardly. Her body stiffened the moment she found herself standing before me.
"Ah."
The only light sources in this spacious room were a candle on the table and the pale moonlight filtering through the large window.
And before the bed stood a man and a woman, clad only in thin sleeping garments that were quite inappropriate to be seen in by others.
Only the two remained—a couple as of today, one that was yet to truly become husband and wife.
"..."
Rose's lips trembled faintly. She had only now realized what situation she was in.
Watching the frightened Rose, I thought to myself:
'How amusing.'
That the squirrel which had been on guard like it would claw at me any moment was now trembling.
'I have no intention of touching her, anyway.'
I wasn't averse to the act promised between husband and wife. It was simply not the right time.
Sseuk.
As I reached out my hand, Rose's gaze automatically followed it to its end. Even watching my large hand approach her, she couldn't bring herself to move.
My hand reached Rose's shoulder.
Sak.
After gathering her slipping sleeping garment closed, I said:
"My lady."
"...Yes."
"You should have said so if you wanted wine. If Fabri had known, he would have brought out at least ten different snacks to pair with it."
Rose, who had been staring blankly, suddenly bristled.
"No, no! That wasn't what I was doing earlier!"
"If not that, did you want to have some wine?"
"Not that either!"
Rose put force in her eyes and protested her innocence, oblivious to my consideration in trying to put her at ease.
That her cheeks, slightly flushed with excitement, looked a bit cute was perhaps a magic conjured by the moonlight.
"I wasn't looking at the wine for that reason—"
"Alright, then what was the reason?"
"...Urgh."
Rose clamped her mouth shut.
Of course—how could she say she was trying to inspect the wine for poison? And to the wine's owner, no less.
In any case, I found the sight quite pleasing.
The very fact that she couldn't come up with an excuse was proof of Rose's purpose. Proof that she was acting to save my life.
'In the original story, she spread it all out on the floor and inspected it.'
That was because Dane Schmaichel hadn't come to the marital bedroom back then. Thanks to that, Rose had been able to leisurely check all the wine.
But now, my intrusion had prevented her from doing so.
"I was, um. Earlier..."
Just as Rose was struggling to stammer out an excuse—
Knock, knock.
A servant knocked on the door, likely for the order I had placed earlier.
"Just a moment."
I left Rose for a moment and went to the door.
"Your Grace. The wine glasses and snacks you requested—"
Tak.
I snatched the tray and immediately shut the door. I didn't want our important moment interrupted.
I turned back, set the tray down on the table at once, and then—
"Come here."
I called to Rose, who stood stiff as a board.
She gauged my mood for a moment before cautiously approaching. She looked like a squirrel worried sick about being eaten alive.
'Not an unreasonable fear.'
Thinking thoughts that would make Rose recoil in horror if she ever learned them, I opened the wine cabinet.
"Will you have some wine?"
"Um..."
Toward the hesitating Rose, I held up a bottle of wine.
"It may not be worth as much as the one you broke earlier. But the flavor should be quite rich."
"Your Grace, please."
"Will you drink this one, then?"
When I pressed again, Rose looked at me with wavering eyes. I could see fierce conflict raging within her.
Should I tell the truth? If I tell, would he believe me? No, he'd never believe my words. Then what excuse should I come up with?
— Worries like those.
The Dane Schmaichel she knew was not someone who would believe her words. That was why she agonized so intensely.
And I needed to shatter that preconception of hers. I wanted to wipe away the shadow of the old Dane Schmaichel that lingered like a scar.
"Well, if you won't have any."
I casually picked a wine bottle, opened it, and poured myself a glass.
"Then I'll just drink alone."
I raised the glass and slowly brought it to my lips. I could feel Rose's gaze following my hand, shaking wildly.
Just before the glass touched my lips—
"Don't!"
Rose frantically grabbed my arm. I could have easily dodged, or even struck back in counter, but—
"...Now."
I deliberately took my time, letting Rose come right up to me.
"What are you doing?"
Through the transparent wine glass, I could see Rose's face. In that brief moment, her quickened breath brushed against my cheek.
At a very close distance, our eyes met.
"Don't, Your Grace."
Rose's small but firm voice brushed along my ear.
"Weren't you the one who refused the glass, my lady?"
"That's, not it."
Rose swallowed dryly. Yet she absolutely refused to let go of my arm.
I wondered what kind of excuse that small head of hers would come up with. I deliberately kept a blank face to press Rose for her answer.
"...This is,"
Finally, Rose's lips moved.
"This just isn't like you, Your Grace."
"Not like me?"
"You don't normally have anything before going to sleep, do you?"
A valid point.
The reason I surrounded my bedroom with layers upon layers of guards. The reason I never drank alcohol.
It was because the attacks came whenever I'd almost forgotten about them.
"How did you know that, my lady?"
The problem was that such a statement was hardly appropriate for someone who had arrived at this castle only today.
"...!"
Perhaps realizing her slip of the tongue, Rose swallowed a gasp. A moment later, a voice that strained to feign composure leaked out.
"Even if you live with your ears shut, there are rumors you can't help but hear."
"About me?"
"That's how I roughly know what kind of situation you're in, Your Grace."
The method Rose chose when cornered was, surprisingly, a head-on approach.
"Alright, what rumors were going around?"
Even knowing the answer would drive her into yet another corner.
"...I don't want to commit the rudeness of saying such things in front of the person himself."
"I won't rebuke you for the impropriety, so tell me."
At my relentless pressing, Rose's mouth tightened momentarily, but—
"I was just guessing on my own."
Rose barely managed to feign a calm expression as she replied.
"That you wouldn't casually consume anything from outside."
But standing as close as I was, I could feel it. The faint cold sweat seeping from Rose's palm.