I heard of some instances where animals tended to sense whether their owner was sick, sad, or in a bad mood.

“Are you guys comforting me?”

The cats sat in front of me and put their heads on my lap. It felt like having a pillow on my lap.

“The cats seem to like Leona, too.”

“I think so, too. What a relief.”

“But they don’t seem to like me.”

It was weird that the cats didn’t even glance at Ian.

“Why won’t you guys look at him? Ian is the owner of this place.”

However, the intelligent cats who were supposed to grasp what I was saying didn’t shift their attention from me.

“I’m jealous.”

“Maybe they’re still shy.”

“No. I’m jealous of the cats. I’ve never even laid my own head in your lap.”

He smiled bitterly, and his gaze was tinged with jealousy just like a child.

“I don’t think I can endure this life with this kind of mindset…”

At times like this, he resembled Rere the most.

It was a given that Rere looked like her father, but the current Ian looked like Rere.

Even more so when he smiled with a slight blush on his cheeks.

“Ian.”

“As I met you, got to know you, and fell in love with you, my dark life suddenly brightened up. You’ve lit up my life and given me reason to live. So I’m afraid that I will lose you, Leona.”

“If that’s the case, Ian must help me, too.”

He nodded firmly at my demand.

“I’ll do anything for you. I hope you’ll rely on me more and not exert yourself too much.”

Ian’s voice became calmer.

“Ian…”

“But I’m sure you’ll still exert yourself even when I say this.”

“…Yeah, but I have this mindset. Even if it’s a little hard, we’ll have our happy ending. So we just need to love each other. Every moment is precious, after all.”

I leaned into him. Ian flinched at my unexpected gesture. The cats, who had been sleeping with their heads on my lap, scurried to Rere sullenly when their space was taken.

“Finally, I can have you all by myself.”

“I’ve always been yours.”

Ian’s lips curled up as he swept my lips gently.

“Leona.”

“Yes.”

“To be honest, you are my first woman. So please understand if I’m clumsy and awkward.”

His fine hair and moist eyes made my heart beat harder.

I felt like my body would melt just by looking at him.

‘My heart is pounding.’

It was also my first relationship.

I lived thinking that there would never be a man in my life. Life itself was hard. The same was true of Leona’s life.

So I cupped his cheeks.

“I love you.”

As soon as I said that, his warmth touched me. I welcomed the lips that gave me the warmth of a family and lover which I so desperately wanted.

Even though I’ve kissed him before, this was the first time it was this steamy and intense.

Rere was asleep beside us, but I didn’t want to part our lips.

It seemed that he felt the same way.

“Leona..”

As our lips parted, his voice was filled with longing.

That alone made my blood rush.

And we continued to crave each other.

However, we couldn’t go further than kissing because the child was next to us.

The moment Ian’s lips trailed down to my neck, Rere tossed on the bed.

“Uhm…”

This is why we couldn’t do anything in front of the child.

Noticing her movement, I quickly pulled away from him.

“….”

“…”

But there was no sign of Rere waking up.

“…Haha.”

Only awkward laughter enveloped us. We just silently looked at each other for a long time. It was hard to continue once the mood was soured. It’s not like I could say, ‘Let’s start over.’

Perhaps Ian felt the same way, he scratched his head and closed his eyes.

“It’s not possible today.”

“I feel the same way!”

“I should tell them to work on the construction right away. I want to be with Leona.”

As I listened to that, I gradually pulled away and lay down next to him.

“Let’s sleep now.”

“Good night, Ian.”

“Leona, too. Goodnight.”

I slowly closed my eyes when I heard his sweet voice that sounded like a lullaby. I probably was so tired today that it didn’t take long for me to sleep. I heard Ian asking me gently if I was uncomfortable, but I fell asleep so deeply that I couldn’t answer him.

* * *

I opened my eyes when I heard a strange voice.

‘Looks like we’ve come to the right place.’

‘Yeah!’

‘But what to do? I think only one side is too strong.’

‘Umm.. uh..I think she’s up?’

‘Then keep it down.’

Unfamiliar voices were buzzing in my ears like a mosquito. I couldn’t tell whether it was a man or woman’s voice.

I woke up because of those voices.

“I’m sure I heard a sound.”

When I opened my eyes in a daze, I saw Ian and Rere sleeping soundly. And the cats as well.

“Did I dream it?”

I got out of bed and looked around just in case, but there was no sign of people.

Instead, the window that was tightly closed before we slept was open now.

“Did someone come in…?”

There’s no way that could happen because I immediately wake up after hearing noises.

I examined the window for a moment. The window was too small for a person to fit.

“I don’t think people can get through here.”

Leaving the two sleeping peacefully, I walked to the terrace.

“There’s no sign of a person.”

‘Did I hear it wrong? Was that just a dream?’

“I must be sensitive. There’s no way I heard those voices.”

It was hard to say that those noises belonged to humans. In particular, those noises sounded more like kids than adults.

Thinking that it was just a dream, I stretched out and leaned on the terrace.

The cloudless sky was exceptionally clear.

“That aside…what should I do now? I entered this novel, believing that all I needed to do was to cure Rere.…but what is going on now?”

I turned around to look inside the room.

Rebecca was just a passing villainess in the novel. Nothing much described about her.

After all, the novel only focused on how much Rebecca bullied the female lead and the crown prince. On top of that, Petrie Dukedom brazenly sided with Rebecca.

“There’s very little information, but why are there so many things related to you, Rere?”

I naturally sighed.

I had thought the difficulty level was 1 star, but now I felt like I had to beat a level 5 star hidden mission.

“But I have no intention of giving up.”

I must regain my peace of mind by getting rid of these unpleasant things.

I won’t give up after coming this far.

As if to prove this was a world inside a novel, it persistently tried to follow the original storyline whenever things started going astray.

The fact that the Crown Prince and the Emperor couldn’t give up on Rere was the biggest proof that this place had a fixed storyline.

“So don’t give up. Let’s start again tomorrow.”

There was a lot of time left.

With that resolution in mind, I went back to bed. But the morning came before I could return to sleep.

The nanny didn’t want to wake us.

She entered the room quietly to put more firewood in the fireplace, and our eyes met.

“Are you awake?”

“I must have been really tired yesterday. I slept well and woke up early in the morning.”

“I see.”

“By the way, the duchy is unusually noisy today.”

People’s murmurs were heard from outside even though the terrace door was closed.

“Oh, I’ll tell them to be quiet.”

“Is there something going on out there?”

Afraid that Rere and Ian would be woken by our conversation, we moved out of the bedroom.

“We are hiring new maids because there aren’t many of them in the Duchy. This time, Master issued a direct order, so I immediately posted a recruitment notice.”

No wonder it was so noisy.

“I see.”

“They’re already this noisy even though there’s still time before the interview. I’ll go and ask them to be quiet.”

“When do the interviews start?”

“An hour from now.”

I had a strange feeling. Normally, I wouldn’t bother with anything because it was the duke’s job, but it bothered my mind this time.

As if something led me to go there.

“If you don’t mind, can I interview them, too?”

“Of course. Because we’re looking for your maids.”

“Then I’ll wash and get ready right away.”

“Alright. I will prepare the document of the shortlisted candidates for you to review. Speaking of which, there is a document which I find rather strange.”

“Strange document?”

“I think it’s better to read it yourself.”

Then I went to the guest room to wash up. After that I reviewed the papers brought by the nanny.

When I saw one of the names, I quickly got ready and walked into the interview.