Upon arriving at the Blois Mansion, I was astonished at the sight that unfolded as soon as I stepped out of the carriage.

“The garden…”

The once beautiful garden had turned into a complete battlefield.

“How fierce was the battle?”

When I asked anxiously, Butler Derek shook his head in response.

“Actually, it wasn’t that intense, Madam.”

“Huh…?”

As I was wondering, perplexed by his words, Coco, in the form of a cat, suddenly appeared from somewhere, nuzzled my leg, and started talking.

“Sasha did that. We all had a hard time stopping her from going on a rampage. Other than that, it was easy.”

“Is everyone unharmed?”

“If Sasha had been less excited, things might have been safer, but for now, no one is seriously hurt.”

Feeling relieved by those words, I quickly entered the mansion.

“Derek, what about Dimitri? Is the doctor attending to him?”

As I rushed to Dimitri’s bedroom and asked, the butler gave a vague response.

“Master… Anyway, please go upstairs. I’m sure he’s waiting for the Madam.”

‘…Is his condition so serious that they can’t talk about it?’

I was so caught up in anxiety and worry as I rushed towards Dimitri that I didn’t notice that the butler’s expression was so calm as he said that.

‘Dimitri… Just wait a little longer.’

When I saw Dimitri’s bedroom door, the tears that I had tried so hard to hold back welled up again. The sight of him being attacked was so shocking, and when I thought of his sword falling to the ground and his arm hanging down, the whole thing seemed like a nightmare.

I hurriedly opened the bedroom door and stepped inside.

However, the room was strangely quiet.

There was no sign of Hyle or the doctor, or even at least the employees. I was a little taken aback as I expected people to be moving around in a hurry, busy treating his wounds. Feeling a mix of strangeness and unease, I approached Dimitri’s bed slowly.

Dimitri was lying on the bed as if he was lifeless.

‘…Has the treatment already been completed?’

Perhaps the wounds may not have been as deep as I thought, so the treatment was finished quickly.

‘If that’s the case, it’s fortunate…’

He seemed to have fallen asleep, so I cautiously approached him, trying not to make any footsteps. Anyway, it seemed like I would feel more relieved if I examined the wounds myself.

The moonlight streaming in through the window illuminated Dimitri’s figure. As I looked at him up close, his complexion as he closed his eyes looked so pale that my heart sank. I carefully removed the blanket and tightly held his hand. Seeing him lying there injured, I couldn’t help but tear up.

I quietly used my power, letting it flow into his body. However, at that moment, as if strength flowed into his hand, his body suddenly twitched.

“Acck!”

Losing my balance and collapsing on top of Dimitri, I stared up at him with my eyes wide open.

Before I knew it, Dimitri’s eyes were open.

“ A-are you awake?”

I tried to get up with a bed in a panic and not to touch his wounds, but he wrapped his arms around my lower back waist and gently pressed me down.

“….?”

Lying down on top of him, I gazed down at him and moved my eyes around in confusion.

“What… are you doing?”

“Were you worried?”

He stroked his fingers from my eye down to my cheek. The area felt dry, as the tear stains had dried together with the crust of blood from Count Schdental.

I shook my head and pushed his hand away.

“Instead of staying like this, let me quickly treat your wounds. Even though it may not be that deep, adding more could be dangerous…”

I tried to pull myself up, trying to avoid his gaze, but he wouldn’t let me go.

“Dimitri?”

“I asked if you were worried.”

I felt like I knew the identity of the overflowing emotions in his emerald eyes when he asked that question. So, for no reason, I rambled on unnecessary details to a response that could’ve been short.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be worried? Anyone would be worried if someone close to them got hurt.”

Dimitri furrowed his brow.

“Anyone?”

As he suddenly sat up, I stumbled and ended up sitting awkwardly on his lap. He clasped his fingers around mine, holding my hand firmly. With both hands secured, it wasn’t easy to push him away. Even when I tried to pull back, he simply drew my hand, maintaining a certain distance as he opened his mouth again.

“Anyone would’ve been worried this much? Not necessarily because of me, right? So, are you telling me not to get carried away?”

“Let go of me…”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You can resist more if you want. If you really hate it, you can outright refuse. You’re the one not pushing me away.”

His face was so close that his hot breath touched my lips.

Half-closed eyes beneath lowered eyelashes watched my lips with desire.

“You wouldn’t allow just anyone to do this.”

Our lips met.

When his soft flesh wrapped around me, I could feel the warmth. His hand wrapped around the back of my neck and pulled me close. Our upper bodies were pressed close together, and our body temperatures mingled.

As I flinched and stiffened my muscles, he stroked my lower back soothingly and delved deeper.

I wondered why. Even though I could’ve raised my hand and pushed him away, I found myself just grasping his shoulders and leaning onto him. Perhaps it was because I was just overwhelmed with relief that he was safe, and then caught off guard by the unexpected situation? It could have been that I couldn’t reject Dimitri firmly as I had just seen his pitiful figure lying there helpless.

No, I don’t know anything anymore. I just wanted to focus on the pleasant sensation right now. The reasons I didn’t want to reject him didn’t really matter at that moment. I didn’t want to think about what would happen next.

I was helplessly swept away by ecstasy.

It was a sweet kiss.

I was excited by his firm body covering mine, and the warm skin under my fingertips felt good.

It was the first kiss of my entire life.

My mind went blank. Was this what a kiss was supposed to be like? What was this strange sensation?

In that moment, it felt like he and I were the only ones in the world. Everything else was erased and disappeared. Until he pulled away and broke the kiss, I couldn’t do anything. I stared at Dimitri blankly, not even realizing that my breath had quickened.

He gently brushed my cheek.

“I never thought I could love someone. I thought no one would love me, and I couldn’t love someone who approached me with false smiles either.”

“….”

“Though it seemed different to you. You treated Coco and Sasha with such sincerity, so how could I not have expectations?”

As I gradually came to my senses, I belatedly averted my gaze, overwhelmed by a sudden wave of embarrassment.

‘Kissing. I kissed Dimitri…’

My mind was in a daze. I wasn’t sure if what had just happened actually happened.

He gently lifted my face and made me look at him.

“I love you.”

“….!”

“Tell me you love me, Rowaine.”

His beautiful emerald eyes were filled with satisfaction and conviction. I could feel his emotions towards me overflowing just by looking into his eyes. It was a breathtakingly ecstatic gaze, filled with a desire so intense it made my heart waver as if he wanted to grasp and possess all to himself.

In the midst of slight confusion, swirling emotions, and my heart pounding like crazy, I exhaled a breathless sigh, my lips trembling as if entranced.

“Dimitri, I…”

“Your Highness, a letter has arrived from Blois.”

Elaine smiled sweetly as she accepted the letter handed to her by a maid.

“Yes, thank you!”

However, as she turned around, the innocent and naive expression from a moment ago completely disappeared from her face, replaced by a languid and indifferent demeanor. Still, it was nice to receive a letter from Rowaine, so she stretched one corner of her mouth into a smile.

‘This is the only joy in this boring daily life.’

She hummed softly as she lay down on the bed and opened the letter. At first, his eyes quickly scanned the paper from top to bottom, but after a while, it returned to the beginning.

“Hmm?”

As if sensing something odd, she tilted her head and brought the letter a little closer to her face.

‘Is there something going on with Rowaine?’

Having exchanged a couple of letters with Rowaine already, she had grasped his handwriting and the way she conveyed her stories. However, today’s letter seemed as if it were sent by someone else. The contents were in disarray as if written by someone completely distracted by something.

‘I thought there would be interesting stories because there was a rebellion…’

Of course, the letter did contain discussions about what to do with the sinners.

It was written that the main culprit, Count Schdental, had been hanged, and all the assets of his family had been confiscated by Blois. And Madam Elbas seemed to have imposed lenient confinement on Count Schdental’s scarecrow, driven by her delirium.

While Rowaine expressed his anger at such leniency, Elaine was a bit suspicious of his generosity. It was because the Dimitri she had seen wasn’t someone who treated sinners with such leniency.

‘It seemed like he was putting on an act in front of Rowaine. Well, to put it another way, confinement is a punishment that, in essence, allows them to live while being free to do anything.’

Whether torturing them daily, depriving them of life-sustaining food, or letting them starve, it was all a form of punishment. In any case, the story of several Northern families perishing and who received the punishment has already been reported to the Emperor.

Elaine wanted a secret story that would strengthen her bond with Rowaine a little more.

‘At least some gossip about her husband!’

Nevertheless, Rowaine’s letter didn’t contain any content that would pique her interest. The only noticeable change was that the mention of the Duke of Blois had significantly decreased compared to previous letters. She made an effort to deduce Rowaine’s inner thoughts between the lines, trying to pierce through the letter.

‘Did they have a fight…?’

However, despite occasional stories about the Duke of Blois, there still seemed to be lingering affection in Rowaine’s words.

In the parts where she wrote about the Duke, her handwriting was notably jagged, sometimes becoming blurry, and occasionally, there were traces of interrupted lines. It seemed like she had carefully considered the short content for a very long time before writing it.

She could sense Rowaine’s fluctuating emotional state through the writing.

‘It seems like she can’t control her joy… and it also feels distraught…’

Elaine narrowed his eyes and read the letter again before she got up and looked for paper and pen. In conclusion, the letter didn’t contain any interesting secret stories, but she did have a secret story that could stimulate Rowaine’s interest.

She put the fountain pen cap in her mouth and quickly wrote a letter.

Having written that much in one breath, Elaine took a breath, started on another line and continued to fill the page again.

Elaine wrinkled her nose as she checked what she had written.

“To take the older sister on behalf of the younger sister… Even though he’s my father, it’s really disgusting.”

She added a warning statement.

〈 I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? 〉 — Part 1 End.

 
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