Chapter 40

"Jerald...?"

His face was so close that I could almost feel his breath. As my heart began to beat rapidly, I met my own surprised face reflected in his emerald-like, beautiful eyes.

"What did he do to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did he say he liked you? Did he touch you?"

No emotion could be read from his perfectly composed face, which looked like a doll's, making me shudder.

"Hey, Saedi, answer me."

"…W-well, I—"

"At this rate, I might do something terrible to you."

He said, and then gently stroked my cheek. The person in front of me was completely different from the kind Jerald I knew.

"Have you fallen for Rufus Langridge?"

In response to Jerald's accusatory and reproachful words, I immediately shook my head. He then let out a sigh of relief and smiled softly.

"…I’m glad. I don’t want to do anything that would make you hate me."

What kind of thing would make me hate him?

"Hey, I like you. I really like you, Saedi."

"……"

"Please choose me. Will you marry me? I’ll do anything for you, and I don’t think there’s a better man who loves you more than I do. It’s okay if you don’t like me yet. Only I can make you happy."

He looked incredibly anxious as he said this.

Faced with his incomprehensible words of love and his pleading gaze, I didn’t know how to respond and could only stare back at him.

Of course, I like Jerald. But the idea of marrying him was something I had never imagined.

He was right; there probably wouldn’t be anyone else who would like me in this situation and propose to me. Marrying him would certainly be good for the earl’s family. I knew that, yet...

For some reason, Rufus came to mind.

◇◇◇

"Saedi said such a thing...?"

"Yes. I wonder what she meant."

After finishing today’s work, I was drinking tea with Rufus in the break room when he told me about her request not to drink alcohol in the presence of women.

Apparently, the other day, he had ended up sleeping in the same bed as her while drunk. Rufus, thinking it was his fault for stopping her, went to apologize with a gift.

I suggested that it might have brought them closer, but he said it made things more awkward. Her attitude seemed to have become colder.

"Oh, right. I received a letter from the former captain."

"From Anton?"

"Yes, along with many gifts."

It seems they met when he visited the Archbishop.

Rufus casually opened the letter and dropped it, covering his mouth. His face turned pale instantly.

"What happened...!?"

When I asked if it was someone’s death, Rufus picked up the letter with trembling hands and handed it to me. It was okay to read it. I took it and read it, but...

"……………"

The letter read, 'You seemed to be having a lot of fun. When I went to check on you out of concern, I could hear you saying "cute," "I like you," and "I love you" through the door.'

Looking up at Rufus, he was holding his head in his hands.

"I can’t believe I was saying such things while drunk… Saedi is kind, so she kept it to herself…"

It seems he had been whispering his love to her while drunk and had no memory of it. Considering they had slept in the same bed the next morning, he might have even hugged her.

I knew the former captain wasn’t the type to lie. What was written here was undoubtedly true.

"…So, when she said not to drink alcohol in the presence of women, it was because—"

Before I could finish, Rufus’s face turned to one of utter despair. His eyes were filled with anxiety.

"Does Saedi think I do that to anyone when I’m drunk…!?"

He then muttered, "I want to disappear," "I can’t face Saedi," "I didn’t mean it like that," and slammed his head on the table.

I couldn’t find the right words to say to him. His suspicions were probably correct. If I were in her position, I would have thought the same.

I had seen him drunk many times before, but he had never bothered women. In fact, he had always coldly turned away any beautiful women who approached him.

It was only because it was her that he acted this way. But of course, she didn’t know that.

"I must have repulsed her… And yet, I gave her a gift so casually… What should I do…"

"Why don’t you just tell her how you feel?"

"Even if I tell her now, it will only burden her."

He didn’t want to add any extra burden to her while the incidents surrounding her were unresolved.

It was a typical Rufus response, but if he didn’t, his drunken words would be taken as a joke. They were undoubtedly his true feelings.

"I was planning to confess my feelings and propose to Saedi again after solving the case."

"I see."

"…But the 5% chance of success is now 0."

Rufus then muttered, "It’s over," and held his head again. He would probably be depressed forever until the misunderstanding was cleared.

Even though it was his fault, it was still pitiful that he had confessed his long-held feelings to her and was now seen as a man who whispered love to anyone when drunk.

"Anyway, you should apologize. And I’ll vouch for you, saying that you never do such things normally."

"…I’m sorry, but I really need your help. I’m about to cry."

Respecting Rufus’s desire to clear the misunderstanding as soon as possible, we decided to visit the Earl of Arkwright’s house tomorrow.