TVWD 60

Chapter 60.

“This is my private parlor. Please, have a seat.”

Merina gestured toward a chair, but Silla remained standing.

“Wouldn’t it be more comfortable if you sat down?”

Despite her repeated invitations, Silla merely crossed his arms and stayed on his feet.

“How did you recognize me?”

“Isn’t it stranger not to recognize the Master of the Tower? Your tall figure, the sharp lines of your back, your well-balanced body…”

Merina blushed and laughed with a girlish giggle, but Silla looked at her with cold eyes.

Just as Rosia’s friends had said, perhaps the woman before him did have “an eye for handsome gentlemen,” but she was far from a normal human being.

It was something his close magicians at the Tower often pointed out — and something Silla himself was well aware of.

Soon, a maid entered, pushing a trolley with a teapot and simple desserts.

After brewing the tea, the maid poured some into a cup for Silla at Merina’s signal. Then she bowed and quietly left the room, closing the door behind her.

“This tea is imported from the East. The finest leaves are always sent to the Imperial Palace first, but thanks to my sister, the Empress, I was able to obtain some of the very best.”

Silla lifted the teacup — and Merina’s downcast eyes gleamed sharply.

Once he drinks the drug that dulls his reason, I’ll move him to the bedroom and then—

But before her happy fantasy could finish, a chilling voice fell over her head.

“How dare you try to make me drink something?”

“What?”

Startled, Merina looked up, only to meet the furious gaze of a man whose anger seemed as cold as the northern winds.

“What did you put in here?”

“It’s just tea from the East! I don’t know what you mean!”

“Oh, really? Just ordinary tea, you say…”

Merina widened her eyes, feigning innocence, and nodded eagerly.

“If you want to drink it so much, you drink it yourself.”

With a flick of Silla’s finger, the teacup floated into the air and overturned, spilling its contents onto the floor.

Splash.

“Wh—what…?”

“What’s wrong? Should I pour it into your mouth instead? Or should I have it tested to see what’s inside? Even if it’s a volatile compound, I could still detect traces right now.”

“T-that’s…”

“See? And yet you still claim there’s nothing in it?”

Merina’s lips trembled.

“Consider yourself lucky that I’m ending it here.”

Silla did not say the rest — I’m sparing you only because you make things entertaining for me.

Even though he couldn’t sense any magic or divine power from her, there was still that unpleasant feeling — that someone was trying to manipulate him.

At this close distance, the sensation became clearer and clearer.

A voice whispered in his head: Be kind to her. Treat her gently. Please her.

Feeling that invasive compulsion, Silla found it so repulsive that he did the opposite — treating her even more coldly.

“W-where are you going!”

As Silla turned to leave, Merina hurried to grab him.

“Where else? To my partner.”

“Do you like her?”

“Yes, I do.”

Because she’s interesting. Because things get exciting when she’s around.

Of course, Silla was wise enough not to say that part aloud.

“How can you like such a shameless woman?”

Completely blind to her own behavior, Merina began to insult Rosia.

“Rosia, shameless? That’s an… original claim.”

“I’ll show you proof!”

Furious that her attempt to claim Silla had failed, Merina stormed off ahead.

There were two women in the hall who looked like Rosia.

Since there were five women wearing the same dress in total, that meant three were still in their rooms.

Seething, Merina began throwing open doors. Her strange behavior drew a crowd behind her.

“Ah! Aaaah!”

The first door revealed a man and woman caught in a compromising situation, both screaming as the door burst open.

“What the hell are you doing! Get out!”

“Not here.”

Ignoring their curses, Merina kept opening doors, face red with fury.

At the third room, she finally saw the dress she’d been looking for.

“M-Merina?”

But inside the bed were Violet Clen and Arthur Sharon.

“Lady Violet Clen and Young Master Arthur Sharon?!”

The people peering inside could clearly see their faces, unlike the previous couple.

“This isn’t it either!”

Merina moved to the next room, where she again spotted the same dress—but this time, Vieta, Violet’s close friend, was in bed with Young Master Gurden.

“T-this is…”

As Gurden stammered in embarrassment under everyone’s stare, Merina didn’t even bother closing the door and rushed to the next room.

By the time she had thrown open every door connected to the hall, the person she was looking for was still nowhere to be found.

“AAAAAAAH!”

Screaming, clutching her head, Merina ran back into the hall.

Two women still stood there, wearing the same dress.

“You two—take off your masks! Now!”

Rushing toward them like a madwoman, Merina shouted. People nearby recoiled as though she carried the plague.

“What on earth are you doing, Lady Ichel?”

The two women replied in annoyed tones as they removed their masks — revealing Stella and Poni.

Then that meant the remaining one had to be Rosia!

With renewed hope, Merina looked around wildly.

Maybe she went upstairs? Or—

“You there!”

From the direction opposite the rooms used for private trysts came a voice — the true protagonist appeared.

“You’re Lady Revian, aren’t you?”

Without warning, Merina ripped off her mask. It was Rosia.

“Where have you been all this time? What indecent thing were you doing, sneaking off so far away?”

“What are you talking about, Lady Ichel? I was just touring the garden.”

“Lies! You deceitful woman! You were with some man other than Lord Silla, weren’t you? Prove you were in the garden!”

“Haa…”

Rosia sighed softly, then gestured toward someone nearby.

“Yes, I was with another man — but not in the way you’re thinking. Right, Lexian?”

A tall man removed his mask.

Gasps of admiration rippled through the hall at the sight of his handsome, dignified face.

“An unpleasant man approached Lady Rosia earlier, and she was in quite the predicament. I happened to help her — and only later did I learn that the lady I assisted was none other than Lady Rosia Revian.”

Crack.

The man who had harassed Rosia flinched and hiccupped as Lexian crushed his fingers in a tight grip.

Everyone in the hall turned to stare at him, and even with his mask on, he covered his face and bolted into a corner.

“Lady Rosia was so shaken that I suggested we take some air outside. I offered to escort her, just in case anything else happened.”

Lexian’s calm, convincing tone made the crowd nod in agreement.

Rosia added with graceful indignation,

“I was admiring the beautiful roses and the angel statue, thinking how lovely they were… Who could have guessed that such an unpleasant incident would happen as soon as I returned to the hall?”

The angel statue she mentioned was, indeed, in the center of the Ichel estate’s garden.

Rosia looked as though she were barely restraining her anger.

“Surely you’re not going to claim again that I need your permission to speak with the Duke of Risianshus, are you, Lady Ichel?”

“T-that’s not—”

“Or will you say I’ve violated the etiquette of a lady?”

Having also been aiming for both Silla and Lexian, Merina couldn’t possibly admit that.

To recognize that such a wicked woman had just spent time alone with her ideal Duke was too humiliating.

“Everyone—do I look as though I’ve done something improper for an unmarried lady?”

“No, your attire and hair are perfectly neat.”

“How dare anyone spread such vile rumors about the Duke of Risianshus—!”

Voices rose throughout the hall, defending Rosia.

Merina’s face burned with shame.

“And Silla — did you ever give Lady Ichel permission to address you by name?”

“Of course not.”

Silla shook his head in exaggerated disgust, loudly denying it.

Merina’s lips quivered, but Rosia wasn’t finished.

“Lady Merina Ichel — you’ve insulted the Master of the Tower, myself, and the Duke of Risianshus. I will not let this pass.”

“Nor will I.”

“Nor the Tower.”

Merina’s eyes widened in horror.

She remembered all too well how her father and sister had scolded her after the previous ball.

Her plan to ruin Rosia had collapsed completely — and now, realizing she would be punished yet again, she fainted on the spot.