Rosa looked in the shower room mirror.
It wasn't completely black, but she could see her dark blue hair that was soaked in water, causing it to look darker.
Water dripped from the ends of her hair, making the floor damp.
"This is what I look like…….”
It was rather unfamiliar.
In the past, she’d exclaimed, "I can’t dress like a man!"
However, emotion and reality were different. In reality, things were never that easy.
She had to live under a false pretense, losing her true self.
She couldn't be happy.
"Well, it's too late to cry about it now."
It would have been easy to leave everything behind if she’d had nothing, to begin with.
But she had things she couldn’t leave behind.
She had people who were like family to her...….
There was no way she could leave.
"Why is everything suddenly so clear?"
She laughed sarcastically as she put her magical tools back on, one by one.
She could see herself changing.
Funnily enough, she no longer felt that her reflections in the mirror looked awkward.
"It's like the fake me and the real me have swapped."
After smiling despondently at himself in the mirror, he turned his eyes away.
After changing his clothes, he unlatched the hook to unlock the door. Then he opened the shower room door without hesitation.
There was nothing to worry about since he was wearing his magic tools and clothes.
Nevertheless, when he saw someone's shadow in front of him, his heart sank for a moment.
"Duke."
He quickly quelled his surprise and, staring at Enoch, who was now in front of him, answered sharply, "Why did you call me?"
"No real reason."
Enoch slowly came to him and put his hand to his ear.
He whispered softly, "Your earrings are not properly fitted. You have to be careful."
He carefully brushed the hair on Rosenta’s left side. Enoch then touched his ear with a tickling touch.
This went on for quite a long time.
"How long are you going to touch me?”
Unable to overcome the strange sensation, he struck away Enoch's hand.
Enoch took a step back with both hands raised, as though to signal that he would not touch him again.
Rosenta touched the tickle in his ear, where Enoch had touched it, as he passed by Enoch.
But Enoch called him again.
"Duke."
Rosenta thought about ignoring him and going downstairs, but in the end, he turned around.
Enoch was looking at him, licking his upper lip like a hungry beast.
"Be careful. I want to keep your secret for myself.”
When Rosenta heard that, one corner of his mouth lifted up sharply.
Enoch kept saying what he wanted, regardless, as if he didn't care what kind of expression Rosenta made.
"I don't like sharing secrets.”
Rosenta was reluctant to address the connotation of the words Enoch had uttered regarding his secret.
Rosenta looked at him without a change of expression, as if he knew nothing.
Enoch still didn't care. He smiled at Rosenta very brightly. His smile was so bright that it was unsettling.
He approached Rosenta gradually.
He took a handful of his hair and buried his lips in the ends.
"I'm very jealous."
Recently Enoch had been giving Rosenta a serious look.
"But it’s still too difficult for me to fully understand my emotions."
There it was.
The entire time he’d been talking to Rosenta, he’d been staring at him intently, as if he could feel Rosenta shiver.
It was a very dark gaze.
He had just recited words that were similar to what Theodore had said to Rosenta in the carriage earlier.
"Well, I think, maybe, I should get to know you. What exactly are you feeling?"
Rosenta wanted to ask if Enoch had overheard the conversation in the carriage, or if he was just playing around.
But his mouth never smiled.
Enoch's darkened light green eyes were telling Rosenta that it was no joke.
[sometime later.]
Anxiety. It was the perfect word to express Rosenta’s current feelings.
The atmosphere was tense. It was making the coachman who’d accompanied him uncomfortable.
The coachman looked around and left, saying he should feed the horse.
Unable to bear it any longer, Rosenta placed his fork on the table, making a very loud 'tap!' sound.
"I can't eat anymore.”
Theodore and Enoch didn't say much, but their eyes were saying plenty.
Their eyes were sharp, unlike their smiling faces.
When Rosenta had met their eyes, they both gave Rosenta food, as if they had made some sort of promise.
As if they were competing.
"I'll get going now."
Tsk, they're not children.
Theodore was his boss and friend. Enoch was, externally, his butler.
They were both people who each had a different relationship with him. There was no intersection at all.
‘But why are they keeping each other in check?’
Rosenta was tired and he stood up thinking that, if they wanted to glare at each other, they should handle that themselves.
Enoch stood up with him.
"Don't follow me. I'm going to sleep as soon as I reach my room.”
He gave Theodore a nod.
Then he went upstairs without looking back.
Although he went straight to his room, he did not fall asleep immediately, contrary to what he’d told Enoch.
"It should be here.”
He put his hands inside the messy backpack. Even after rummaging around inside, the item he was looking for did not appear immediately.
There were too many small things.
After searching for a while, he finally found a very small, square, angular book.
"I found it."
He pulled the book out.
It was about the size of the palm of his hand, but even at a cursory glance, its title referring to the undead was clearly written.
He stretched out his arms as he lay on the bed.
Depending on the necromancer's capabilities, the scope of their ability to handle skeletons also varies. For example, an ancient necromancer is said to have created a skeleton with full cognitive abilities.
Once he started reading, his eyelids gradually became heavy.
"Oh...."
Before he knew it, the book was casually placed on the bed.
His eyes were also directed toward the ceiling.
He couldn't overcome his heavy eyelids and slowly closed them. He lost consciousness so quickly that he didn't even realize it himself.
***
The night darkened.
In the hallway of the inn, illuminated only by moonlight, one door opened with a 'screeching' sound.
It was the door to Theodore's room.
Theodore, who had hesitated for some time, moved toward the very last room.
After further hesitating for a while, he tried to cautiously knock on the door.
"Your Majesty, what are you doing here?"
He was stopped by Enoch's words.
There had definitely been no one there. While he had depended solely on the moonlight from the window at the far end of the hallway, there had been nothing to be seen.
He had been alert but hadn't felt anything.
Enoch had appeared in an instant.
"You little...….”
Theodore grabbed Enoch by the collar and pushed him against the wall.
Enoch was relaxed in spite of the tense situation. Rather, he spoke to Theodore as if he were putting on an exaggerated play.
"How can you do this to a butler? It's so scary.”
Theodore's expression became more distorted, but Enoch didn’t care.
Rather, he took on a more poisonous look.
"For a butler...… You have such hideous eyes? That's funny. What's your purpose here?”
Theodore's hand, which had been squeezing Enoch's collar, gradually tightened further.
He tightened his grip so much that a blue vein popped out on the back of Theodore's hand.
"What's my purpose? I'm just working under Duke Estella to make money."
Even though he was, obviously, being choked, Enoch did not shake off Theodore's hand.
He just remained calm and continued speaking.
"The duke is fast asleep."
Enoch raised one hand and placed it on the back of the hand that was clutching his collar.
With the intention of getting Theodore to release him, he firmly pressed Theodore's hand.
"If you have something to say, why don't you say it tomorrow?”
"Did you really stop me because you didn’t want me to wake Rosenta up?"
"I don't care if you suspect me, but...…. I'm concerned that the duke will wake up."
Enoch was clever.
He pretended to worry about Rosenta knowing it would convince Theodore to let him go.
Theodore clenched his teeth. His jaw stiffened.
"You...."
He roughly released Enoch's collar as if he were throwing it.
Although slightly reeling, Enoch quickly regained his balance.
Theodore kept glaring at Enoch, and turned away, leaving only a low warning.
"We'll see if that’s true."
Even though he must have heard it, Enoch didn't care.
He just leaned against the wall, watching Theodore return to his room.
Only after Theodore had disappeared, Enoch murmured as if to reply to his earlier words.
"We’ll see....”
He took off his monocle.
Standing there, was no longer Enoch Wolf, the neat butler.
Instead, there was something like a beast facing a rival who was aiming for something that belonged to him. He uttered what he hadn’t been able to say with a smiling voice.
"Try it if you can.