Aphra told Rosenta about what had happened.
Then he went back to his room, shivering as though he had the chills.
Watching his retreating figure, Rosenta was sure that the man with the nasty demeanor and rude mouth that Aphra had encountered would be Lysander Marigold.
"Why was he here?"
‘This was my fault.’
Because he had only thought about sending off Vivian, he hadn’t thought about Lysander.
Vivian's older brothers are famous for being fools for her, but they wouldn't have left the Magic Tower because of her.
‘Then why is he here…….’
‘Ah. Signs of a mage who broke into the estate not too long ago.’
"Was it Lysander's work?"
Perhaps, after hearing Rosenta’s murmur, Enoch, who had been guarding the corner of the office, walked out.
He then stopped right in front of the desk where Rosenta sat with a smile that didn't look pleasant.
"Now, who is Lysander? The duke is so popular; it makes me so tired."
"Why does my popularity make you tired?"
“……I don't know. Why is that?"
Enoch put on a secretive smile as if asking because he didn't know it.
Rosenta got up and turned his head, indicating that he didn’t want to argue.
Then he approached the window.
There was no special view. The only thing to be seen out the window was people working.
He spoke to Enoch, gazing at the outside scene for no particular reason.
"Yesterday...….”
In the original book, Lysander was a dog that worked for Enoch.
He was also the older brother of the villainess Vivian and was also another villain working for the dark side.
He was also a person who reached a fairly high position in the Magic Tower.
When he’d met Rosenta as a child, he wasn’t all that sensitive to magic, so there was no way he would have noticed his true identity.
It could have been different this time.
Now, without Enoch, he has reached a higher position in the Magic Tower…….
"What is the possibility that the intruder on the top floor yesterday was a mana-sensitive person?"
Rosenta bit his lower lip and waited for Enoch's answer.
And Enoch answered very firmly, as if he knew how Rosenta felt.
"0."
"Why?"
"In the first place, mana-sensitive people aren’t common, and there’s no way someone who was sensitive would use magic so sloppily."
Rosenta felt a force holding his wrist. The force forced his body to turn.
Enoch's face appeared right in front of him.
Enoch pressed his thumb against the bottom lip Rosenta was biting. The touch made Rosenta feel tingly.
"So don't be anxious."
“……I've never been anxious."
"Ah, that's right. You've never been anxious. I’m the one who’s anxious.”
The touch that tickled Rosenta’s lips crept up to his cheek.
Then a finger slipped into his ear and into the back of his hair. It was such a wild hand.
Every part of its journey was tingly.
Flinching, without even realizing it, Rosenta’s body shivered.
"I'm nervous. What you can see with your eyes...… I'm afraid others will see it too."
‘Ah.’
As he was absentmindedly engaging in skinship with Enoch, he remembered what he had heard from Vivian earlier.
Clearly, he just received this kind of touch without any hesitation.
It was Enoch’s influence.
As soon as he noticed it, he didn't want to continue feeling this strange feeling.
"Put your hand down."
As soon as he heard Rosenta, Enoch's expression cracked.
In some ways, it could have sounded like a tactless remark that broke this strange atmosphere.
Enoch shouted, frowning as though he were dumbfounded.
"All of a sudden?"
Rosenta pretended not to notice and pulled Enoch's hand out from the back of his head.
Then he raised Enoch’s hand. So that Enoch could see very clearly.
"I rather want to ask. Who is the owner of this hand that suddenly touched my head?"
“……Hmm. It's my hand."
"I'm glad, I almost couldn’t tell.”
Was it because he heard Enoch's answer, ‘There is no possibility that he noticed, right?’
Rosenta felt more relaxed than before and was even comfortable enough to joke. A smile even settled upon his mouth.
‘Well, I did make a promise. Above all, I feel like it.’
He called out to Enoch who had one eyebrow nervously raised up.
"Enoch."
Enoch did not respond. He just looked at him with a relaxed posture, as if to tell him that he was offended.
But Rosenta didn't care too much about his bad posture.
"Sit down."
‘Because I know that if I say this, he’ll come running like a dog.’
***
Rosenta brushed Enoch's hair non-stop. He felt like he’d been brushing for an hour, even though the 30 minutes he’d actually been brushing was also too long.
Still, Enoch asked for more.
"A little more."
At first, Rosenta several more times brushed, but he had reached his limit.
He placed the brush on the dressing table to signal that he couldn’t do it anymore.
"No more."
“……ok."
Enoch backed off more easily than he thought. No, he didn't back down.
Enoch rose from his seat and came up behind him. Then he pushed him slightly.
As if he were going to sit him at the dressing table this time.
"What are you doing?"
"Duke, I want to brush your hair.”
‘What on earth are you trying to make me do?’
He obediently sat down in the chair, but he crossed his arms as if he didn’t trust him.
Reflected in the mirror, he could see a serious glow in Enoch’s light green eyes.
He seemed too serious to just be brushing hair.
After much thought, Enoch managed to finally start brushing Rosenta’s hair, and even that was really funny.
It wasn’t a deep brushing, but an airy brushing on the surface.
"Is this what you call brushing?"
"What if I do it too hard and it hurts.”
It wasn’t Enoch’s usual way of speaking.
Maybe that's why Rosenta thought that he was cute for the first time in his life.
He put his hand over Enoch's with a slight smile.
And he brought a good brushing to his hair and demonstrated how to brush it gently.
"It doesn't hurt at all."
He saw Enoch's face through the mirror. For some reason, he looked dazed.
"Enoch?"
"I love the reward today."
‘I can't believe you like me brushing your hair for a while this much.’
"As long as you listen...….”
Maybe it was because Rosenta thought he was a pretty easy guy to handle that he blurted out something unnecessary.
"I’ll reward you with brushing like this from now on."
Rosenta slowly removed his hand which had been placed on the back of Enoch's hand.
Enoch's eyes gradually narrowed.
"Do I look like a person who will be satisfied with just brushing your hair?"
Then, he put the brush he was holding on the dressing table.
Enoch reached out his hand towards him.
Rosenta sat still as he watched, hoping to see what Enoch was going to do.
"You know what? Just now...….”
He squeezed Rosenta’s hand that was on his knee.
Rosenta quietly looked in the mirror.
In the mirror, he could see himself with one hand being raised by Enoch.
"It was the first time the duke properly took my hand first.”
Enoch held his and Rosenta’s hands together and he slowly put his face to the back of Rosenta’s hand.
His lips did not touch.
Enoch stopped moving just before making contact.
He looked up at the mirror and smiled stickily, making eye contact. as if to seduce him.
"Brushing is just a means of making contact with the duke. If I told you what I actually wanted, you’d be alarmed.”
Enoch placed his lips on the back of Rosenta’s hand.
Rosenta felt something moist.
He only felt it briefly before Enoch immediately pulled his lips away again.
Enoch pulled his hand out of Rosenta’s hand with a racy touch as if he were stroking his knuckles.
"So...… Don't provoke me by saying you’ll do what I want."
***
Theodore was out of his mind.
It was quite overwhelming to take on the backlog of work all at once.
When he’d heard the news about the Pope and that Yura had been waiting for him, he became so tense that he broke his pen.
First, Theodore went to the castle where Yura stayed to see her.
The maids working there greeted Theodore with surprise.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
"Where is the saint?"
"Well, she's in the garden."
Under the guidance of the maids, he headed to the garden where Yura was located.
The moment Theodore saw Yura, he stopped breathing.
The black hair swaying in the wind was very beautiful.
It was an abstract but beautiful sight, like a night seen during the day.
Then Theodore was appalled.
"Rosenta."
Suddenly he came back to his senses.
When he recited Rosenta’s name, Theodore's trembling heart seemed to settle as though it had all been a lie.
"Your Majesty! I missed you!”
Yura, who was among the flowers, ran toward Theodore.
But Theodore's focus was not on her, but on someone who wasn't here.
Yura was in Theodore's arms.
"Where on earth were you? Conitel left for the Holy Land...…. Oh, I can't say anything about it yet."
Yura hurriedly covered her mouth. She scratched her red cheeks and looked cute.
Theodore nodded roughly and spoke roughly.
"It's fine."
"Oh, that's a relief. It's been a while since you last visited. Can you spend some time with me?"
Yura twisted her body as if she was embarrassed and twirled her hair.
Everyone gasped with admiration. Except Theodore.
“……Let's do that."
He tried to answer that he was busy, but he answered as if he were possessed by the black eyes facing him.
‘Oops’ thought Theodore.
But since he answered, he followed Yura’s lead and headed to the tea table.
Instead, whatever Yura said, Theodore kept calling someone else’s name in his mind.
It was as if it was a spell.
"Rosenta."