“Madam, are you here today too?”

“Hello Sir Laurent, you’ll catch a cold if you do that.”

His hair is wet as if he had been splashed with water after training.

“No, wait, Laurent. How could you in front of Madam...”

The knights following him hurriedly stopped him. They seemed to think that their appearance was not worthy of being seen in front of the Marchioness.

I took a towel from the closet and threw it at him.

“Don’t worry, I won’t nag about the appearance of the gentlemen’s private time. You should dry it well though.”

“Oh, thank you.” Laurent lightly snatched the thrown towel. He said, “Still, I won’t catch a cold just because of this.”

“If you are young and careless, you will be in big trouble.”

Some of the knights behind him briefly laughed, as if my words were funny.

For some reason, after the kidnapping incident, the knights’ vigilance softened a little.

I don’t know, but I think I left a good impression that I didn’t give up on Aren until the end.

Of course, it wasn’t to the level of being comfortable like when I was with Hillis or Laurent.

“Madam, have we done anything to offend Master lately? I think I’m going to die from training.”

“That’s right.. could you possibly know the reason?”

They have now reached the stage where they whine and ask me for favors.

When I heard that, I felt complicated.

I’ve been avoiding him as much as I can these days.

“Well, I haven’t talked to Rupert lately either.....”

In an instant, the knights’ expressions became the same, as if to say I was the cause.

I quickly made up an excuse. “It’s not because of me. We didn’t even fight!”

“Really?”

“I’m serious. Besides, your master isn’t the kind of person who can’t tell the difference between public and private, is he? I’m sure he increased the intensity of the training for some reason.”

The knights looked at me skeptically.

“Well...”

Are you sure you guys are loyal to Rupert?

In the meantime, a maid carefully entered the infirmary.

“Excuse me, madam.”

“Yes?”

“The Marquis in the office—”

“I’ll go right away.” I didn’t even have to listen to the end.

“.....”

The knights looked at me with glistening eyes saying, ‘As expected, you are the cause!’, and I dashed out.

I was lost in thought as I walked down the hallway.

‘I can’t ignore it.’

In fact, I don’t want to see him right now.

Eventually, I quietly opened the door to the office.

There’s only Rupert inside.

‘Where’s Ordin?’

I don’t want to be alone with him.

That grumpy aide is not there when he’s really needed!

“Noel, you’ll hurt your hand if you do something wrong.”

Umm, seeing that you’re worried, I don’t think it’s dangerous.

I approached him cautiously and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Michael Berris is coming.”

....yes?

“The day before I left the capital, His Highness the Crown Prince told me.”

“Hm...”

“I heard that he will voluntarily assist in the mass production of a new medicine.”

It’s sudden but touching news.

‘Michael.. As expected, my angel.’

He will certainly help a lot.

“Then he’ll be staying for quite some time.”

I need to organize the guest room in advance.

‘I’m glad it’s good news.’

I immediately turned around and was about to leave, but Rupert rose from his seat.

“Where are you going, Noel?”

Suddenly, I felt the ambient temperature drop by 2 degrees.

“I haven’t even started the main topic yet.”

It is a sign that something is about to happen.

I smiled as brightly as I could.

“..isn’t that the main topic?”

“No, that’s just a bonus.”

‘You mean Michael is a bonus?!’

But there’s no time to argue now.

If I don’t escape immediately, the chance of escape is zero!

“I just remember I have something to do, so bye.”

I ran like a squirrel and grabbed the doorknob.

‘Okay, open it and escape!’

-thud.

However, Rupert approached and pressed the slightly moving door.

At the same time, my hopes died down.

“You will get hurt if you rush like that.”

-click! click! click!

No matter how much I turned the doorknob, the door did not budge. Damn it.

“A-are you using your strength in a mean way?”

“Are you going to sneak away?”

I shouted shamelessly, “Then let’s talk again next time!”

Of course he didn’t agree.

“My wife is trying to run away with her brazen speech skills.”

Door in the front, Rupert in the back. Trapped in the middle, I’m in a quandary.

In the end, I shouted desperately while gripping the doorknob firmly. “What do you want!”

“Your answer to my last question.”

“Question? Oh, I don’t remember a thing. I recently went through something scary and I have temporary memory loss...”

Rupert replied incredulously, “It was several days after you woke up when I asked the question.”

“I don’t remember!”

“You really.. No, you can’t get involved.”

Sheesh, that’s too bad.

“Okay, I’ll ask you again and again.”

The momentum has changed.

Even though I desperately turn away from him, I feel intimidated.

“My clever and impudent wife.” His voice became lower and lower. “Normally, humans can’t trace the smell of perfume.”

His breath brushed against the nape of my neck, causing the hairs on my neck to stand up.

“But how could you think that I could come after you if you sprayed perfume in the mountains? I wish you could tell me why.”

***

Rupert had one question since he saved Noel.

How could his wife think he could track her down by smelling the perfume she sprayed?

His conclusion to the question was ‘She knows something.’

‘Exactly how far and what she knows is the question.’

Rupert is always looking for a way to get rid of his curse. He couldn’t help but keep an eye on her who seemed to know something.

But at the time of her rescue, he was even surprised by Noel, so he asked after a few days when she calmed down.

“Noel, how did you get the idea to spray perfume?”

“Ah.”

It seemed that she couldn’t think of anything to say, so she kept avoiding him.

From that day on, Noel slipped away from being alone with him.

But she didn’t seem to be afraid of his serious questioning.

However, she had a confused look on her face. Rupert waited for her for several days, thinking that he should give her time to organize her thoughts.

After that, she visited Aren in the infirmary regularly, and she began not to come near him.

Rupert, who slowly grew dissatisfied with the situation, eventually decided to face her one-on-one.

Now is the time.

After wrestling for a long time in front of the door, Noel sulkily sat down on the sofa in the living room. All avenues of escape are blocked.

“..what will happen to me in the future?”

Rupert was amazed at how she spoke like someone who had been taken prisoner.

“Nothing. I am just asking.”

She has a disgruntled face.

“After all the secrets are blown, isn’t it usually going to end with a gunshot, bang! Sigh.”

Of course, he couldn’t have known a scene from an espionage movie playing in his wife’s head.

“You didn’t seriously avoid me all this time because you thought I would do anything bad, right?”

She couldn’t deny it. If she was really afraid of the aftermath, she would have packed her things a long time ago.

“Well.. that’s true.”

Noel lightly affirmed.

If he had tried to hurt her in the first place, he shouldn’t have saved her when she was kidnapped.

‘But he worked hard to save me.’

After that incident, there was a certain trust in him.

‘Rupert wouldn’t hurt me even if I knew about his curse.’

Then there is no need to avoid further conversation on this subject.

Talking openly would be a quicker solution.

‘I know.’

“Just.. since you’re usually extremely sensitive to signs and sounds, your sense of smell must be excellent―”

“Isn’t that an excuse that was made up too roughly? There are a lot of gaps.”

She couldn’t deny it.

“Haha.....”

What should I do?

Noel looked at Rupert and was troubled.

‘It doesn’t matter if I tell you what I know, but revealing the source is the thing.’

I can’t say I read it in a novel.

Noel, deep in thought, asked, “Rupert, do you trust me?”