Chapter 103
After hearing all the rumors, Adrian immediately threatened to tell their parents.
I barely managed to talk him down, and when we arrived home, Alferen was there to greet us.
“Hello, Delly?”
“Oh, Ren-oppa. What brings you here? Don’t tell me you came to see me?”
Rodellia approached him with a puzzled expression. He almost never visited without notice.
Alferen broke into a bashful smile.
“Yes. Of course I came to see Delly.”
“Don’t I even register to you?”
Adrian glared at him sullenly.
His mood was already soured from the unpleasantness at the exhibition, making his reaction even sharper.
Rodellia jabbed Adrian hard in the ribs and looped her arm through Alferen’s.
“How long have you been here? You should have let me know.”
“I just wanted to surprise you.”
Alferen’s gaze flicked toward Adrian.
He could tell the man wanted to say something, but he brushed it aside.
From his expression, it was obvious he had heard the rumors.
Just then, the Duke and Duchess, who had been about to leave the mansion, addressed Adrian.
“Good timing. We have somewhere to go—come with us.”
“Now?”
Adrian looked bewildered, but Kianu spoke with a stern face.
“No arguments. Come along.”
The unusually heavy atmosphere prompted Rodellia to ask,
“Oh—do I need to come too?”
She glanced back and forth between her parents and Alferen, whom she had only just reunited with.
Kianu replied,
“We can’t leave a guest alone. Our Delly should relax and rest.”
His voice was impossively warm—almost unbelievably so, considering how he had gritted his teeth at the mere mention of Alferen’s name until recently.
“Yes, Delly, stay and keep Alferen company. We’ll be back soon.”
Jasmine gently stroked Rodellia’s cheek with a kind smile, then dragged Adrian away.
“What could this be about?”
Her parents’ expressions were unusually grim.
Dragging Adrian along suggested it concerned family matters.
“Well, they’ll handle it.”
Shrugging off her worry, Rodellia turned to Alferen.
“So what should we do now?”
At that, Alferen smiled brightly and intertwined their fingers.
“It’s a beautiful day—shall we take a walk?”
Led naturally by his hand, Rodellia headed toward the garden.
It was the perfect chance to show him the garden she had poured such care into.
“Ever since I contracted with Ordel, the plants have been growing so much better.”
“It must be because the power that was blocked has fully opened up.”
“It’s amazing. If I practice more, I think I’ll be able to use it in real situations.”
Ever since discovering she possessed this special ability, she had practiced manipulating plants whenever she had a spare moment.
Making trees grow taller in an instant, things like that—it was more fun than she had expected.
“Last time, I grew a branch really long to fetch something far away.”
“That’s impressive.”
“Want me to show you something amazing?”
Excited, Rodellia stopped walking and pointed at the pond with her index finger.
In that instant, the water followed the motion of her finger, tracing a perfect semicircle before catching the sunlight and forming a rainbow.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
She looked up at him, cheeks flushed like a child seeking praise.
Alferen, who had never cared about rainbows to begin with, gazed steadily at her.
“Yes. Beautiful.”
“…”
“So beautiful, Delly.”
“I meant the rainbow.”
“And I meant you.”
Mimicking her words, Alferen leaned down.
As she naturally lifted her chin, their lips met.
Right at that moment—
Splash!
Rodellia lost control of the water in her excitement.
The two of them ended up soaked, looking like drowned rats.
“Oh no—sorry!”
Rodellia flailed in panic, but Alferen pulled her waist firmly against him.
His heated blue eyes were fixed on her. Rodellia’s eyelashes trembled with tension.
“Ren-oppa.”
“…Call me Alferen.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve always regretted letting you call me ‘oppa.’”
Alferen smiled wryly.
Only two people ever called Rodellia “oppa”: her real brother, Adrian, and the man standing before her.
Rodellia let out a soft laugh at the sudden correction.
Then, tracing his lips with her fingers, she whispered,
“What was there to regret?”
“That you don’t see me as a man at all.”
Alferen kissed the tips of her fingers.
“I see you as a woman.”
“…”
“That’s why it bothered me. I wanted you to feel me as a man, too.”
His lips brushed feather-light against her fingers, tickling them.
Rodellia welcomed the tender courtship and parted her lips.
“Alferen.”
The name she had only ever spoken in her heart slipped out softly, and his eyes shook fiercely.
It felt unfamiliar on her tongue. She called him again.
“Alferen.”
At the second call, he exhaled a heated breath and whispered,
“Yes.”
Then he broke into a wide smile, and Rodellia felt her breath catch.
She touched her chest and murmured,
“I don’t think the way we address each other matters. My feelings are completely different now from when I first called you ‘oppa.’”
“…”
“I want to be a woman to you, too. Which means… I see you as a man…”
Alferen listened quietly to her halting confession, then kissed her.
The words she had not yet finished scattered between their lips.
Silent affection gently enveloped them both.
For the past several days, Jessica had been swinging between heaven and hell.
The day she was introduced to Cesare.
In his bedroom, Jessica learned for the first time what it felt like to have her heart burst.
The large hand that covered hers while ostensibly teaching her piano.
The hot breath whispering in her ear.
The subtle, lingering touches eventually led her to surrender her innocence.
After that, every meeting with Cesare ended in his bedroom.
He was somewhat rough in bed, but afterward he was always tender.
She had thought he truly cared for her.
“How about dyeing your hair?”
“Pardon? Dyeing?”
“I think pink would suit you very well.”
The suggestive whisper triggered an instinctive revulsion.
She already knew the rumors circulating in the palace.
From that day on, Jessica’s mood swung wildly with jealousy toward Rodellia Peris.
The realization that Cesare saw her as little more than a substitute for Rodellia made her skin crawl.
That was why—in a fit of spite—she had badmouthed Rodellia Peris at every gathering.
“I never imagined the rumor would spread this far.”
It had taken wing and soared beyond even what a jealousy-blinded Jessica found frightening.
On top of that, Cesare still refused to give a clear answer about an engagement.
“But I didn’t lie! I said I saw it—Rodellia, that wench, coming and going from Cesare’s rooms.”
The pink hair she had glimpsed in his bedroom was proof.
She had also found women’s undergarments once, deepening her conviction.
Blinded by jealousy, Jessica confronted Cesare.
“Are you really seeing Rodellia Peris?”
“I’m not the type to devote myself to one woman. Didn’t you know that from the start?”
“Cesare!”
“Keep this up and I’ll grow tired of you.”
After that, Cesare began avoiding her.
Pleading and tears did no good.
Then one day.
Jessica burst uninvited into Cesare’s bedroom and saw it.
A pink-haired woman, completely naked, sharing his bed.
It was only her back, but it was unmistakably Rodellia Peris.
Cesare shielded the woman and spoke coldly.
“Barging into my bedroom like a stray cat. I’ll overlook it this once—don’t ever come again.”
Cut down by his curt words, Jessica fled without a single retort.
To add insult to injury, her father’s proposal for the harvest festival had been rejected.
“Go apologize at once!”
At her father’s command, she reluctantly sought help from Princess Nanael, but the response was merely formal.
