A sharp voice echoes through the frozen air.
“I’m asking who you are.”
At his thunderous question, Rose’s hand began to tremble.
“I, I am…”
Even in the darkness, one could feel the frail body shaking.
If it had been someone other than Clayton here, they would have felt pity. But unfortunately, it was Clayton who was here.
Clayton, with his face scrunched up, shook off Rose’s hand he was holding and stood up. Then he threw open the curtains.
As unpleasant light poured in, it fell upon the woman who had been hidden in darkness.
“You…”
Clayton’s face gradually hardened as he carefully examined the woman’s face in the light.
A face and red hair identical to the Rose Hertz he knew. Anyone would see it was Hertz herself.
However, the more closely he looked, the more differences from the Rose Hertz he knew became apparent.
Eyes set slightly lower and an overall thinner frame.
She was a completely different person from the Rose Hertz he knew. And the woman before him now was probably…
“Rose Hertz.”
The real Rose Hertz. And the identity of the one he had thought was Rose Hertz until now…
There was only one person in the world who looked so identical to the real Rose Hertz as to be indistinguishable.
Rose Hertz’s twin brother who was said not to be in the Empire.
That bastard was the only one.
Clayton’s gaze moved past Rose to the broken frame on the table.
In the happy family photo, the faces of the close twin siblings caught his eye.
It was widely known that Lloyd Hertz had enrolled in an academy on the eastern continent upon the death of the Count and Countess.
This was one of the long-standing traditions of the Hertz family, to prevent him from seeing up close what his sister would endure after being summoned to the Sayer ducal family.
That way, he wouldn’t think of rebelling against the Sayer ducal family out of familial affection.
But ignoring that tradition, Lloyd had been living in the capital, evading the eyes of the Sayer family. And pretending to be Rose at that.
‘Damn it.’
He bit his lip at the unbelievable situation, even having confirmed it with his own eyes.
“You completely played me.”
A fire ignited in his eyes. He couldn’t shake the feeling of being deceived.
“…Lloyd Hertz.”
As Clayton uttered Lloyd’s name, Rose’s face, which had barely been holding up, completely crumbled.
She clung to Clayton’s sleeve as he moved away from her.
“Du-Duke. My, my brother had no choice but to pretend to be me in place of sick me! He wasn’t trying to deceive you, he was just trying to save me…!”
But before Rose could finish her cry, Clayton’s face twisted.
“…Save you? Why. Are you saying you’d die if you came to me? Because I’m a monster?”
“Th-That’s not it…!”
The more Rose spoke, the more the tangled thread was being driven to an extreme situation where it could only be cut rather than unraveled.
Tears began to well up in Rose’s eyes at the man’s gaze, devoid of any mercy.
“So.”
Leaving Rose, who looked like she would burst into tears at any moment, behind, he asked in a chilling voice.
“Where is Lloyd now?”
“L-Lloyd isn’t in the mansion right now.”
“Then send people out immediately, or go look for him yourself, and bring that bastard before me right n…”
Just as he was about to unleash his pent-up anger at Rose, who was just vaguely crying.
Something flashed in Clayton’s mind.
‘I wonder if Dalia knows?’
The fact that the Rose he knew was actually a man. But soon after, Clayton let out a bitter laugh.
There was no way Dalia could know something he himself hadn’t known for years.
Yes, surely there was no way, but…
What if.
‘What if it’s something Dalia already knows?’
If Dalia knew Lloyd was a man and was close to him because of that.
If that’s why they were meeting secretly, avoiding people’s eyes?
Confusing thoughts began to infiltrate his mind, which had been filled with anger.
When emotions that were difficult to put into words came rushing in like a flood.
Clayton muttered with a calmer expression than before.
“No.”
Though his face was calm, the veins on the back of his hand clenching his fist stood out as if about to burst.
“Don’t tell Lloyd. Don’t tell him that I found out about your secret.”
“…Pardon?”
Rose raised her head at his suddenly changed attitude.
“What do you mean by not telling Lloyd…”
Clayton, who had been staring into space, lowered his head and met Rose’s eyes.
“If you want to save your brother, keep your mouth shut.”
Rose Hertz.
As he muttered a low warning.
* * *
Under a sky rippling with sunset colors, the carriage carrying Dalia entered the mansion grounds. And Dalia, sitting inside, apologized carefully to Samantha.
“I’m really sorry about today. I promise I’ll never do it again!”
It was an apology for sneaking out of the clinic silently once again. But Samantha looked at Dalia with disbelieving eyes.
“I must have heard those words at least three times already. Really, if you had appeared any later, I would have notified the mansion.”
Though Dalia felt a bit wronged at Samantha’s reproach, what could she do? It was her own fault for not being able to refuse. As long as Clayton didn’t know about this, it would be fine.
“You’ll really keep this a secret from the Duke, right?”
“Of course. If the Duke finds out about today, our salaries being cut would be the least of our worries.”
Samantha shuddered as if the very thought was terrifying.
“Don’t worry. As long as the three of us keep our mouths shut, the Duke will never know.”
Just as Dalia answered in a triumphant voice, the carriage came to a stop, seemingly having arrived at its destination.
Perhaps because the issue weighing on her mind had been resolved well, Dalia’s face was full of bright smiles as she got out of the carriage.
And there was someone watching Dalia – it was Clayton.
He was quietly gazing at Dalia’s face visible through the window.
The woman’s face, smiling brightly without knowing anything, was reflected in his eyes.
The radiant smile she rarely showed in front of him was being carelessly given even to a maid.
‘Dalia.’
She was his wife, and his person no matter what happened.
Yet why did he feel like he was the person furthest from her in this mansion?
The same question had been lingering in his mind for the past few days.
At the same time, unresolved thirst began to irritate his nerves.
He was holding back with all the self-control he could muster, but his current state was no different from a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.
He had gone to defuse the time bomb, but ended up lighting the fuse instead.
His insides churned with rising irritation.
‘Lloyd Hertz.’
As he recalled the face of the one who had deceived him all this time, he remembered the scene he saw in the carriage a few days ago.
The sight of Lloyd following Dalia into the place she had entered.
No sooner had he recalled that scene than the whiskey glass in his hand shattered with a crack.
Crimson droplets of blood fell from his palm, cut by the broken glass shards.
Jason, who had been watching the Duke from behind, flinched but couldn’t easily approach him.
His instincts were telling him that the current Duke should not be touched under any circumstances.
So, as Jason was staring at the floor and swallowing dryly.
A low voice pierced his ears from above.
“Jason.”
“…Yes!”
“Tell the Hertz family.”
“Wh-What…”
Having just come from the Hertz family, what more could there be to tell? Jason looked at his back with a puzzled gaze.
“That we’ll be keeping Rose Hertz here for the time being.”
But that gaze soon turned to shock.
Bringing Rose Hertz into the mansion?
“Du-Duke, what do you mean…”
“The women of the Hertz family have lived in the annex for generations anyway. What problem could there be?”
His words were correct.
The Sayer family had taken the blood of the Hertz family’s daughters for generations, and had prepared quarters in the annex to hide them from people’s eyes.
But there are no eternal secrets in this world.
It rode on rumors and went over the walls, and because of that, endless scandals still followed the Hertz and Sayer families like a tail.
“But Duke, how do you plan to explain this to the Madam?”
This decision was tantamount to confirming the rumors that had been circulating implicitly between Hertz and Clayton.
And if that happened, the one who would be hit hardest was none other than Dalia.
That’s why Jason carefully asked Clayton again, but there was no answer.
The opinions of others were not important to the current Clayton.
The only thing he wanted to know was the answer.
‘Does Dalia really…’
The answer to whether she knows Lloyd’s true identity.
So he decided to wait quietly after throwing out the bait.
Like a predator waiting for the optimal moment before hunting its prey.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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