“What?”
Sophia thought she must have heard wrong and asked again. But the Duke looked at her without any change in expression.
“What if I really gave you a strange drug?”
“You did that to me?”
Sophia asked blankly. Then the Duke chuckled softly.
“I said what if.”
That laugh was once again so gentle. Sophia bit her lip and answered.
“Anyway, you didn’t do it.”
“There’s no what if?”
“No. There isn’t. You didn’t do it, so that’s that.”
“Hm.”
Instead of a reply, the Duke let out a vague hum. For some reason, Sophia felt like she was the one desperately trying to prove the Duke’s innocence.
“You really didn’t do it, right?”
Sophia asked again, narrowing her eyes and looking at him. The Duke gave a relaxed shrug.
“You said you trust me.”
“That’s because… you keep avoiding the question.”
“Did I?”
The Duke tilted his head slightly and smiled at her in a teasing way. His handsome face smiled so smoothly that Sophia, instead of getting angry, felt like laughing.
“Stop playing around.”
“Do I look like I’m playing around? Now this is what you call playing around.”
Then, acting childish, he flicked the oar, splashing water. When the cold water soaked the hem of her dress, Sophia flinched.
“Duke!”
“Oh, there you go again with that ‘Duke’ stuff. When will you finally call me by name? I call your name all the time.”
He splashed her again. This time, her shoes got wet too. Sophia couldn’t believe that the great Duke was doing something so childish.
“If you don’t stop, I’m going to take it away.”
She warned him sternly. But the Duke only smiled, as if daring her to try. That smile felt like a challenge to Sophia.
‘I will take it, no matter what.’
She glared at him, then suddenly reached out her hand. But all she caught was air and a bit of her pride slipping.
And then came a couple more miserable attempts. After those, Sophia found herself practically lying on the Duke’s knee.
That was why she finally stopped trying—because she had lost her balance and ended up pressing her hand against his knee.
“….”
Even as she touched his firm thigh, it didn’t feel human. She stared blankly. The Duke looked down at her with an expression that said he’d just watch how long she would keep touching him.
“Oh my!”
Sophia reacted a bit late and tried to get up. But she had forgotten she was on a boat.
Because of the rocking motion, she ended up falling into the Duke’s arms again. This time, she boldly grabbed his thigh with both hands.
Sophia’s face turned bright red.
“I didn’t mean to…”
She gave a weak excuse and looked up. There she saw the Duke’s blue eyes looking down at her with a noble expression.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been touched like this.”
The Duke said softly, and Sophia shouted with her red face,
“Touched? That’s not it!”
“Isn’t it?”
He tilted his head and gestured toward her hands, which were still on his thigh. Sophia quickly pulled them back and grabbed the side of the boat, but the shaking water wouldn’t let her stand properly.
“Of course not!”
Sophia shouted and quickly turned her head to look at the river. For such a wide river, the current felt strangely fast. She looked around, hoping to see how the others were doing. But then a hand grabbed her chin and turned her head back.
“Did I say you could look away?”
His hand wasn’t rough, but his fingers gently held her chin high. That look in his eyes—it made Sophia unsure if he was still just teasing her.
If the Duke hadn’t slightly smiled at her surprised eyes, she probably would’ve apologized. But at that moment, Sophia clearly felt the difference between them. Not just in status, but something much deeper that she couldn’t explain.
“Sophia.”
The Duke leaned his head closer to her.
“Usually, in this position, people kiss.”
But Sophia didn’t really believe he would kiss her. Somehow, it felt like he was doing this for someone else to see. As expected, when she stayed still, he stopped.
“Why are you just sitting there?”
“Please don’t mess around like this.”
The Duke looked bored.
“Then what do you want, Sophia? A serious prayer? A proper conversation?”
“A real connection.”
“Wow. You sure picked the hardest one.”
“How else can we understand each other?”
Sophia said. The Duke looked at her with that usual way he did when he thought she was being too young.
“You think love and understanding are connected?”
“Of course!”
This time, Sophia answered firmly, lifting her chin.
“Wanting someone is the same as wanting to understand them. But when only one person feels that way, it easily turns into something twisted. That’s why knowing each other’s true selves is the only way to have a real relationship.”
“That’s a good point.”
But the Duke responded with a bored tone, as if just being polite. Sophia caught on and asked sharply,
“You don’t agree?”
“Of course I agree with everything my fiancée says.”
Lies. He didn’t show the slightest interest in what she was saying.
“But you think I’m too idealistic and unrealistic, don’t you?”
Sophia replied smartly. She wasn’t hurt—she’d heard it many times before. But she was disappointed. She liked chasing ideals. She didn’t want someone dragging her down to ‘reality.’ Life already had plenty of that without needing extra advice.
Noticing her mood, the Duke let out a short, awkward sigh.
“But Sophia, I promise you—you’ll regret it.”
“Trying to see you as a person, not just a Duke?”
The Duke gave a light nod.
“Yeah.”
“Why? Because I’ll find out you’re worse than I thought?”
Sophia shot back, slightly angry. The Duke laughed, like her sharp words didn’t affect him at all.
“Everyone’s awful. Truly understanding someone is like going through hell. Love is just a game for people who enjoy illusions and vanity.”
“Don’t say disgusting things.”
Sophia replied sharply. The Duke calmly pulled her hand to his chest.
“Then can you be sure? That even if you find out what I’m really like, you won’t regret it?”
“….”
Their eyes met. Sophia saw something she couldn’t quite name under his gaze—something like a shadow beyond his dark pupils.
But she refused to back down.
“I’m tired of men like this. Pretending to have some great darkness inside, but when you look, there’s really nothing there. I’m old enough to recognize that kind of act. You picked the wrong person to scare, Duke.”
“…What?”
The Duke stared blankly at her, then burst out laughing. It was a clean, pure laugh—the kind he let out only when he was truly happy, like a boy.
“If you say so, then I’m relieved.”
He spoke after calming down. His face was still relaxed with traces of laughter.
“I was really, really worried… that you’d be scared of me.”
The Duke said gently. Sophia blushed as she looked at his dazzling smile.
After the short picnic on the boat, Sophia’s neck was burning hot. She thought it was still spring, but the heat of summer seemed to be slowly creeping in.
Because of the Duke’s prank, Sophia’s clothes were wet, so she headed back to the mansion’s sitting room to dry off. She remembered that, except in the peak of summer, that room always had a fire going even if no one was in it.
But just as she was about to open the door, she realized someone was already inside.
“Do you really think so? Still, she’s your sister’s friend.”
“She is, but she can still think that way. These days, Sophia just isn’t normal.”
It sounded like Ronald and Solid. Sophia stopped walking.
She couldn’t believe Solid was talking about her like that.
But thinking about it, she couldn’t blame her entirely. She had been running through the house saying there was a strange smell. And not just that—because of the strange dreams and the five months she had been asleep, she couldn’t focus during conversations.
She kept getting distracted, and even when she tried to concentrate, she only understood half of what people were saying. Society had changed a lot in five months—it was like a different world now.
Solid probably noticed that Sophia’s heart was no longer grounded like it used to be.
“I didn’t expect you to care this much about it, Ronnie. So you think Sophia is fine? Even though she ran around the house like that without shame? Didn’t I tell you? Sophia… Sophia tried to jump off the balcony.”
