They say sleep is the best medicine, but for Sophia, waking up after sleep usually brought disaster.
Not only did her sudden engagement happen that way, but she also learned about Felix extending his time at the academy and Solid’s engagement—all right after waking up one morning.
Sometimes Sophia wondered if people made all the big decisions while she was asleep. Like how God changes out the moon and stars, maybe the threads of fate get tangled overnight and land on someone else’s life by morning.
If that’s true, then what shape was the thread of fate waiting for Sophia this morning? What was it made of?
“What is that smell?”
It clearly wasn’t anything good.
The moment she woke up, her day began with a terrible, nose-stinging stench. It was a rotten smell she had never smelled before. A horrible mix of rotting fish and decaying animal fat.
“What in the world is going on in this house to make it smell like this?”
Sophia jumped up and ran to where her perfumes were kept. She sprayed some on her wrist and frantically sniffed it. She sprayed five different perfumes like a madwoman and kept sniffing. Her maid looked at her with a dazed expression.
“What smell? The perfume you just sprayed smells worse.”
The maid opened the door to let out the overwhelming scent. She figured Sophia was up to one of her strange antics again.
The maid walked over and threw open the window. At that moment, Sophia covered her nose and gagged, running to the washbasin.
Startled, the maid just stared before rushing after her.
“Miss, are you all right?”
Of course she wasn’t. But Sophia realized from everything happening that she was the only one who could smell it.
If she made a big fuss, people would just think she was crazy.
Sophia pinched her nose, went back to bed, and buried her face in her pillow. Tears welled up from frustration. Why are all these weird things happening to me?
Maybe it’ll pass with time.
She tried to comfort herself by thinking it was just a side effect of the poison—that it would come and go.
But the smell didn’t go away. Her room was the worst, but even other places had some lingering odor. When she went near the kitchen, it was unbearable—far worse than her room.
Determined, Sophia soaked a handkerchief in perfume and held it over her nose and mouth. That seemed to help a little.
But now, she was just bothering others in a new way. This time, everyone covered their noses when they saw her.
“What on earth are you doing, Sophia?!”
The Count stood up with a newspaper over his nose.
“You didn’t even show up for lunch, and now you appear like this? Sophia Hilden, you’re getting more and more out of control!”
The Countess yelled while covering her nose with a handkerchief.
“Give me that handkerchief right now!”
Felix tried to grab the perfume-soaked cloth from Sophia.
“No!”
Sophia ran around the parlor to avoid him. The Medecia guests—Solid, Ronald, and Miss Woodridge—stepped aside slightly to let her pass, but couldn’t hide their shock.
“Sophia Hilden!”
Unable to take it anymore, the Countess called out loudly. Startled, Sophia tripped while jumping over an armless chair and fell, hitting her forehead on a desk leg. She lay on the floor, groaning and holding her head.
Her forehead turned bright red. The handkerchief fell out of her hand from the impact, and the Countess, overwhelmed by the terrible smell, sighed and motioned for the maids to open the windows.
The moment they obeyed and opened the windows, Sophia gagged again and collapsed onto the desk.
“Sophia!”
And that, of course, was how the Duke ended up coming back to the Count’s estate.
Sophia was quickly carried back to bed. The Duke arrived with a group of doctors and sat closest to her. The Count, Countess, Felix, four doctors, and Solid all gathered around her bed.
Sophia let out a sigh under all their serious and worried eyes.
“You’re saying you smelled something awful the moment you woke up this morning?” asked Doctor 1.
“Yes.”
Sophia nodded. Meanwhile, Doctor 2 and Doctor 3 were having a quiet but serious conversation, trying to guess what her condition was.
“Can you describe what the smell was like?”
“It was… like something dead. Like a rotting corpse.”
“There’s no actual corpse in this house, right?”
“Oh, goodness, of course not!”
The maids turned pale and replied before she could. The doctor cleared his throat and continued.
“Do you still smell it right now?”
“……”
Sophia had been answering smoothly—or at least, without much hesitation—until now. But at that question, she went silent. The others stared at her, wondering what was wrong.
Sophia, however, was looking at the Duke.
When they saw her look at him, everyone turned to the Duke, thinking maybe he had the answer.
“……?”
Dozens of eyes fell on him, and the Duke raised one elegant eyebrow in confusion.
But Sophia had a reason for looking at him.
She clearly remembered what happened when he arrived.
While she was holding back her gag reflex in that awful smell, the Duke came in—and just like how soap washes away grease, the smell disappeared the moment he stepped in.
That feeling—like being saved.
In that moment, Sophia had almost fallen in love. But it was only half salvation. First, because the Duke didn’t even know he had such an effect on her. And second, because the moment he left, the smell would come back.
“Miss Sophia? So… do you still smell it?”
Sophia hesitated.
When the Duke is here, it doesn’t smell. When he’s not, it does. So does that mean the smell is gone or not? Obviously…
“I do smell it.”
She wasn’t going to stay with the Duke forever, so she had to be honest and look for another solution. After her answer, Doctor 2 responded with a serious face.
“I see…”
“I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Maybe the poison you took before has affected your brain, particularly the part that controls your sense of smell.”
Doctors always explained things like that— “the center,” or “disrupted.” They liked the idea of something tiny throwing off something important.
The Count and Countess looked deeply troubled by the doctor’s serious explanation.
“So, what can we do?”
“Will my daughter have to live smelling that horrible stench forever?”
“We’ll give her medicine to numb her sense of smell for now. If she can’t smell anything, she should be able to endure it. But she also won’t be able to smell food or anything pleasant, which might make her lose energy…”
The doctor kept rambling. Sophia was just relieved to hear there was medicine. If there was medicine, then she wouldn’t need the Duke anymore—or so she thought.
But a few days later, Sophia realized she was completely wrong.
Even with her sense of smell dulled, the stench was so strong it still lingered faintly around her. Mealtime was especially hard. Everything she ate tasted awful. Whether it was crumbly or crunchy, it all felt like she was chewing on bugs.
In the end, Sophia couldn’t stand it anymore and started writing letters to the Duke.
—
To the Duke,
You haven’t visited the Count’s house in a while, and I’m worried. Is something wrong?
—
She didn’t send that one, thinking he’d just say he was fine and ignore it.
—
To Callas,
The chef is making my favorite dessert, so I was thinking of having tea…
—
She didn’t send that either. She couldn’t even smell food, so it felt too ridiculous.
What should she even write?
—
To Callas,
I miss you.
—
Should she send something like that?
Of course not. She crumpled it up and threw it away immediately. But strangely, she didn’t hear it land on the floor.
A chill ran down her spine.
She suddenly remembered an old ghost story from childhood—about a demon who sometimes stood behind you and caught the things you threw.
Her eyes darted around, and she slowly turned her head.
And there he was. Leaning against the wall with broad shoulders, a strong build, a perfectly sculpted face, neat blond hair, and blue eyes.
Sophia squeezed her eyes shut.
“I wish it really was a demon instead.”
In the Duke’s hand was the very letter she had just thrown.
