Felix asked casually, and Sophia quickly checked to make sure their mother had left the room.
“Felix, do you believe it?”
“Believe what?”
“That I’m engaged to the Duke.”
Felix’s hands, which had been playing the piano alone, suddenly stopped. He hadn’t expected her to bring it up so soon.
Sophia, who had been asleep for five months, didn’t know it—but the social scene was in chaos. Even Felix, who was hiding away in the remote mountains up north, had heard the news.
The Duke and the Count were working hard to deny the rumors for Sophia’s sake, but rumors are like spilled flour—once scattered, the more you stir them, the harder it is to see clearly.
The social world had split into exactly two camps.
One group viewed the story of the Duke and Sophia as something very romantic.
A woman who drank poison and fell into a deep sleep, and a man who stayed by her side every day. It was like a fairytale. Now that Sophia had even woken up, all the tragic elements had disappeared.
Sophia—the woman who melted the heart of the cold and distant Duke. People were eager to see how the two of them would appear together in public.
But of course, where there are good rumors, bad ones always follow.
Sophia was well-known in society, but her mother, Janel Hilden, had never been an influential figure. Since the Count had always been cautious in politics, Janel had followed his lead in social circles. People described her as “serious,” which was just a polite way of saying she had no real influence.
In other words, Sophia didn’t have much protection in society.
Everyone was curious—what exactly had happened that night between the Duke and Sophia Hilden?
No matter how carefully the Count and the Duke tried to handle it, they couldn’t erase the fact that the Duke had brought an unconscious Sophia to the Count’s mansion late that night.
Sophia and the Duke had been together late into the night.
Because of that, the words people whispered about Sophia were persistent and poisonous.
Felix wanted to protect his younger sister from all of that. But at the same time, he found it strange how calmly she brought up the Duke as if she had no idea what people were saying.
Sophia had always been someone who followed the latest gossip. She couldn’t possibly be unaware of how people saw her now.
“I’ve heard the Duke has been very devoted to you. Is he really good to you?”
Felix asked gently. Sophia thought of the Duke—his gentle behavior, his warm expression, and the kind attitude that still didn’t feel real.
“I don’t know. I think so, maybe.”
“‘Maybe’? Come on, it’s either yes or no. Whatever the case is, you can tell me. If it’s a forced engagement, I’ll do whatever it takes to stop it—even if it means throwing myself in the way.”
He spoke with a playful squint.
He spread his hands and began playing a slightly tragic serenade. It was a piece composed by someone who had lost his first fiancée to illness. Sophia gave Felix’s shoulder a firm whack.
“Are you telling me to die just like her?”
He smiled and replied,
“Of course not. But you know, after Fernandi lost his first fiancée, he ended up in a second engagement he didn’t want—just for money—and nearly lost all his musical talent. I just don’t want you to end up like that.”
“I don’t really have much talent to lose.”
“Sophia, you’re kind and clever. Everyone who meets you can’t wait to see you again. Isn’t that a talent too?”
At those sweet words, Sophia rested her head on Felix’s shoulder.
The truth was, she wanted to tell him. That the Duke scared her.
That whenever those blue eyes stared at her, no matter what expression he wore, it felt like her heart froze from the inside out.
But saying that out loud didn’t sound logical. It would just sound like the whining of a frightened child. Even if she told Felix or anyone else, the most they’d do is hold her hand and say, “You’re only feeling like this because everything changed so quickly. Spring came all of a sudden—you don’t have to get used to it right away. Just take your time.”
And though they wouldn’t say it, their eyes would still show it.
“Why did you do something so foolish, Sophia?”
Even in Felix’s loving and gentle attitude, Sophia could sense that subtle reproach.
With a sigh, she gave up and spoke.
“The truth is… I drank that night.”
“How much?”
“Enough that I can’t remember what happened after. I remember getting up to look for Solid, but after that, everything’s blank.”
“Hmm…”
He let out a short, unclear sigh. It sounded like he was disappointed that his sister had been careless enough to drink until she forgot everything. Sophia held Felix’s hand, which was still resting on the piano, and looked him in the eye.
“So, I want you to ask the Duke what really happened that night. You have the right to do that, don’t you?”
“Sophia.”
Felix called her name as if trying to stop her.
“The one who has that right is you, Sophia. Why haven’t you asked the Duke yourself?”
“I did.”
Or… did she? She had answered reflexively, but now she was confused. She had shown doubt about what happened that night. But when she asked, the Duke seemed surprised that she couldn’t remember, and he was so focused on worrying about her that he never really gave her an answer.
To him, “you confessed and drank the poison” seemed like a complete explanation. Maybe if she had been more direct, he would’ve told her more.
Seeing the confusion in her eyes, Felix gently patted the back of her hand.
“Then how about this? The Duke invited me this weekend—why don’t you come with me? I had a feeling he wanted me to bring you anyway.”
Sophia was shocked.
“He already invited you?”
“It’s not really ‘already,’ is it? You’ve been engaged to him for four months now.”
Sophia still looked like she couldn’t get used to that fact no matter how many times she heard it. Felix gently pinched her nose and let go.
“Ow!”
Sophia groaned, holding her nose.
“Get ready, Miss Honeybee.”
Felix said cheerfully as he smoothly stepped away from the piano and chair.
Felix liked to call Sophia “Miss Honeybee.” He loved telling the story of how she once got stung by a swarm of bees during a picnic when she was five after poking at a beehive—her face and body swelled up terribly.
“It’s funny. What could a five-year-old girl have been thinking to end up like that? She must’ve really been an adventurer.”
That was how Felix replied when she asked why he loved telling that story so much.
But Sophia thought it was just because that was the only story Felix could tell that actually got a reaction from people.
Everyone always laughed when they heard how Sophia became “Miss Honeybee.” They would joke with kind voices, saying things like, “Why ‘honeybee’ if she got stung? Did she become one of them?”
But the Duke’s face, as he listened to the story now, showed no emotion other than a polite smile. And this was supposed to be a “funny” childhood memory of his fiancée.
Well, the Duke hadn’t looked very pleased from the moment he saw Sophia arrive with Felix. Sophia noticed his brief blank expression before he put on that usual soft smile. That was enough for her to understand everything.
“Maybe coming here was a mistake.”
But Felix didn’t agree. When she whispered that, he even gently scolded her.
“Sophia, you’re being strange. Just how much more do you expect the Duke to welcome you?”
Sophia felt frustrated. ‘More’? There hadn’t even been a little warmth in his welcome. She wondered if the Duke had hinted something to Felix behind her back.
Yes—he must have. Felix wasn’t the type to open up easily, but somehow, the Duke had won him over.
They didn’t seem to have had much of a conversation. It had mostly been Felix talking nonstop. Sophia’s face even flushed a little because of how he kept going.
“By the way, I never expected the Duke to come all the way here.”
Trying to change the subject, Sophia spoke up. Felix had just been rambling about his studies—things no one cared about, like ancient history and undiscovered beings.
Sophia noticed the Duke’s slightly bored look—the same one she’d seen at the ball. She couldn’t understand how Felix, usually so quick to notice things, didn’t see what she had.
But just as she was about to speak, the Duke’s gaze turned fully to her—for the first time, or maybe the second, since entering this house.
