“Catherine.”

Catherine’s shoulders trembled at the low voice. She didn’t have the nerve to meet Chezare’s eyes, so she kept looking down.

“Raise your head,” he said.

She lifted only her eyes to glare at him and saw his typical sly, arrogant smile. Aside from her half-sister, this man was the most brazen and shameless person Catherine had ever met. But in the end, he was helping her.

It was difficult to define their relationship. To put it plainly, they were a homeowner and a shameless man, no more and no less. However, she couldn’t deny that they were together close to midnight. When considered in this light, Chezare’s solution wasn’t completely absurd. That’s how Catherine made sense of it all in the moment.

“He’s right... An interruption during a passionate night is most unpleasant,” Catherine said, attempting to keep her face stern for fear of being found out in her lie. At the same time, she slid the shovel into a corner with her foot. “I finally had a night to let loose,” she added.

The knights abruptly came to their senses and shut their mouths, looking as if they still couldn’t believe her existence.

“We’re terribly sorry.”

“Not to mention the fact that your boots are covered in mud,” she continued.

“We’re very sorry.”

“And it’s so difficult to clean mud while it’s raining.”

“We’re so sorry.”

Having to apologize to a woman of unknown status must have severely damaged the knights’ pride.

“Don’t you know how to say anything besides sorry?” Catherine asked.

“We’re so— We’ll be more careful.”

Catherine had asked the question out of genuine curiosity. As she looked at their faces, she started to feel like she should be the one to apologize. Wondering what to do next, she turned to look at Chezare, who seemed pleased, as though he’d found some exciting new toy. For some reason, the back of Catherine’s neck grew warm. Finally, Chezare unfolded his arms and spoke to the knights.

“Is there anything else you want to say, Sir Damian?”

“No.”

“No? I see you still haven’t come to your senses. Come see me before you finish your shift.”

From the knight’s pale face and unfocused eyes, Catherine could sense him screaming internally. I kind of feel bad for them now.

Chezare raised an eyebrow at the despairing knights. “What are you doing standing there staring?” he snapped. “If you’re done here, begone. We will be busy reigniting our night.”

Just like a fire in a hearth. After giving herself something else to think about, Catherine felt a little less embarrassed. Rather, she should be grateful it only took a bit of personal discomfort to get rid of the imperial knights. Even so, she still didn’t have the confidence to look at Chezare and smile.

The door opened, and the knights were gone in an instant. The only sound left in the hall with Catherine and Chezare was the rain. With fewer people, the room felt even darker than before.

“I think I’ve repaid you for rescuing me from freezing to death,” Chezare said in a perfectly calm voice. “In fact, I might have overpaid. Either way, it’s a good thing you didn’t swing that shovel at them. You seem to have underestimated them.”

With these words, he turned and started toward the drawing room. Catherine caught herself staring at his back and raced to catch up with him. As they entered the drawing room, which was cold now that the fire had burned out, she awkwardly said, “Thank you.”

The chessboard was still nowhere to be seen. Chezare approached the table and picked up the book lying there. In the dark, Catherine could just make out the cover. It looked familiar, but she couldn’t tell exactly which it was.

“I started reading this,” Chezare said, walking toward Catherine, who stood in the doorway. His face was so calm she forgot his earlier mischief.

“It was very interesting,” he continued. “I’ll be borrowing it for a few days. Don’t bother telling me I can’t, because I’m going to take it anyway.”

Catherine was going to tell him exactly that but closed her mouth again. She wasn’t even surprised by his brazen attitude anymore as he walked past her. Catherine turned to watch him go, but she found the hallway was empty.

“Chezare...?”

The only answer from the dreary house was the sound of rain. Catherine slowly walked toward the sofa. Now that everyone was gone, the space felt as quiet as could be. This was the one hard thing about living alone in such a large house. On occasions like this, waves of loneliness would sweep over her heart. Catherine tidied up the blankets and prepared to leave the drawing room.

“I almost forgot,” she heard a voice say. “What’s the rental period on this book?”

Chezare had reappeared right in the same spot. His light shirt and vest, and the strands of silver hair that fell across his forehead were all the same.

Catherine froze in place. She had the urge to run to him.

“Miss Panya?”

Catherine was pulled back to reality by his low voice. She quickly straightened up.

“Three days,” she answered.

It felt as though time had stopped. Even Chezare stood still. Catherine couldn’t be sure, but she felt his eyes were fixed on her.

A moment later, he turned and disappeared from view. Catherine knew he was gone, but that didn’t stop her from running out into the empty hall.

***

Though Catherine had spent the entire night tossing and turning, Rose was clearly in a good mood first thing in the morning. After a good night’s sleep, her face was flushed and her voice had a happy ring to it. If she knew what had happened while she slept, she would have passed out.

“Did you hear, miss?” Rose was always this excited when she picked up some interesting news from somewhere.

“Hear what?”

However, the maid looked even more excited than usual today. It seemed that on top of a good night’s sleep, something else had put her in a good mood.

“What did you hear that has you so excited?” Catherine repeated.

Rose hadn’t seemed this thrilled even when she announced that Sir Mel was actually over seventy years old or that the lady at the flower shop was having an affair. What had gotten Rose so excited she wouldn’t even tell Catherine?

“Well, they say Sir Percival is passing through!”

“Percival...?”

“Yes! Wait, haven’t you heard of the great paladin Sir Percival?”

Rose plopped into the seat next to her mistress and flipped open the newspaper, apparently looking for an article about the visitor. Watching her search, Catherine said in a small voice, “Of course I know about him.”

Anyone who had ever spent five minutes in town knew who he was.

Percival Benedicto Pahenrihin, beloved of the Vatican, the Paladin of the Lily, the Mad Dog. His nicknames were as many and varied as those of Grand Duke Christopher. A descendant of the royal family of Pahenrihin, he was the perfect man, lacking for nothing in status or ability. Also, when he fought in the demon hunts, he managed to lose only a handful of men, so he was also known as the Hero of the Vatican.

That’s what everyone thinks of him. However, the reality of the matter was different. The rumors about him couldn’t be further from the truth. Percival was no handsome mad dog—he was a mad dog who just happened to be handsome.

“He must be coming through Christopher on his way back from the demon hunt,” Rose babbled on. “Did you hear? Apparently, they defeated a really powerful demon.”

Catherine did remember hearing something about that.

“Well, that’s not something a normal person like me would know much about,” Rose continued, “but it sounds like Sir Percival is very sophisticated.”

“I wouldn’t say so,” Catherine replied. “He’s just handsome.”

“Have you seen him, then?” Rose asked, staring at her mistress with a sparkle in her eyes. “When did you see someone so famous? Please tell me everything. What is the Paladin of the Lily like in person?”

Upon hearing his title, it took all of Catherine’s strength not to gag. What kind of man was Percival? If she tried to explain everything, they’d be sitting there until nightfall. The first problem was that he didn’t deserve to be called the “Paladin of the Lily.”

“He’s just handsome,” Catherine repeated.

“They say his hair is the color of melted chocolate!”

“I don’t know about chocolate, but yes, his hair is brown.”

“And what about the vibrant rosy pink of his eyes?”

“His eyes are definitely red.”

“And his lips are so elegant and glossy that they make you want to steal a kiss?”

Catherine could only gape at the saccharine description that Rose seemed to be rattling off from memory.

“Where in the world did you hear all of that?”

As if waiting for this question, Rose spread the newspaper across the table. “It says all of that right here,” she replied. “He’s as elegant as a lily, and his hair, the color of melted chocolate, sweeps over the vibrant rosy pink of his eyes.”

That was all wrong. How could Rose just believe the ridiculous description of this man word-for-word from the paper? Because it was Rose, Catherine didn’t say anything, but she felt as though her ears were rotting away. She couldn’t help the feelings that were rising up in her.

Percival...

How many years had it been since she’d heard that name? She had forgotten him during those years in Orlean when she was trying to save herself from her stepmother. But now, the memories of their relationship, their meetings, and the way it all ended came flooding back.

Back then, she was much more immature and strong-willed. In Orlean, she’d suffered through her role as the eldest daughter, but things were different now that she had escaped outside. All the feelings she repressed at home came gushing out.

She had met Percival while she was still a foolish youth, yet her memories of their time together weren’t very clear. Similarly, the Catherine of his memories was likely as muddy as the banks of a lake after a rain.

No, perhaps he didn’t even remember her at all. Things hadn’t ended well for them, after all.

“May I go see the procession?” Rose asked, bringing Catherine back to the present. Rose’s dark eyes were sparkling with anticipation.

Catherine couldn’t say no to that face, although she didn’t understand what was so exciting about watching a paladin parade by.

“That’s fine.”

“Wow! Thank you, miss! They say the Vatican’s paladins are as tall and handsome as the imperial knights. It’ll be a feast for the eyes.”

So that’s why she was interested. Rose’s face gleamed with joy as visions of handsome men danced in her head.

Well, they are nice to look at. It wasn’t as though they would have to meet and talk or anything. At this moment, Catherine could truly appreciate the saying “ignorance is bliss.”