Fear and Love Tremble in Sync
“Mmm…...?”
Angela clung to Bianca’s arm and curled her body inward.
“Why are you doing this?”
“I don’t know. Suddenly it got cold. Did I catch a cold?”
Bianca looked at Angela for a moment, then gave an utterly practical answer.
“...Would you mind stepping away a little?”
“Why?”
“To prevent the cold from spreading, of course.”
Even ordinary people knew that diseases could pass to those nearby.
They understood the cause as bad air or poison, yet the basic truth remained intact.
The closer one drew, the more likely the spread.
At those words, Angela froze solid.
“Uh, uh?”
“L-Let go of me now.”
“Ugh...”
Angela was a kind soul.
She had no intention of passing on her illness, using a cold as an excuse while clinging to someone.
So she obediently released her hold.
And only then did realization dawn.
“Oh no. If that’s the case, I could have kept pretending ‘I’m not actually sick’ and stayed close.”
But it was too late.
The opportunity had slipped away across a river.
*****
“Is that all for today’s business?”
“There is plenty of business. However, we will surely discuss it again in the future. It would be best if you conclude today.”
“Yes. There’s another visitor besides me.”
Ruang remembered Bianca waiting outside.
Giovanni hadn’t forgotten either.
Only the fact that a member of the Lascaci family had come in person still felt slightly unbelievable.
“I never expected a Lascaci family member to come directly.”
“Does the Goldren family have no ties to the Lascaci family?”
“We do purchase goods. Mostly premium items crafted by Angela.”
Giovanni explained briefly.
Old noble houses like the Lascaci typically ran their own trading companies.
They procured necessities through their own people rather than openly dealing with newcomers.
“And instead of sending direct servants, we’ve sent our company staff. It means they didn’t want to create a connection with us, correct?”
“Do high nobles generally do the same?”
“...Yes, that is so.”
Although Giovanni was a noble, his family was not recognized as a proper one.
In truth, they had received a barony from the previous emperor.
But from the nobles’ perspective, they were simply new parvenus with a heavy scent of gold.
For a Lascaci daughter to visit such a house personally made this visit sufficiently unusual.
‘It can’t be only because of the goods.’
Ruang thought so.
Bianca was quite an unusual person.
Coming herself to apologize for her mistake.
Even in modern times, people who couldn’t admit their own errors were everywhere.
Nobles were even worse.
In a world obsessed with authority, dignity, and power, those who lowered their heads to acknowledge mistakes were extremely rare.
In that regard, Bianca was not, at least, an ordinary noble.
—Knock knock
“My lord, the two guests have been brought.”
“Enter.”
The door opened and Bianca with Angela entered.
They had separated their hands.
Moreover, Angela stood awkwardly as if trying not to get close to Bianca again.
She looked like strangers at first glance.
‘Are they pretending on purpose?’
Ruang accepted it as Bianca’s calculation.
It seemed like a move to hold an extra card by hiding her closeness to Angela.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Bianca Lascaci, daughter of the Marquis Lascaci.”
“How do you do? I am Giovanni Goldren, head of the Goldren family.”
The two exchanged short greetings and sat down.
Angela hesitated briefly before sitting on the sofa a little farther away.
Ruang found the sight oddly concerning.
Just moments ago she had clung tightly to Bianca’s arm like a puppy, now standing at a distance.
Was the word to step away so shocking?
Giovanni paid no great mind to his daughter’s awkwardness.
He had never properly taught her etiquette.
Nor had he hired a tutor, and he himself was not well-versed in proper noble manners.
So he had no grounds to scold her here.
“What brings you here today?”
“It was to have a private conversation with Miss Angela for a moment.”
A private conversation.
Meaning something light and personal that need not be aired before others.
Giovanni did not press further.
Instead, he naturally suggested the next step.
“The dinner hour is approaching. Would you care to join us?”
“I would be grateful if invited.”
“I’m fine as well.”
Bianca replied with proper courtesy, and Ruang accepted too casually.
But Giovanni showed no concern and ordered the servant to prepare additional portions for two.
“While the meal is prepared, shall we take a stroll through the garden?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Very well.”
As the two stood, Angela quickly tried to rise as well.
But Giovanni caught her.
“Angela, stay here.”
“Huh?”
“Sit down.”
“Yes...”
In the end, only Angela remained inside while Bianca and Ruang followed the servant outside.
At the moment they passed the doorway, Bianca realized belatedly.
“Eh... Just a moment. Are we only going to the garden with Prince Ruang?”
Angela, who had been jumping and clinging like a puppy moments ago to draw attention, was now locked inside the room like a lamb.
The servants stood a safe distance away in the garden.
They showed no interest in eavesdropping on their master’s guests.
Of course, they would hear screams if raised.
The problem was that Bianca had imagined that the very moment she screamed, she might actually need to scream.
That alone sent a chill down her spine.
“Why are you doing that?”
Ruang, who had been touching flowers, turned and asked.
His touch was astonishingly gentle.
He did not even drop a single petal.
Thanks to the extreme training of his fingertips while handling swords.
Bianca suddenly recalled.
The hands that had once gripped her shoulder felt far firmer and rougher than expected.
With such hands, they could caress flower petals without leaving a single scratch.
That fact oddly felt more dangerous.
“Ah, that’s...”
Bianca tried to find another topic by glancing around aimlessly.
But Ruang rose from his seat and slowly approached her.
“Eh? Eh? Why?”
“Why did you step backward?”
“That’s... Suddenly you came close...”
Each time Ruang took one step forward, Bianca retreated one step.
Slowly, but clearly.
After repeating this several times, when Ruang’s hand reached toward her, Bianca finally squeezed her eyes shut.
“If you back up more, you’ll prick yourself on the bushes.”
“...Ah.”
Ruang’s hand touched not elsewhere but Bianca’s waist.
He drew her toward himself.
Bianca turned back in haste to see the garden bushes neatly trimmed at right angles.
The ends of the freshly cut branches were sharp.
With just a little more, she would have scratched her skin.
“Thank you...”
“Surprisingly sharp.”
When Bianca looked back after hearing that, a thin red line was drawn across the back of Ruang’s hand.
A bead of red blood had formed.
Bianca was startled and reached for her handkerchief.
“What are you doing? Cleaning the blood and treating the wound—”
“It’s healed.”
“Huh?”
When Ruang wiped the blood from his fingers, the wound beneath had already vanished.
Not a trace remained.
As if he had never been cut at all.
Bianca stared blankly at the back of his hand.
The blood was real.
Yet the wound was gone.
“What...?”
“It is God’s Blessing.”
Ruang said calmly.
“It is the power that brought me back from death.”
Bianca found herself looking up at Ruang without realizing it.
It was not the face from that day when madness gleamed in his eyes.
Now he seemed somewhat calmed.
Calm, and strangely lonely.
Assassination was common in noble society.
Yet at the same time, it was considered the most cowardly and cursed act.
This world valued open, fair battles highly.
Stabbing from behind was a vile deed.
That cowardice was the reason a man had nearly died.
Thinking this way, the fear inside Bianca eased slightly.
And in the place where fear receded, other senses pushed in.
The hands around her waist.
The firm body close at hand.
A distance too close for comfort.
“Thank you for holding me without injuring me... You may let go now.”
Bianca said in a small voice.
But Ruang did not let go immediately.
Instead, he slowly lowered his head.
“Eh, eh?”
The distance between them grew even closer.
Bianca reflexively closed her eyes again.
Yet there was no feeling of lips touching.
Instead, a low voice brushed her ear.
“Angela has already told me everything, so we’ll set that aside.”
The breath was close enough to graze.
“Are you all right?”
“Eh?”
“When we are entangled like this, what rumors will spread? That’s the part I find a bit ambiguous.”
At those words, Bianca’s breath caught.
Rumors always came to the ears of those involved last.
Voices talking about her always spread where she was not present.
They would certainly be circulating somewhere about Bianca.
In invisible places.
Where no one could hear.
“Um, that’s...”
“If you feel troubled.”
Ruang’s voice grew even lower.
“I will help you.”
“Eh? Why...?”
Then Ruang whispered slowly.
“Because you seem like a pretty kind girl.”
Bianca was momentarily speechless.
A kind girl.
It was a phrase she had not heard in a very long time.
It was beneficial.
It was useful.
It was pretty.
It was helpful to the family.
Not in that evaluation.
Just, kind.
That simple word sank strangely deep.
Her face grew unbearably warm.
Bianca, feeling embarrassed,
ashamed,
and somewhat fluttery at heart,
could not raise her eyes to Ruang’s face.