Chapter 185
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: A Heart Like One Who Has Lost Their Country
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Rose Serpens.
She was an exemplary princess of the Blue Dragon Clan.
At the same time, she was a respected chairwoman among Yormungand's employees and a beloved countess by all the citizens of the Great British Empire.
Her boundless compassion.
Her unwavering diligence toward her duties.
Her shrewd acumen in steadily growing the company.
And her leadership in guiding others.
Finding a flaw in someone who possessed all these qualities in abundance was no easy task for anyone.
That was why those who followed Rose always thought:
Among the Seven Dragon Society's seven princesses, Rose must be the most perfect one.
And just the fact that they could serve such a woman made them feel like the luckiest people alive—they even boasted about it.
But at this very moment.
The perfect princess whom everyone revered was wallowing in self-loathing upon realizing she was a total klutz.
"How could this happen...?"
She could have accepted it if it had happened just once.
She hadn't slept properly for nearly three months due to insomnia, and the fatigue had built up to the point where even Lucas was worried—that much was true.
But that had been until the day before yesterday.
Having gotten sufficient rest the day before yesterday, her fatigue had already eased considerably.
Yet here she was, dozing off again in such an unseemly manner.
For Rose, it was beyond embarrassing—it was utterly baffling.
'Could Sir Lucas have secretly slipped me some sleeping pills...? No, that can't be.'
Lucas was an upright knight.
If he was truly concerned about her, he would bring a doctor or gift her sleeping pills and suggest she take them, but he was not the type to do something underhanded like that.
Besides, she wouldn't have dozed off from something like that anyway.
Unless it was something made by the Green Dragon Clan or the Creation Lord.
Ordinary poisons or drugs didn't affect the princesses of the Seven Dragon Society in the first place.
'It can't be magic or a skill either.'
For the same reason, the chances of it being influenced by magic, skills, or spells were low.
It was impossible—even for a Word Speaker or a Lord—to knock her out without giving her a chance to resist.
And even if it were possible, those absolute-class transcendents had no reason to pull such a prank when they had better things to do.
'Then... could it be that?'
Rose glanced out the window.
Hard as it was to believe, excluding all other possibilities left only one option.
That was why she had deliberately left the window wide open while working in her office.
'...If I hear it again today, I'll know for sure.'
Shaking her head lightly, Rose refocused on processing her documents.
Finding the cause of this bizarre incident was important, but she had a mountain of work to catch up on after dozing off for the past two days.
And then, as she was reviewing the papers.
Finally, the sound she had been waiting for arrived.
Giiiing—
'At last.'
At the faint violin melody drifting in from outside the window—barely audible—Rose set down her documents.
She closed her eyes and drew upon her psychonic energy.
'As expected, it doesn't seem to contain any special power.'
It was the result she had anticipated.
There were plenty of instruments or skills that produced special effects just by being heard, but her psychonic energy would have reacted first if that were the case.
Nor did she feel anything particularly off about her own condition.
Her psychonic energy was calm.
Her heart beat steadily.
Everything was simply... comfortable.
Snore... Snore...
...And just like that, another half-day hole was punched into her packed schedule.
'That was a mistake...'
Rose reflected on her error.
It had been the violin melody that made her fall asleep in the first place, yet she had focused even harder on listening to it.
As a result, she had nodded off even faster than the day before.
Thanks to that, she had confirmed that the violin melody was indeed the culprit behind her work disruptions for the past few days.
What she couldn't figure out was the reason why.
'No one else seems affected like this, so why only me?'
She had even instructed Lucas to check if anyone else was dozing off or falling asleep upon hearing the violin like she did.
But the results were inconclusive.
A few servants admitted to feeling drowsy at that time, but no one had fallen asleep every day like she had.
Of course—if everyone who heard the sound fell asleep, the count's estate would have been in chaos by now.
'It must be because of all the accumulated fatigue.'
In the end, Rose concluded that it was all due to sleep deprivation and fatigue.
Two good nights of sleep wouldn't erase weeks of exhaustion entirely.
And if she relaxed her mind and body while listening to such soothing music amid all that, it made sense that drowsiness would come easily.
'But that's ending today.'
Clink.
Rose set down her empty coffee cup.
She checked her physical condition and smiled faintly.
Her form was perfect.
She had even drunk coffee just in case.
With this setup, she wouldn't fall asleep even if an orchestra started playing instead of just a violin.
Fully prepared, Rose began her work with the window confidently open, as if daring the music to come.
Giiiing.
And that evening.
Rose's maid was puzzled when her master—whose cheeks were oddly flushed—asked her to procure even better coffee.
'I really shouldn't have relied on something like coffee.'
Rose reflected deeply.
For someone like her, whom drugs and poisons rarely affected, the stimulating effect of coffee was negligible anyway.
She knew that full well but drank it anyway for mental reassurance, without devising any other countermeasures.
Falling asleep again was a predictable outcome.
'No helping it. Tonight, I'll force myself to sleep, even if I have to.'
In the end, Rose decided to address the root cause: her sleep deprivation.
She wasn't thrilled about increasing her sleep time during such a busy period, but sleeping at night was still better than dozing during the day.
With that in mind, she changed into her nightgown on time for once and lay down in bed.
And on the morning of the fifth day.
Rose, who had spent the night wide awake staring at the ceiling, had a sudden realization.
She realized just how reckless it had been to try sleeping again when she already suffered from insomnia and had napped deeply during the day.
She felt depressed for a moment over the wasted time.
But then she had to push everything else aside and focus solely on the ever-growing pile of documents.
'What should I do?'
But that only lasted until the morning.
As lunchtime passed and that time approached, Rose stared at the wide-open window, lost in anguish.
Confidence only lasted a day or two.
Honestly, she no longer had any assurance that she could listen to the music without falling asleep.
'Should I just close the window?'
In truth, that was the most perfect solution.
If she was falling asleep because she heard the performance, then simply not hearing it would solve everything.
'I didn't want to resort to it because it felt like admitting defeat... but I can't let my work pile up any more than this.'
After hesitating, Rose finally closed the window.
Between meaningless pride and her sense of duty, the priority was clear.
Now free from worry about dozing off, she could finally process her documents with a relaxed mind.
...Or so she intended.
Glance.
'It's about that time.'
Glance.
'Has practice already started?'
Glance, glance.
'It should be fine to listen just for a little bit.'
Like a dog that spots a delicious bone on the shelf.
Rose kept peeking at the window every time she turned a page, until the intervals grew shorter and she eventually stopped working altogether.
Once she started thinking that the performance might have begun already, the cozy feeling it brought kept flooding back, making it impossible to concentrate.
After suffering from this inexplicable impatience for a while.
Rose suddenly lifted her head.
"...Right. A knight can't run from a challenge."
What exactly was she fighting, and what challenge was she facing?
Muttering words that made no sense even to herself, Rose tossed aside the documents in her hand and jumped to her feet.
'Just three minutes... no, five minutes. Then I'll close the window. That way, I won't fall asleep.'
From justifying why she needed to hear the violin to strategizing how to "win" the challenge.
With everything perfectly accounted for, Rose strode confidently to the window.
Unaware that she had already suffered two mysterious defeats—once by closing the window in the first place, and now by reopening it.
With eager anticipation, Rose flung the window wide open.
Rumble, boom!
"......"
...Right after that, thunder roared and rain began pouring down.
It was much later that Rose, gazing at the sky with the look of someone who had lost their kingdom, sullenly closed the window again.
"Julia, I'm a bit confused about something."
"What is it?"
"There wasn't a gazebo in this garden until yesterday, right?"
"There wasn't."
"...So why is there one now?"
In the middle of the garden where he usually practiced violin with Julia.
Rimon stared in disbelief at the Western-style gazebo that had sprung up overnight—eight marble pillars topped with a roof.
Julia gave him a nonchalant reply.
"They built it in a hurry on the countess's orders."
"Why?"
"Well... probably for the upcoming event. The count's estate has been preparing a lot for it."
"Jeez, does that mean they usually whip up buildings overnight?"
"Abundant wealth may not be omnipotent, but it does make many impossibilities possible."
Tsking at the Seven Dragon Society's typical display of overflowing money for a moment.
Rimon crossed his arms and said,
"Well, whatever. At least now we can practice here even if it rains."
"You won't need to worry about that. The forecast says clear skies for the next week."
"Then it's useless."
Julia smiled wryly at Rimon, who flipped his attitude like a pancake.
But then her expression turned worried.
"That said, I'm concerned about the countess."
"The Blue Dragon Princess? Why?"
"I've heard she's been pushing herself especially hard lately. They say it's gotten so bad that she's barely showing her face in the afternoons."
"Really?"
"Yes. Apparently, she looked haggard yesterday when she did appear—like she hadn't slept for days. And she kept pacing around the estate like she was anxious."
"Hmm, that's odd."
Rimon was puzzled.
He knew better than anyone how sturdy the Seven Dragon Society's princesses were, so it was hard to fathom her becoming so worn out in just a few days.
'Is it because of the witch murder case? Something with the Magic Lord? Or another issue?'
What massive problem could make the famously perfect Blue Dragon Princess end up like that?
Rimon pondered deeply but eventually shook his head.
'Eh, the Blue Dragon Clan are the types who bring trouble on themselves. She might just be fumbling around on her own weirdly.'
In any case, Rimon filed this information away in a corner of his mind.
It might seem trivial at first glance, but such minor details could become crucial clues when pieced together.
The mere fact that the Blue Dragon Princess was overexerting herself lately clearly signaled something unusual was afoot.
"Alright, shall we start today's practice?"
Unaware of Rimon's thoughts, Julia smiled and took out her violin, while Rimon prepared to play along with her.
It was right then.
A voice that sounded strangely familiar yet unfamiliar came from behind.
"Ah! Y-You!"
"Huh?"
Perhaps there to clean the gazebo.
Rimon made a dumbfounded face at the man holding cleaning tools in one hand, pointing at him with a furious expression.
"What's with the finger-pointing? Who the hell are you?"
"What...? You bastard! Don't tell me you don't know who I am?!"
"Why would I know some random guy?"
Rimon replied indifferently.
Unless it was someone on the level of a Lord.
He had no interest in presidents or kings of nations, let alone some obvious estate servant doing menial labor.
The one who actually recognized the man was Yuna Kyung.