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Chapter 62
She thought so because he hadn’t said anything to her since a while ago.
Due to the circumstances, Maxim was swallowing his anger inwardly, but he didn’t know when it was going to explode. It was understandable why the kid couldn’t even get close to hand him the soup.
Although Rose couldn’t see his eyes, she knew his face showed that he would strangle anyone that was at an arm’s reach.
“The room is ready.”
As the mother spoke, her daughter grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her away.
“I will guide you.”
They climbed the narrow, dark stairs to the second floor.
“This is the room my sister used to use until she was sold to bald Colin. Spiders occasionally appear but is still quite usable. There was a hole in the roof, so it was best in terms of seeing all the stars while lying down at night, but my father blocked it. Because of the rain.”
The child naturally introduced the room.
“Here it is. Ta-da!”
The second floor was not much different from when she stayed at Marianne’s house in the past.
However, everything creaked because it was old. Whenever you move your foot, wherever your hand touches it…
When the child noticed that Maxim was standing behind her, she screamed and ran away like a mouse. Rose also looked back.
He was standing crookedly with one arm over the entrance of the room, and his body occupying the entire door. It was truly terrifying to see him standing there in the dark. It was understandable why the child was screaming.
Rose also flinched at the moment, but pretended to be fine and said as if reproaching.
“Why did you scare the child? It’s scary to stand like that.”
Rose ignored his gaze and approached the fireplace. She could feel the warmth of her wet body.
“I think you have something to say to me.”
Finally, he opened his mouth. Rose replied hesitatingly without looking back at him.
“I’m sorry for following you secretly.”
She, too, raised her voice to see if she had something to protest.
“Why did you keep meeting people secretly?”
“Am I obligated to report every single person I meet?”
His voice was colder than ever.
“Absolutely. As long as you are married to me, you too are a member of the Etoile family. Whether the marriage is real or not!”
Maxim smirked and approached her.
“You married me because you wanted to, and I came here because you asked me to. We’re not a real couple and you kindly remind me of it each time, so I have to hold back my damn bloody desires. What else do you want for me?!”
“You used me because you needed me too!”
“Right. You know exactly. And yet, I didn’t even give you the right to secretly follow me and ruin what I do.”
“I didn’t mean to ruin your business!”
“Look around now. What is this like?”
Maxim smiled absurdly and shrugged. Rose rolled her eyes and asked again in a calm voice.
“Were you going to meet that man who was standing in front of the monastery earlier?”
Maxim’s brow twitched nervously.
“I don’t want you to get involved with him.”
“What does that mean?” He asked, his face drew closer with a dangerous expression on it.
“He is a dangerous person. I know him because he used to do business with my family.”
Rose felt frustrated because she couldn’t tell Maxim the truth. He had no idea what had happened before the regression. All she could do was tell him not to get close to him because he was a dangerous person.
“I think you are mistaken.”
He whispered low, as if threatening. Rose looked at him with her eyes trembling.
“I decide who to meet or not. I don’t know how much damage he has done to your family, but if it’s of help to me, I can trade with the devil.”
Rose couldn’t say any more. She just turned her head to get away from him.
“Did you say you wanted revenge on that bastard, Cassiax?”
Maxim grabbed Rose’s chin and made her look straight at him.
“I’ll give you the pleasure, whether you stab him in the heart or cut his head off, so don’t make me angry anymore.”
Rose nodded her head quietly.
In the current situation, no matter what she said, he wouldn’t listen to it. If so, she thought it would be better not to argue with him anymore.
A subtle silence passed as the two looked straight at each other. An unusual wind and rain were blowing outside. As if the old attic was about to collapse, the blunt rain hit the roof relentlessly.
“Will we be able to get home by tomorrow morning?”
Overshadowing the war of nerves so far, a sudden question came out of her mouth. She looked worriedly at the roof. Maxim’s eyes narrowed.
“Tomorrow is my family’s gathering. As you know, we didn’t have a wedding here, so everyone was curious.”
“So you mean it’s a welcome party?”
“I didn’t mean it. Mother…”
Maxim smiled at the thought of her mother. The elegant and aristocratic wife he met was a woman who would remain resentful until her death because she could not make her only daughter’s wedding grandiose.
“I couldn’t afford to tell you ahead of time because of this situation.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
As if in pain after relieving much anger, he slowly approached the fireplace.
Taking off his wet top and throwing it close to the fire, he buried himself deeply in the rocking chair as if tired. He stretched his legs out atop of the small table, crossed his ankles, and lay down comfortably.
Just looking at his posture, he seemed to plan to spend the night there.
‘Are you being considerate of me?’
Rose looked at him suspiciously, but Maxim was sleeping with his eyes closed.
‘Then I won’t need to refuse it.’
She carefully approached the bed without making any sound as much as possible. Thankfully, an old pajama was folded up on the bed.
It looked like they left it in consideration of her wet clothes. Rose thought there was nothing worse than going to bed in wet clothes, so seeing the rough, dry pajamas brought tears to her eyes, as she felt thankful.
Rose, holding the pajamas, stared at Maxim for a moment and then placed it in the back of the bed. Fortunately, he seemed to already be asleep.
‘It’s really not coming off.’
Her hands moved sloppily because her heart was in a hurry. The wet clothes stuck to her body and didn’t come off easily.
Rose sweated at the heavy task. For the first time, she admired Natalie’s hands, skillfully putting on and taking off whatever she wore.
‘Ugh—’
She tried to change quickly and quietly, but Maxim’s eyes opened slightly at the sound that came out of her mouth. He didn’t look back, but he could see the whole scene of her struggling with her wet clothes behind the bed. It was an amazing appearance.
A smile fluttered on his lips unknowingly.
Even if she looked like a smart and daring woman, sometimes, when she acted like that, he was confused about which one was the real her.
‘Pheew, I finally wore it.’
Exhausted, Rose managed to climb onto the bed. She was afraid that the old bed would creak, so she put her hands on the side and folded her body quietly, lying down like a shrimp. She couldn’t fall asleep easily and only looked at the back of Maxim’s head for a long time.
“I don’t know how much damage he has done to your family, but if it’s of help to me, I can trade with the devil.” What he had said earlier echoed in her head.
‘Why didn’t I think of that before? I lost my mind because of thinking about Father.”
Cassiax would have done anything to tie her father to treason. Even if he avoided that man earlier, the crown prince would create as many other conspiracies as he could. It wasn’t about cutting ties with him, rather, it was beneficial for Maxim to gain power.
‘I had heard he was a weapons developer disguised as a trader. Come to think of it…’ Rose recalled her memories before her regression.
When Solstern was attacked from the north, many castles were powerless and fell in the beginning. She vaguely remembered what people said at that time.
Because of the weapons the North had, they couldn’t properly fight and the northerners broke through. With deafening thunder and flames, there was chaos wherever they passed.
‘Then Maxim was already preparing to hit from the north even before coming here. Completely secretly.’
Trying to cut off his ties to save her father could actually weaken Maxim’s power. If that man was a crucial factor in Maxim winning against Solstern, she shouldn’t have interfered with their relationship.
‘My father is still alive. There must be another way.’
While Rose lay in bed staring at him, Maxim wasn’t asleep at all. His head was as complex as hers.
‘How do you know about him? And what about him being dangerous? What the hell do you know and how much do you know for you to speak with such desperate eyes?’ Rose wouldn’t know much just because he had done business with her family once.
However, the fierce reaction she had shown earlier was strange to anyone. As if she was someone who knows everything. Maxim was confused.
‘To what extent should I trust Rose. Can I trust her at all, or am I being deceived by her now?’ It felt like everything was going to be a mess because of today’s events.
In one space, two minds with confusing thoughts about each other became a mess. Each couldn’t fall asleep easily, only the sound of rain hitting the roof echoed through the room while they tossed and turned.
How much time had passed?
‘What is this sound?’ Through the sounds of thunder and rain, an unknown sound came close.
“Uh… hiik… ah…”
It really sounded like weeping. Rose’s eyes opened widely. She got up and looked at Maxim, the sounds seemed to come from that direction.
‘Are you having a nightmare?’
She got up from the bed carefully and approached him.
‘Maxim!’
Rose’s eyes widened in astonishment. His face and body were all covered in a cold sweat.
“Ha… haa…”
He held on to the armrests of the chair, making the tendons in his hand bulge, with an anguished look on his face. The louder the thunder outside, the more his pain seemed to worsen.
“Ma-maxim.”
Rose grabbed his shoulders and shook it, but he didn’t wake up. As he crouched down and trembled, she felt scared. She felt as if something might happen to him if she left him alone.
“Open your eyes! Look at me, Maxim!”
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Rose grabbed his sweat-drenched face with both hands and shouted.
“Aah!”
At that moment, Maxim grabbed Rose’s wrist tightly. It hurt so much that she let out a low shout. Rose couldn’t retain her arm, so she just fell helplessly on top of Maxim as if hugging him.
“What are you doing now?”
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