Captain! Where is the Battlefield?

  There were still some useful pieces of information left, but I had reached the end of the section I was reading since the novel was never completed in the first place.

  “Don’t zone out.”

  Rosalie clinked her glass against Nathan’s. The clear sound of glasses clinking together filled the room. Nathan drained his glass, glanced at Rosalie, and then opened his mouth.

  “Do you have something you want to get off your chest, Rosalie?”

  “I… I’m not good at talking about personal matters.”

  “I know. It’s written all over your face.”

  Rosalie let out a small laugh at Nathan’s response. The pleasant buzz of alcohol was enough to loosen her tongue.

  “This place was never my world.”

  Nathan tilted his head in curiosity, gesturing for Rosalie to elaborate.

  “At some point, I began to assimilate to this place, too. It really feels like I’ve become Rosalie.”

  Upon reflection, her normally indifferent personality had proved helpful in adapting to her new surroundings. Although she had occasionally been criticized as being even more dense than a bear, she had never realized how useful that trait could be. Moreover, she had experienced so much while inhabiting this body.

  “That’s interesting. So, what was the previous Rosalie like? How did you live?”

  “Well, to put it briefly, I always ran towards my goals. Occasionally, I’d meet friends, and then work. I grew older that way.”

  “In that case, you’re not much different from the Rosalie here.”

  “…I guess so.”

  Rosalie chuckled softly. Hearing it like this, it seemed that not much had changed, and yet something felt different. As Rosalie smiled, Nathan pushed his drink back at her, and they clinked glasses again.

  Sipping his drink, Nathan glanced toward the door and spoke.

  “By the way, Rosalie, would you be upset if I told you that someone was listening to this conversation?”

  Rosalie raised an eyebrow in response to Nathan’s question and followed his gaze toward the door. She stood up and pulled the door open, coming face to face with Erudit.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop… I didn’t hear much.”

  Erudit, who was taken aback by the sudden opening of the door, looked around with an embarrassed expression. Rosalie murmured as she looked at him cautiously.

  “This conversation is confidential.”

  “I won’t talk about it. Never.”

  Rosalie chuckled at his resolute expression which seemed as if he was making an oath. Seeing him like this, Rosalie could understand why Nathan liked teasing him.

  “Well, it seems like it. Join us for a drink, Erudit.”

  “…Sure.”

  At Rosalie’s invitation, Erudit entered the room and took a seat next to Nathan. 

  Although he pretended not to be, Nathan’s mouth turned up at the sight of Erudit’s face, which clearly showed a happy emotion. He filled a glass with alcohol and pushed it towards him.

  As Erudit took the glass, he glanced briefly at Rosalie’s bandaged foot and frowned. Nathan also followed Erudit’s gaze and cleared his throat.

  “Our Rosalie doesn’t ask for help at all, you know~ Even when she’s injured.”

  Rosalie paused for a moment as his whining seemed to indicate his disappointment. 

  “I’ll tell you when I really need help. I’m okay for now.”

  They thought Rosalie would firmly draw the line, but her unexpected words made Nathan and Erudit widen their eyes in surprise. After downing his drink, Erudit spoke with a serious tone.

  “Please do tell us.”

  Rosalie smiled and nodded, and Nathan, beside her, poured another drink into her empty glass. The brown liquor filled the clear glass.

  “That’s right. Then, we’ll be happy.”

  He poked Erudit’s white cheek with his index finger, hard enough to dent it.

  “Especially our Erudit.”

  “Get your hands off me.”

  Nathan quickly pulled his hand away as Erudit looked like he was going to bite his finger at any moment. He sighed in disappointment and picked up his filled glass, clinking it against Rosalie’s. Then, she murmured.

  “You seem to get along better than I thought.”

  “Yeah, we get along well.”

  “Absolutely not!”

  They both answered immediately, but their extremely different responses made Rosalie burst out laughing.

  Nathan complained to Erudit about feeling upset and chugged his drink, barely holding back the urge to throw the glass at him, reminding himself that they were in front of Rosalie.

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  The next day, Rosalie woke up to the sound of birds chirping and was scolded by Emma when she entered the room. Rosalie purposely cleaned up the room just in case, but Emma still sensed the faint smell of alcohol that had yet to dissipate.

  Rosalie managed to calm Emma down, who had been nagging her for a while about drinking alcohol when her foot was injured, and drank the hangover drink she handed over with satisfaction.

  “Ugh, really…”

  Anticipating another round of complaints, Rosalie hurriedly asked,

  “Emma, do you happen to know how to make a cord?”

  “A cord? Oh, are you talking about the one you use for the Demon Hunting Tournament? Come to think of it, I don’t have much left.”

  Rosalie nodded. Fortunately, Emma didn’t continue with her nagging and answered the unexpected question.

  “But you will go hunting yourself. Are you going to make it?”

  “It so just happened.”

  Since Derivis had asked her, she had thought about making them. And since she was going to make them, she wanted to do it well.

  “Well… how about asking Lady Bright for help?”

  “Bianca?”

  “I heard that cords are trendy these days. Lady Bright seems to be sensitive to trends, so why don’t you ask her?”

  “Yes, that’s a good idea.”

  At the affirmative reply, Emma hurried out of the room, saying she would get the stationery. Rosalie set down the glass in her hand and looked out the window.

  “I’ve hardly done any sewing other than military buttons… And even then, I didn’t do it in my late twenties when the military outfit changed.”

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  Upon receiving the letter, Bianca came to the mansion the next morning as soon as daybreak arrived as if she had been waiting. She had prepared various types of fabric, small jewels, and top-notch sewing tools in just one day, and she spread them out on the table.

  When asked who she was giving it to, Rosalie felt a little embarrassed and dodged the question.

  “Usually, the color of the cord is chosen based on what comes to mind when you think of that person. Sometimes, they use the person’s favorite color. And as for patterns, initials, family crests, or even animals are added.”

  As Rosalie browsed the fabrics spread out on the table one by one, she noticed a vivid blue fabric and picked it up without hesitation.

  “Do you like that color?”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty.”

  Rosalie replied with a faint smile. Bianca covered her mouth and smiled, not expecting to see such a gentle expression on Rosalie’s face.

  “What about the pattern?”

  Rosalie got lost in thought. The royal crest didn’t seem right, and the initials were too obvious. So, there was only one answer left.

  “What about animals?”

  “Animals are trendy these days. You choose an animal that reminds you of the person. It’s fun, isn’t it?”

  As Rosalie imagined different animals, Bianca excitedly explained that the braver and stronger the animal, the more popular it is. Then, a certain animal came to Rosalie’s mind.

  “Then I’ll go with a puppy.”

  “A… a puppy?”

  Bianca, who had stopped explaining, looked bewildered and asked again. Rosalie nodded her head. When she had offered to make a cord, she had thought that Derivis’s appearance was somewhat puppy-like. 

  Upon remembering that, Rosalie couldn’t help but smile a little.

  “Um… Sister, puppies are… If you want something related to canines, how about a wolf? A wolf?”

  “A wolf… sounds good. It fits well, and it’s in the same family.”

  Glad that Rosalie accepted the wolf suggestion, Bianca heaved a relieved sigh. There was no one who would be happy to receive a puppy, regardless of who it was. Instead, they would probably thank her for changing it to a wolf.

  In the end, Bianca became more curious about the answer “puppy.” But she could tell that Rosalie wasn’t going to give her an easy answer, so she subtly changed the subject.

  “But who is this gift for?”

  Bianca’s question got Rosalie thinking; she hadn’t really thought about who he was to her. Bianca waited patiently for Rosalie’s answer, which she soon got.

  “Someone who always gives for me.”

  Rosalie’s answer made Bianca smile. Bianca was sure from the way Rosalie spoke of that person that he was a very good person.

  “He sounds like a good person. He must be an important person to you too, right?”

  “I think so.”

  However, Rosalie’s expression hardened as she answered. Bianca asked, noticing the somewhat complex look on her face.

  “But you don’t look happy.”

  “It’s become a bit complicated. It seems like I couldn’t be of much help to him.”

  “Hmm… I see. But if you keep looking for opportunities, someday a situation will come up where you can help that person. For now, shall we work hard on making that cord to give as a gift?”

  As Rosalie contemplated Bianca’s words, she immediately began to sew with her unskilled hands. She might not have any talent, but she had ambition.

   ⊱⊱⊱────── {.⋅ ✧✧✧ ⋅.} ──────⊰⊰⊰ 

  On a sunny afternoon, Rosalie tore open the envelope of a letter that had arrived. The sender was Alben Amins, the biological father of Sonia and the head of the Amins County.

  Under her elbow, a newspaper that had arrived that day was spread out. The front page read, “The fall of the Angelic Sonia Amins: The Imperial Family personally intervenes to help the injured Duchess.”

  “A request for a meeting for a calm conversation, huh… It’s not the right time yet.”

  Rosalie lit a match and burned the letter as she finished reading it. She never received it today, and it will be a lost letter.

  After she had just finished burning the letter, there was a knock at the door. Rosalie instructed Martin to come in, and he did.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Lady Bright has come to visit. I didn’t hear anything about a guest coming today, so I showed her to the reception room for now.”

  Rosalie immediately got up and headed to the reception room. As she opened the door and went in, Bianca looked different from yesterday. She urgently called out to Rosalie, holding today’s newspaper in her hand.

  “Sister! What is this? Did Lady Amins attack you?”