“W, w, wait—!! Hand, hand—!! Your hand—!!”

“My hand is inside.”

“Exactly! Your hand is inside my clothes! My clothes, inside my clothes!”

The more she struggles to escape, the more it backfires.

His hand is unreasonably touching her waist, transmitting warmth directly to her skin.

She moves her neck to see what is actually happening—

—and is appalled to see her leg revealed through her open skirt.

Her usually dependable skirt, which always hangs low to cover her legs, is now defeated.

Harij’s rugged hand, which gains the upper hand against the skirt, starts caressing Roze’s leg.

Whenever they sit beside each other, sometimes her thigh touches his, but she never felt the warmth directly.

Harij’s coarse, strong, hand caresses Roze’s soft skin, and pleasure erupts.

At the face of the pleasure, Roze turns her gaze away. She’s bitter about the embarrassing voice she’s leaking out.

“You’re the one who asked if you can touch me.”

Harij runs his hand over Roze’s feet. At a sensitive area, he starts stroking, and Roze lets out a voice even more miserable than a lamb that’s about to be sacrificed.

“T, t, that’s not what I mean—wait—!”

The touched area tingles as sweat gently leaks out of her pores.

Harij turns to Roze’s neck, and inhales her scent. Why does he seem happy about it?

“Hyii—!”

His tongue starts to crawl around Roze’s neck. She has completely solidified.

The situation is highly dangerous.

The air has completely stoped.

In the wake of Harij’s onslaught, as if he has lost all of his remaining patience, Roze waves the white flag with all her might.

“I, I’m sorry…!! I’m sorry!! I’m sorry!!”

Roze can only cry, she doesn’t know what she should have expected to happen.

“Roze.”

His voice is low, tickling the confused Roze. While the hairs of her ears rise, more pleasure courses through her.

“Don’t be scared.”

“B-b-b-b-b-b-b-buuuuuut, t-t-t-t-t-theeeen…”

She can’t even pronounce words correctly anymore. Harij stares straight at her. He cups Roze’s cheeks with his hands.

“You truly don’t want it?”

Harij spills the words between his breathes. That’s when Roze notices that his good-shaped lips are moist. The color crimson has spread through his entire body.

“…how adorable… you’re precious to me—please.”

Harij’s lip lands on her cheek. However, it slips down her cheeks as he tries to convey so.

Again, for the n-th time, pleasure runs through her body.

Her entire body shakes.

“Roze.”

The skin absorbs the pleasure and becomes numb.

His voice is pleading, and at that moment, Roze’s mind becomes blank. She can’t even recall the reason why she’s objecting anymore.

She stares at Harij, her eyes brimming with tears.

Harij’s eyes are also wet, just like that time he took the Love Potion.

Falling into the trap, Roze opens her lips.

“…U, a, wa—“

At last, Harij lifts himself from Roze, who’s still trying to regain coherent speech.

He approaches the window with agile strides and looks outside.

“…Does he have clairvoyance?”

The atmosphere changes completely.

Harij’s voice sounds weak, as if reluctant to accept the reality.

Roze can’t keep up with Harij’s unexpected behavior. Propping her body with her elbows, she stares at Harij, mouth slightly agape.

Harij looks back and notices that Roze is about to stand. Harij smiles bitterly and approaches her.

With the help of Harij, Roze stands up. Harij kneels in front of Roze and smoothens her messy skirt by hand.

Roze’s cheeks turn pink as she recalls what has just happened.

She keeps showing her dumb sides to him…

…Harij probably has guessed that Roze is totally unfamiliar with such things…

She can’t even afford to adjust her dress—Roze is ashamed. Harij pats Roze’s head and drops a kiss behind her ears.

“—let’s head down stair. We have a guest.”

“Hey, I’m sorry~ it seems that I was mistaken about the appointed time by half a day. Did I surprise you?”

“No problem. Ah, pardon my rudeness. This item should be there, and that item should be on the sideboard—“

Sounding unfazed towards the sudden visit, Harij responds with a cool face. Behind them, Tien follows by, carrying in and out large pieces of luggage, one after another.

An unexpected guest has arrived at the entrance of the Azm Mansion, which is usually serene.

It’s none other than the merchant they’re both familiar with—Tien Khong. The man is like a brother, and also a parent, to Roze.

One of tonight’s guest, as Harij has said earlier, would definitely be Tien.

Only Roze is surprised by the sudden visit, after all. Harij seems ready to welcome him.

However, because he arrived too early in the morning, she has no choice but to send a servant to the dwelling in her stead.

Roze knows that Tien purposefully came early in the morning just to surprise her.

At first, she was definitely surprised.

In the reminiscent of her own appearance right before Tien arrived, Roze falls into an awkward, unspeakable, mood.

Roze’s inexperience aside, such must be how a child who got caught flirting with her lover by her parents feels.

In order to shift her focus, Roze turns towards the luggage that wasbrought in earlier. She says in a sharp voice like that of a rebelling child’s.

“You can’t be saying that all of this is my dowry…”

“I do have a great deal of interest in you, and I care a lot about you—but sadly, not to an extent that I would do this for you. Most of the dowry was instead prepared using the money that had been saved by the Great Witch before you were born.”

Tien had certainly mentioned so before, but she thought he was exaggerating.

‘Witch’s Secrets’ sell for a high price—but, at the same time, the materials for the Witch’s secret potions are also expensive. The witch’s business earns a lot of money, but also costs a lot of money.

Roze certainly didn’t experience any shortage whatsoever when living with her Grandmother, but it certainly wasn’t luxurious, either.

Never would she had thought that she would have such extravagant dowry.

Or, could it be, her Grandmother lived so frugally because she knew Roze would end up alone in the not-so-distant future? To prepare her for a life where she has no one else but herself?

Thinking about her Grandmother, Roze is overcome by melancholy.

Every time she realizes how much her Grandmother has sacrificed for her, besides joy of being loved, she also feels sad because she can repay said kindness no longer. She also recalls how incompetence she was back then. There were also times when she was a not-so-good kid towards her.

**T/N: AND OUR WITCH HAS SUCCESSFULLY MADE HER DREAM REALITY!!!!!! *WHISTLE FOR ROZE ROZE DON’T TEASE HARIJ TOO MUCH, THAT POOR GUY…

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