"Leisha, is my taste really that bad in your heart?"
He withdrew his gaze from the wall and asked the girl sitting across from him with a slight frown. Of course, he knew Leisha was joking.
"Just kidding. But this place really is nice."
The red-haired girl looked around, and eventually her gaze returned to the handsome young man across the table.
"Sometimes, I really envy Dorothy. I envy this kind of life."
Shade looked at her.
"But you and she were always different. Perhaps she envies your life as well. Leisha, I love both you and Dorothy as individuals, not as a whole. A princess and a female writer, Cavendish's rose and the second daughter of the Louisa family. What I value are your individual souls, not some twisted fascination with the bond between you two, getting close to you only to seek excitement in certain ways."
The noblewoman of Tobesk looked at him.
"You don't need to stress that. I know I chose the right person, just as Dorothy firmly believes the same. I have noticed that lately, you seem to keep emphasizing the differences between her and me. Did something happen?"
Her words were calm, but in her heart, she was suppressing the surging emotions stirred by Shade's "confession."
"I knew you would notice sooner or later. You're both very clever girls."
Shade wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and set down the knife and fork in his hand.
"I don't know whether you've noticed, but you and she are becoming more and more alike. Not in appearance, but in mannerisms, habits, and the temperament you show in certain moments. That isn't a good sign."
The red-haired girl's expression did not change. Instead, she asked in a sorrowful tone:
"If Dorothy and I truly fused into one