In the evening of the same day, the so-called "festive" dinner took place. It was on him that I was going to find out, in fact, what the hell?

When I found out that Rachel and I were put in the same room, I was categorically against it. To express my indignation, I searched for Duke Cassius all day, but he seemed to have disappeared through the ground as soon as we arrived at the estate.

The situation was similar with Rachel. They both disappeared at the same time, and neither maid was able to directly answer me the question of exactly where they were.

But then, when it was time for dinner, the Duke and Rachel came down from the second floor together, although I had searched almost all the rooms there before. Some kind of real black magic.

When we all sat down at the table, I didn't dare ask where exactly they were. The seventh sense suggested that in this house it was considered a forbidden topic. Besides, in my head, I came up with a completely logical excuse for what was happening. Rachel was probably being treated for her illness in some mysterious family way. Even if I ask, they won't tell me anything anyway.

With an unperturbed look, the two began to eat. Despite the fact that the organized buffet was dedicated to Rachel's return home, there was no festive atmosphere here. The glass silence in the living room created a rather gloomy mood.

I was going to dilute all this awkwardness with my outrages, which I had accumulated enough over the past day.

Despite the fact that there was a cold aura around Duke Cassius, which directly indicated that it was better not to touch him at the moment, I still became emboldened and opened my mouth for further comments.

— Sir, may I ask a question?

The man frowned from the cutlery to me.

"Of course, Lady Ashford.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to change rooms."

The Duke looked at me in surprise.

"You don't like Rachel's room?" In that case, the servants will help you move things to another place.

He interpreted my words completely wrong. It wasn't what I wanted at all, so I hurriedly waved my hands.

— No, sir! I meant for you to set aside a separate room for me.

Duke Cassius froze with an unreadable expression on his face. Obviously, he didn't understand my intentions any more than I understood his.

— Why is that?

— And ... well ... — I tried to present my point of view correctly, — We are ladies from different families, and we have to live in separate rooms, don't we?

— Hmm? The Duke frowned at my argument, "I don't see a problem. You're dating.

Judging by his tone, it was a very convincing argument for why we should spend the night in the same bedroom. That's just I didn't agree with it!

We may be both girls, but how could I just sleep with a man from someone else's family? This was contrary to all the rules of the aristocrats, who revered chastity and the absence of a life together before the wedding. What can we say about sharing the same room!

I did not believe that a nobleman of such high status as Duke Cassius could not know about this.

That's exactly how I told him, summing up in the end that this is completely unacceptable.

— Sir, you see, it's not customary in my family. I'm used to sleeping alone, and I'm not going to break old traditions…

But the man wasn't listening to me. Instead, he waved me off, as Rachel usually did when she thought I was talking some nonsense. By chance, I noticed another similarity between them.

"Nonsense," he said, "All these useless habits of the aristocrats have led to the fact that the birth rate in the country has become below the baseboard. There has never been such a thing in the Cassius family.

I was taken aback when the Duke rejected my idea so abruptly. At the very beginning, it seemed to me that he was against our relationship. So why has everything changed so much now?!

Realizing that it would be extremely difficult to argue with the duke, I turned to Rachel in the hope that she would be able to convince my father.

All this time, the girl did not interfere in our conversation, although she watched with interest. And when I begged her with this request, she unexpectedly refused.

— Everything suits me.

Such an imperturbable answer struck me even more.

"What do you mean satisfied...?! Wouldn't you be only too happy if we saw each other less?"

These were the words I wanted to spit out to her, but I restrained myself.

— R-Rachel, — I decided to make another attempt, — You do understand that your father's decision is not justified ...?! We can't just live in the same room!

Rachel gave me an unbiased look, which at the same time mixed strange emotions.

— If the old man decided so, what can you do?

An indignant sigh escaped from my mouth. I expected anything but unanimous agreement from these two! In this battle, I was inevitably losing.

Despite the fact that Rachel almost always turned out to be against and argued with the Duke in any situation, in this case she suddenly took his side.

It seems that for the first time I understood the meaning of the phrase — father and daughter are one Satan.

But if these two are demons, then who was I in this situation...?

***

Despite the fact that I made several more attempts to persuade the Duke to move me to another room, all of them ultimately proved useless.

It looks like I'm really going to have to share the same room with Rachel for a month.

This thought, for some reason, strangely excited me. Despite the fact that our real relationship wasn't even remotely like that, I still couldn't take it calmly.

A couple of days ago, I could not even imagine that such a thing could happen.

But even more, I was surprised by Rachel's reaction to what was happening. Knowing how obsessed she was with her own personal space, I expected that she would never agree to something like this. But when the conversation with the duke brought up this, the girl did not even try to protest.

In this regard, I had no idea what was going on in her head.

Maybe Rachel decided to take advantage of this situation to mock me in some sophisticated way...? Knowing her character, this was the only possible excuse for such behavior.

However... what difference does it make to me?

For the next month, this house still became a cage for me, the conditions of which I had to comply with. In order to get through this time safely and avoid trouble, I needed to cause less problems to his owners.

Therefore, I managed to come to terms even with such a circumstance. Although, the first night still turned out to be quite exciting for me.

The night came earlier here than in the southern part of the empire, so after a couple of hours after dinner, it was time to get ready for bed. But even after changing into a nightgown, I did not immediately decide to go to bed.

I froze awkwardly, not knowing what to do next.

Rachel and I were finally alone, but there was no trace of embarrassment on the girl's face. Still in casual clothes, she pulled out a book from the shelf and went to read at a separate table.

"Are you... not going to sleep?" I asked in surprise, watching her actions.

It was already late enough, and the servants, including, had gone to bed.

— I don't want to, — the girl replied in her usual indifferent tone, — Go to bed first.

— And...? Really…

I even calmed down a little from this thought, because falling asleep with Rachel face to face would be... strange. Without trying to persuade her, I took one side of the bed and tried to fall asleep as soon as possible.

In the end, I tossed and turned for a long time, because a variety of thoughts came into my head.

Having barely overcome them, I finally fell into a deep sleep only in the middle of the night. Fatigue over the past day made itself felt, and I passed out safely.

All this time Rachel sat in the chair without moving, and only occasionally glanced at the girl.

She noted to herself that when Leriana was sleeping, she looked even more ridiculous than in real life. As a result, despite the carefully constructed image of a noble lady, the girl collapsed on the floor of the bed and even opened her mouth slightly, as only small children usually did.

Rachel couldn't help but grin at the sight.

As soon as Leriana fell asleep, she closed the book, which in fact was only a cover. In order not to embarrass her, Rachel deliberately decided to go to bed later, and did not read a single page.

Having extinguished the last burning candle, Rachel finally got ready to go to bed too. Leriana's emerald hair was scattered everywhere, and she herself, to be honest, was by no means a fluff. Although even so, it was not difficult for the girl to lift it.

When Rachel tried to move her carefully so as not to wake her up, Leriana stirred and began to talk nonsense in her sleep. She looked absolutely innocent at the same time.

Rachel caught herself thinking that she couldn't take her eyes off her.

When another strand of hair fell on her hand, the girl took it and inhaled the smell. It was the scent of a green apple.

— How nice…

Rachel felt that she had some kind of clouding of her mind.