The hazy smoke was an added bonus. As soon as I opened the door, the smoke and the pungent stench rushed in, making me cough involuntarily. As I waved my hand, coughing, the smoke gradually dissipated.

Through the clearing smoke, I saw a figure leaning at an angle. I also saw something resembling a long pole in their hand, and the light brown eyes of the one holding it…

“Huh?”

Our eyes met.

The eyes that had been staring into the air widened the moment they saw me, and the person seemed to lose their mind for a moment, standing still in a daze.

“My lord, today too…”

Isaac’s eyes, which had been muttering incomprehensible words, sparkled with life. He put down the pole he was holding, abruptly stood up, and strode towards me as I stood awkwardly at the carriage door.

His movements were so rough, and his size was so large that the carriage shook. Isaac, who had approached me with his enormous body, said,

“Why did you come out so late!”

...Is he crazy?

I looked at Isaac with an dumbfounded face. I had expected him to be more than I had imagined, but I thought he would at least apologize first upon seeing my face, considering common sense.

‘He should know it’s not polite, right?’

Even if he is rumored to be a ruffian, Isaac is also a nobleman. He should know that the Serpentine family cannot let outsiders in, yet he came here without an apology for showing up out of the blue like this.

“Please return immediately.”

There was no point in engaging in conversation. As I said that with a sigh, Isaac looked at me as if he had been wronged.

“I waited for so long, and you’re telling me to go back as soon as you see me!”

“I never asked you to wait. I never asked you to come either. Why did you come here on your own?”

“On my own! I asked for permission.”

“This is the first I’m hearing of it.”

“My goodness.”

Isaac covered his mouth.

“You didn’t read my letter? I wrote in there that I would visit today!”

I blinked and looked at Isaac, who seemed hurt.

“You said in the letter… that you were coming today?”

“Yes! I wrote that if there was no response, I would come visit today!”

That’s a notification, not a request. What kind of pushy nonsense is this?

‘Does he not know the rumors about the Serpentine family? Is he crazy?’

Even though I made a dumbfounded expression, there was nothing else I could say.

Not reading letters is considered impolite. In this world, letters are pretty much the only means of communication, so ignoring them several times… it was indeed my fault.

“…But what is that? It doesn’t look like a regular cigarette.”

If he didn’t get a response in the first place, he shouldn’t have come at all. Of course, the actual fault lay more with Isaac, but it didn’t seem like this fool would understand no matter what I said. I gave up and changed the subject.

“It’s a watermelon-flavored water pipe.”

No wonder. I felt the sweetness and the stickiness.

Looking closely, the pole was connected to a large container where the fire was burning.

“Would you like to try it?”

“No, thank you. Anyway, what brings you here?”

My respiratory system isn’t in good condition, so if I tried that, I might die right of the bat.

“Ah, the reason I came here in person is… because I wanted to personally deliver this invitation and gift to you.”

He grinned at my firm refusal. Then, he suddenly held out a pitch-black invitation and a box to me.

I took the invitation first. It looked somewhat different from the ones I had received before. I tilted my head at the invitation, which was shining black and trembling in my hand, carefully receiving it and meticulously examining the high-quality material with the sealed envelope.

“What is this?”

“Ah, this is… the invitation to the famous Pleasure Masquerade Ball. Isn’t it awesome!”

Pleasure Masquerade Ball? What kind of grandiose name is that?

As I looked at the invitation with a wary face, Isaac spoke up.

“What, are you not interested? I thought you would be interested, lord Oscar.”

“Me?”

I, who even now tries every trick to avoid attending gatherings I’m invited to?

I don’t know what the Pleasure Masquerade Ball is, but I doubt I would go.

“You came to give me this?”

“Well… I also wanted to see your face while I was at it…”

“Why do you want to see my face?”

What kind of relationship do we have? I looked at Isaac incredulously, feeling baffled.

“This is absurd. You’re asking because you don’t know?”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words at Isaac’s expression, which looked even more wronged as if asking why I didn’t know.

This guy is really weird…

“Then what is this?”

With such a strange person, you have to give them what they want for them to leave. Since I can’t invite him inside for tea anyway, I decided to quickly check and send him off. Following the invitation, I looked at the box that resembled a bag.

When I asked if I could open it, Isaac said he would open it himself and personally lifted it up.

‘It’s bigger than I thought.’

What kind of box is so big? As I looked at it quizzically, Isaac opened the box.

As soon as he opened it, the scent of herbs brushed the tip of my nose.

“Well… I’m ignorant, so I don’t know much about it.”

Isaac awkwardly scratched the tip of his nose and looked to the side.

“I asked around people who do, uh, medicine. I mean, people like doctors. And they said there are herbal teas you can drink like this. So I bought a few to try. They say this tea is good for coughs, and this one…”

That’s right. Inside the bag, there were many individually packaged herbs meant to be steeped like tea.

Not only that. I know about all kinds of herbs coming into the family, and this is quite a valuable herbal bag. As I gaped at the sight of the herbs arranged by type, Isaac unfolded a piece of paper and read it, stammering.

“This one is for when you can’t sleep, it calms your nerves? Uh, I mean, it calms your mind. And this one is for when you have indigestion… Why would you drink tea for indigestion… Anyway, and this is the paper that shows the steeping times for the teas. This one is 7 minutes, and this one… 11 minutes?”

I quietly watched Isaac stammer as he spoke. His large, clumsy hands gripped the paper, and he couldn’t even keep his body still, looking embarrassed. As I stared at him, I felt ashamed for making him wait so long.

“Pfft… haha.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity. Isaac and herbs? They really don’t match.

It was even funnier to see someone who clearly had never drunk such herbal teas introducing them. As I laughed, Isaac, who was explaining, also paused for a moment and looked at me. The paper in his hand also fell to the floor with a thud.

“You came to give this to me?”

I absentmindedly picked up the fallen paper.

On the paper, the types of teas were written in a crooked handwriting. He seemed to have tried hard in his own way, but the handwriting was so messy that I couldn’t make out anything.

Looking at it made me feel strange. It’s not like I’ve never received gifts before… Maybe it’s because it’s the first time someone I met outside, not from the mansion, gave me one.

He really is a weird guy. Waiting until this hour, and fidgeting nervously like that.

“I think I misunderstood you.”

Only then did I notice the things that had been obscured by prejudice. Due to the nature of the family, I couldn’t even open the door for him, and the carriage must have been hot in the summer. As expected, Isaac’s forehead was drenched in sweat from waiting a long time in the carriage, which was hotter than outside.

“I’ll enjoy drinking it. Really.”

“…Ah, ah. Yes. Thank you.”

I don’t know why Isaac was thanking me, but I smiled and greeted him. He nodded his head repeatedly, his face flushed red, perhaps from the heat.

“I’ll… consider the invitation since I received it.”

I should at least consider it out of courtesy.

When I said that, even if only in words, Isaac’s eyes widened.

“You won’t regret it. There’s so much to see. Everyone comes wearing masks, hiding their identities and faces, only looking at bodies, and exploring each other…”

“You cover your faces?”

“Yes! That’s it!”

It’s not just called a masquerade ball, but they actually hold a ball where people cover their faces. I became a bit intrigued.

‘Plus, if I cover my face, there’s no pressure.’

In fact, I also wanted to attend various banquets, but I felt a bit burdened to reveal my identity and face. Not only do people dislike me, but I was also concerned about potentially causing trouble for the Serpentine family and my mother behind me.

At times like this, I felt like I had wasted my age. What’s the point of having a past life? After spending a long time cooped up in the mansion, I guess it’s inevitable to fear meeting people.

“I’ll get going now. You should head inside quickly. It’s late.”

“Uh, I don’t mind staying longer… From now on, you have to reply to my letters diligently, I mean. If you’re sick, you don’t have to…”

As Isaac rambled on hurriedly, when I tried to get up while taking the box, he hastily picked up the box for me and came out to see me off.

As we approached the mansion’s door, Isaac’s face, half-hidden by the shadow of the carriage, was fully revealed. In the light of the street lamp, there was something long on his illuminated cheek.

“There’s something on your cheek here.”

“Huh? Where…”

When I pointed to the right cheek, Isaac fumbled with his own cheek, but it didn’t wipe off properly.

Is it hair? When I gestured for him to come closer, Isaac lowered his head with a dazed face.

“It’s here…”

“Ah, thank, you.”

“It’s not coming off.”

I reached out my hand to that face that had hesitantly lowered to my height.

“Excuse me.”

It seemed like something had gotten on him while moving around in the dark. I thought I couldn’t send off the son of an earl’s family, who had come to the Serpentine mansion and been turned away, in this state. In the end, I reached out and placed my hand on his cheek, but…

Slowly, Isaac kept pulling his butt backwards.

“Why do you keep backing away?”

“Ah, that.”

“This is going to smear. I’ll hold you for a moment.”

Isaac Gardenta kept blushing and backing away. He must have been embarrassed to have something on his face at this age. I grabbed his face and rubbed it again with my hand.

Is it an ink stain? When I rubbed a bit harder, it did come off, but I thought it would be better to wipe it with water. The moment I turned my head to say that…

‘He’s close.’

I met Isaac’s wide-open eyes, stuck right in front of me. When I saw my face reflected in his brown eyes…

Suddenly, a look of horror settled in Isaac’s eyes. I wondered why he was acting like this all of a sudden.

“…Ugh!”

I felt a strong pressure on my waist. At the same time, my body was abruptly pulled back as if I had never been close to Isaac.