Since reuniting with her, he had occasionally seen her smile.
However, the reasons for those smiles were all due to the child or her acquaintances, not because of him.
But…
“Do you like it?”
To his question, she nodded vigorously.
“Yeah! Besides being pretty, it smells so good!”
It had truly been a long time since he had seen her smile so brightly.
And it was because of the gift he had given her.
Because of that, the patience he had maintained until now was about to crumble.
Without realizing it, Erich moved closer to Cornelia.
He could see her looking at him with a puzzled expression.
“Erich?”
Her slender figure still drew beautiful lines even after giving birth.
Her black hair looked as soft as silk, her violet eyes were more radiant than any gemstone, and her skin was as white as snow. And on top of that, her red lips stood out.
Those lips were something he had never dared to touch, even when he held her in a daze.
Therefore, the impulse to taste those lips had always existed within him.
Without realizing it, Erich reached out his hand toward her.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
A little while ago, the reason I had probed about his expression was that his gaze seemed inexplicably sad.
And I let out a hollow laugh at his response.
‘There’s no way he would have such a look just because of a mine.’
I had a vague understanding of why he often wore such expressions.
‘It was because of the Grand Madam…’
He never showed his true feelings when he was with his mother, but sometimes he would have that bitter look in his eyes.
And I was familiar with that expression.
It reminded me of the time I was rejected by my biological mother.
‘Perhaps he, like me, has unspoken struggles with his mother?’
Thinking back, Erich had always been obedient to the Grand Madam.
Just like when I tried to be the good daughter to earn my mother’s attention when I was ten years old.
And when he clashed with his mother, it was always when…
‘When I clashed with the Grand Madam.’
That’s why I said something that wasn’t like me.
“Thank you.”
“Yes? For what…?”
At his question, a flurry of memories rushed through my mind.
How he came to my estate and saved my child.
How he accompanied me to the capital and protected me and my child.
How he protected me from the angry mob.
How he saved my child from the fire.
How he protected my people, Parakel and Sardin.
How he’s still taking care of me and helping me now.
Being human, I felt grateful for the kindness he had shown me.
That must be it.
I wanted to express my gratitude and ease his feelings.
Yet, to honestly convey all those emotions, the distance between us still felt starkly present.
So I brought up the small gratitude I received today.
“You sent me a bouquet.”
Knowing he often gave me so much while treating it as if it were nothing, I expected him to smile and say it was no big deal.
However, he didn’t respond at all.
‘Was it too weak?’
Eventually, a feeble excuse slipped from my lips.
“All the flowers were ones I liked, so it made me happy.”
At that, he moved closer to me.
‘Huh?’
At first, I looked at him in confusion.
But as he drew nearer, I found myself tensing up without realizing it.
He stopped just a hand’s breadth away from me.
‘Why is he getting so close…?’
His face was already overwhelming.
But with him getting closer, my heart began to race uncontrollably.
Finally, as he slowly lowered his head, a single word popped into my mind.
‘Could it be that he’s trying to kiss me? In front of the child?’
I had to push him away somehow.
Yet, contrary to that thought, I remained frozen, unable to tear my gaze away from him.
I then saw him reaching out his hand towards my shoulder.
“W-What are you doing right now…!”
Just as I was about to shout at him, his hand, enveloped in aura, swiftly brushed something away.
“It’s okay now.”
Seeing what had fallen to the floor, I was utterly shocked.
The large green creature with wings looked like a butterfly at first glance, but it was not considered a beautiful sight by people.
“I-it’s a moth!”
As I stepped back, pale with disgust, he sighed and incinerated it with his aura.
“It’s fine. I got rid of it, so you can relax.”
‘Was I overreacting?’
I awkwardly smiled for a moment.
Then I recalled how he had approached me just a little while ago.
“Could it be that you came closer because of that…?”
“Yes, I didn’t say anything because I thought you might be startled.”
His voice was irritatingly calm.
Feeling embarrassed for having such foolish thoughts alone, I felt my face heat up.
“Demi, let’s go inside!”
In my words, the child puffed out his cheeks and protested.
“Hing, I don’t want to! I don’t want to!”
‘That silly child doesn’t understand his mother’s heart and is whining about not being able to play more…’
Just as I was about to scold him, I noticed him removing his gloves.
“Oh, your gloves…”
Surprised by the sight I had never seen before, I spoke without thinking, but I quickly closed my mouth upon seeing the scar etched on the back of his hand.
‘He has such a scar on his hand.’
I hadn’t noticed it before, since he usually wore gloves and I hadn’t had a chance to look at his hands closely.
‘It looks painful; is it okay?’
“Erich, are you wearing gloves because of that scar…?”
“Ah, I covered it with aura, but since I used it to swat at the moth, I might have gotten some of its poison on me. I know the scar is unsightly, but please bear with me for a moment.”
I wanted to say that it didn’t bother me at all, but before I could deny it, he picked up the child and said, “Demian, since you’re disappointed, I’ll give you a piggyback ride.”
At that, the child laughed joyfully as if to say, when did I ever do that?
“Wow! Daddy is the best!”
Before I knew it, he was naturally heading toward the mansion with the child.
‘He’s so skilled at handling things like that…’
But my thoughts were interrupted as I realized something.
I was seeing Erich’s past and present selves overlap.
And the reason was simple.
‘Yes, even before my regression, he definitely cared for Demian. But still, I doubted him because of his occasionally indifferent attitude.’
Erich was always kind to Demian but always kept a distance from him.
Even though I felt something was off about that, I didn’t dig deeper because I had resolved to divorce him.
But now my thoughts have changed.
Just like the scar hidden beneath the gloves, I began to think that there might be other wounds or secrets that he was keeping from me.
‘I want to know. What are you thinking, and what are you hiding from me?’
As I was looking at his back, he set the child down and turned to me.
When I came to my senses, we had already reached the room where I was staying.
There were many things I wanted to ask him right away, but I tried to calm my mind.
‘Yes, right now, the state council meeting is my priority. I’ll talk to him after it’s over.’
With that thought, I pretended to be calm and said, “Well then, I’ll be on my way. You should go inside too.”
Erich nodded and replied, “Yes, please rest comfortably.”
As I saw him smiling faintly, my heart began to race.
I recalled the foolish delusion I had just moments ago and pinched my arm.
‘Get a grip and don’t have strange thoughts.’
For a moment, I had that thought, but then I bit my lip.
Even though I tried not to think about it, I couldn’t help but notice his hand.
‘Come to think of it, I think that was in my luggage…’
As soon as I entered the room, I rummaged through my things and found it.
‘If I apply this, it should get a little better.’
Yes, it was because I had received too much from him.
Thinking that, I quickly left the room.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Watching her enter the room, Erich sighed.
‘That was close.’
He had managed to hold himself back every time he saw her for a long time, but just because he had given her a gift.
And after seeing her beautiful smile for the first time in a while, he almost kissed her.
‘It was a good thing the moth flew behind her at that moment.’
However, it wasn’t just the moth that brought him back to reality.
It was the reality itself.
‘If I acted on my impulses, she would definitely dislike it.’
Even though he had given her a gift, she would have appreciated it no matter who it was from.
That was because the bouquet was filled only with flowers she liked.
‘So I must not be deluded.’
After the state council meeting, once she was safe, he would have to let her go.
Thus, Erich had no choice but to steady his mind.
He knew very well that the moment he kissed her, he would never be able to give her up.
‘Let’s go back.’
Erich turned away, trying to shake off his lingering feelings.
Just as he was slowly returning to his room—
“Erich, wait a moment—!”
At her call, he stopped and looked back.
He saw her running toward him with something in her hands.
‘Is that… a potion?’
As he looked at Cornelia with a puzzled expression, she said, “Wait, give me your hand.”
Without thinking, he reached out with his gloved hand instead of his bare hand.
She shook her head and said, “Both bare hands.”
Erich felt flustered at her request to show his bare hands.
‘It’s not exactly pretty to look at…’
However, he couldn’t ignore her request, so he reluctantly extended his hand.
She examined his hand closely and then sighed.
‘So it’s really unpleasant to look at?’
Just as Erich was thinking about the scar, she said, “That must have hurt a lot.”
At her words, his eyes widened in surprise.
He became even more flustered by Cornelia’s next action.
“Co-Cornelia!”
She had taken out the potion and applied it to his hand and was now gently massaging it in with her own hands.
