“Aiden, you’re back? It took longer than I thought.”
As the evening twilight settled by the window, Aiden returned home. His face, washed several times in the stream, was so clean that no trace of his earlier emotional turmoil could be noticed.
“Yes, I couldn’t find any tree I liked… So, I went deeper into the forest and got a bit lost.”
“You always nag me to be careful not to get lost, and yet… What happened to your hands?”
Even though he had washed away the blood and tears in the flowing water, he couldn’t hide the wounds around his nails, scraped and torn from the ground. He brushed it off, pretending it was nothing.
“I tripped a bit…”
“Unbelievable. Sit here; I’ll treat you.”
She guided him to a chair and sat him down. He didn’t refuse and obediently held out his hand.
While being treated, the smell of something delicious wafted from the stove, and he finally felt the emptiness in his stomach. Looking at the clock, it seemed he was very late for dinner.
“Have you eaten?”
“No, I put eating off because the book was so interesting that I decided to finish it before eating.”
Though she said this, in truth, she had been waiting to eat with him. Not wanting to burden him, she spoke lightly while carefully wrapping bandages around his injured fingertips.
As he looked down at her pale, slender fingers moving busily and her golden hair tinged with a reddish hue, he impulsively muttered,
“Anje…”
“Yes?”
He gazed at her intently for a moment before shaking his head.
“No, it’s nothing. I was just wondering what’s for dinner… But since I’m in the kitchen, I might as well check for myself.”
“So silly.”
She scolded him, trying to calm her pounding heart. He had called her name so seriously that she couldn’t help but tense up, wondering what he was about to say.
“Well, since you asked, I’ll tell you. I kept it simple today. I baked some biscuits, and I’m planning to slice them open and make sandwiches with lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon.”
“They’ll go well with the chili soup I made for lunch. Thank you, I’ll enjoy it.”
After finishing the treatment, Aiden sat across from Anje at the dining table and began eating. The chili soup he made and the biscuit sandwiches she prepared were fresh and delicious.
But for Aiden, it all tasted like paper or sand, leaving him unable to enjoy the flavors. Anje, noticing his slow pace, asked with a worried expression,
“Do you not have an appetite?”
“N-No, not at all. It’s just that my hand feels a bit uncomfortable.”
Not wanting to admit to the person who prepared the food that he couldn’t taste it, he took a large bite of the sandwich and gave another excuse.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Anje asked,
“Should I feed you?”
She recalled the time when her hand had been wrapped in bandages, and he had acted as her hands, feeding her. Though it was embarrassing to make such an offer first, she wanted to return the kindness she had received.
Aiden hesitated before slowly nodding.
“Though it’s shameless of me, please.”
He felt sorry for making her worry, but he liked seeing her focus solely on him and take care of him. It made him feel like she truly cherished him.
“Don’t just sit there staring. Open your mouth.”
But at the same time, doubts began to creep in. Was this genuine kindness, or was she trying to reassure him while planning to leave?
When Anje first came to the farm, he was always on guard, thinking she would run away as soon as she had the chance. However, at some point, he started to feel that she genuinely liked being here, and he reassured himself that she no longer had any intention of leaving.
‘Did I misunderstand Anje’s feelings?’
Was the smiles she showed and the words she whispered to him all just an act?
To shake off his complicated emotions, he focused on eating, but as soon as the meal ended, he hurriedly stood up. Since she had taken care of him, it was his turn to repay the favor.
“Thank you. I’ll take care of the dishes.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. How can you let soap water touch your injured hands? Go upstairs and get some rest for now.”
“Still, I feel like I’ve made you do too much…”
“After I even went out of my way to feed you, are you going to waste my effort?”
Though he didn’t intend to disregard her effort, Aiden wasn’t ready to return to his room just yet. He feared that the moment he was alone in the dark room, the severe seizure he had earlier might strike again.
“Then, can I stay here and just watch you?”
Anje’s eyes widened at the unexpected request, but she soon nodded.
“…Do as you like. I don’t see what’s so interesting about watching me.”
Though her tone suggested she found his words absurd, her lips curled into a smile that reached her ears.
Even in her own eyes, she looked quite pretty in the apricot-colored dress. Perhaps Aiden felt the same way. It seemed that dressing up had been worthwhile.
As she washed the dishes, she occasionally glanced toward Aiden, who was sitting at the table. He was staring at her blatantly, as if his neck had been fixed in place with glue. A few times, his lips parted as though he was debating whether to say something or not.
“Could it be that earlier, instead of looking for the medicine box… he had something to say?’
In truth, she had been debating whether to speak to Aiden about her feelings when he returned. But seeing his wounds upon his arrival, she decided treating him should come first and postponed it.
‘If Aiden is about to say something first…’
Wouldn’t it be safer to wait instead of taking the risk of acting first and embarrassing herself?
Come to think of it, she had heard that in situations like this, it was usually the man who made the first move—whether it was a proposal, a confession, or asking someone out on a date.
‘Let’s wait a little.’
She decided to wait for a while. If he didn’t make a move, then she would take the initiative herself.
While Anje was making this decision, Aiden was also firming up his own resolve. His determination, though in a different direction, was similar in essence.
‘I won’t let you leave.’
TL/N: OOH, IT’S FUN TO SEE AIDEN’S POSSESSIVE SIDE!
No matter how much Duke Glasster needed her, he had no intention of handing her over willingly. Even if she wanted to leave, it would be the same.
She was his purpose in life and his joy. Just imagining a life without her was unbearably painful.
Thus, he resolved to use every means at his disposal to keep her here.
‘Should I ask Anje directly about the letter and persuade her to stay?’
At first, he considered the direct approach, but after much deliberation, he dismissed it.
Although he had discovered the letter by chance, it was still a private letter. Revealing that he had secretly read it might damage her trust in him.
Moreover, the moment he acted as though he knew about her plans to remarry, it seemed as if that future would become a foregone conclusion. She might even leave him with relief, spared from having to break things off herself.
‘Should I inform the Emperor and seek his help instead?’
The one who had arranged their marriage was none other than the Emperor, William Cardiner. If he learned that Duke Glasster was plotting something contrary to his intentions, he might intervene out of anger.
‘The problem is how much interest he still has in this marriage…’
If the marriage was arranged to warn Duke Glasster and other pro-Philip factions, that goal had already been achieved.
Thus, whether Anje divorced or remarried someone else might not matter much to the Emperor anymore.
‘…To begin with, William is someone whose true intentions are hard to grasp.’
Aiden recalled William Cardiner, whom he had occasionally encountered during his time at the imperial palace.
Unlike the violent and arrogant deposed crown prince Philip, his younger brother William was a quiet and composed man.
Though he shared his brother’s blond hair, his red eyes—eyes that Philip lacked—made Aiden feel, “So we do share the same blood after all.”
Perhaps because of this, William had rarely shown any hostility toward Aiden, unlike Philip. Of course, that didn’t mean he welcomed or liked him either.
When he saw Philip bullying him, William neither intervened nor joined in but merely left him alone. If anything, it seemed like he simply wasn’t very interested in Aiden.
The news that William had overthrown Philip and ascended the throne was surprising enough, but his insistence on marrying Philip’s fiancée to Aiden was even stranger in hindsight.
There were plenty of other illegitimate or minor noblemen besides Aiden—why had William specifically chosen him?
‘She’s a pitiable lady who lost her fiancé because of me. You have to treat her well.’
The Emperor’s calm explanation for matchmaking had, strangely, carried a faint hint of amusement.
‘Think of it as a reward for your service on the battlefield.’
A reward, long after the war was over, and a marriage to a bothersome noblewoman as that reward?
When he received what was essentially an order disguised as a proposal, he was too bewildered and resentful to do anything but hurriedly prepare for the marriage.
Naturally, he didn’t have the time to question the Emperor’s intentions in detail. Even if he had asked, the Emperor wasn’t the kind of man to explain easily.
He briefly pondered William’s intentions behind this marriage and finally reached a conclusion.
‘The situation of Philip’s deposed fiancée ending up marrying the illegitimate child whom Philip loathed the most might have been the ultimate insult to Philip and his followers.’
If that were the case, it would be best to inform the Emperor that Duke Glasster had other schemes in mind.
However… relying solely on the Emperor’s power wouldn’t be enough.
‘I also need to oppose Duke Glasster directly.’
While writing a letter to the imperial palace, he would also make it clear to Duke Glasster that he had no intention of divorcing. No matter how powerful the Duke was, he couldn’t force a divorce without the consent of both spouses.
‘The best-case scenario…’
The best-case scenario was that Anje herself didn’t actively want a divorce.
If she didn’t wish for it, no matter how much the Duke tried to threaten or entice her, she wouldn’t sign the divorce papers. If things got dire, Aiden could even flee with her to another region.
* * * *
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