<Episode 118>

“Elkais, you’re seriously insane.”

Eveline said it with complete sincerity.

“I thought you’d be happy.”

They were on their honeymoon. The problem was… the location.

“After everything we went through to escape this place, you brought us back?”

It was the deserted island they had once desperately tried to flee from.

“Well, it holds memories.”

“Oh, right. The second most precious memories to you…”

Eveline suddenly remembered what the goddess Remeros had said—that Elkais would lose what was most precious to him. How he had clung to her then, and how, because everyone ended up sharing Abellard’s penalty, Elkais’s was weakened, and he lost only his second most precious thing instead.

That second most precious thing was the memories they made together here. The first had been Eveline herself.

Thinking of that, her bewilderment started to ease, and she smiled.

“You really treasure these things, don’t you, Elkais?”

“I do. You’re the most important to me. But if you don’t like it, even now we could still—”

“No, it’s fine. I actually like it. I was just caught off guard. It’s not that I hate it.”

He looked at her intently, as if confirming her feelings.

Eveline knew that look well—the expression he always wore when he was checking on her. And somehow, seeing him still doing it, still reading her that way, made her heart warm.

“I mean it.”

“I’m glad it shows.”

With a sigh of relief, he took her hand. Eveline liked how big his hand was, and how just holding it reassured her—so she held it tighter.

They arrived at the beach and told the staff not to come ashore. The two of them walked the sand alone, heading to a place they both knew well—the old hut.

“When did the hut turn into that?”

Eveline stared at what used to be the hut. Now it was a beautiful little villa.

“I started preparing it before the wedding. Just in case…”

She watched him stumble over his words, obviously hesitating, and laughed.

“In case the Duke of Wilden stopped the wedding, we’d come live here instead.”

“That wouldn’t have been so bad.”

As they approached the door, it opened on its own.

“So this is why you didn’t bring the staff?”

“Yeah. The whole place is enchanted. We don’t need them here.”

“This must’ve cost a fortune…”

“It’s our honeymoon, isn’t it?”

He smiled, eyes crinkling, and Eveline smiled back just the same. Seeing all the effort he put into preparing this made her feel a little guilty for not preparing anything herself.

So, after a moment’s thought, she said,

“Elkais.”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

For a moment, his eyes widened with surprise. Then, just as quickly, he broke into a smile filled with joy.

“So you do like the villa. What a relief.”

“I like the villa, yes…”

Her words made him tense up a bit—just in case something negative followed.

“…But more than the villa, I love your heart. I feel so happy, so at peace, so full.”

Eveline spoke very honestly, pouring out her heart. At that, he covered his face with his hand and turned his head away from her.

“Haven’t we already been through too much to be embarrassed by things like this?”

Even at Eveline’s question, he blushed, the heat rising all the way to his ears, impossible to cool down.

“It’s just… I like you too much. Just hearing your words makes me so happy, it’s almost a problem.”

His voice trembled, and Eveline chuckled. How could he always react so freshly to her, every single time?

“Let’s go in now. Hold me.”

“Alright.”

She said it because she wanted to see his flushed face. As soon as she finished speaking, he swept her up in his arms and slowly walked into the mansion.

Eveline smiled warmly as she looked at his red face, his sharp nose, his vivid red eyes, and his burning ears.

She could see so clearly how even the smallest action, even his breath, responded to her.

“Let’s go straight to the bedroom.”

“Let’s not go straight there. Let’s walk around a bit inside first. I want to look around.”

“Alright.”

He looked a little disappointed, but quickly straightened up and strode confidently into the mansion. Eveline glanced around, checking out the interior that he had personally arranged.

Inside, it was truly cozy. Just like the resort hotel she had seen in her previous life, it was harmonious, beautiful, and gave her a sense of calm.

“You can’t find stuff like this in the Empire.”

She said, looking at a dreamcatcher hanging on the wall.

“When I briefly had the power of the goddess Remeros, I saw another dimension.”

“Oh, that actually worked?”

“It did. While looking for gifts you might like, I ended up learning a few things.”

Eveline wrapped her arms around his neck and spoke, as if relieved by his words.

“My darling’s really been through a lot, huh.”

“Say it again…”

“Hm?”

He stood still and waited until she looked at him before speaking.

“Say it again.”

“My darling?”

“…Yeah.”

At her words, his face flushed even deeper, and his eyes grew wet as he lowered his gaze. Then he lifted his eyes again to hold her in them.

“My darling is really handsome.”

“My wife is much prettier.”

When he called her his wife, Eveline understood why he had made that expression earlier.

Her heart was pounding, yet an indescribable sense of calm washed over her. She found his large heartbeat, beating slightly out of sync with hers, oddly pleasant.

Most of all, the fact that she could feel this comfortable just by being with him in such an unstable place—

“That painting was purchased in the Empire, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. I knew you were trying to buy a piece by Duvinne.”

Eveline knew that the one who had tried to buy the painting under her name was Abellard, but she didn’t mention it. She simply smiled. After all, Elkais had gone through trouble to get this rare artwork for her.

Besides, Duvinne’s paintings weren’t the kind you could get just because you wanted them—they were of national treasure-level value.

Truthfully, it wasn’t the exact painting she had hoped for, but she didn’t want to say something that might ruin Elkais’s mood.

“This isn’t the one you really wanted, is it?”

“Huh? That’s not true! I totally wanted this one! Why would you think otherwise, darling?”

As Eveline flusteredly replied, Elkais said with certainty:

“I’m always watching you. What you like, what you think about. So how could I not know?”

At his words, Eveline simply hugged him tightly. His face rested against her chest as she held him close—so tightly, it almost hurt.

“But seeing it in person… it’s beautiful. This one… it’s a sunset, right?”

It was a bit abstract, but she could understand it.

“I really love it. Like I said before, it’s not about what the gift is—it’s about how you picked it. And that’s what I love, even now.”

She tried to pull away from the hug, as if wrapping things up.

“Ah… what are you doing?”

“Didn’t you say I could?”

He briefly buried his face in her chest before pulling back again. Eveline felt strangely flustered and warm, her body heating up.

“Isn’t the bedroom on the other side?”

“Do we have to do it in the bedroom?”

His provocative reply caught her off guard for a moment.

But he wasn’t wrong. The only place they had shared intimacy so far had been in the bedroom—always on the bed.

Yet, thinking back, the first time they made love hadn’t even been on a bed. Why had they stuck to it since?

She chuckled, realizing they didn’t need to limit themselves to that.

“This is my first time doing it standing up.”

“Lean against the wall.”

With that, he gently set her down.

Since she was still in her wedding dress, when she leaned against the wall, he stood back for a moment and just admired her like a piece of art.

“If you could lean forward a bit more, that’d be perfect.”

“Okay.”

Eveline did as he asked, placing her hands on the wall and leaning forward. Because of the dress, her hands touched the wall but her body was slightly away from it.

He moved behind her and gently caressed her stomach.

“You really like bellybuttons, don’t you?”

“I like your chest more.”

“Then why do you always touch here?”

“Because you get nervous when I do.”

His voice, lower than usual, made her ears tingle. It was as if his deep voice flowed through her ears and tickled her heart.

“Ah…”

When his hand moved from her stomach upward to fondle her chest, her hips trembled.

“Don’t you think having ten kids would be kind of hard?”

“W-what?”

“I feel like I might die from holding back.”

With those words, he began to slowly undress her.

He pulled the top of her dress—already half-revealing her chest—down to her waist. The warm indoor air touched her bare skin.

“And honestly… I’m scared.”

“Hh… Scared of what?”

He gently cupped her exposed breasts and brushed her hair aside from the back of her neck, then kissed her nape.

“I’m not telling.”

With that, he covered her chest with his large hands.