Since the princess from the Kingdom of Keruzhan had arrived, Kaela could no longer leisurely enter the royal palace once every four days.
The eve of the engagement ceremony begins tomorrow. So today she must enter the palace, tomorrow she must enter the palace, the day after tomorrow she must enter the palace, and the day after that as well.
During the past few days, although she occasionally handled tasks brought by royal messengers, Kaela was able to catch her breath thanks to the competent maids of the Empress’s palace and the help of noble ladies.
Above all, Peon, who is always by her side with his taciturn face, took such extraordinary care of her that she felt much more at ease.
When she opened her eyes and stretched her arm, she looked beside her to find Peon glancing at her. There was not a hint of drowsiness in his eyes.
“Hello.”
Rather, his eyes looked extremely tired.
“You’re up early.”
What could have happened during the night? Kaela examined Peon’s slightly pale face. He stared at his wife intently, then suddenly smiled and moved first to kiss her cheek.
Lately, kisses have been pouring out so frequently that her face might wear out. This wasn’t something he deliberately did, but something he couldn’t resist, a gesture that eventually happened despite his attempts to hold back.
When did this start? Kaela thought blankly while receiving light kisses that passed from her forehead to her temples, between her eyebrows and nose, across her cheeks to her lips.
When did such affection start pouring like a water cascade? The affection Peon expressed was continuously unending, more like a waterfall than a water cascade. When did these outpouring affections begin?
‘From when we remarried?’
Her dazed mind traced her memories. Until their marriage, he had always maintained courtesy and treated Kaela politely. No, after he regressed, even before marriage, things were different.
He had sought her out directly numerous times and they frequently encountered each other. When she ran away, it was Peon she met. When she cried in a corner of the royal palace, it was also Peon who came holding a peach. Did he come laden with guilt and a sense of obligation?
“Kaela.”
That must be it. Peon has a strong sense of responsibility and is just in nature. His personality could not tolerate the actions committed before he regressed.
“Kaela?”
But when did that guilt and obligation start mixing with affection? Is there even a reason to harbor affection?
He repeatedly tells her she’s pretty despite being skinny and plain, and persistently keeps alive a depressed woman who only contemplates quietly. She cannot understand why he would harbor such affection.
“Kaela.”
The soft, intermittent kisses suddenly became rough.
From the morning, he was advancing with the intensity of someone about to lock the bedroom door. For the slender Kaela, it was overwhelmingly too much. Peon, who wrapped his head around her as she was pushed back without knowing where, detached his lips when she began to struggle for breath.
“Are you thinking of something else?”
His purple eyes looking down at her were cold and gloomy.
“Is it so difficult to look at me?”
He spoke, smiling in a way that was neither a joke nor serious, then lowered his head. Kaela looked down at her husband who had his forehead on her shoulder. Can this simply be described as guilt or obligation?
In Peon, she saw a glimpse of her former self.
‘No way. How could that be?’
Even though she tried to dismiss the thought, it was too vividly visible.
“Well, I suppose so.”
Peon nodded to himself and pulled his body back. The hand that unconsciously reached out, he withdrew while clenching it into a tight fist.
‘Why?’
Why is he like that? Why exactly? Wasn’t he always fond of Beatrice? In his relationships, wasn’t Kaela at most just a somewhat annoying younger sister from a known family? So when did he start harboring such affection?
Unable to understand, Kaela continually tried to trace and verify when this affection began. She attempted to analyze these emotions that her mind couldn’t comprehend.
‘No, I shouldn’t care about this.’
That was right. That was ‘fair’. When Kaela had loved him, he was not just indifferent but even disgusted, so it was only fair that she should not care either.
The affection Peon harbored must have originated from guilt. Perhaps he felt pitiful and sorry. Then isn’t this just compassion? There was even less reason to care.
Ultimately, there was no meaning of emotion between the two of them. Kaela, who had thoroughly learned that there was no strength to believe and that giving up was safer, let Peon withdraw.
She should do nothing, whether he came or went.
“It’s been completed exactly as ordered, Your Highness. You can start wearing it from today.”
“Hmm?”
Kaela, preparing to enter the palace, was slightly wide-eyed at the new dress the maids were showing her. It was a brilliantly radiant summer dress.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? It’s fabric from Ostein that the Grand Duke ordered last time, Your Highness. You must be so busy lately that you’re overwhelmed.”
Denise looked worried about the incredibly busy Kaela.
“Oh, is this the one that was fitted before?”
“Yes! That’s the one!”
There was a day when Peon suddenly brought Kaela to the reception room while she was managing Lusenford’s territory while resting.
Famous tailors and assistants had already arrived, spreading out various fabrics and design samples, smiling and ready to start work. There had been two days when she was dizzy from changing clothes countless times.
Feeling a bit resentful of trying on clothes alone, Kaela had dragged Peon along too.
“The Grand Duke was so attentive, you can’t imagine.”
“Denise, the order I made…”
“You mean the Grand Duke’s? That was delivered together too. Don’t worry.”
“It’s all here?”
“Of course. I checked with Cecile that everything was according to the order. We even received plenty of spare buttons.”
“Good job.”
“How’s the dress, Your Highness? Don’t you like it?”
Even when she tried to pass by without deliberately giving it much thought, Peon’s delicate care would make her pause and look back once more.
“It’s beautiful.”
So beautifully radiant that she wasn’t sure if it would suit her.
‘If Beatrice had worn it, it would have suited her better.’
Kaela forcibly shook off the bad habit deeply embedded in her bones during the cold four years, along with all the losses, including her father’s death.
Shaking off the subject of comparison for four years wasn’t easy, but she had to let it go.
She quickly recalled the scandalous banquet contents that Beatrice had recently splashed across the newspapers.
Remembering that made the resentment of comparison disappear instantly. As the Princess of Ostein, she couldn’t harbor an inferiority complex comparing herself to such a woman. It wasn’t worth it.
“It suits you wonderfully, Your Highness. It’s incredibly radiant and beautiful.”
“The Grand Duke has good taste. He said the cream color close to yellow would match Your Highness’s hair color perfectly.”
He said such a delicate thing? The same man who was taciturn and only knew about the army and protecting Lusenford?
“All the other dresses were also created very beautifully with extensive input from the Grand Duke.”
What was Peon like back then? He asked so many times whether this was good or that was good that it became annoying. Kaela looked in the mirror once and then reached out.
“Denise, my half-moon pearl earrings…”
She was always done with her usual modest small earrings and a ring. She had long since grown tired of searching for or even thinking about what else might be needed. Just do what she usually does, or not at all.
During her time as the Princess of Ostein, examining various jewels had been a form of entertainment and hobby.
When she married Peon, she had tried to look prettier by pulling out non-existent jewels and trying different styles, but she was sick of hearing whispers about how a Grand Duchess was being extravagant in their modest household, and that she could never compare to the pure Beatrice.
Since efforts were futile, she gave up. Moreover, it was a hobby too expensive to enjoy. In Lusenford, Kaela had lost interest in everything.
“Denise?”
There was no responding voice, no hand extending earrings. Kaela turned around. The maids who had been helping her dress had slipped away, smiling, to a distant corner.
“From what I see, those earrings are so worn out they might be past their prime.”
As always, her husband, who had been meticulously attending to her since morning, checking every detail of breakfast, was now standing nearby with several large boxes.
He who used to leave morning dressing to the maids but do everything else himself now seemed intent on being involved in this area too.
Or perhaps the maids had subtly passed the task to the Grand Duke, frustrated by her unwillingness to even open the jewels inherited from her mother.
“With a new dress, and having to enter the palace continuously from today until the day after tomorrow, wouldn’t trying new jewelry help lift your mood?”
Inside the box that opened with a click were carefully crafted jewels, sparkling and sorted by type. They perfectly matched today’s dress – brilliantly radiant. They were the blue sapphires promised by the Ener River. They suited the fresh summer perfectly.
“Perhaps you don’t like them?”
Well, she should ask to take out even her mother-in-law’s stored, unused jewels. Peon was always anxious, unable to understand what Kaela was thinking as she just stared.
She had been living locked in her own winter. The person who locked her away should be the one to release her, but all the methods he’d thought of seemed poor and inadequate. It was a mess.
Kaela, who had been watching his extremely anxious and helpless expression, suddenly asked:
“Did you order these to match the dress?”
More precisely, he had separately ordered the jewels to match the fabric’s color from the moment of fabric selection.
Peon’s discernment had already been proven during their unexpected picnic by the Ener River. Everything he was involved with – dresses, jewels, accessories – was incredibly delicate and beautiful.
“Yes.”
She looked down at the sapphire jewelry set, reminiscent of a sunny day’s sea, and then stood up. She didn’t want to see Peon looking uncharacteristically anxious and nervous. It seemed familiar, and she didn’t want to see more.
“I have something for you too.”
“Hm?”
She had received too much. Hesitating and hesitating, she found something she should have given today but hadn’t.
“Denise, about what you mentioned earlier…”
“Oh, it’s right here.”
Denise smiled brightly and held out a large box. It had arrived with the dress, but seemed like something Kaela should handle, so she had set it aside. She had been waiting for the right moment, and this was perfect.
Kaela, her ears slightly reddened, pushed the box directly into Peon’s arms.
“What is this?”
“Go and change, I’ll also take care of… this…”
Without even looking at his face, she lowered her head and pushed the box.
“Is it for me?”
“I’m giving this because I’ve received a lot. It’s nothing. Go. Go and change into this outfit instead.”
“Why can’t I change here?”
When Peon smiled and tugged at his collar, the maids began to quickly leave.
“Oh, no!”
“‘No’?”
Everyone was so quick that by the time the maids had hurriedly escaped and the door closed, Peon was already loosening his neatly tied tie.
Then he casually unbuttoned his entire shirt. Kaela screamed internally. This was a disaster.
“If it’s not okay, what would be okay, My Lady?”
Even his form of address had changed. Peon clearly was displeased with the sudden formal speech that had slipped out unconsciously.
Feeling annoyed, he roughly opened the box and simultaneously quickly undressed. She had never seen someone undress so quickly with both hands. No, that wasn’t the point.
“Y-you can’t undress here!”
“Is there a reason why not?”
Kaela flinched, tilting her body and looking at Peon, who had come very close. He had already fully exposed his upper body, standing bare-chested, his eyes sparkling while smiling.
“We’re married, Kaela.”
And they were a couple who had done everything together.
“Oh, you don’t know how to help with getting dressed!”
“Who would make a noble lady like you do that? I’m not a child. I know how to dress myself.”
“Then go behind that screen and change!”
“I need to see if the clothes you bought me suit me, Kaela.”
“You can come out after changing and show me!”
“While taking the opportunity to admire my body too.”
“So, your goal is definitely something like that! Who do you think doesn’t know!”
That’s why I’m telling you to change somewhere else!
“Why, would seeing me make you want to do something?”
That was the limit for the noble princess. Just as she was about to rush out, Peon calmly added:
“I always want to. I want to hold you, touch you. I’m even happy if you just look at me.”
Kaela turned her head, but the side she turned to was coincidentally his solid side.
With scratch marks deeply etched on his side, unable to look at his shoulder, she was forced to look back into his eyes. His clear purple eyes were sparkling with joy.
“Thank you for the gift. I’m happy you thought of me. I’ll wear it well.”
“Ah…”
Why was his face so radiant? Kaela, who had been staring blankly thinking summer flowers would suit Peon’s elegant face even better, suddenly came to her senses.
“Yes, yes. I’m… I’m thankful you take care of me too. The dress, shoes, and jewels are all pretty, colorful, bright, and…well, I like them.”
“Good. I’ll give you more since this isn’t enough.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m not okay.”
Peon hugged her tightly. Hugging her, he kissed her cheek as was his habit. Some habits feel good.
“Kaela.”
“Yes?”
“Do we have some time?”
“Oh, no! We can’t be late!”
“‘We can’t’?”
He smiled slightly and hooked a finger in his pants.
