Imprisoned Kaela knocked on the door with her frozen hands, then curled up clutching her lower abdomen.
She groaned, having so many things she wanted to eat but nothing she could actually eat.
Peon knows what that means. He kept watching, watching, and watching her.
At first, he only saw Kaela. Her emaciated body and eyes filled with despair and resignation, her pitiful state with broken ribs from coughing due to the cold – these images were etched in his mind.
But as time passed, he began to see other things. Her pitch-black dead eyes occasionally glanced at her belly. Her small, frostbitten hands would wrap around her stomach, then just let go. It wasn’t simply that the child was making things more difficult.
Kaela’s spirit was rapidly dying because of his seed. She suffered from unnecessary guilt of being treated like a prostitute, longing only for a quick death.
Peon watched Kaela laughing, surrounded by people in the middle of Lanpalar Palace where warm lights came on and music played when darkness fell.
If there hadn’t been a child, you would have lived at least a little longer.
You wouldn’t have died so quickly, so meaninglessly.
“Oh my, already? Has it already been that long?”
“Yes, Your Highness. It’s already been a year. Many things happened during that time.”
Kaela was surprised to hear about what had happened in Ostein while she was away.
With round eyes, she nodded at the speaker while walking somewhere. She walked through the crowd that parted like receding water and reached her husband.
“Well, I’ve had many changes too.”
Kaela nodded and naturally leaned against Peon. He immediately wrapped his arm around her waist.
Ostein, being a place visited by people from various countries, was quite open-minded unlike the conservative North.
Even Peon had never seen Kaela lean on him first in public before, but people didn’t mind. They simply continued their conversations while heading to the well-prepared dinner table.
“Why, without finishing your conversation.”
“I’m hungry.”
It’s natural for meals to always be taken care of by one’s husband. Since returning home, Kaela had become a bit more honest and free. Peon, walking while holding his embracing wife, looked down at her for a moment.
‘…This can’t be right.’
Kaela, who had her arms around his waist regardless of people watching, was looking ahead with an excited expression.
Then she quickly sat down and began dining while talking with none other than him, just the two of them. Under the warm lighting, Kaela was full of life, smiling while looking only at him.
“Is that tasty? It is, right! It’s my favorite. It’s even more delicious when you eat these two together.”
The table was abundant, filled with all kinds of food that Her Highness the Princess liked. Kaela reached for the steaming shrimp and crab dishes with a bright smile.
“You take this, and peel it like this…”
“Let me do it. You’ll hurt yourself.”
Peon stopped Kaela while wiping his hands clean.
“I won’t get hurt.”
“It’s hot. And the shell is very hard. Don’t touch it.”
To serve these whole shellfish steamed – while it looks fancy, how much could the delicate Princess actually eat of it?
Clicking his tongue, Peon began dismantling the crab piece by piece and peeling the shrimp. He also cut the fried fish into perfect bite-sized pieces to feed her.
“I can really peel them well myself.”
“I know. Say ‘ah.'”
“Ah.”
When fed the white, plump meat, Kaela chewed while smiling.
“Try this. It’s delicious.”
“Is it?”
The fresh seafood caught right from the coast was delicious even without any seasoning. Peon frowned when he saw Kaela taking a somewhat cooled shrimp and methodically peeling it.
“I told you to leave it.”
“I told you I’m good at this. Look, I’m doing well- Ah!”
The hand peeling the shell suddenly jerked.
“I told you it was hot. Here, eat this.”
When he held the fully peeled crab meat to her lips as usual, instead of eating it right away, her lips pursed out. Peon couldn’t help but laugh.
“Eat it, My Lady.”
“I want to feed you too.”
Ah, so that’s why she’s sulking. Peon ate the shrimp Kaela offered him. Kaela ate the crab he had peeled with slightly slumped shoulders.
After completely removing all the shells to make it easy for her to eat, he washed his hands, drank wine, and watched her eat.
He had to make sure she was eating properly and sufficiently. Sometimes he had to eat some himself for Kaela to eat even a little more while watching him.
Kaela ate her fill of Ostein’s seafood dishes and plenty of fragrant, juicy fruits.
“I’m full.”
He wanted to say how could she be full after eating just that much, but this time Peon acknowledged that Kaela had eaten a bit more than usual.
“Well done.”
“This is the first time I’ve been praised for eating a lot.”
Kaela laughed in disbelief after immediately surveying operations as Ostein’s heir and grasping the current situation of Ostein upon return.
“Good work deserves praise.”
“Did I do well?”
From dinner time she had been smiling brightly, and now she came closer with sparkling eyes to ask – something seemed off. Peon narrowed his eyes. What is this young lady planning now.
“I’ll eat well and get healthy. I’ll work hard at horse riding too.”
“Don’t overdo it, rest.”
“I won’t overdo it. The first goal is to get healthy. Once eating is no longer an issue, then we can think about having a child.”
I knew it. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.
“I just want you to be healthy.”
Peon looked at Kaela, who had so casually brought up the topic he really wanted to avoid right in front of him.
To him, she was both an overwhelmingly powerful presence and an ecstasy he couldn’t take his eyes off. Therefore, no matter how much he wanted to cover something up, he couldn’t resist when she brought it up. He had to face it, even forcibly.
“You alone are enough for me. I don’t want anything more.”
He wanted to stop right there. He didn’t want to go deeper into this issue. Every day he stands before two corpses.
Kaela at least had a form, but the child – the child even Peon’s father had acknowledged – had no form. Since Peon hadn’t acknowledged it at the time, he would never know what kind of child it was.
“Let’s not make definite decisions about our future.”
But Kaela, who had approached him as he stood stiffly in the tower, was now pulling him. Pulling him to come to reality, to look at the future now.
He really couldn’t leave this northern tower. Couldn’t break free. Unable to resist the weak force pulling his wrist, Peon faced her. Kaela was looking up at him.
“…Do you want to have a child?”
He had sworn to fulfill everything she wanted. So if she wanted this, he would have to cooperate on this issue too. But he didn’t want to.
He didn’t want to back down on this issue particularly, but as soon as he met those blue eyes looking up at him, his heart was greatly shaken.
She was too pretty to strongly refuse, too fragile to dare say no to. He couldn’t even get angry at her. Peon deliberately lowered his voice to ask.
“Is this what you want, or is it because of the succession?”
Either way, it can’t happen. Peon couldn’t bear to see that fragile body shatter again under the weight of that damned responsibility and duty he had carried all his life.
“Do you know how many times you collapsed in the past year?”
People don’t know, but what happened a year ago in both their memories? Peon regretted and regretted again his early carelessness, thinking Kaela couldn’t possibly have regressed too.
“Just when you seemed to be getting better, you kept collapsing again and again. These days are when you’ve maintained your healthiest state the longest.”
“I’m not saying let’s have one right away. I’m just saying let’s not definitively end the possibility of what might happen in the future.”
Kaela, who had been staring at him intently, gently shook the hand she was holding. He needed to firmly say no, but because of that aegyo-like small gesture, Peon couldn’t even begin to speak.
“Hmm?”
Kaela moved even closer to him and kept shaking and pulling his wrist that she held with both hands, urging him to answer quickly. Peon stood still and forced out his voice.
“Don’t feel any sense of responsibility or duty.”
He, who had been trapped by responsibility all his life, knew best how severe and useless it was.
“I can solve the succession issue any way necessary. You will always be free.”
“I’m not worried about succession issues.”
Kaela shook her head and looked at him quietly. She was looking only at him with unwavering, serious, and gentle eyes.
“I’m already free.”
Peon closed his eyes then opened them. Even after going through that harsh ordeal and regression, he was terribly weak to this fragile person’s serious listening and responses. Still, the ruler of the North tried his best to resist. This resistance wasn’t for himself.
“Kaela. Even healthy people often have things go wrong during pregnancy.”
Those still clean and clear eyes looked at him distinctly.
“…If I lose you, what would I…”
She just kept looking quietly. Peon tried to say something but closed his mouth. Kaela still remained silent and tilted her head slightly. Finally, he couldn’t hold back and confessed.
“Ah, fine. It’s true that there won’t be any more medical dangers and I can intervene in the delivery, but I…!”
“Honey.”
Kaela held his hand firmly with both of hers.
“We didn’t know we’d end up like this.”
The woman who had said nothing but death was acceptable spoke to the man who had said nothing but her survival was acceptable.
“Like this…, warm.”
She placed one hand on top of his palm. When held, he holds back. That hand was more than warm – it always held heat directed at her.
“Safe, with nothing to fear, just finding and doing what I want to do – I didn’t know I could spend my twenty-first year like this.”
Peon’s eyes gradually softened as he listened quietly.
“I didn’t even know such a twenty-first year existed. That’s true for all of us, isn’t it?”
But he didn’t answer easily.
“I’m happy now. Because I’m in the house I like, with the person I always wished I could invite just once. Because that person is still my husband, I’m happy.”
Peon let out a quiet sigh. Whatever she said, all he could do now was declare defeat.
And so once again, at just one inner feeling shown so casually and matter-of-factly, he not only softened but melted completely pathetically.
“I think it’s the same for you too, what do you think?”
He couldn’t even resist Kaela who looked at him with her chin slightly raised, with eyes saying ‘Of course you think so!’
He would just nod stupidly, saying absolutely yes, and be satisfied with that. The gruff knight from the North was powerless before the Southern princess who had grown up receiving lots of love.
“We came this far without expecting it. Of course we tried our best, but we still made it.”
From the monster’s garden to Ostein’s Lanpalar Palace, after going round and round, they were facing winter once again.
“So let’s not limit our future.”
“…Do you believe we could be happier than this?”
“We’ll know when we get there.”
“Even with me?”
Peon threw it out half-jokingly. But it was true. Kaela would always have to accompany the mad dragon.
“That’s why…”
Kaela, who had been thinking while rolling her eyes around, suddenly smiled brightly.
“Wouldn’t it be even better?”
Finding it absurd, Peon laughed.
“You just thought of that now.”
He pulled her hand and embraced Kaela.
“I’ve thought about it for a very long time.”
Because he had nothing else, he had long concluded that just having Kaela by his side would be enough for a perfectly complete life. That’s why he held onto her even more severely. He absolutely couldn’t let go.
“But why didn’t you think about increasing our family number?”
“Pregnancy itself is hard work.”
“That doesn’t apply to me. You’ll take care of everything. I know I’d be safe even if I had triplets. I’m not stupid.”
“Triplets, please stop saying such horrible things…”
Peon finally covered his eyes with his hands and groaned. It would be better to just cover his eyes and not look. Kaela, who was tightly hugging his waist and sticking close while looking up at him, was fatal in many ways.
“I just want to look forward to what might happen in the future. Bad things might happen instead of good things, and maybe having a child will be unexpectedly difficult since I drank so much poison this time.”
At those words, he lifted and embraced Kaela completely.
“That’s fine too. I said you alone are enough.”
“Yes. I know, so I’m fine too.”
If we go together, that alone…
“Is enough for me too.”
🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷