She spent her whole life bound by countless invisible constraints as Valent’s royalty. Those chains were also the biggest reason she couldn’t bring herself to approach Leon honestly in her past life.

“Still, why do you think he gave us this place?”

Sofia, who harbored ill feelings toward Leon, asked with suspicion.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know either.”

Only God knew what Leon was thinking.

“Come look at this, miss.”

The room Sofia led her to was packed full of dresses, and beside them, accessories and shoes to match each outfit were arranged neatly.

‘When did he prepare all of this?’

She tilted her head in puzzlement, and Sofia held up one of the dresses and said.

“They all fit as though they were tailored to your measurements, miss.”

Adela looked down at the fabric.

This was not how someone treated a person they intended to send away.

At the very least, it seemed he had no plans to drive her out.

A little later, after her bath, Adela put on a silk chemise and draped a long robe over it. It was slightly chilly, and she absently reached for her neck, only to feel a burning sting. The wounds on her face and neck were still not healed, and she forgot that Sofia applied ointment to them earlier.

Adela wandered the sitting room alone, then went downstairs to shake off the loneliness.

She stepped out into the small garden and lifted her head to look up at the night sky.

The stars packed so densely they looked ready to spill out drew a genuine gasp from her.

“It’s truly beautiful.”

The wind made her brown hair and the hem of her robe flutter softly.

Suddenly, the sound of grass being trodden came from behind her, and a large shadow enveloped Adela.

“What were you thinking, coming out here? What if you catch a cold?”

It was a familiar voice.

Once night fell, the annex was strictly off-limits to anyone except the soldiers guarding the entrance.

So she never expected anyone to be there.

Adela was so startled her breath caught in her throat.

“Hic!”

Leon draped his thick cloak, still warm, around her. Then he slowly turned her to face him.

“Why, were you out here sneaking around doing something mischievous?”

“I’m not a child, what are you…”

She wanted to snap back, but the hiccups that wouldn’t stop kept breaking up her words. Tears soon gathered at the corners of Adela’s eyes, and Leon looked down at her struggling and spoke.

“Shall I make it stop in one go?”

“…Hic.”

Leon’s black hair was still damp, as though he just finished washing. His red eyes, dark and low, wouldn’t leave Adela’s face.

A vague sense of dread made her cover her mouth with her hand and shake her head. She wanted to put distance between herself and Leon, who gave off a dangerous feeling, but she couldn’t escape his shadow.

“You really are a liar.”

Adela’s eyes asked the question, and Leon opened his mouth at a leisurely pace.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to become my concubine and bear my child?”

Adela quickly nodded, and he wrapped his arm firmly around her waist, as though he was waiting for exactly that.

“Then you should be desperate to seduce me all day long, shouldn’t you?”

Leon pressed his lips deep into the back of the hand covering her mouth. The sudden warmth made her body go rigid, but he paid no attention and slowly moved his lips against it.

The hand gripping her waist squeezed tighter and tighter. Leon’s heat coming through the thin silk made Adela’s breath quicken. An unfamiliar trembling spread all the way to the tips of her toes.

“S, stop…”

She opened her mouth to push him away, and Leon didn’t miss the opening, covering her lips and swallowing them whole.

How long did they exchange breaths?

When Adela’s legs gave out, Leon finally pulled his lips from hers.

“…Hah.”

Adela exhaled a ragged breath, and he watched her quietly.

“The hiccups stopped.”

Adela realized her hiccups were gone, and her cheeks flushed hot.

“Let’s go inside.”

He scooped her up into his arms and his steps turned toward the annex entrance.

The two of them sat side by side on the sitting room sofa and kept a brief silence.

‘Surely he isn’t suggesting we spend the night again?’

No matter how important it was to win Leon’s favor, her body today was in no state to handle him.

Adela let out a small sigh, and Leon got up, went to the fireplace, and brought back the teakettle.

“I can’t tell who is waiting on whom here.”

Leon murmured low, handed her the tea, and then stared only at the blazing fireplace.

Adela carefully turned the steaming teacup in her hands and stole a glance at Leon’s profile. He captured her eyes the first time she saw him, and he was still unreasonably handsome now as he was then.

Leon’s striking looks were a kind of curse to Adela. No matter what man she looked at, she always ended up comparing him to Leon’s face first.

‘My standards just shot up for no good reason. In a way, that’s my loss.’

She was grumbling to herself in amusement when Leon suddenly turned to face her with a scowl.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about that bastard?”

“……?”

The out-of-nowhere remark nearly made Adela spill her tea. The only man in her entire life was Leon. Who else could he possibly mean?

“Claude Tilbury. Your fiancé.”

“…Oh.”

The mention of Duke Tilbury drained the color from Adela’s face in an instant. So many things came crashing down at once that she briefly forgot about him.

In her past life, she never dreamed her former fiancé would betray her. Claude was a duke of the Arden Kingdom and someone she knew from childhood.

Claude, who walked with a limp after an accident, always carried a dark shadow over him. Adela couldn’t bring herself to pass him by and occasionally spoke to him.

The talk of a political marriage came up right after she came of age, and they became engaged. After that, for reasons she didn’t fully understand, it ended in a broken engagement.

But that was all there was to it.

She never held Claude Tilbury in her heart, nor imagined a future with him.

“Duke Tilbury and I are already no longer engaged.”

“…Is that so?”

Adela studied the skeptical Leon and noticed the faint habit of squinting one eye slightly.

He always tried to hide his pain, but that habit was one he never managed to break.

“Take your clothes off, Leon.”

“……?”

Leon froze for a moment at her sudden demand. He still just stared blankly at Adela, so she moved closer and unfastened the buttons of his vest without hesitation.

The vest fell to the floor, and Adela slowly removed his shirt.

“There’s no need to push yourself like this…”

Before Leon could finish, Adela turned him so his back faced her.

“…Oh.”

Just as she thought. His back was covered in dark reddish bruises from the sack that fell earlier. Adela picked up the tin of ointment from the table and clicked her tongue softly.

Leon shifted uncomfortably and tried to turn around.

“I don’t need treatment.”

Adela caught his wrist as he reached for his shirt.

“Do you think only I need to be healthy for a child to come?”

“…What?”

“Both parents need to be healthy.”

Adela grumbled as she looked at the bruises spread out like a map across his back, upset by the sight. Fortunately, Leon stopped trying to pull away.

Adela’s fingers moved slowly along the long scar drawn beneath his shoulder blade.

‘So many wounds.’

She could picture without seeing how much he suffered during the two years they were apart.

Then a low voice pulled her back to the present. Leon turned his body around at some point and was lightly holding her wrist.

“Your hands are trembling. Is my scar too ugly to bear?”

“No. Your back is much hotter than I expected, that’s all.”

Adela made a vague excuse and hurriedly helped him button his shirt back up. Then, as though drawn by something, she leaned her forehead against Leon’s firm chest without a word.

Leon’s body went rigid with a start. But he didn’t push her away. Instead, his large hand wrapped roughly around the back of her head.

All around them was stillness.

A night in the annex where neither the cold of Valent nor the noise beyond the walls could reach.

Even if it was a brief peace destined to vanish, she wanted to hold onto this warmth, just for a little while.