Chapter 8 (Part 8)

Feeling uneasy under his steady gaze, she turned her attention to the stage, obscured by red curtains.  

She wished Cardin would say something, anything, but he remained silent, his persistent gaze the only thing she could feel.  

Just as her palms began to sweat, the sound of a cart being pushed echoed through the space.  

“Excuse me, Your Grace.”  

A servant approached, offering Cardin and her a damp cloth along with some light snacks.  

Curious, she looked at the tray and saw a small dish of peanuts.  

Cardin raised his hand to decline but then turned to her.  

“Is there anything you’d like to eat?”  

She had heard that the food in places like this was quite good, and the aroma from the cart was pleasant.  

As she examined the cart closely, both the servant and Cardin waited patiently.  

She chose a sugar-coated wheat pastry, a twisted dough neatly cut into bite-sized pieces.  

When Cardin paid, the servant handed her the freshly made pastry in a thin paper box that felt warm to the touch.  

After the servant left with a polite bow, she offered the pastry to Cardin first.  

However, he only looked at it and didn’t take a piece.  

‘He used to eat flour-based foods just fine.’ 

He hadn’t shown any dislike for such foods before. Wanting to confirm, she asked, 

“Do you not like this?”  

Cardin chuckled softly and picked up a piece of the pastry.  

“No.”  

He bit into it, and it didn’t seem like he disliked it.  

At that moment, laughter echoed from below. Looking down, she saw that the cart had reached the other audience members, many of whom were also eating the wheat pastries.  

Most of them appeared to be couples, feeding each other and sitting so close together that they seemed to share the same seat, their hands intertwined.  

Glancing sideways, she met Cardin’s gaze again. He was smiling as he asked, 

“Should I buy you more?”  

Flustered, she looked down at the pastry in her hand. Only then did she realize that she had unconsciously eaten most of it while watching the crowd below.  

Normally, she couldn’t eat much of anything sweet, yet the pastry was almost gone.  

“No, I’m fine.” 

She replied quickly and turned her attention forward.  

That’s when she noticed a large cockroach scuttling across the floor. Her eyes froze for a moment.  

In some fairy tales, cockroaches transformed into handsome men, but the one before her was so repulsive she wanted to kill it.  

Just then, Cardin extended his long leg and stomped on the cockroach. Startled, she turned to look at him.  

Cardin, unfazed, wiped his shoe clean with a thin cloth before discarding it in a nearby trash bin.  

He then used the damp cloth the servant had provided earlier to clean his hands.  

She watched him intently, her face stiff. Noticing her gaze, Cardin looked at her and smirked slightly.  

“Is it not dirty?”  

“Not at all.”  

As she continued to stare silently, Cardin furrowed his brows.  

“You’re not the type to spare cockroaches because you think they might have friends waiting for them, are you?”  

The fact that he remembered that—it was something she had said when they first reunited. She had told him not to kill ants for that very reason.  

“Not to cockroaches.” 

Even as she spoke, her mind lingered on what he had just said.  

Had he thought I was odd back then?  

Somehow, his words felt teasing now.  

Just as she opened her mouth to respond, Cardin spoke first.  

“I think I fell for you back then.”  

Caught off guard, she turned to look at him. Cardin continued speaking, his expression calm.  

“You were the first person to say something like that to me. It was unexpected. Growing up under my father’s thumb, I didn’t even know people like you existed.”  

As he gazed at her, his brows furrowed slightly.  

“No, actually, I think I was drawn to you from the moment I first saw you. Even when I had lost my memory, your face lingered in my mind.”  

A warm sensation filled her chest. The unexpected warmth brought tears to her eyes, but she held them back.  

Cardin observed her quietly, his gaze unwavering as it remained fixed on her.  

“When did you start liking me? I’ve always been curious about that.”  

“When I was invited to your estate with your father and ate there.”  

Even as she spoke, her voice trembled with embarrassment.  

It was strange. Despite being married to Cardin and having shared everything with him, she still felt breathless and awkward, as if she were seeing him for the first time.  

Perhaps it was because she had kept him at arm’s length in her heart.  

She had resolved not to push him away anymore and to try to think of them as a team, but old habits were hard to break.  

Cardin laughed.  

“That was the first time you saw me, wasn’t it?”  

“Yes.”  

Cardin turned to face her fully, meeting her eyes.  

“Then you fell for me at first sight.”  

Acknowledging the truth, she nodded.  

Time had passed since then, and while Cardin had shed his boyishness, his face had become sharper and more mature, exuding a masculine charm.  

Cardin’s bright smile gradually faded.  

“Why can’t I remember that time?”  

Her heart sank slightly, but it didn’t bother her too much.  

After all, back then, Cardin hadn’t paid her any attention, and he hadn’t seemed to be in a good mood either.  

“You didn’t look happy at the time.”  

“I was never happy in that estate. My father was there too, wasn’t he?”  

When she nodded, Cardin muttered quietly.  

“That explains it.”  

“Why?”  

“He must have forced me to be there. I had no choice but to stay.”  

His expression darkened as if he were recalling unpleasant memories, but when their eyes met, he relaxed.  

A brief silence followed.  

His gaze, initially calm, began to shimmer with a growing intensity.  

“I wish I had liked you from the start.”  

Cardin’s gaze slowly dropped to her lips.  

“What did you like about me back then?”  

He looked at her curiously, leaning closer until their faces were mere inches apart.  

She could feel his breath, but she didn’t pull away.  

The subdued atmosphere wasn’t unpleasant, and before she knew it, the words slipped out.  

“Your hair was neatly combed, you were tall, and even your slightly unpleasant expression had a certain charm.”  

As soon as she said it, her face flushed.  

Why was I saying this now, after all this time?  

Embarrassed, she leaned back in her seat.  

Saying it out loud made her face flush. 

Why was I speaking like this after such a long time had passed? 

Embarrassed for a moment, she moved to the edge of her chair.

It seemed that her nervousness earlier had made her words unnecessarily long. On top of that, pouring out her thoughts in front of the person involved felt foolish.

‘Why did I do that?’

Unable to look at Cardin, she kept her gaze fixed downward. The curtain covering the stage showed no sign of rising. 

When would the play even begin?

It felt like she’d been sitting like this for quite a while. As she bit her lower lip, waiting for the curtain to open, a deep voice suddenly broke the silence.

“Brienne.”

The low, resonant voice carried a weight that made her body tense up for a moment. Instinctively, she turned to look beside her. Cardin was leaning slightly toward her, his posture unchanged. His soft, focused gaze remained steady.

“How about now?”

“Huh?”

“Compared to back then, I like you more now. I married you, and I plan to only show you this kind of face from now on. What do you think?”

As she stared at Cardin’s face, words slipped out of her mouth without her realizing it.

“…I like it.”

She didn’t dislike it, after all. But why was her face heating up and why did she feel so embarrassed? She had spoken honestly, so why did it feel this way? Unable to bear it, she moved almost to the edge of her seat, but Cardin’s hand reached out and pulled the back of her head toward him.

In an instant, their breaths touched, and his lips softly pressed against hers.

At that moment, the lights around them dimmed, and the once noisy surroundings gradually quieted. Even as applause rang out, signaling the start of the play, she couldn’t focus at all. His hot breath brushed against her ear, tickling her heart, while his fervent tongue seemed determined to sap all the strength from her body.

His kiss was urgent yet powerful, as if he was trying to make up for all the times they hadn’t touched. Supporting the back of her head, Cardin kissed her deeply, swallowing her breath as if it were his own. Whenever she seemed to run out of air, he would release her momentarily, only to capture her lips even more intensely.

The wet sound of their kiss tickled her ears. Despite the distant voices of actors and the sound of a harp playing, the only sounds she could truly hear were their breaths and the meeting of their tongues.