Lacy nearly bolted upright in shock — but barely managed to hold herself still. If she moved now, Rafez would wake.

Did it matter if he woke?

I don’t know. But it’s better if he doesn’t, for now.

Her startled heart began to pound.

She had never been in a situation like this before. What was she supposed to do? She had absolutely no idea.

She had never shared a bed with anyone — and the very idea of ending up like this with Rafez specifically? Not once had she ever imagined it.

She couldn’t even remember when she had fallen asleep. She truly had no idea how any of this had happened.

“Mmm.”

Rafez stirred — and then pulled her closer in his sleep. Her face was buried against his chest again, and Lacy couldn’t even breathe.

Thud. Thud.

The sound of her own heartbeat felt deafeningly loud.

She wanted to think — but breathing was hard enough as it was. She was beginning to think it might have been better to simply get up the moment she woke, even if it had roused him. At least then she wouldn’t be lying here with her face pressed to his chest, doing nothing but darting her eyes around.

“Stop rolling your eyes and go back to sleep.”

The voice came from above her head. Lacy looked up.

Blue eyes. He was awake. And he was smiling.

Her heart nearly dropped at the sound of his voice — but she collected herself and tried to push away from his chest. His arms, however, had no intention of letting her go.

“Not cold anymore, I take it? You spent the whole night clinging to me saying you were freezing.”

“……What?”

She couldn’t believe it. Who had been clinging to whom?

“You. Pulled me in. First.”

Each word landed like a separate blow. Her head was spinning as though she’d been struck, and she couldn’t gather her thoughts.

“Well? How is it — your husband’s arms? Warm enough?”

Husband’s arms. How could he say something like that so easily, without a second thought.

With every word Rafez said, Lacy’s pale face grew a shade deeper. He was the one speaking — so why was she the one burning with embarrassment? She couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes.

Watching Lacy look away and bow her head, Rafez found himself smiling without realizing it.

So Lacy had a side like this.

“Let go of me, please.”

Having apparently concluded she couldn’t push him away by force, Lacy said it quietly.

Rafez released her without protest, and Lacy sat up at last. Rafez followed suit.

“If I made you uncomfortable — I’m sorry. I wasn’t in my right mind……”

Still unable to look at him, still speaking with her head bowed, Lacy trailed off. Rafez watched her — and catching sight of the flush in her face, he reached out and placed his hand on her forehead.

No fever, thankfully.

Startled, Lacy finally lifted her head and looked at him. She seemed to have forgotten entirely what she had been saying.

“There — now you’re looking at me, Lennon.”

The teasing look faded from Rafez’s face, and he looked at Lacy with an expression that had gone quiet and steady. His blue eyes, catching the sunlight, gleamed like gemstones. Like the necklace he had given her.

“Yes — I was startled at first. But it wasn’t uncomfortable.”

“Pardon?”

“You are my wife. When you think about it — a husband and wife sharing a bed, holding each other — there’s nothing uncomfortable about that. So don’t apologize. There’s no need.”

It felt as though she still hadn’t fully woken up. The words Rafez was saying in front of her.

“But——”

“If you truly feel sorry, then see the physician first. Your fever seems to have come down — but you never know.”

Just then.

Knock knock. A knock at the door cut into their conversation.

“Come in.”

At Rafez’s word, the door opened and Karin entered.

Karin bowed her head first to Rafez and Lacy, who were both sitting up in bed.

“Your Highness, Your Highness the Grand Duchess — I hope you had a comfortable night.”

“Karin, good timing. Please help the Grand Duchess with her bath. She ran a fever through the night and is thoroughly drenched in sweat.”

“Pardon? Ah — of course. I’ll prepare it right away.”

Karin headed toward the bathroom adjoining the room, and Lacy watched Rafez get out of bed with still-bewildered eyes.

From the scene just now and from Rafez’s words, Karin would have concluded with certainty that the two had spent the night together. With the head maid knowing, it would soon become accepted fact among everyone else in the estate as well.

Of course, looked at purely in formal terms — a husband and wife spending the night together was hardly unusual.

And yet that wasn’t what had happened. Lacy’s insides felt twisted beyond all hope, burning to a cinder. What on earth had she done last night?

“Get washed up — I’ll see you later, Lennon.”

Whether or not he had any idea what was going on inside her, Rafez appeared to be heading out to use another bathroom.

* * *

“Fortunately there’s no fever now.”

When Lacy came back to the room after washing up and getting ready, Rafez, the physician, and even Graine were all waiting. She was immediately seen to by the physician.

“However, the cold symptoms will likely persist for a few more days. Your throat is still slightly swollen as well. I’ll prepare some medicine. And do be careful — colds can spread to others.”

“Are there any other concerns? Since you’re here, if there’s anything beneficial you can prescribe for the Grand Duchess, please do so.”

Graine had asked it in passing — but the one who tensed at the question was Lacy.

The physician thought for a moment, then spoke again.

“Well — to put it simply, your body appears to be in a considerably weakened state overall. One might say you are like a hothouse flower — fragile outside the conditions you’ve grown accustomed to. I would recommend getting outside more, and increasing your food intake as well. This isn’t something medicine alone can resolve.”

Like a hothouse flower.

The physician’s words seemed to land not only on Lacy but on Rafez as well, striking somewhere uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because he was the Grand Ducal physician — that a simple examination could tell him so much about how she had been living.

“Is that so…… I see.”

Graine looked briefly taken aback, then gave a quiet nod and appeared to sink into thought.

She rose from her seat shortly after.

“Go down and have a look at Louis as well while you’re here.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Graine and Karin left the room, and naturally, only Lacy and Rafez remained.

The moment the physician was gone, Lacy wanted to exhale in relief — but Rafez moved closer and sat down beside her, and she startled all over again, turning to look at him.

“It seems I haven’t been looking after you properly. Catching a cold just from getting caught in the rain — when I think about it, that’s not something that should happen so easily.”

“……Did you not hear what the physician just said? Please keep your distance.”

Lacy felt a cough rising but held it back, shifting away from Rafez on the bed.

“What did the physician say?”

Rafez looked at her as though he genuinely didn’t understand, and closed the distance again.

“Cough — he said the cold could spread to others.”

Every time she tried to speak, a small cough escaped. Lacy covered her mouth with her sleeve. Then scooted further back again.

“Ah, is that all. A little cold is nothing.”

“Pardon?”

“You just don’t know me well enough yet. I’ve never caught a cold in my life.”

“Yes — the Former Grand Duchess mentioned as much. But still——”

“Mother told you something like that? Ha — I’ve felt it for a while now, but it seems Mother has taken quite a liking to you.”

And even as he said it, he closed the distance again.

“Besides — we already spent the whole night pressed together asleep. If it was going to spread, it would have spread already. Moving away now won’t change anything.”

Rafez’s casually spoken words sent the color rising to Lacy’s face all over again.

And just as Lacy opened her mouth to say something, Rafez spoke first.

“Don’t apologize. I told you — there’s nothing to apologize for. If you want to say something, say thank you instead.”

Lacy, struck right at the mark, could only stare at him without a word. After a long silence, she finally managed to open her mouth.

“……All right. Thank you, Felista.”

At her words, Rafez smiled.

He felt he understood her a little now. She hadn’t wanted to acknowledge what had happened last night — but she also hadn’t wanted to dismiss it as simply the natural thing for a married couple. So she had wanted to call it her mistake, something she was sorry for.

A mistake. Sleeping in Rafez’s arms had been nothing more than an unavoidable mistake brought on by illness.

But he couldn’t let it end as a mistake. He couldn’t accept it on those terms.

“Good. I’ll accept that. Because I trust that if I ever fall ill someday, you’ll hold me the way I held you.”

“……”

Lacy said nothing more.