Aidan said, looking up at the sky. After exchanging glances with Kai, he asked Karina if she minded galloping.

“Where are we heading?”

From what she could tell, he didn’t seem ready to return to the palace yet, so she asked about their next destination. When Aidan pointed in a direction, Karina pulled her reins first. Watching her ride confidently from behind, Aidan whistled lightly.

“She really has no openings. Shouldn’t she pretend to be bad at riding sometimes so I can offer to let her ride with me?”

Kai only smiled silently at Aidan’s question. He didn’t mention that Aidan’s riding skills seemed too unstable to carry someone else.

“We should follow before she gets too far ahead.”

Kai worried about their growing distance from Karina. Aidan shook his head as if giving up and spurred his horse forward. A pleased smile played on his lips as he followed her.

Karina hadn’t intentionally been riding fast, so Aidan’s group caught up quickly. Since she didn’t know their exact destination, she couldn’t keep leading anyway.

“Where are we going?”

They seemed to be heading increasingly toward the outskirts of the capital. She started to worry as sunset approached.

“You’ll see when we get there.”

Aidan just grinned.

“By the way, we’re not returning to the palace today.”

“What?”

She exclaimed in surprise since there had been no mention of staying out overnight. Though increasingly anxious about their destination since they wouldn’t return to the palace, Aidan seemed oblivious to her concerns as he hummed a tune.

*

“Ah…!”

An exclamation of wonder escaped Karina’s lips at the sight before her when the horses stopped. She felt like they were climbing a hill after leaving the capital. Just when she wondered how much further they would climb, Aidan announced their arrival.

They stood at the summit of a hill with an expansive view. The capital spread out below in the distance. With the setting sun behind it, it looked like a painting.

“Magnificent, isn’t it? I wanted to show this to you at least once.”

Aidan spoke while gazing at the distant sunset. She wondered when he had discovered this place. Though she knew he occasionally left the palace quietly, she didn’t know what he did during those times.

“I found it by chance and liked it. It makes you feel free inside.”

His latter comment made her turn to look at him involuntarily.

“Don’t you feel confined? Living only within the palace?”

She swallowed a sigh at his gentle inquiry. It would be a lie to say she didn’t feel confined. No matter how vast the palace was, it remained an enclosed space. Karina’s daily routines particularly followed almost the same pattern. Each day repeated almost identically.

Before, it had seemed so natural that she never dreamed of a different life or realized she felt confined. That palace had been her entire world, and she had never questioned spending her whole life there.

She had seen the end of that life there. In the worst possible way, in the shortest time.

When she returned three years into the past, she wanted to escape immediately. Knowing how her end would be, she thought only of divorcing Aidan and leaving the palace as soon as possible.

Aidan had been the one who held her back with a six-month period.

“Now that I’m living there myself, I sometimes think this isn’t right… I understand a bit why you want a divorce.”

Aidan’s eyes fixed on Karina’s face. Though he smiled slightly, his expression showed regret.

“Still, I can’t grant your wish right away… So this is sort of a compromise.”

So he must have wanted to give Karina, who stayed only within the palace, a chance to get some fresh air. Taking her through the bustling marketplace all day, bringing her on horseback outside the capital to show this picturesque sunset, and planning to stay out overnight — all of these were his way of trying to ease her confinement.

“Thank you.”

She answered in a soft voice and turned back to watch the sunset spreading beyond the capital. Aidan didn’t say anything more either. Kai and the knight deliberately maintained their distance.

Everything felt serene. The sunset painting the sky red, the occasional sound of branches swaying in the wind. Time seemed to stand still in the quietness.

“We should head down soon, though it’s a shame. It’ll be dangerous if it gets darker.”

Aidan rode over to Karina and took her horse’s reins. Though she knew they needed to descend before the sun completely set, she felt reluctant to turn back. Would there ever be another day when she could come see this view with Aidan again?

It seemed both easy yet impossible to happen again, which made it harder to leave.

*

Though he said they wouldn’t return to the palace, she wondered where they would go, but on their way down after watching the sunset, they came upon an old mansion on the outskirts of the capital. From the outside, it looked so weathered by time that she doubted anyone could live there.

“You don’t mean to sleep there?”

She asked, stopping her horse in front of the mansion without moving. With the sun set and darkness falling, it looked eerie enough for ghosts to appear. Wouldn’t it be better to return to the palace even if it meant getting back late?

“Isn’t it great? We can have a horror experience too.”

What nonsense was he talking about now with this horror experience? When she looked at him with distaste, he smiled mischievously.

“It might look like this outside, but the inside is quite usable. Don’t worry.”

After handing all the reins to Kai, he took Karina’s hand and started walking. Though they approached the mansion, it remained so quiet she wondered if anyone actually lived there. Her spine tingled with the thought that ghosts might really appear.

“Even if ghosts appear, I’ll protect you properly, so don’t be scared.”

Making a statement that could have been either a joke or serious, Aidan stood at the entrance and knocked on the large door. Would anyone actually come out when he knocked? As she stood there tensely, the heavy creak of moving metal signaled the door’s opening. She flinched involuntarily, only to hear Aidan’s suppressed laugh.

“Welcome, Your Highness. We’ve been expecting you.”

The person who emerged from inside bowed in greeting. Since he addressed him as ‘Your Highness,’ he knew who Aidan was.

“The butler who manages this mansion.”

Aidan introduced him briefly and entered the mansion. Karina followed him inside.

The mansion’s interior was so dark it took her breath away. The imperial palace never grew this dark, even at midnight, as lights remained lit everywhere. The same was true for Hewitt residence. The pitch darkness where she couldn’t see even ten steps ahead made her body tense involuntarily.

“Ah, we deliberately kept the lights off.”

The butler bowed and explained to the frozen Karina.

“I wanted it to look like an abandoned mansion. So no one would know I use this place.”

Aidan added. That made some sense.

“Everything has been prepared for your comfortable stay, so please don’t worry.”

“There’s even sufficient security personnel guarding the mansion, so you can feel safe.”

Karina took a deep breath at the butler and Aidan’s explanations. As she looked around carefully, she noticed that while it was dark due to the lack of lights, the interior was well-maintained.

“After all, this is where you and I will spend the night — it couldn’t possibly be dangerous.”

Aidan smiled gently and lightly wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The warmth on her shoulder seemed to dispel some of the chill from the darkness, so she just glanced at him briefly and let it be.

“What is this place?”

She had never visited or heard of this mansion in her previous life. While her poor relationship with ‘Aidan’ meant she had few chances to learn about it, she hadn’t discovered anything about this mansion even during her personal investigation of Aidan’s surroundings.

“A secret base.”

Aidan answered plainly. She looked up at him, but with only the butler’s lamp for light as they walked, his expression remained unclear in the darkness.

Aidan needed a base to move secretly outside the imperial palace. Whether in pursuing Liam Smith or tracking Marquis Belmont, relying solely on the palace knights had its limitations. Though he had identified all the servants and knights belonging to his palace, as well as frequent visitors, he still didn’t trust them 100%. Even if he did trust them, he couldn’t utilize them outside the palace.

He believed even the Emperor wasn’t entirely on his side, so he needed his own army and location completely free from palace oversight. While quietly moving in and out of the palace searching for Liam Smith, he discovered this mansion.