Clompo and the estate guards hurried over in alarm.

Pointing toward the carriage, Richel quickly explained.

“Cheese fell onto the brazier and burned onto it. Hurry and take it out— ah-choo!”

Amidst the chaos, she forgot her coat in the carriage.

The moment the sharp winter wind hit her, her whole body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Coughs and sneezes erupted one after another.

Nevertheless, Richel continued to wave frantically at the guards and shout instructions for them to deal with the carriage.

The guards rushed towards it in alarm.

“Richel, at least wear this.”

Edwin quickly took off his overcoat and draped it over Richel’s shoulders.

It was the long jacket he had been wearing over his other clothes.

Due to the difference in their builds, it hung far too loosely on her, both in terms of length and width.

Nevertheless, it blocked enough of the wind to make her feel as though she were wrapped in a thick shawl.

The real problem, however, was Edwin himself.

Aside from his shirt and vest, he had nothing to protect him from the cold.

To anyone watching, he looked as if he were about to freeze solid.

Horrified, Richel immediately reached up and tried to pull the jacket back off him.

“Are you insane? Put this back on right now!”

But Edwin grabbed the collar of the jacket tightly with both hands preventing her from slipping out of it.

“I’m fine, so just leave it on. I’m not cold.”

Still wrapped in his coat, Richel smacked him hard.

“Your lips are literally turning blue right now.”

“…It was my mistake.”

“Haah, so what? You’re planning to get pneumonia just because you melted cheese wrong once?”

At that, Edwin burst into laughter.

It was a laugh so carefree that it almost made the cold seem nonexistent.

‘Is the clothing underneath thicker than it looks?’

Richel slipped her hand through the opening in Edwin’s jacket and grabbed the fabric of his shirt.

It felt far softer and thinner than she had expected.

Richel smacked Edwin again.

“Are you insane? Seriously? Why would you wear something like this in the middle of winter—”

She abruptly turned her head.

Five or six guards were all crowded around the portable brazier, struggling to remove the smoking charcoal.

‘Why are they all gathered in one spot instead of dividing the work?’

Every aspect of the situation was frustrating.

All the experienced and competent guards had been sent out to search for the pig, leaving only the younger, less experienced soldiers behind.

Richel snapped at them.

“Stop crowding around like that! One of you go bring the coats from the carriage! And hurry up and air out the smoke inside!”

Only then did two guards scramble towards the carriage.

Watching them, Richel suddenly pulled Edwin tightly into her arms.

At the very least, they needed to share body heat.

Startled, Edwin twisted around awkwardly.

“Richel, wait—”

“Stay still! If we stick together, it’ll be less cold!”

The shirt he wore beneath was so thin that she could clearly feel the lines of his body beneath the fabric wrapped under her arms.

Pulling him even closer, Richel scolded.

“What kind of fashion statement were you trying to make wearing something like this? Do you not realize it’s the middle of winter right now?”

“But… it’s our first time going out together.”

“It’s not like we’re attending some social gathering… If you catch a cold from this, do you know how miserable that’ll be?”

Still holding Edwin tightly, she continued lecturing him for quite a while.

Eventually, one of the guards returned carrying the coats.

“I brought them.”

Richel tried to remove the jacket wrapped around her shoulders, but once again, Edwin moved faster.

He took her coat from the guard and draped it directly over her—without removing his own jacket from her first.

“Edwin, this is not the time to be doing this for me. Your face right now—”

“But if you take this off and I put mine back on, it’ll take longer. It’s faster this way, just putting your coat over mine.”

“Haah…”

“I think they’ve gotten the smoke out of the carriage. Let’s get back inside. It’s freezing.”

Changing the subject quickly, Edwin led Richel back towards the carriage.

Although the smoke-filled carriage was cold, it was much warmer than being outside in the bitter winter wind.

Soon afterwards, the guards returned the portable brazier to the carriage.

However, several pieces of greasy charcoal had already been thrown away, and the heat had faded during the delay.

The warmth inside the carriage was much weaker than before.

Once the cold had seeped deep into the body, it was never easy to shake off.

‘If I’m this cold already, Edwin must feel even worse…’

Leaning toward the outside, Richel shouted.

“Drive as fast as possible to the village! Send someone ahead to prepare hot bathwater!”

When Edwin arrived in the village, he was practically forced to take a bath.

Richel insisted that this was the quickest way to warm up and shake off the cold.

The bath had been hastily prepared and was incredibly crude.

It was just a large, round wooden tub filled with steaming hot water.

Edwin lowered himself into it.

As the heat slowly seeped into his body, his violent shivering gradually subsided.

At last, the cold began to leave his bones.

He let out a long breath and murmured.

“Today was really… pathetic.”

After all, the whole disaster started when he failed to skewer a piece of cheese properly.

The memory of him panicking and fumbling around inside the carriage sent a shiver down his spine.

Yet, strangely enough, he did not feel depressed.

Today, he had seen many sides of Richel that he had never seen before.

‘Maybe because she was flustered, but she talked so much more than usual… and the way she worried about me too…’

I remember Richel grabbing him and pulling him out of the carriage hurriedly.

Her eyes widened in shock when she felt how thin his clothes were.

She was consumed by anger when she realized how worried she was about him.

These expressions were all completely new to him.

Despite his embarrassment and humiliation, a faint smile still found its way onto his lips.

Now, he finally had memories he could hold onto.

‘And honestly… I guess it was fortunate that it was cold.’

Earlier, when Richel pulled him into her arms, Edwin was utterly stunned.

Given how she used to flinch away from him, moments like that still felt fragile and dangerous.

Logically, he knew it was wrong to still have feelings for her.

But controlling his body’s instinctive reactions was another matter altogether.

A faint sigh escaped his lips.

‘I don’t want to create situations that’ll make things awkward…’

As they became more comfortable with each other, Richel began to treat him with far greater ease.

Whenever she noticed him struggling with incomprehensible documents, she would casually lean over the back of his chair and suddenly appear at his side, looking down at the papers with him.

From her perspective, there was no deeper meaning behind it.

Just as she had hugged him earlier to shield herself from the cold, she leaned close now to quickly explain the documents to him.

‘I just need to keep enduring it well. I’ve managed so far…’

After reaffirming his resolve once more, Edwin finished bathing.

As he stepped out of the bath and began to get dressed, he realized that the shirt he had worn earlier had disappeared.

He frowned as one of the guards entered, carrying more clothes.

“We brought you something to wear underneath, my lord.”

The wool shirt was thick, rough at the seams, and above all terribly ugly.

“What happened to the clothes I was wearing before?”

“The Countess told us to bring you something warm against the cold… so we brought one of the uniforms we wear.”

It was only then that Edwin realized the ugly shirt was part of the guards’ standard uniform.

This heavy winter garment was the color of withered leaves.

He looked back at the guard.

The man himself was no longer wearing his uniform shirt, but an odd ensemble that resembled a patched-up grain sack.

Its awkwardly short length made him look even more pitiful.

“So this shirt was the one you were wearing?”

“Ah, yes. We tried finding someone around your height, my lord…”

After seeing what the guard was wearing now and then looking back at the uniform shirt again, the ugly garment suddenly started looking almost like a silk blouse in comparison.

As Edwin pulled the shirt on, he spoke quietly.

“They took all your clothes too. Seems your luck’s been terrible today.”

“N-no, not at all. It’s an h-honor to lend it to you, my lord.”

The shirt was even larger than Edwin had expected.

He openly frowned before smoothing his expression again.

“What’s your name?”

“Pardon? Ah, y-yes. It’s Rick.”

“I see, Rick. Thank you for lending me your clothes. If there’s something you want, say it. I’ll grant it.”

Upon hearing these words, Rick hesitated awkwardly.

He had heard far too many rumors about how sensitive and demanding Edwin supposedly was.

He had no idea whether he was supposed to ask for something or politely decline.

While Rick fumbled nervously for a response, Edwin tried to pull his jacket back on over his thick shirt only to take it off again moments later.

The heavy wool shirt bunched awkwardly beneath the tailored jacket, completely ruining its silhouette.

“What a complete mess.”

Rick flinched visibly at Edwin’s muttered remark.

The shirt Edwin had lent him now looked little more than a crumpled rag, awkwardly stuffed beneath his smart clothes.

Edwin himself looked so handsome that the shirt alone seemed to be to blame for the disaster.

Panicking, Rick hurriedly stammered.

“I-I’m sorry for giving you something like that. There wasn’t anything better available…”

“That’s enough. This happened because of my own mistake. More importantly, I asked whether there’s something you want.”

“Ah, ah, yes. I-it’s alright.”

“There’s no need to refuse out of politeness.”

Instead of putting his jacket back on, Edwin simply draped the heavy, fur-lined coat over his shirt.

Fortunately, the weight of the coat pressed the bulky fabric down enough to make it look somewhat more presentable.

Once he had finished getting dressed, Edwin looked at Rick again, as though offering him one final opportunity.

“W-well… if it wouldn’t be too much trouble… could I perhaps receive one extra winter coat?”

“A winter coat? Something like this?”

Edwin lightly tapped the coat he was wearing.

Made of quilted layers of thick wool fabric filled with goose down and lambswool, it had a large fox fur collar attached to the neck.

Startled, Rick shook his head frantically.

“N-No, not at all! I just meant the winter coats issued to the guards. Everyone receives one, but… if possible, I was hoping I might be allowed to receive an extra one.”

“You already have one, don’t you? You’re asking for another?”

“Well… my wife is pregnant.”

His voice softened immediately.

“Because it’s winter, she’s basically confined under blankets all day. She says it feels suffocating. I thought if she had one of those coats, she could at least go outside a little and stay warm while moving around…”

“Were you the guard who handed out drinks to the other soldiers before?”

“Ah, yes. That was me. When the Countess congratulated me then, I-I was truly, truly grateful.”

“You seem to cherish your wife very much.”

Looking embarrassed yet honest, Rick answered.

“I really love her. So within what I’m capable of, I want to treat her as well as I can.”

He scrunched his nose up awkwardly. He was clearly shy, but completely sincere.

If Edwin had said that he wasn’t envious of that honesty, it would have been a lie.

After watching him silently for a moment, Edwin finally said.

“I’ll tell the butler to prepare some winter clothing for you. Come collect it later.”

“Really? Th-thank you! Thank you very much, my lord!”

Rick bowed repeatedly in excitement.

Then, unable to contain himself, he burst into rapid speech.

“I never realized his lordship was this generous. If our child is born safely, it’ll be thanks to both you and the Countess. Even when the Countess congratulated us before, I-I almost cried…”

His eyes suddenly reddened with emotion before he shouted loudly.

“Thank you! I swear I’ll serve both of you with absolute loyalty until the day I die!”

The declaration was so loud and energetic that it bordered on excessive dramatics.

Without realizing it, Edwin let out a small laugh and nodded, just as another guard burst into the room.

“The guards who went searching have returned. It seems they found the pig.”