Duncan confessed in a quiet voice about what he had experienced. How things had gone wrong between him and his mother.

I had already guessed that there was discord between him and his mother.

But hearing about it directly from him made my heart truly ache.

It felt exactly as if I had suffered severe *buse from a mother for a long time.

Eventually, Duncan finished his story and said self-deprecatingly.

“Do you find me pathetic?”

Honestly, I didn’t think he was pathetic at all. I just felt sorry for him…

“No, I don’t find you pathetic.”

Rather than pathetic, I just wanted Duncan to be happy.

Duncan spoke as if he had been happy with Empress Mari and Crown Prince Kenneth, but that must have been only half true.

After all, he still had to be mindful of Empress Patricia, who disliked them.

“Don’t you resent me? Because of me, you had to return to this wretched imperial palace.”

“Why would you say that? All the choices were mine. Even if they were mistakes, I don’t regret the choices I made.”

“That sounds like you don’t regret choosing me.”

“Then your hearing must be perfectly fine.”

It was the kind of meaningless conversation we hadn’t had in a while. I enjoyed talking like this with the Guildmaster.

And then, Duncan added something characteristically Duncan-like.

“I like you, Yerena. I don’t think I’ll ever regret liking you for the rest of my life.”

His sincerity made me feel like my heart would completely surrender to him.

I wanted to confess to him right away, “I like you too. I love you.”

After confirming our feelings for each other, I wanted to share passionate breaths with him. Deeply and intensely. Not ending with just a stolen kiss.

‘But it hasn’t even been a full day, I can’t forgive Duncan right away.’

I still felt he needed to properly accept punishment for his offense.

So instead of responding to Duncan’s confession of affection, I casually brought up something else.

“So that means, to save me whom you like, you returned to the imperial palace you despise and asked your mother for help?”

“Yes. That’s why, as I mentioned in the garden, I have an urgent request. Could you meet my mother?”

“Because she’s curious about the woman you saved?”

“More than that… I told her that I want to choose my own fiancée. I also said I want to protect the person I like.”

“So, I could potentially become your fiancée?”

Duncan nodded his head while shyly avoiding my gaze.

Fiancée.

Does that mean I could become a prince’s consort?

It seemed too dreamlike to imagine.

“When do I need to meet Empress Patricia?”

“Soon? …Perhaps tomorrow?”

Duncan answered uncharacteristically without confidence and then bowed his head deeply.

“I’m truly sorry for asking this without consulting you first. But my mother helped detain Benjamin, so I had no choice.”

“Duncan. Power exists to be used.”

“…What?”

“If I had the imperial palace backing me, I would have knelt before the Empress and begged for help. Because punishing Benjamin was more important than kneeling before the Empress.”

“….”

“So I don’t look down on you for that reason either.”

“Yerena, you really are…”

“What? More lovable? Like, admirable and prettier than usual?”

“…You were already lovable, admirable, and pretty.”

Duncan smiled broadly like someone with a loose screw.

“…!”

I was startled by that sight.

You didn’t seem like the type to smile so absent-mindedly.

The problem was that his foolish face looked too cute.

Really, it’s terrible that Duncan has looked cute to me all day today.

Perhaps my face also wore a smile similar to Duncan’s.

‘No, no. I shouldn’t soften up yet.’

I firmly pressed my lips together.

I also tensed my eyebrows, firmly believing I had achieved a rather solemn expression.

“Pfft.”

But what came back was the sound of laughter.

Duncan hurriedly composed his expression as if trying to hide the fact that he had burst out laughing.

“I saw that just now. You laughed, didn’t you? Surely you weren’t laughing at me?”

“I swear I wasn’t laughing at you. I laughed because you’re cute.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Because Yerena looks pretty when she smiles.”

This, this man, really!

He had been continuously saying lovely things all day today.

He seemed like someone firmly determined to be forgiven by me.

But there was one disappointing thing about those pleasant words.

“But isn’t just ‘Yerena’ a bit distant? We’ve been through great hardships together.”

“Then what?”

“You can call me Yerena more casually, or when we’re alone, you can use the title you used before.”

“Darling?”

“…!”

I ended up pulling the blanket all the way up to the end of my face.

My heart, which had been tingling throughout my conversation with Duncan, was beating so fast it felt like it would jump out of my mouth, and my face was burning.

“Oh, come on! I’m a patient who just woke up today! Please show some restraint!”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to restrain. If you have any pain anywhere, please be sure to tell me.”

Is this man pretending not to know, or does he really not know?

I took several deep breaths. Yet my burning face wouldn’t easily calm down.

“So, darling. Are you not going to show your face anymore?”

“…Not right now.”

“I feel like I’m going crazy wanting to see it. Must I endure again?”

At that moment, a warm sensation covered my hand that was tightly gripping the blanket.

It was Duncan’s hand.

“I like everything about you. Every part of you is lovable. Your crying face, your sulking face, your angry face, your blushing face… all of them.”

“….”

“So show me. Before I go crazy from not being able to see you.”

The softly whispered voice carried an inexplicable pressure.

A feeling that I should definitely follow those words.

As if enchanted by him, I slowly lowered the blanket I had pulled up.

Soo,n my gaze met Duncan’s golden eyes, which seemed to have never left me for a moment.

His eyes, shining brighter than the midsummer sun, looked particularly intense today.

Duncan gently and naturally touched my reddened cheek, slowly enough not to make me uncomfortable.

The spot where his fingertips had passed felt as if it were burning.

“This is the most lovable blush I’ve ever seen.”

“If, if you keep doing that… I’ll really go crazy from embarrassment.”

“But I’ve also learned a lot during this time. I want to honestly express myself when I can. Before I regret not doing so.”

“….”

“Someday, you’ll answer my confession, won’t you?”

Duncan smiled gently.

He didn’t seem to think at all that he would fail or be defeated.

He seemed confident that I liked him, too.

This mischievous man.

“We’ll see. I’ll decide when to answer that confession.”

“Then, for now, shall we settle on what you’ll call me?”

“What?”

“You can’t keep calling me ‘Duncan’ in the imperial palace. Please call me Demian.”

Demian. It was a name that didn’t roll off the tongue easily.

“The moment you call me Demian, I feel like I’ll finally be able to fully accept that name which I’ve only been avoiding.”

“….”

I wanted to surrender to Duncan, no, Demian.

I wanted to raise both hands and feet in surrender to his sweet temptation.