A bright smile spread across Arne’s face. It was fortunate that she was holding Cedric’s hand. If she had come alone, she would have immediately dashed off into the garden.

That image reminded Cedric of a white kitten exploring various parts of the Grand Duke’s palace, making him chuckle.

“Lord Cedric, come here! There’s a rabbit!”

Arne’s eyes sparkled as she spotted a rabbit parting the bushes. Cedric looked in the direction she pointed.

Rabbits often became a good food source during urgent wartime. Now that the war was over, they weren’t particularly special animals anymore. Of course, the monstrous snow rabbits were quite beautiful.

“Is this a rabbit hole? Do you think there are more rabbits?”

“Are you planning to eat them?”

“No!”

“Then?”

“They’re cute, aren’t they?”

“……”

Seeing Arne’s sparkling eyes, Cedric swallowed what he was about to say. Arne carefully examined the burrow.

“That’s probably a ground squirrel burrow.”

“A ground squirrel?”

Her eyes sparkled again, seemingly urging him to say more. Just then, a ground squirrel popped out of the burrow and climbed up Arne’s arm.

“Ah!”

Surprised for a moment, Arne’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the ground squirrel on her arm. To her, every furry creature seemed cute.

The brown ground squirrel tilted its head, its black eyes shining. It sniffed around, twitching its nose, then scurried back into the burrow.

“…The ground squirrel came to me.”

Arne whispered to Cedric as if she was revealing a great secret, her voice slightly touched.

“Do you think it will come back?”

“If we go a bit further, there’s a bakery and restaurant. Maybe if we buy some nuts from the bakery and throw them, it might come back?”

“Really?”

Seeing her eyes sparkling more than ever, Cedric wondered if he really needed to catch a rabbit and a ground squirrel for her.

“Which do you prefer?”

“What do you mean?”

“Between rabbits and ground squirrels.”

“You mean which one I like more? Rabbits.”

“Same as me.”

Cedric made eye contact with a passing rabbit. Perhaps because it was used to so many people, the rabbit didn’t run away but blinked its black eyes, looking up at Cedric. Smiling slightly, Cedric swiftly grabbed the rabbit by the scruff of its neck.

Surprised at being caught, the rabbit stretched out its front legs, opened its mouth wide, and then fainted.

“Cedric! What did you do to the rabbit?”

As Arne urgently hugged the fainted rabbit and asked accusingly, Cedric replied with confusion.

“Didn’t you want the rabbit?”

“No! I just wanted to feed the rabbits and ground squirrels, that’s all.”

“I see. It’ll wake up soon. It just fainted from surprise.”

“Oh no. Will it really wake up? Should we find a veterinarian?”

Arne looked upset, stomping her feet. Cedric bit his lip to hold back a laugh. He should tell her that if left alone, it would hop around very healthily, but he felt like teasing her a bit.

At that moment, the rabbit woke up, startled, and jumped out of Arne’s arms. Arne also ran after the rabbit.

“My Lady!”

Cedric followed, but Arne persistently chased after the rabbit. They had come quite deep into the garden. Cedric, looking around, grabbed Arne’s arm.

“Lady, it’s okay to leave the rabbit alone.”

“What if it’s hurt? It went into those bushes.”

Brushing off Cedric, Arne entered an area where the bushes were quite dense. The trimmed bushes were much taller than Arne’s head and continued like a maze, making it impossible to find her way back if she got lost now.

“Here…”

Arne hesitated as she parted the swaying bushes. At that moment, Cedric’s palm covered Arne’s mouth as he twisted his body. Barely managing to embrace Arne from behind, tension ran through Cedric’s body.

“Honey? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I must have seen wrong.”

As Arne barely managed to exhale a trembling breath in relief that they hadn’t been discovered, the sound of intertwined lovers kissing again behind just one bush continued.

The sound of skin brushing, wet membranes sticking together and separating repeatedly, made it clear what was happening even without seeing it.

The air suddenly heated up. It was excessively dense.

Just beyond a single bush, the sound of clothes rustling, voices thick with moisture calling each other’s names, and gasps breaking through ragged breaths.

It was impossible not to feel tense. To the point where Arne became acutely aware of Cedric’s firm body pressed against her back.

Perhaps it was fortunate. If she had been facing Cedric instead of him embracing her from behind, it would have been truly awkward.

‘Staying here any longer would be impolite.’

Arne composed her expression to leave the place.

‘Huh?’

Arne’s eyes moved busily. As she frantically felt for her head, her gaze fell on a hat lying near the passionate couple.

‘My hat!’

Arne’s eyes shook greatly. Since it was her first time coming to the Ipellita Garden with him, she had chosen the prettiest one among the hats Cedric had gifted her.

‘It’s such a shame, should I give up on it?’

As Arne stared at the hat with a gaze full of lingering attachment, Cedric’s finger tapped lightly on her collarbone. When Arne looked up, Cedric mouthed silently.

‘It’s okay.’

Removing his hand from Arne’s mouth, Cedric put his index finger to his lips. He glanced at the kissing lovers. Slowly lowering his body, he picked up Arne’s hat.

The lovers seemed completely unaware, lost in each other. Cedric slowly pulled the hat towards him. Just the pink ribbon needed to come out.

“Wait a moment.”

Suddenly, both Cedric and Arne froze.

“I can’t wait any longer.”

As the kissing resumed, a low laugh flowed. When their kiss deepened, Cedric completely pulled out the hat. He felt more tense than during any mission he had ever carried out.

‘What’s this all about.’

The moment they saw the hat, both Cedric and Arne burst into laughter. Cedric shrugged and lightly held out Arne’s hat. Smiling brightly, Arne took a step forward to receive the hat.

Crack.

A rather loud noise came from a dry twig breaking under her foot.

“Who’s there!”

Simultaneously, looks of bewilderment crossed the faces of Cedric and Arne as their eyes met.

“I thought I saw someone earlier! Were you peeping?”

“Who the hell is it!”

Arne immediately grabbed Cedric’s hand and ran. She didn’t know which direction to run, but she just ran wherever her feet took her.

Even though the garden was like a maze, the man chasing Arne and Cedric managed to follow without losing them. Right now, he was following just by sound, but if they delayed a little, he might catch a glimpse of Arne and Cedric’s appearance.

“Stop right there!”

It was chaotic. Arne’s breath reached her chin. Cedric briefly considered carrying her and jumping over the wall, but he decided against it.

Even within the Ipellita Garden, the maze garden is quite famous among couples. It would be troublesome to draw attention since they didn’t know where other couples might be hiding. She had no cloak to cover her face, and she was a noble lady.

Usually, scandals that arise in such places are particularly fatal for noble ladies. For Cedric, it would be just a matter of saving face, or even turn into a heroic tale of how he captivated even the empire’s crazy villainess, but for Arne, just being in the maze garden would attach all sorts of labels to her in the empire’s social circles.

Arne urgently moved her feet, pulling along Cedric who furrowed his brow.

‘If we can just get out of here, we should be able to shake him off.’

As Arne turned a corner at a fork in the path, she despaired. It was a dead end.

“Where did they go!”

She desperately hoped the man chasing them would take the opposite path, but hearing the footsteps getting closer, it didn’t seem likely. Finally, they reached the end of the path and faced the wall.

Step, step.

He would soon enter this path. Arne snatched the hat from Cedric’s hand and pushed against his chest. Cedric’s back touched the bush wall.

“I heard a sound from this direction.”

Just as the man was about to turn the corner, Arne held up the hat, grabbed Cedric’s shoulders, and stood on her tiptoes.

Cedric’s pupils shook for a moment. At the same time, the footsteps of the approaching man stopped.

‘Please.’

With her face hidden behind the hat, at a glance, it looked as if Arne was kissing Cedric.

Arne looked at Cedric with a similar gaze. The brief silence felt incredibly long. Cedric’s red eyes stared at Arne.

‘It’s just a quick-witted move to avoid the moment.’

Cedric clenched his fist tightly. A tense atmosphere surrounded the firmly closed edge of his jaw.

As her raised tiptoes trembled, Cedric’s arm wrapped around Arne’s waist. It felt as if her feet were slightly lifted due to the support at her waist. It was a precarious distance, almost but not quite touching Cedric’s body completely.

“That hat… I think I saw it earlier. Or maybe not. But it looks like it…”

At that moment, a look of dismay crossed Arne’s face.

‘I can’t believe he saw the hat.’

As she heard the sound of slow footsteps, Arne bit her lip hard. Of all times, just when she had left a good impression on the grand ducal family, to have a scandal about peeping on lovers kissing in the garden. Moreover, if they were caught in this state, the scandal would snowball.

As the man’s footsteps grew longer, Arne bit her lip harder. Just as a faint drop of blood formed, Cedric snatched the hat from Arne’s grip and her vision flipped in an instant.