As Kaiden emerged from the bedroom with large strides and stood before the keyboard instrument in the hobby room, the door beyond the reception room opened. Since the hobby room door was wide open, he could see Dana walking through the reception room door.

Kaiden strode toward Dana. With his much longer strides, he quickly reached where Dana was walking through the reception room. Dana looked at him apologetically and said:

“Did you wait long? The conversation went longer than expected. You must have been bored waiting?”

“Not at all.”

He hadn’t been bored. It would have been fine even if Dana had come later.

“You could have practiced first.”

“I wanted to wait until you came to play.”

Kaiden reached out his hand toward Dana. As she placed her hand on his and walked closer, she emanated a pleasant scent. The fragrance he had inhaled from Dana’s bed came alive with her living movements. The skin of the hand placed on his rigid palm was soft. It felt even more delicate than the blanket he had touched earlier on the bed.

Though it was natural, Dana herself was indeed more fragrant and soft than her bed.

“As I mentioned before, there’s another harpsichord in the music room. You could go play it when you have time, even when I’m not around. Though it’s an older instrument than this one.”

Well then. Kaiden pulled out a chair. As Dana sat down, he sat beside her and asked:

“When I have time… may I come here to play? Even when you’re not here?”

Dana looked at Kaiden. Kaiden looked at Dana too. Dana asked with an expression that could have been either confusion or embarrassment:

“Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable?”

Not at all. Kaiden thought this as he placed his hands on the keys.

“I think this would be better. Rather than the music room.”

That place wasn’t where Dana lived daily, nor was it adjacent to Dana’s bedroom. It wasn’t a space filled with Dana’s fragrance and presence. In other words, it was a meaningless space for him.

And Dana nodded, thinking that the music room might be inconvenient since it was farther from the lady’s quarters. After all, they had moved the instrument to her hobby room because it was troublesome to go to the music room every time. While setting up an instrument in the Duke’s living quarters might be another option, there wasn’t such a need yet.

“Do as you find comfortable.”

Dana permitted. Kaiden briefly shifted his gaze from the keys to the open door leading to the bedroom, then back to the keys.

Though Dana’s bedroom and bed were both forbidden to him. Still, he had somehow gained permission to freely enter one of Dana’s spaces. It seemed impossible, but Dana had allowed it and it became possible.

Though sinister, it would also be possible to enter spaces she hadn’t permitted while she was unaware, like today’s brief entry to feel her presence in that space. From now on, he could enter where Dana spent her nights and feel the traces of her previous night, and Dana would lay her body down to sleep in the place he had touched.

The thought made Kaiden’s skin crawl without him realizing it. Tonight, would Dana notice the disturbed traces on her bed? In her puzzlement, would she think about the man who had entered her space alone while she was away?

That was unknown, but what was certain was that tonight Dana would lie down to sleep in the place he had touched. Where his skin had touched and his hands had caressed, where his face had pressed. Laying her body down and in that place…

“I found some different sheet music. Let’s start practicing with the easy ones first. Among these…”

Kaiden stared intently at Dana as she opened the sheet music that the maids must have prepared on the instrument.

Though every night had been like this since coming to this castle, tonight especially felt like he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep easily. Would tonight be easier with unfulfilled desire burning alone? Or would the thirst be worse?

In his uncertainty, Kaiden continued watching Dana as she examined the sheet music.

* * *

Thanks to the diligent maids who had tidied the bedroom and bed before bedtime, the Duchess lay down on the perfectly smooth bed to end her day. The marks someone had left on the Duchess’s bed during the day only gave excitement and tension to the man who had left them, never being discovered or reaching the bed’s owner.

And before the Duke could find another chance to fulfill his lecherous desires in the Duchess’s bedroom, an important letter arrived from the capital.

Upon receiving the letter, Dana first brought it to the study. Kaiden handled most matters from the knights’ building. And since Dana still handled the documentary affairs of Eluan Castle and the territory, the study remained a space she used more frequently.

Sitting at the desk, Dana broke the wax seal that sealed the letter. The royal wax seal symbolizing the king’s letter had a crown and helmet shape at the top, with the Rowen royal family’s crest featuring the Divine Beast and shield below.

In other words, the letter was from Taras, containing an invitation to come up to the capital after a long time to attend a celebration for Queen Bridget giving birth to a prince. With Taras’s letter and parchment spread on the desk, Dana thought:

‘It finally came.’

Twenty years old, the start of the third month of summer, during the Solsita festival period.

Dana wasn’t surprised, as she had known the prince would be born during this time. Also that Taras and Bridget would hold the prince’s birth celebration along with the Solsita festival commemoration.

The Huran preparations were in their final stages. If they went to the capital for the celebration and returned right after, it would be the end of summer considering travel time. That would coincide with the timing to place the Huran.

‘First I should talk to Kaiden.’

When Dana married Kaiden, Taras had told her to come up to the capital to hold the wedding. At that time, Dana had married in Khalid, making the excuse that she would come up after the child was born since the queen’s delivery was imminent.

The biggest reason for marrying in Khalid was naturally that she felt uneasy about marrying in the capital. As long as she remembered what had happened during the wedding at the royal palace in the capital, she couldn’t go up to marry there. So she had held the wedding she prepared in Khalid.

‘So this time I have to go.’

She had to go to the capital. After three years, with her husband.

‘That’s right.’

This time she wasn’t going alone.

‘And above all.’

Three years ago when Dana came to Khalid, she had told Count Vicar that she wanted to properly investigate the deaths of the former king and queen again. Count Vicar had investigated the circumstances in detail and submitted a report, and based on that report and situation, Dana had found the suspected mastermind behind the incident. The problem was that it was just suspicion.

There was no evidence that he had intended the deaths of the former king and queen. And he wasn’t someone she could accuse of crimes with just suspicion and no evidence.

‘When we go to the capital this time.’

Would she be able to see him?

Of course, there was no way to do anything about him right away.

‘Will Hilda come to the prince’s birth celebration too?’

While the former Count and Countess Vicar were people who never came to the capital or participated in such celebrations, it was unknown how the new young Count and Countess Vicar would be. Dana thought it would be nice if they came. If they kept avoiding interaction with the capital due to distance, they would only remain isolated.

Dana picked up her pen to write a reply to Taras and send a letter to Hilda as well.

* * *

Eluan Castle became busy with preparations to go to the capital.

Kaiden in armor would travel on horseback, while Dana would ride in a carriage with her maids.

The wagon set up behind the carriage was fully loaded with the Duke and Duchess’s luggage for participating in the celebration, and gifts to present to the king and young prince. It was filled with white ermine fur, deer leather, and calf leather famous from the north, along with northern-style crafted jewels and silk. And knights on horseback planned to surround and guard it.

After finishing breakfast and all preparations, Dana held Kaiden’s hand and came out of Eluan Castle. Knights wearing black clothes with the Khalid crest embroidered over their chain mail were lined up at the entrance. As they walked between them, she suddenly felt something strange.

‘What is this?’

All the knights who were supposed to guard the Duke and Duchess were facing different directions. To be precise, they were facing away from her with their backs turned. Shouldn’t they be facing and guarding the path their lord’s wife was walking out on…

Though finding it strange, Dana quietly held Kaiden’s hand and walked to board the carriage. Only after the maids followed Dana into the carriage and the door closed did the knights turn around and prepare to move. It was the effect of the Duke’s warning, who couldn’t trust his subordinate knights after hearing tales of tragic love between knights and noble ladies.

Dana, seated in the carriage, stuck her head out the open window to look outside. Beyond the backs of the mounted knights, she could see Kaiden’s back figure with his black cloak flowing. As she quietly watched him, he suddenly turned his head.

‘Is he looking at me?’

Dana couldn’t see his face well in the shadow cast by his helmet. Though unsure, she waved her hand. Kaiden kept looking in her direction without turning his head away.

Finally, Dana was the first to look away, unable to withstand the strong sunlight. She sat up straight in the carriage.

“Shall I close the window?”

The maid asked. Dana thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“Leave it for now.”

With the window left open toward the outside, the carriage began to move.

It was the departure to the capital, after three years.