Atlion’s smile faded. Swan stopped sniffling too. He took her small hands and covered them with his own. If one were to ask why only Swan seemed so lovable to him, the question would never end. But for Atlion it was simple – it was because she was Swan. No other woman could be like her.

None of the noble maidens at court smiled like Swan. None of them blushed like her. None of them stammered so endearingly. Only Swan was so precious to him.

“No one is like you. No one shines like you.”

“Your Majesty…”

“Calyps said something about you once, at a time when I was far from you. That bastard said it.”

Atlion furrowed his brow, as if recalling an unpleasant memory. Swan watched him quietly.

“He said I couldn’t forget you because you were my first. That I was imprinted on you because you made me a man. That if I embraced another woman, things might change. That I might forget you completely, as if you were washed away.”

Atlion let out a faint laugh, a soft and distant sound. Swan thought of her husband’s brother – a young man with none of her husband’s mature and sharp features. He had always been particularly cold to her.

Liriette’s husband. Her father’s son-in-law. To her, he was both her husband’s younger brother and her brother-in-law. Knowing that Calyps had treated her so coldly, her father often cast disapproving glances in his direction.

Eventually, Calyps apologised to both her and the Marquis with a formal bow. But her father continued to look at him with distaste, while Swan herself no longer cared and held no grudge against him.

It was the same now. She simply thought that if Atlion had followed Calyps’ suggestion, he might have been able to forget her.

“Why didn’t you try to meet another young lady?”

Swan whispered with a clear expression on her face. There was no malice in her tone, but Atlion’s face hardened at her words.

“Would you like me to meet someone else?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

“Swan.”

“It’s not that. I just thought it would have been better for you. You suffered so much when I wasn’t around…”

“It would have driven me mad. I’d rather have died. The thought of putting myself inside another woman – it’s disgusting.”

“What?”

Swan asked, completely shocked. She couldn’t believe that the man who had just smiled at her so tenderly was now spewing such crude words, his expression colder than frost. As she stared at him, stunned, Atlion’s face twisted even more in displeasure.

“Are you truly unaffected by the thought of me with another woman?”

“That’s…”

Her half-parted lips froze, her tongue recoiling as if paralysed. Atlion’s expression was now openly irritated, his displeasure no longer hidden.

Swan’s eyelids quivered slightly. Her gaze traced the shadowed contours of Atlion’s face, dissecting his stern expression. Harsh, unyielding, icy – these were the impressions one would inevitably have when meeting Atlion for the first time.

Even Swan sometimes found his unsmiling face disturbingly intimidating. And yet… now he seemed soft and fragile, like a wounded child. His expression was that of a boy, curled up and vulnerable, as if he had confessed his love only to have it not returned.

She thought carefully about what Atlion had said – though there was little to think about. Swan had long imagined a future where Atlion chose someone other than her. A future where he built a family with another woman. She had imagined it so often and so vividly that it had become second nature.

It wasn’t hard to imagine him holding another woman the way he held her. Looking at her with an even deeper tenderness than he had shown Swan. From the beginning, since their time in the cabin, she had imagined Atlion falling in love.

There had been moments in bed when his flushed cheeks and feverish movements had betrayed his youth. His eyes, clouded with heat and bereft of reason, had been bewitchingly dazed.

Swan had always kept that image in a corner of her heart, even during her days with Theo. Even in Solam, she had imagined Atlion forgetting her and Mirabella, finding love with another woman and sharing her happiness.

“Swan.”

“I…”

She couldn’t think of anything to say. If she didn’t choose her words carefully, she feared she might hurt the man in front of her again. Swan parted her lips as if to speak, but then lowered her gaze. Atlion, who had always felt uncomfortable when their eyes were not locked, cupped her chin gently and tilted it upwards.

“I’ve never stopped thinking about it.”

“……”

“Perhaps it’s because I’ve imagined it too often, but… Your Majesty…”

Her lips continued to dry, and she paused to take a deep breath before continuing.

“It’s too easy to imagine you with another woman.”

She forced an awkward smile, trying to break the heavy silence. But the moment the corners of her lips lifted, the tension around her only grew thicker. Swan looked at Atlion, whose expression had gone completely blank. Her heart sank. She should have kept her mouth shut. Regretting her words, she hurried to explain, her voice trembling.

“What I mean is… I thought Your Majesty didn’t love me…”

“And now?” 

Atlion asked, stroking her pale, pasty chin. 

Swan couldn’t answer easily. The thought of Atlion sharing a bed with another woman – kissing her as he had kissed Swan, their limbs entwined, bare skin pressed against each other, eyes locked in the throes of ecstasy – was too much to bear. The thought of another woman lying with him every night, buried in his embrace, made her chest burn. 

She felt unbearably sad. But then again, it had always been like that. In the past, when she had nothing but the sight of his back to hold on to, she had felt the same sadness. The only difference now was that the sadness was accompanied by a simmering anger. 

“I think I’d be sad.”

“And?” 

“Angry too.” 

Atlion, who had been stroking her chin, planted a kiss on her eyelids. Then he bit her neck lightly. Rubbing his chin against the tender skin there, he sucked hard, leaving a mark. 

Startled by the sudden display of intimacy, Swan let out a soft nasal sound.

“Ugh…” 

“I feel like I’m dying.” 

Swan, who had been clinging to him, curled up on his shoulder, opened her eyes and looked at him. Every time his hot breath touched her collarbone, her heart trembled. It felt like holding a fragile infant – something so delicate that the world could not harm it. And yet this man… 

“Your Majesty.” 

“It was the same when you said you loved Theo. When I thought you might have slept with him. I broke so easily at the thought of you accepting another man who wasn’t me.” 

A murderous rage had been boiling inside him. Would it have subsided if he had slashed and torn something at random? Perhaps. But the horror that would follow such an act – that would have been unbearable. Really unbearable. That was his limit. 

If Swan hadn’t come back to him… if she hadn’t chosen him in the end…

“My feelings for Theo are a bit different. It’s true that I loved him, but it’s not the same as the way I love you. If you hadn’t come for me, I could have lived as Theo’s wife. But even then I wouldn’t have been able to love him as I love you.” 

Atlion ran his fingers through her hair, warm and coral-like in the light. He smiled faintly. 

Even in love, there was a difference between them. He couldn’t live without Swan, but Swan had proved she could live without him. 

Swan could love another man. But he couldn’t. Another love, another emotion, another shade of affection – such things didn’t exist for Atlion. For him, love was singular, its colour unchanging, its direction unambiguous. 

Swan. 

If it wasn’t Swan, you couldn’t dream of anything else. If it wasn’t Swan, it wasn’t women, it wasn’t children, it wasn’t anything. 

“It is true, Your Majesty.”

Swan lifted her hand and touched Atlion’s black hair. The smooth strands slipped through her fingers like fine sand. Atlion felt her touch and embraced her. Swan held him tightly in return. 

“It doesn’t matter, Swan.”

“……” 

“As long as I’m the only one in your life right now, that’s enough for me.” 

Atlion smiled firmly, his expression one of quiet determination. Swan looked at the man who smiled like a boy, then nodded her head. 

“You’ve always been the only one for me, Your Majesty.” 

“Yes.” 

“Even when I lived with Theo.” 

“Yes.” 

Swan lifted her head at the word “Yes”, used instead of “It’s fine”. She traced the jawline of the man who had said “It doesn’t matter”. It did matter to Swan. It didn’t feel like he was really all right. She stroked his slightly roughened jaw, then gripped his big hand tightly.

“You’re special to me.”

Atlion looked down at her, his stern expression softening slightly as he looked deep into her face.

He had intended to reply with something dismissive to lighten the mood, but he closed his mouth instead.

“Truly, you are something special.”

“Swan.”

“Even before I knew you loved me, I couldn’t bring myself to lie with Theo. Facing him like that… I realised it then. It wasn’t just that he was different from you, but the idea of accepting someone other than yourself…”

Her voice trailed off as tears threatened to spill. Was it because she remembered those days? She wasn’t sure. But Swan had often found herself in tears when she revealed her feelings for him. She didn’t understand why.

Though he loved her and she loved him, and though they no longer missed each other in passing… though they had sworn to look only at each other from now until death… 

“Your Majesty.” 

“Atlion. Call me Atlion.” 

“Atlion…” 

“Swan.” 

He called her name in a voice that was incomparably sweet and warm. His lips pressed gently against her tear-stained cheek. Swan buried her lips against his neck, her slender arms wrapped around him. As he moved to hold his softly sobbing wife, she whispered. 

“Don’t get hurt.” 

“I won’t be hurt.” 

“Because I love you.” 

Atlion’s hands, which had reached out to pull her small body closer, froze in the air.

“Because you are the only one for me now.”

The hand that had stopped trembled slightly, as if hit by a jolt. Its fingers, trembling as if vibrating, curled inwards. Atlion clenched his hand into a fist and took his wife in it. 

He looked at Swan, drenched in tears, and whispered softly, 

“I love you.”