Ertel widened her eyes at his absurd reaction.

“Are you seriously jealous of this?”

“It’s not jealousy……”

Icarus trailed off, then suddenly shouted.

“Fine, I am jealous.”

“Eeh?”

“How could I not be jealous? He’s the one who saved you in your past life—how am I supposed to just accept that like it’s nothing?”

Ertel stared blankly at Icarus for a moment after hearing his words. It was as if she had lost all sense of what to say. Her lips parted halfway, trying to form words, but nothing came out of her throat.

Jealousy?

She couldn’t believe that what he was saying right now was sincere.

It was so ridiculous she felt like laughing, but instead, she swallowed a deep breath in disbelief to steady herself.

“Calm down, Icarus. I just meant to repay my savior. What is there to be jealous about? Even in my past life, there were no romantic feelings between us. At most, what I felt was camaraderie… something like comradeship.”

“There’s no such thing between a man and a woman.”

“Why not? We just bonded over the fact that we were both born with Stones.”

Juan’s eyes slightly lifted upward, his thin lashes trembling as though trying to suppress emotions he couldn’t even understand himself.

“It feels like my woman’s ex-boyfriend suddenly showed up.”

“Ex-boyfriend…?”

Icarus’s lips were slightly pouty. The word sulking fit him perfectly.

Ertel rolled her eyes in frustration.

“Duke. When he comes, I won’t talk about anything from our past lives.”

“Then what?”

“I just wanted to show a little gratitude with a meal I cooked myself, that’s all.”

At that, Icarus’s eyes lit up as he snapped.

“I don’t even get to eat your cooking properly most of the time. Why does another man get to eat it?”

Ertel was so taken aback by his words, she put her hands on her hips.

“What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden?”

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“From the very beginning of our marriage, you were the one who said, ‘My wife shouldn’t even get her hands wet,’ and told me to leave the kitchen to the chef!”

Icarus looked briefly flustered but immediately fired back.

“Then tell that guy to go home and cook something delicious for himself.”

“Ha?”

“Why does he have to eat your food in our home?”

Ertel let out a deep sigh, completely at a loss for words.

“Don’t act like a child, Icarus. This is about diplomacy too—we’re trying to ask for help and properly treat someone who once saved my life. Why are you being so sensitive?”

“It’s already this hard for me to get one bite of your cooking, and now you’re saying you’ll make it for another man of all people? Of course I’d be sensitive. Wouldn’t anyone be?”

Ertel was silent for a moment, blinking as she looked at his face.

“You’re really immature, you know that?”

She suddenly stood up and stormed out, slamming the office door behind her.

Icarus sat there, dazed for a second in shock, before quickly jumping up to follow her.

“Wait a second! Ertel!”

Ertel was fuming, her strides long and quick. Icarus’s footsteps echoed down the corridor as he ran after her.

“What do you mean immature? I was just… I mean… it’s just that—”

Ertel came to a stop, taking a breath before turning around.

Icarus, who had been hurrying after her, froze the moment their eyes met.

In Ertel’s gaze were exhaustion and deep disappointment.

“I don’t want to argue about stupid things like this.”

Icarus clamped his mouth shut at her words. Still, his eyes reflected emotions too complicated to put into words.

“You’re right. I was too sensitive.”

“……”

“But still, when you cook, it’s… it’s something special. That’s why I got a little worked up.”

Ertel looked at him and let out a small laugh again.

“Seriously, you never stop talking about that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Well then, shall I cook for the Duke tonight? Will that satisfy you?”

Icarus broke into a relieved smile as he stepped closer to her.

The awkward tension between them had vanished, replaced with a soft atmosphere.

Ertel gently took his hand and ran her fingers down his, and he gripped her fingertips tightly as he spoke.

“Thank you. And I’m sorry.”

So simple. Ertel chuckled again and nodded her head.

***

Luna Kingdom

Javier turned the pages of the documents with delicate movements, carefully examining how the gold, silver, and other precious metals produced from the mines were being distributed across different regions.

On the map spread out on the table, several countries were marked. He conducted trade not only with the nobles of the Luna Kingdom but also with neighboring nations.

The task of custom-crafting and supplying the jewels and metals requested by the elite of various nations was impossible without Javier’s touch.

He took pride in executing such work flawlessly.

“When will this delivery be ready?”

Javier asked the aide standing beside him.

“Within a week, sir. All the items are already prepared, only the final inspection remains.”

“Well done. Time is everything for the nobles. Their demands must never be delayed, so make sure everything proceeds on schedule.”

The aide bowed his head and said,

“Understood, Marquis.”

Javier organized the stack of documents while planning his next step in his mind.

Just then, a knock came at the door.

“Marquis, a messenger has arrived. A letter from the Kingdom of Tiamor.”

“Tiamor?”

Javier paused for a moment.

He had no connections to the Kingdom of Tiamor. He had never supplied precious metals to them, nor had he had any direct interaction with them.

There was no reason for them to send him a letter, so he looked at the messenger with a sense of curiosity.

“Tiamor… what could this be about?”

He slowly cleared the papers on the table and received the letter from the messenger.

His fingertips trembled slightly, but his eyes were firmly fixed on the letter. He carefully opened the envelope, revealing a neatly folded letter inside.

“Who could it be…?”

He murmured in a small voice.

‘Tiamor… Was there anyone from that distant land who would send me a letter?’

Javier cautiously unfolded the letter. As he began to read the words, an unfamiliar name caught his eye.

[From the Duchess Ertel de Juan.]

Ertel.

The moment he read her name, a subtle ache stirred in the left side of his chest.

“Ugh.”

As if memories long asleep were awakening through that letter, his heart tensed on its own, and a heavy pain shot through his whole body.

‘What is this?’

His fingers weakened, and the letter trembled slightly. That one name seemed to have struck a deeply embedded stone within his heart.

‘Why does this name affect me like this?’

He continued reading, focusing more intently on the content within.

Ertel was proposing that they establish ties between her house and the House of Juarez. As a pretext for this, she expressed a wish to meet him in person and invited him to Tiamor.

Javier fell into deep thought.

The faraway Kingdom of Tiamor—he had never been there.

What was the real reason that one of the kingdom’s most influential ducal families was inviting him?

Along with a faint question, a strange curiosity began to rise within him.

“Interesting.”

Javier folded the letter and placed it on the table.

He was not someone who moved easily when receiving such invitations—especially if it came from an unfamiliar and distant land.

But this time, something was different.

From within his chest, the Kaiya Stone kept giving off a subtle resonance, urging him forward. As if the stone were whispering to him—pushing him to go.

He lifted his head and looked at the map spread out on the table. Though the map was covered in many nations, his gaze was immediately drawn to Tiamor, which occupied the largest territory on the Eastern Continent.

Unlike the Kingdom of Luna, Tiamor was a powerful nation with vast lands.

‘Tiamor…’

His heart continued to throb. As if telling him he must set foot on that land, the Kaiya Stone responded strongly.

He hesitated for a moment.

“Should I go?”

Javier rang the bell to summon his aide again.

“Marquis, did you call for me?”

The aide, seeing Javier’s hardened expression, immediately sensed that something important had occurred.

“We are going to Tiamor.”

“Excuse me?”

“Begin preparations to depart tomorrow.”