How did it end up like this?

Her face flushed hot with embarrassment.

Still, she felt she needed to speak up once more. If possible, she wanted him to stretch out his legs and sleep comfortably in his original room.

She covered her burning face and moved her lips. No, before she could do that, she was stopped.

Aaron’s eyelids suddenly lifted, emitting a cold glare. If it had physical form, it would have pierced through her flesh like an arrowhead.

The intimidating aura that silently subdued Lucilia was truly formidable.

Being stabbed just once by his sharpened gaze made her limbs stiffen as if skewered on a stick.

In the end, she couldn’t make a sound until they arrived.

While it was frustrating that things didn’t go as intended, she felt she had partially repaid her debt by making him sleep comfortably, even if forcibly.

* * *

Despite lying on familiar bedding, Aaron had been continuously expressing discomfort. Every cell in his body was screaming as if infested with bugs.

However, he could neither fix his position nor toss and turn.

This was all because of Lucilia.

Her posture, pressed tightly to the edge of the bed, was incredibly irritating. It seemed she would fall to the floor if she tilted her body even slightly sideways.

He understood that she couldn’t sleep because a large man was lying next to her, but she wasn’t even closing her eyes.

Now he noticed she was also intermittently holding her breath, barely inhaling enough air.

Aaron, lying on his back looking at the ceiling, lifted his head from the pillow and glanced at Lucilia while moving his lips.

Why was she like that…

Her precarious state was pathetically ridiculous.

Trembling all over yet having the audacity to ask him to climb into bed.

Without easing her tension, he would spend the night awake because of her unstable breathing.

So he had no choice but to show some kindness first.

Having made up his mind, he intended to gently initiate conversation.

“Don’t touch the pergola set up in the greenhouse. I brought the bench my mother used before our family’s downfall here.”

Was that too abrupt?

A hiccup suddenly burst from Lucilia’s previously quiet mouth.

“Hic! What?”

She covered her mouth with the blanket and tried to suppress the hiccup.

The sound was muffled and crushed like mashed potatoes.

Aaron sighed inaudibly and repeated his explanation.

“I placed the bench, which is both my mother’s keepsake and my father’s comfort, inside the pergola in the greenhouse.”

Like an echo, Aaron’s voice reverberated somewhere before finally catching in her ear.

Lucilia nodded as if she understood.

“Other than that, feel free to look around and touch anything.”

A hint of laughter seemed to escape from her nose. His effort to speak up had been worthwhile.

“I was worried about putting it in the outdoor garden because it would obviously get contaminated. My father suggested making a pergola as decoration…”

His melodious voice flowed gently into her ears. His serious temperament permeated it, with little variation in pitch.

After listening intently for a while, Lucilia’s small head sank deeply into the pillow. Her consciousness quickly dimmed and sank into deep sleep.

And at dawn, Aaron’s dark eyes sharpened keenly.

Having given up on sleep, he carefully listened to Lucilia’s sleep-talking.

“I… did nothing… wrong. I didn’t commit any evil deeds. Please… let me see my father.”

She must be having another nightmare.

Did she know that she suffered from bad dreams without missing a single day?

Every time, she sobbed and shook her head, desperately fighting against terrible dreams.

Marquis Teneri had reached the pinnacle of power riding on his daughter’s noble reputation. But his fall came in an instant.

It started when his relationship with the Pope, who had been an ally, soured.

According to collected information, a significant portion of the profits from the wine produced in the monastery went into the Pope’s pocket. Naturally, the Marquis, who was in charge of distribution across regions, received the leftovers.

The situation was that when the King expressed discomfort about the Pope, or more precisely about the old religion, the Marquis tried to pull out.

The Pope, standing at the center of the power struggle, vented his resentment on Lucilia. He ordered her to be executed by branding her a seductress.

He knew well that she was innocent. He could more than imagine how unjust it was for her.

Because he had experienced unjust situations himself.

That included his marriage to Lucilia. But the human heart sometimes activates compassion in unexpected places.

Could the wingbeat of a baby bird caught in winter rain be so pitiful?

Aaron quietly watched Lucilia, who was soaked in grief and didn’t know what to do.

He had intended to avoid contact as much as possible.

Well, let’s just see how far this goes.

But his patience quickly ran out.

“Haa… tsk!”

She was sniffling like a child, then trembling at the shoulders.

He rubbed his face vigorously with his dry hand.

‘Ah, I don’t know. She’ll calm down after crying enough.’

Just as he was about to turn to the opposite side to put her out of his sight, Lucilia’s body tilted first.

“Whoa.”

She’s really going to fall like that.

The moment he let out a pitiful sigh, she somehow stopped at a position where she was about to fall.

Sigh… it would be better not to watch.

Being next to her, well, he couldn’t pretend not to notice.

Whether she knew she was about to fall to the floor or not, her sobbing still hadn’t subsided.

Meanwhile, as she tossed again, the blanket slipped down, revealing more of her slender back.

“Not letting a person sleep.”

Aaron, who clicked his tongue in irritation, eventually couldn’t turn away and slithered cautiously. Moving carefully as if infiltrating enemy territory, he approached little by little.

Even though their flesh hadn’t touched, her fragrant scent already covered his skin.

Aaron didn’t move closer but gently gripped Lucilia’s shoulder.

As he slowly pulled her toward him, her precariously tilted body returned to its place.

Examining her white face with eyes accustomed to the darkness, he pondered what to do about her dampened cheeks.

Whether to wipe them or not, or to wake her up with a shake to prevent her from crying altogether.

In truth, he didn’t have the heart to disturb her deep sleep so maliciously.

It would feel like pushing a baby bird out of its nest.

Even though he had taken enemies’ lives as easily as eating meals, his humanity hadn’t completely disappeared.

He was just poor at expressing it.

He hesitated to touch her directly, concerned his body might react to the physical contact, so it seemed best to roughly wipe her tears with the blanket.

Just as he was about to pull up the edge of the blanket to wipe away her tears, her small head suddenly pressed against his chest.

It was more startling than when she was about to fall off the bed.

While he was flustered, Lucilia folded her arms as if gathering warmth.

The rose scent embedded in her silver-white hair rose intensely with her breath.

Did she float petals in the bathtub when bathing…

Since the day he saw her n*ked in the bath, they had managed their schedules to avoid bumping into each other until evening.

He had tried hard to avoid getting excited like a beast, but his already tainted mind couldn’t be purified at all.

The more he intentionally pushed away the thoughts, the more vivid illusions he summoned, plunging him into the mire.

Even now, his state was terrible.

As soon as he recalled her beautiful curves, his lower part immediately became tightly constricted.

Aaron, who lay quietly beside her trying to hide his presence, pressed his forehead with his arm and ruminated on the unstable national situation that had recently emerged as a hot topic.

Covering it with serious thoughts seemed to suppress his sinister instincts somewhat.

Now it was time to move away from her.

Aaron moved his body slightly to the side. Then he suddenly stopped breathing.

“Oh!”

Even if he moved far away from her, he would barely be able to sleep, but Lucilia, as if sensing it like a ghost, closed the distance by the same amount.

From the arm that touched hers, hot heat rose fiercely.

‘What kind of saint! She’s truly a seductress.’

Still, he couldn’t coldly push Lucilia away.

Aaron had to face his inner self all night.

Even though he tried not to, he had already violated her in his thoughts. He had groped and parted her flesh, and sprinkled traces of passion on her smooth skin.

If asked whether a hint of carnal desire was reflected when he decided to get into bed, honestly, he had nothing to say.

If asked whether, apart from emotions between men and women, he wanted to mix bodies with Lucilia, who had formally become his wife, he couldn’t answer no.

Unlike himself who inwardly cursed as “bastards” those knights who naturally sought brothels to celebrate after sounding the victory drum.

He had never considered himself holy, but he didn’t enjoy indiscriminately spreading his seed either.

He simply wasn’t particularly interested, yet somehow among the knights and territory people, he had become synonymous with restraint and moderation.

“Restraint, moderation? Even a passing dog would laugh.”

‘Yes, I’m the bastard.’

‘How am I any different from those knights?’

“D*mn…”