While the Baron’s face was distorted with anxiety, Aaron wore a faint smile.

Since he was much taller than Lucilia, his expression was fully visible even with his head bowed.

When anger reaches its peak, laughter often erupts, and Aaron seemed to be in exactly that situation.

‘What if he hates me for causing him this humiliation?’

Her heart raced in the precarious atmosphere.

“I apologize for my disrespect.”

Given the circumstances, Aaron chose not to escalate the conflict.

He apologized in a voice dripping with courtesy, even if it was insincere.

While relieved, she felt too ashamed to face him, considering the humiliation he must have felt.

“It’s, it’s fine. I feel like I’ve disrupted the banquet. Now that I’ve made an appearance, I should return.”

Was it too greedy to hope he would bid her a safe journey?

He remained silent without lifting his head.

It was so embarrassing.

She felt as ashamed as he must have felt humiliated. Not because of Aaron, but because of her father.

Lucilia had to flee the hall without properly enjoying the royal banquet.

* * *

When she had entered, the western sky was still tinged red, but now the entire sky was immersed in darkness.

Lucilia moved forward, looking up at the twinkling stars. Her guardian knight, Raphad, swiftly followed.

“That direction leads to the palace garden.”

He expressed his confusion as to why she wasn’t heading to the monastery. Lucilia answered while looking straight ahead.

“I know. Would you let me be alone for a while?”

“…”

“You have the hourglass, don’t you?”

She gestured with her chin for Raphad, who looked reluctant, to take out the hourglass.

She occasionally enjoyed such moments of freedom within safe limits.

Even for someone as noble as a saint, it was impossible to monitor every move.

The time it took for the sand to empty from one side was barely enough to savor a cup of tea.

Since they were inside the palace grounds where danger was significantly reduced, Raphad agreed with a silent bow.

“Thank you, Sir Blio.”

The young saint’s pure gaze touched Raphad before falling away.

Even Raphad, who excelled at containing his emotions, must have felt pity for the girl immersed in loneliness. The usually unsmiling man encouraged her with a faint smile.

“I’ll be back soon, so take a short rest.”

“Yes, take a walk around and come back.”

As she approached the garden through the darkness, lamps lit here and there illuminated the dusky night.

“I guess I’m destined to be isolated.”

Lucilia crouched down weakly and touched a geranium petal.

Though artificially created, it was the first time she envied the flower bed forming a colony.

“You must never feel bored. What’s it like to gather together and chat?”

It would be a feeling she might never know in her lifetime.

Feeling disheartened, she rested her elbows on her knees and propped her chin.

How long had she been entranced by the flower buds swaying in the night breeze?

From somewhere, the scent of pania flowers drifted over.

Perhaps many pania flowers were blooming nearby…

Just as she was about to stand up to go see them:

“Do you intend to blackmail me with what you perceived in my mind?”

“Ah, you startled me!”

She almost fell on her backside.

Aaron, with the moon’s halo above his head, opened his mouth while looking somewhere in the dark sky.

“Well, you can tell His Excellency if you want. Not that it would frighten me.”

“Didn’t you deliberately look straight into my eyes so I would confess everything to my father? Seeing how you followed me out to confirm, you must have regretted it belatedly. Or perhaps you really are frightened.”

Of course, she should have spoken only gentle words to Aaron.

But being human, she couldn’t help feeling annoyed.

His cold treatment at the banquet earlier was hurtful, and his confrontational attitude here made her words come out crooked with disappointment.

As she responded with sharp words, a furrow formed on his well-sculpted forehead.

After exhaling a light sigh, he gazed intently at Lucilia.

A mysterious orange light spread from Lucilia’s eyes, as if the dying sunset had been extracted from the dark sky and planted there.

Aaron quickly averted his gaze and rubbed the ground with his foot.

“I looked into the saint’s eyes because I didn’t want to break my self-esteem on my own.”

“Is… that so?”

She belatedly realized that responding sharply to his honest answer wasn’t befitting of a saint.

While reflecting on whether she had been too harsh just now, she blurted out a curiosity that suddenly arose.

“By the way, I’ve been wondering something for a while.”

“What is it?”

“It’s true that the Baron’s family was reinstated with my father’s help, isn’t it? So why are you so hostile?”

“Because there’s no anger without reason.”

The boy had grown into a sturdy man in the time she hadn’t seen him.

His body was solid and his aura imposing.

He meant there was a reason for his hostility…

If so, she couldn’t understand why he would take out his frustrations on her, who seemed easy to target, rather than directly confronting her father with his grievances.

She was about to question him but refrained, thinking that wouldn’t be saint-like either.

In his eyes, she was probably just a fourteen-year-old kid, saint or not, so what could she say?

At times like this, it seemed Aaron was still childish in his own way.

Lucilia was also aware of her father’s greed.

When she was elevated as a saint, his tears of joy were all for the family’s glory.

If he was harsh even to his daughter, what could be said about how he treated others?

Realizing she was the daughter of such a father wasn’t particularly pleasant.

Now wasn’t the time to waste on evaluating her father. She needed to extend this dramatic encounter with Aaron as long as possible.

She was so excited, almost foolishly so, that she couldn’t let him go like this.

This was the first time they had stood face to face and conversed for so long.

Afraid he might leave, she blurted out whatever came to mind.

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“Should I be?”

“Everyone else seems to be. I haven’t felt much genuine admiration. Everyone is careful and wary, afraid I might discover their weaknesses. That’s why no one comes near me. They don’t want their true thoughts exposed.”

The answer she expected from Aaron was obvious.

‘I’m different from others. Why would I cower? I have nothing to be ashamed of, and so on.’

Whatever it was, his unwillingness to bend was part of his charm.

She intended to continue asking questions while admiring his handsome appearance.

However, their limited time cut the conversation short.

“Saint!”

Her holy knight announced it was time to return.

Before the voice drew closer, Lucilia hastily approached Aaron.

“Let’s continue our unfinished conversation next time.”

“Will there be a day when we meet privately? Our missions are different, so there’s no need to promise a next time.”

“But you might have time someday.”

“Nothing is more foolish than chasing an illusory target.”

She couldn’t bear to be remembered as a foolish person, so she had to abandon her expectations at this point. Lucilia suppressed her desires, clutching her aching heart.

That was the end.

He lived his life on the battlefield, she in the monastery.

After many twists and turns, they were swept into the whirlpool of fate to reach this point.

***

The rattling vibration of the carriage awakened Lucilia from her memories.

‘I thought we would never meet again…’

‘And now he’s my husband.’

Back then, she was so innocent that she often approached Aaron to talk. Perhaps she was more interested because she was starved for love.

Now that they were married, they only stood at a distance, measuring each other.

Without becoming a true wife.

She had secretly nurtured her feelings to the point of imagining the passion between man and woman each night. But there were limits to what she could express outwardly.

The reason the spark of passion couldn’t ignite was because she still identified herself as a saint.

Even though she had been falsely accused, her essence hadn’t changed.

Or had it? Since her mind had become filled with l*stful thoughts after marriage, perhaps she could no longer call herself a saint.

Even when practicing abstinence and restraint as a saint, her heart would waver at the mere sight of Aaron.

She used to feel guilty for harboring innocent feelings for him as a child and would repent whenever she had the chance. But thinking about it now, the time she spent repenting had decreased significantly.

She rationalized that these were natural thoughts for a married couple, even if her husband didn’t acknowledge her.

She comforted herself that these were feelings anyone would naturally develop.

The moment she loosened her thoughts, carnal desires stirred again.

Heat began to rise to her face as she surveyed his majestically broad shoulders and noble features.

Would she ever receive passionate love?

Would there come a day when her feelings grew so strong that she would confess and embrace him several times a day?

Her face flushed at the thought of herself moaning in his arms.