“Then allow me to escort you back to the estate.”

“Please do.”

Sierra walked alongside Cohen, stealing a glance back toward the training grounds.

She hoped Ahin would handle things well.

He was the male lead, so surely he would manage just fine, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of having left a child near the water’s edge.

“Duchess, is something the matter?”

Sierra smiled gently as if it were nothing and shook her head with grace.

—

‘He did well…… right?’

It was a shame she hadn’t been able to watch until the very end, but Sierra decided to trust Ahin.

He must have handled himself just fine.

“Have a good evening, then.”

The maids who gathered Sierra’s dress and accessories before leaving the bedroom wore shy smiles on their faces.

“Yes, you all sleep well too.”

“Good night, my lady.”

Sierra watched them until they had fully left the bedroom, turning over the meaning of those smiles in her mind, before slapping her forehead.

‘Surely not…… Has word gotten around the estate about the night she spent with Ahin?’

Under normal circumstances, there would be no servant who would bring up the duke and duchess’s private affairs to their faces.

But most of the servants at the estate had been watching Sierra and Ahin since they were seven years old.

With neither a duke nor a duchess to keep them in line, it seemed they still regarded Sierra and Ahin as little children, or perhaps younger siblings.

Should she give the servants a firm word about it, even now?

‘Surely they wouldn’t act that way toward Claudia too.’

Sierra, who had been pouting, quickly changed her mind.

She was someone who would be leaving soon anyway, and it should be Claudia who would set the estate’s discipline back in order.

‘Besides, what happened was an unavoidable mistake.’

If Sierra stepped in now, all it would do was further cement her standing as the Duchess of Valdevern.

“Come to think of it, is Ahin still working?”

She had intended to have a proper conversation with Ahin about the divorce today, so she had given him a heads-up in advance.

She had asked him to talk once he was done with his work.

Yet as the night wore on, there was no sign of Ahin whatsoever.

Sierra rested her chin on the windowsill and gazed up at the night sky, letting out a wide yawn.

“Haah……”

Her eyes were heavy with drowsiness.

Should she lie down just for a moment, until Ahin arrived?

Sierra glanced at the bed, then turned her body toward the sofa instead.

If she lay down on the bed now, she had a feeling she wouldn’t open her eyes until morning.

Sierra leaned back comfortably against the soft sofa and closed her eyes.

—

‘It seems I dozed off.’

Sierra opened her eyes groggily at the sensation of hands moving over her.

“You’re awake?”

Soon, a warm breath and a low, sweet voice crept into her ear.

“……Ahin? When did you get here?”

“A little while ago. More importantly, why are you sleeping uncomfortably on the sofa instead of lying down properly in bed?”

Ahin asked, twirling a few strands of Sierra’s golden hair around his fingers and playing with them idly.

“I was waiting for you……”

To talk.

But before Sierra could finish her sentence, the corners of Ahin’s eyes curved in a graceful arc. The red irises within them deepened with a quiet, smoldering warmth.

Watching Ahin, who looked as though he were pleased by her answer, Sierra hurried to speak.

“No, I mean, what I’m trying to say is……”

She could not let the same situation as yesterday unfold again.

Sierra pulled back slightly, trying to put some distance between herself and Ahin.

But without any awareness of Sierra’s feelings, Ahin planted his hand on the sofa headrest beside her face.

“Sierra.”

“……”

Ahin’s face was far too close. And the atmosphere had taken on a distinctly sticky quality.

As Sierra’s eyes darted around searching for an escape route, Ahin whispered low,

“Tonight, I’ll make sure you enjoy yourself to your heart’s content.”

Before she even had a chance to resist, Ahin’s lips swallowed hers.

—

“Haah……”

A hollow laugh escaped Sierra’s lips.

She had done it again.

Once could be called a mistake, but twice…… could that still be called a mistake?

Sierra was screaming internally with a dazed expression when she heard it.

“Sierra, are you awake?”

Ahin’s voice reached her ears.

Sierra, who had thought she was alone in the bedroom, stiffened with a start.

Having apparently just finished washing up, Ahin was toweling his damp hair as he walked toward the bed.

“Mmm……”

Sierra pretended to still be asleep, gave no answer, and quietly rolled over to face the other way.

“You’re not going back to sleep?”

But as Ahin’s voice drew closer to her face, she flinched and her body gave an involuntary shudder.

“Why do you startle so easily? It’s adorable.”

Ahin’s voice was remarkably gentle, as though he were whispering sweet nothings to a lover.

Sierra wanted to demand answers from Ahin right then and there.

To ask what on earth had gotten into him. To ask whether he had taken a blow to the head on the battlefield.

But instead of doing so, Sierra simply squeezed her eyes shut and kept up the pretense of sleeping. Hoping that Ahin would leave the bedroom soon.

And then.

“……!”

Peck.

Ahin’s soft lips briefly touched Sierra’s round shoulder before lifting away.

And then once more, peck. Ahin pressed his lips to the corner of her eye, which was swollen and raw from crying through the night.

“Sierra, are you trying to go back to sleep?”

“……”

Sierra squeezed her eyes shut and tried her best to breathe in a steady, even rhythm.

‘I’m sleeping.’

“Ah, it seems Sierra is sleeping soundly.”

A hint of amusement crept into Ahin’s voice. As though he were saying he would wait and see just how long she could keep up the act.

“Isn’t that right?”

Sierra held the pillow in a tight grip, refusing to yield even as kisses were scattered here and there across her.

But the moment Ahin bit into the tender flesh, she barely managed to hold back the scream that nearly tore from her throat.

‘Please just stop and leave already.’

Ahin’s wandering hands were an enormous nuisance, yet at the same time, her body was reacting in a strange way…… this was absolutely not Sierra’s intention.

‘Go, please! Just go already.’

Sierra had repeated the same words to herself in her mind about thirty times, as though reciting a prayer, when it came.

Knock, knock.

The sound of knocking echoed through the room.

Keeping up the act of sleeping had been growing increasingly agonizing, so this was a true relief.

Whoever was on the other side of that door, Sierra decided to hold them in the highest regard. They would be the one to deliver her from this predicament.

Click.

The soft sound of the door opening reached her ears.

“Your Grace. I have brought your meal.”

“Thank you.”

The quiet exchange of whispered words was followed by the sound of the door closing.

The scent of freshly baked bread and savory soup spread throughout the room, and her empty stomach began to stir.

Grumble.

‘But…… can one’s stomach make sounds even while asleep?’

Sierra paused for a brief moment of deliberation before giving up the pretense of sleeping and forcing herself to sit up.

It was because Ahin had thr*st a piece of buttered bread directly under her nose.

“I know you’re not sleeping, so go ahead and get up.”

Sierra went and sat down at the table where the food had been laid out.

She intended to simply fill her empty stomach while being careful not to meet Ahin’s eyes.

Sierra reached out toward the bread on the tray.

“……?”

At that, Ahin snatched the large piece of bread away swiftly.

‘Surely he isn’t, at this age, going to torment her by taking her food?’

From childhood, Ahin had been the sort of person who considered tormenting Sierra to be the greatest pleasure in life.

From common fears like entomophobia and ornithophobia, to trypophobia and acrophobia, Sierra had been forced to overcome a countless number of phobias.

It felt strange to say it was thanks to Ahin, but.

In any case, Ahin had gone after anything and everything that frightened Sierra, without exception.

As the same stimulus was inflicted on her repeatedly, Sierra had no choice but to overcome her fears in order to survive.

And Sierra’s instincts, honed through long years of dealing with Ahin, were telling her this.

That this was the telltale sign of torment to come.

‘Should I just bite his hand hard?’

Sierra braced herself to growl fiercely and looked up at Ahin.

Resting his chin in his hand, Ahin looked back at her and said,

“Open up. I’ll feed you.”

Hm?

At first, she wondered if she had heard him wrong.

‘Could it be that surviving the war has finally made him grow up?’

Just as that thought crossed her mind, Sierra quickly realized.

‘Ah, I see. He’s going to pretend to feed me and then tease me.’

Sierra decided not to dodge.

‘I’ll bite his hand hard.’

So that he would never play around with her food again.

“Ah……”

When Sierra obediently opened her mouth, Ahin tore off a bite-sized piece of bread and pushed it into her mouth.

“Is it good?”

Without bothering to hide the suspicion in her eyes, Sierra accepted a few more pieces of bread from Ahin.

By the time the plate had been cleaned without her even noticing, Sierra tilted her head slightly.

Once the meal was finished, Ahin lightly pressed his lips to Sierra’s forehead.

“You look lovely when you eat well.”

“……”

—

Ahin is strange.

‘He’s genuinely strange. He really is strange.’

There was no way to explain exactly how he was strange.

‘Could it be that he suffered a serious head injury on the battlefield?’

With that thought in mind, she was walking through the garden when she came across the knight Cohen, the one who had escorted her from the training grounds back to the estate the day before.