01

With sleepy eyes, Elsia stepped out of her room to find the mansion bustling from early morning.  

The servants were busy preparing various things because her fiancé was scheduled to visit the mansion today.  

As soon as the maids noticed that Elsia was awake, they rushed to her, brought her back to her room, and began dressing her up.  

Elsia sat facing the mirror. In the reflection, a woman with emerald eyes and blonde hair was nodding off.  

When the maid woke her, her messy, disheveled blonde hair was neatly braided and wrapped up on both sides as if nothing had happened, and her chemise had somehow been replaced with a silver dress adorned with luxurious lace.  

“Now, all preparations are complete. You must go meet Lord Mars.”  

Still dazed and half-asleep, Elsia followed the maid down to the first floor as if being led.  

There, a man with neatly combed tawny hair and golden eyes smiled at her. He was her fiancé.  

He greeted Elsia with a bright smile and bowed his head.  

“It’s been a while.”  

“Yes. It’s nice to see you.”  

Only when she saw her fiancé did Elsia feel truly awake.  

As if she had never been sleepy, she smiled and offered her hand to her fiancé as if nothing had happened.  

He took Elsia’s hand, and the two of them went out to the garden together. They were to have tea at a place that had been prepared in advance.  

While drinking the rose tea, Elsia looked at her fiancé.  

Mars, the eldest son of the Welsley Earldom.  

Mars had been granted territory far from the capital, and he often traveled between the capital and his land to manage it.  

She didn’t meet him often, and even when they did, all they did was drink tea and tour the mansion together without much conversation, so Elsia still felt awkward around him.  

The first few times, the awkwardness was tolerable. But even as the meetings increased, the wall between them never broke down.  

So, in order to reduce the awkwardness between them, Elsia once asked him various questions.  

―What color do you like?  

―I like blue.  

―Then, what hobbies do you enjoy?  

―I like riding horses alone or hunting.  

―Ah… I see….  

Their conversation never continued and kept breaking off.  

If Mars had asked Elsia what she liked, she would have gladly told him.  

But he only talked about himself and never showed any curiosity about her.  

Even when she asked about trying something together, he said he liked doing things alone, so what could they do together?  

Thus, when the two met, there was nothing to do except quietly drink tea.  

Due to the lack of conversation, Elsia barely knew anything about her fiancé.  

Perhaps because there was little to talk about, their meetings always repeated the same routine: see each other, drink tea, ask about each other’s well-being, and that was it.  

Elsia found the meetings tedious, but she didn’t have major complaints about the engagement itself.  

―Is it alright to proceed with the engagement?  

Her father once asked Elsia about her intentions regarding the engagement.  

―Yes. It’s fine.  

Because the engagement was a union between the Portman Earldom and the Welsley Earldom, related to the Portman’s mining development rights, Elsia accepted her father’s proposal without hesitation.  

Her fiancé was reasonably handsome and kind to her.  

‘Did I make the right decision?’  

But as time passed, Elsia began to feel a bit of regret about her choice.  

Mars lacked that certain something that could stir her heart.  

To feel that passionate spark, he was a lukewarm, boring, dull man who didn’t even converse with Elsia or show any curiosity about her.  

As the boredom grew over time, Elsia began to feel increasingly dissatisfied.  

Of course, she once complained to her mother about Mars.  

―Why did Father, out of all those men, bring me someone I can’t even talk to?  

―Marriage isn’t for fun. Even brief passion will eventually cool. As you live together, conversation will decrease, so it’s better to have a man who gives you stability than one who’s easy to talk to.  

Elsia’s mother, who herself had married for the family, sided with the fiancé.  

Having lived a marriage without passion and without major complaints, she strongly recommended marriage for the sake of the family to her daughter.  

So, after marriage, her parents were busy living their own lives.  

They were satisfied with their own lives, but Elsia always felt regret whenever she saw her parents together.  

Besides her parents, many people had married for their families, and everyone seemed to be living well on the surface.  

Watching those around her, Elsia thought she could build a happy family life even without love, but she also wanted to feel the emotions and passion of love.  

Thus, she was trying to feel love for Mars, but since it wasn’t happening as she wished, she only felt frustrated.  

‘Will time solve it someday?’  

So Elsia was waiting for her relationship with her fiancé to improve.  

It was suffocating, but she had to keep it inside and wait until this feeling subsided.  

At least until she received a gift from her closest friend, Richel.  

Not long ago, Richel visited her and gave her a wedding present.  

‘Was it a magic necklace?’  

Since they usually joked around, Elsia didn’t fully believe Richel’s words.  

But she felt a tiny spark of curiosity ignite in her heart.  

‘If our physical compatibility is good, could love grow from that?’  

Elsia was curious, but she didn’t have the courage to wear the necklace and meet Mars.  

“Do you have something to say to me?”  

Mars’s words brought Elsia back to her senses, and she looked at him.  

Thinking about the necklace Richel had given her, she must have been looking at him differently than usual without realizing it.  

Mars looked surprised, seemingly startled by Elsia’s unusual gaze.  

“No, nothing.”  

Elsia put down her teacup and answered.  

She couldn’t say she was contemplating whether to find out if their physical compatibility matched, so she just forced a smile.  

But Elsia’s gaze kept drifting toward Mars’s lower body, even though it was hidden by the table.  

“….”  

Her fiancé simply smiled gently without saying anything in response.  

Once again, an awkward atmosphere flowed between them.  

Even in the suffocating tension, neither Elsia nor Mars made any effort to start a conversation.  

Elsia, frustrated, just sipped the tea in front of her.  

The more time she spent with Mars, the less her hunger was satisfied; instead, her thirst only grew.  

Perhaps because of this, while spending time with her fiancé, Elsia kept thinking about the necklace Richel had given her.  

‘Should I really find out if our compatibility matches? But what if it doesn’t?’  

If it didn’t, it would surely lead to the worst outcome.  

Elsia’s mind was filled with thoughts about her compatibility with Mars.  

Her hesitation about whether to bring the necklace or not must have shown on her face, because Mars asked again.  

“Are you sure you have nothing to say to me?”  

“Yes, really nothing.”  

Elsia denied Mars’s words.  

After spending a long time in silence, her fiancé finally left.  

Elsia immediately returned to her room, lay on her bed, and stared at the necklace Richel had given her.  

‘Physical compatibility….’  

Even with Mars not in front of her, she couldn’t shake off thoughts related to their compatibility.  

Staring intently at the necklace, Elsia suddenly had a strange feeling. Looking at the blue gemstone, it seemed like something was about to come to mind.  

“What was it?”  

Tilting her head, she tried to recall a faint memory that seemed just out of reach.  

“Ah!”  

Suddenly, Elsia pulled out a memory from the dim recesses of her mind.  

The blue color of the gemstone reminded her of someone.  

‘The blue eyes I meet in my dreams….’  

It must be the eye color of her childhood friend.  

In fact, since experiencing a certain incident, Elsia had been having nightmares every night, always about the same thing.  

Two children encountered something in the forest, and while running away, the girl fell and got hurt.  

―Elsia, it’s dangerous!  

The boy’s scream calling her name echoed through every corner of her mind, waking her up.  

The girl was Elsia herself, and the boy was her friend.  

Though it was a nightmare, it was something Elsia had experienced as a child.  

The incident was so traumatic that she lost her memory and was left with a long scar on her abdomen.  

Since then, the pain from that day had tormented her in the form of nightmares, to the point that she couldn’t sleep without medicine every night.  

The only thing Elsia remembered was her friend’s blue eyes, that one detail.  

She tried to recall other things, but every time she did, her head hurt, so she tried not to think about it.  

The people in the Portman household also knew about Elsia’s pain, so they avoided mentioning that event.  

When the boy’s eyes and the nightmare came to mind, Elsia felt her chest tighten.  

“I shouldn’t have remembered. Let’s not think about it.”  

Though it bothered her, she put the necklace down on the table and tried to ignore the blue eyes in her mind.  

Just then, her closest maid, Marie, entered the room. As usual, she came to help Elsia change clothes.  

‘Perfect timing.’  

Elsia was glad to see Marie’s face just then.  

“Can I ask you something?”  

She had something she wanted to ask, and to distract herself from her troubled mood, she spoke to Marie.  

“Of course. Ask anything. I’ll answer whatever I know.”  

Marie answered while busy unbraiding Elsia’s hair.  

“Really?”  

Because it was a slightly awkward question to ask, Elsia cleared her throat.  

“What are you trying to ask?”  

Marie tilted her head, finding Elsia’s attitude unfamiliar.  

“…If you could know your physical compatibility before trying, would you want to find out?”  

After a brief hesitation, Elsia spoke.  

Surprised by the unexpected question, Marie stopped unbraiding her hair and her eyes widened.  

“Oh my! Does such a thing exist?”  

“Just hypothetically speaking.”  

Elsia’s face turned red, but she replied in a calm voice.  

“If I could know, I think it’d be really nice. If such a thing existed, I’d want to find out, too.”  

Marie answered, laughing as if she found it amusing.  

Elsia was surprised by Marie’s much more positive reaction than expected. That must mean physical compatibility is important.  

“Why? Are you suddenly interested in such things?”  

With a playful smile, Marie asked Elsia. She had finished unbraiding Elsia’s hair and was now brushing it.  

“It’s not like that.”  

Elsia answered curtly, embarrassed to say more. But after asking one question, another curiosity arose.  

“What would you do if your marriage partner wasn’t physically compatible with you?”  

“I’d break up.”  

Marie answered immediately without hesitation, as if it was obvious.  

Marie’s answer was natural. There’s no reason to stay with someone who isn’t compatible.  

Commoners are a bit more open about such things than nobles, so Marie thought that way.  

But for nobles, whose partners are decided from childhood, that’s not always possible.  

Since it’s a union between families, it’s not easy to break an engagement.  

‘If only I could think as simply as Marie….’  

Elsia had asked Marie to lighten her troubled mood, but after their conversation, her mind felt even more complicated with various thoughts.