He listened carefully, wondering if he had misheard. Clearly, sobbing sounds came from the next room.

Though her room and his room were connected, the walls were thick and not poorly soundproofed, yet why could he hear such sounds?

The crying was soft, but it rang strangely loud in his ears.

‘Is the door open perhaps?’

He pulled at the connecting door between the two rooms wondering if it might be open, but of course it wasn’t.

— Master! Just go to sleep, what are you doing! I’ll be quiet and well-behaved today so let’s go sleep?! Okay, Master?

Constantine left his room.

He carefully turned the doorknob of the door entering the adjacent room from the corridor.

— No! What rudeness is this! Entering a lady’s room so carelessly in the dead of night! Since when has this family been without manners and propriety!

As expected, this somewhat careless woman hadn’t locked her door. Whether because she thought this place was safe, or because she wasn’t conscious of him at all…

‘If she had locked the door, that would have felt strange in its own way though…’

Anyway, he decided to check briefly since there seemed to be strange sounds.

If nothing was wrong, he could turn back and leave right away.

“Hng… ugh…”

Well. It was good he came in.

Her forehead, which he lightly touched, was burning hot as if fever had spiked during the night.

— Master…!

Tears leaked drop by drop from between her tightly closed eyes, seeming to be in great pain.

He should have given her medicine before letting her sleep.

Reproaching himself for overlooking it because she had seemed fine, he stroked her forehead.

“Shh… Saena.”

Though his skin usually only gave people goosebumps from its coldness, perhaps it would feel cooling on her feverish forehead now.

As he thought, she seemed to welcome that coolness, continuously burrowing into his palm and pressing her face close. Though it was a sorry thing to say about a sick woman, that sight was truly lovable.

“Nothing’s wrong. Just sleep comfortably.”

Hearing his quiet, soothing voice, Saena stopped crying. Her rough breathing also seemed to gradually settle.

“Mm…”

But her breath remained hot, so he needed to give her fever medicine quickly. Seeing her white, chapped lips, he thought she needed water too, so he briefly removed his hand and stood up.

Constantine brought fever medicine and water, placed them on the bedside table, and lifted her upper body slightly by supporting her neck. The temperature he felt from her nape was tremendous. He thought that if the medicine didn’t bring down her fever, he would have to ride Morev immediately to find a doctor somewhere.

Constantine tilted the water cup to her lips. But perhaps due to her unconscious state, she couldn’t swallow and spilled it all outside.

‘Should I use a spoon.’

After briefly considering, he tightened his lips, then took the water into his own mouth. And… he pressed his lips against hers, parting them to let the water flow in.

“Mmm.”

As if thirsty, Saena clung to him. She pressed close, wanting more water.

‘…This is just giving her water.’

Constantine steeled his mind, trying not to think of anything else.

He took water into his mouth several times to give her, feeding her the fever medicine the same way.

When she wrinkled her brow slightly and tried not to swallow, disliking the bitter taste, he pinched her nose. When her airway was blocked, the liquid naturally went down her throat as she tried to breathe through her mouth.

Ah, through the parted red gap, Constantine again lowered his lips filled with water.

The sensation of her lips and tongue lapping at him as if trying to drink all the water in his mouth kept threatening to make him lose control.

‘Hah, this woman…’

He had to go through quite a difficult time trying to calm his body’s response that rose beyond his will. Though he tried to think he had no other intentions, the reality wasn’t so pure.

After all, his lips lingered far too long on hers for it to just be about giving her water.

“Saena…”

Even her name that he murmured barely audibly tasted sweet.

She clung to his lips like she’s drinking the elixir of life, then gradually weakened as if she had quenched her thirst enough.

Her body still feverish and heated, she sought out his coolness.

“…This is troublesome.”

As it was an unexpected midnight visit, Constantine wore only a nightgown. But Saena kept pushing aside his gown and rubbing her face against his bare skin.

With her hot body pressed against his cool skin, it felt like having multiple hot water bottles placed all over his body.

Though he knew she was unconsciously seeking the coldness, her constant rubbing against him was putting him in quite a difficult situation.

However, the persistent strength with which she wrapped around his waist suggested he wouldn’t be able to separate from her without waking her.

No, it would be more accurate to say he had no intention of waking her, despite the predicament.

‘Even so…’

The curves of her body pressed against him were too distinct… making it impossible to think of anything else.

Afraid he might unconsciously reach out and do as he pleased, Constantine raised one arm to grab the headboard above. His other arm stretched to the side to grip an empty pillow.

‘…This is killing me.’

It was pleasurable yet torturous. How amusing.

And so he… had to toss and turn, unable to fall asleep despite that precious sense of peace.

* * *

Saena truly gave him various emotions.

He had never thought his emotions could fluctuate and surge like this.

Could this heart, which had become so hardened that he said he handled even catching demonic beasts mechanically without tension, really waver back and forth like this?

It was fascinating.

“Yur… pat pat…”

When she suggested drinking first, he had felt anticipation with a certain excitement. Childish as it might seem, he did.

But while he briefly left his seat due to Royter’s urgent report, Saena had gotten drunk, and in her intoxicated state, she plaintively called someone’s name.

His mood rapidly soured.

“…Who is Yur?”

Yur? Yur, was it? Wasn’t that the name he’d heard before? Who could it be? What kind of man held meaning for Saena?

Though thinking he was being cold-hearted, he casually asked to eavesdrop on the truth that leaked out in her drunken state.

“Yur is… Yuri. Bad guy…. Pat pat… quickly…”

Though he didn’t know who it was, they had clearly been quite close.

‘The way she says ‘guy’ confirms it’s definitely a man.’

Though he didn’t know what ‘pat pat’ meant, it seemed like some intimate contact known only between them… and there seemed to be private circumstances too.

Though he couldn’t hear it now, he felt as if Caligo was snickering at him from within the shadows he had hidden in.

Stupid bastard. You’ve been properly played.

“Hah…”

Swallowing back the curse that leaked out toward himself, he lifted her in his arms. After laying Saena down in the adjacent room, he carefully covered her with blankets and stared down at her face for a long while.

No matter how much he desired her, he had no intention of forcing anything or exercising coercion if she already had a lover.

‘Then why didn’t she push me away when I kissed her last time.’

Even if the first time happened by chance, in the afternoon he had sucked and licked for quite a while…

He believed her excuse that it wasn’t because she didn’t like him but because she was against marriage. Was that not true?

His head was confused.

The next day, he deliberately avoided her. He did so even knowing she was practically trapped in his mansion due to the heavy snow.

Because he didn’t think he could look at her face normally at all.

Nightmares that he hadn’t had for quite a while came back.

Despite smoking several cigarettes and nearly emptying a bottle of hard liquor to finally fall asleep, the result was nightmares.

The memory of when he was receiving the succession of Caligo.

Starting from age ten until eighteen, the process of engraving additional marks each year was so terrible that he would faint from the horrific pain each time and bite his lips bloody.

The process of engraving the marks didn’t end with simple physical pain.

A chilling sensation like hundreds of ice picks being stabbed deep into his skin, into the middle of his heart, drove him mad.

And that sensation soon meant separation from others.

It was an immense pain and a terrible loneliness, far too much for someone barely ten or in their teenage years to bear. Yet, simply because he was born with the Kramer name, he had no choice but to endure it.

“Ugh…”

He wanted to wake up. It would be better to stay awake until dawn. But his body wouldn’t obey. Both falling asleep and waking up were difficult.

Half-submerged in consciousness, wandering between panoramas of nightmares, he desperately wished for someone to wake him.

— Bang!

At that moment, a sound struck his ears and someone’s presence suddenly seeped in. His body reacted sharply.

The scenes making up the nightmare folded away and disappeared as she appeared.

‘Saena…?’

Had his unconscious wish summoned her?

The fragrance invaded his nostrils, and silk-like skin he had felt before clung to his palm. Her exposed white neck seemed to wait for his lips. It was that nape he had wanted to taste so badly in the bathroom earlier.

He buried his lips there without hesitation.

“Hah…”

A much richer fragrance than when smelled from afar penetrated deep into his lungs.

The torment of the nightmare instantly vanished into distant memory as tranquility rushed in like a storm.

Ironically, that’s how it was.