Lucas, who had been pressing his lips to Giselle’s forehead, unconsciously furrowed his brow. It was because he could guess who she meant by ‘that child.’

She must be talking about the child she said she had seen in her dream.

“You think…… I believe the vision I saw in my dream is real, don’t you?”

Giselle asked with a faint smile, as if she had sensed his thoughts. Lucas just chuckled instead of saying no.

“……Maybe it’s just a vision, as you think. No, that’s probably right.”

How could that tiny life, conceived only recently, appear in its mother’s dream?

The child’s words about meeting again a little later might also have been a manifestation of her unconscious desires.

But…….

“Still, I want to believe it.”

She murmured in a slightly husky voice while rubbing near his collarbone with her fingertips. Lucas took her hand and pressed his lips to her fingertips as he spoke.

“Whatever you wish for…… it will come true.”

“……Do you think so?”

In response to Giselle’s question, Lucas simply kissed her fingertips again. As if that was enough of an answer, she smiled brightly and kissed his chin.

Although her lips stung from his slightly grown beard, even that made her smile as it felt characteristic of the man she loved.

* * *

“Yaaawn……”

Giselle quietly gazed at the lake, then covered her mouth with her hand and yawned.

Though she tried to stifle the sound as much as possible so as not to be caught, a soft laugh came from Lucas sitting beside her, as if it had reached his ears.

“……No, I’m just a bit bored sitting still.”

What’s the fun in fishing anyway? Giselle added one more small explanation as if to excuse her yawn, then stretched her arms and legs fully.

Lucas looked at the lake where he had cast his fishing rod for a moment, then turned to her.

“Shall we go for a walk then?”

“No. Since we came fishing, we should wait until we catch at least one properly. I heard the trout here is delicious.”

Giselle shook her head at his words and licked her lips. Lucas looked at her with disbelief before bursting into laughter.

“You’ve really developed quite an appetite lately.”

“Are you going to criticize me for that? The nanny was already saying I’ve put on some weight…… Just try to criticize me. I won’t sit still.”

She glared at him while speaking in a threatening tone.

Just a few days ago, the nanny had made a fuss about how she seemed to have gained weight, which had made her so upset that she almost shed tears.

‘And yet she used to complain that I was too thin……”

Feeling annoyed, Giselle picked up a small pebble from beside her and threw it into the lake.

Plop.

As the pebble sank into the lake, circular ripples spread outward. At the same time, fish beneath the surface could be seen darting away in all directions.

“Ah! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that……”

Only then did Giselle realize she had made a mistake and hurriedly apologized.

When she thought that all the fish might have fled because of her action, she couldn’t help but make a sad face.

After all, she had rendered Lucas’s efforts of waiting with his fishing rod meaningless.

“I’m really sorry, Lucas.”

Why had she done such a thoughtless thing?

She apologized once more, her voice unconsciously turning tearful. Seeing Giselle hunched with her shoulders and head lowered, Lucas clicked his tongue and turned to face her completely.

“Giselle, look at me.”

“But……”

“I’m not angry. It’s okay.”

“……Really?”

Encouraged by Lucas’s gentle tone as he held both her shoulders, Giselle slowly raised her head.

Even in the growing darkness, she could clearly recognize the gentle gaze of the man looking at her.

“I’m sorry. I just got upset without realizing it.”

Giselle, her heart eased by that gentle gaze, confessed what was on her mind.

How she had felt sad about what the nanny had said.

And how recalling it had made her upset.

Which led her to throw whatever she could get her hands on.

“I see. You must have felt bad.”

Lucas tried hard to hold back his laughter as he took Giselle’s side, watching her pout with lingering sadness even after tattling like a child.

After all, if he laughed now after consoling her, it was a foregone conclusion that he’d be sleeping in a separate bed tonight.

“Right? I had reason to be upset, didn’t I?”

Giselle smiled, seemingly in a better mood now that he had taken her side. Lucas nodded, then spoke again.

“Let’s take a walk around the area to change the mood.”

“I’m fine now. No, you keep fishing. I’ll walk around by myself.”

She declined his suggestion, thinking she shouldn’t disturb his fishing any further. But Lucas looked at the lake with an awkward smile and replied.

“Well…… I don’t think today is a day for fishing anyway.”

Indeed, all afternoon he had only caught a few small fish.

Giselle nodded in agreement with his words before she realized it. Lucas chuckled and added.

“Besides, I can’t be the fool who lets a beautiful lady walk alone, can I?”

“Well…… Then I’ll gladly accept your company for a walk.”

She playfully extended her hand toward him. Lucas took her fingertips, kissed the back of her hand, and then stood up.

* * *

“Aaaah…… Ouch! It hurts!”

“Bear with it, Giselle. If we don’t loosen these knotted muscles, you might not be able to walk at all tomorrow.”

“It’s not that ba—Aaahggh……”

Giselle tried to protest against Lucas’s threat with a pout, but when he massaged her calf again, she involuntarily let out a groan. Lucas chuckled and then spoke.

“If the villa caretaker heard this sound right now, he would misunderstand.”

“Ungh…… What misunderstanding?”

Giselle asked with a furrowed brow and touched her calf. The leg Lucas had massaged felt numb.

“He’d think I was gobbling you up, crunch crunch.”

“Tch, what’s that? I’m not a child. Who would believe such monster stories……”

She was chuckling at his words when she suddenly understood his meaning and closed her mouth.

So that ‘gobbling up’ didn’t literally mean eating her, but rather…….

“Oh my goodness! Please stop saying such things!”

Not just Giselle’s face but her entire body turned bright red.

Before the heat in her face could subside, she smacked the back of Lucas’s hand as he resumed massaging her calf.

But Lucas paid no attention and laughed, then stood up.

The eye level between Giselle, who had been receiving a massage while sitting on the bed, and Lucas, who had been kneeling on the floor, was suddenly reversed.

And without giving Giselle a chance to say anything, Lucas pushed her down onto the bed, then climbed on top of her.

“Should I show you with actions instead of words?”

“No, why is the conversation going in that direction……”

Her words were completely swallowed by Lucas. Giselle tapped his chest a few times out of embarrassment, but soon wrapped her arms around his neck as if nothing had happened.

Pleased with his wife clinging to him, a soft laugh vibrated through Lucas’s throat.

She was lovely.

Her eyes clouded with pleasure, her cheeks flushed with heated excitement, her swollen, parted lips…..

“……Well, it’s not just your lips that are swollen.”

He pressed and traced her n*pple with his index finger, which seemed to have doubled in size from all the sucking and biting. Giselle’s body jerked violently, followed by a m*an escaping her lips.

“Don’t do that. Hngh…… It feels strange.”

“Strange? How is it strange?”

“……You’re not a baby, so why do you keep doing that there.”

Giselle blushed as she recalled how the man had persistently tormented her br*asts. Even though no milk was coming out, he had clung to her chest, sucking intently.

As a result, her n*pples had become so sensitive that just his touch sent tingles throughout her entire body.

And he was not a man who would have failed to notice this.

Lucas raised one corner of his mouth, then extended his tongue and licked a long stroke across her chest.

“Haah, ha, I said don’t……”

Giselle trembled and twisted her waist as his tongue swept over her n*pple. Lucas looked down at her and spoke with an even more mischievous expression.

“I must have a bad personality.”

“……?”

“When you tell me not to do something, it makes me want to do it more.”

“Th-ah, aaah!”

Giselle’s waist, which had been momentarily confused by his words, arched sharply. Lucas had taken her n*pple into his mouth.

“Haah, Lucas, please……”

She embraced his back and shook her head. It was a gesture that couldn’t distinguish whether she was asking him to stop or to do more.

He sucked her n*pple hard enough to hollow his cheeks, then laughed softly.

“Please what? Do you want me to do more? Or stop?”

“Hngh, h…… Th-that……”

“Say it clearly, Giselle. I’m not perceptive, so unless you tell me directly, I won’t know. I might do the opposite of what you want.”

Not perceptive indeed!