With his hair completely dry, Delian headed to the bed and said.

“Anyway, this room is at least your room. So stop tiptoeing around as if you’re living in someone else’s room.”

He really disliked how she carefully walked only on the floor, avoiding the carpet he had specially laid out.

Lena slightly nodded at Delian’s grumpy but kind words.

When Delian lay down, Lena took the book he had chosen and sat beside him.

Freshly bathed, Delian smelled of conifer leaves and thyme. Lena unconsciously moved a little closer to him.

Delian, who had his eyes closed, tensed and narrowed his eyes slightly as Lena pressed unusually close to him today.

Lena was snuggled right up against him, pressing her nose to his chest and sniffing.

“…What are you doing?”

“…Ah!”

Lena hurriedly pulled away, her face turning red.

“You smell nice……”

“Nice?”

“Yes…… You always smell of conifers and thyme.”

“Do I?”

Delian buried his nose in his arm and sniffed.

“I can’t tell.”

“Ah, I, I just……”

Lena suddenly caught her breath.

‘Did I seem strange?’

Her heart pounded with anxiety.

Delian looked at the shrinking Lena, then pulled her waist back toward him as she moved away.

“D-Duke?”

Then he lowered his face to her nape.

Lena squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her startled heart pounding loudly in her ears.

After a moment, Delian whispered near her neck.

“You smell better.”

“…Y-yes?”

The low, deep cave-like voice near her ear strangely made her waist tingle.

Delian slightly twisted his head to meet her eyes. His nose bridge, drawing a dizzyingly sharp line, brushed against her neck.

“Hah……”

As the startled Lena shuddered, Delian spoke.

“The smell.”

“……”

“I said you smell better.”

Then he pulled away instantly. Delian looked as calm as if nothing had happened.

Lena stroked the goosebumps—no, the shivers—covering her arms and pressed down on her fluttering heart.

The heat and scent of Delian, who had come so close, still felt vivid.

Yet Delian’s face remained so calm. Lena hurriedly opened the book to hide her flustered state. When she opened it, a small brother and sister popped out.

Lena quickly focused on the storybook.

She had no idea about the rumors circulating that the unmarried Duke had bought so many storybooks because he had a child.

Meanwhile, Delian was pretending to be calm as he listened to her voice, but in reality, he was fighting more fiercely than anyone else in the world.

He had mentally sung lullabies countless times. Even her gentle voice wasn’t much help right now.

The glimpse of her snow-white, fair nape kept flashing in his mind, making him dizzy.

“This is maddening……”

“Pardon?”

When Lena questioned in surprise at his husky voice, Delian gestured for her to continue reading, saying it was nothing.

Lena watched him carefully, then resumed reading.

Hansel and Gretel was a story about siblings. Perhaps because of this, she kept thinking of Roberto. No, she thought of the entire Trix family.

Even though they were such terrible people, people who tried to kill her, people who didn’t deserve to be called family…

Still, because they were family, she kept thinking about them.

When Hansel and Gretel safely returned to their father’s arms, she recalled her father pulling out a shotgun for her.

When the siblings reminisced about their birth mother, she remembered her mother falling asleep with her.

Lena suddenly felt a heaviness in her chest. Because of this, she found it difficult to steady her breathing and had to pause the story several times.

Delian didn’t fall asleep as usual but journeyed with her and Hansel and Gretel.

Delian silently listened to her story.

And only after she finished the entire story did he quietly speak up.

“In the first edition, it wasn’t a stepmother but the birth mother.”

“Really?”

“I heard they changed it to a stepmother considering children’s emotions. And the father was originally a villain too. He conspired with the birth mother to torment them, only welcoming the children when they brought money… something like that.”

“Ah, I see……”

Her childlike innocence completely shattered.

Lena unconsciously took a deep breath.

“Gretel is like me.”

“What?”

She almost said she was abandoned by her parents. She had told him she was selected as a sacrifice and placed on the altar.

“That I almost died.”

“Ah.”

“But I don’t have a brother like Hansel.”

“That’s fortunate. He was so stupid he almost got eaten by the witch.”

Delian replied nonchalantly.

“Is that so.”

Lena smiled softly. Delian, who had been quietly watching her, suddenly sat up and asked.

“Then am I like the witch?”

“Pardon?”

“I let you stay in a nice house, feed you delicious food, and give you lots of sweets.”

“Ah, now that you mention it, you do. Are you going to eat me?”

Lena laughed as if amused. His eyes, resembling both dandelion flowers and wolves, rippled at her smile.

“I might.”

The black water weeds writhing inside him resembled l*st, but he had no intention of revealing the truth to her.

“Pardon?”

When Lena tilted her head as if asking what he meant, Delian once again grabbed her waist and pulled her toward him.

“It’s good we read this book. The witch in the book is fooled by the siblings and killed because she knows nothing, but I know the story, don’t I? I never let go of what I want.”

“D-Duke……”

Delian’s eyes darkened slightly, and his fierce atmosphere settled into something more serious.

She couldn’t tell where the joke ended and sincerity began.

Seeing Lena’s discomfort, Delian thought he should back off.

‘Moderation, moderation……’

That was always difficult for him.

Lena felt Delian’s arm, which had been wrapped around her waist, gradually loosen. But his expression seemed somewhat sad and lonely.

She grabbed his large hand as it moved away.

“I won’t go.”

“…What?”

“Without Hansel’s help, Gretel would never have escaped from the witch. But sadly, I’m alone.”

Lena smiled bitterly. She had no family left to play the role of Hansel for her.

‘That’s right, there’s no Hansel.’

Lena’s gaze settled calmly.

Delian tightened his grip on the hand that held his, pulled her closer, and wrapped his arm around her waist again.

“I’ll remember those words.”

Lena opened her eyes wide at Delian’s face, which had suddenly come right in front of her.

But she didn’t avoid his gaze. His eyes, which she had thought resembled dandelions, were shining dangerously.

Lena’s heart pounded. The warmth from their touching bodies gave her a sense of security.

Delian’s low, husky voice continued.

“So even if you get eaten by the witch someday, you can’t complain.”

“Ah……”

“Answer me.”

The Duke, like a tyrant looming over her head, urged Lena with his wild beauty. Though she thought it was forceful, Lena nodded.

As if enchanted.

After Delian left, Lena tidied up the bedding.

It felt strange that this bed she had come to love was no longer someone else’s.

‘This bed… this room is mine……’

Thinking that such a large room was her room, an inexplicable sense of pride welled up from within her chest.

It was amusing, but truly so.

Her life had always been without possessions of her own.

The clothes she wore belonged to others, and even the food she ate was no different from stealing someone else’s share.

For her terminally ill body, the only place to rest was ultimately her parents’ house, specifically the hard bed in a dark, narrow room.

If that bed where she would die was the only thing that could be called her share, even that was coveted by Roberto.

Saying he needed his own space.

Lena threw herself onto the bed. The large, fluffy bed that was always soft and smelled nice.

“Mmm… nice……”

Lena unconsciously let out an exclamation.

Though she had always slept well in this bed, from today on, she felt she could sleep even more comfortably.

How much time had passed since she welcomed a peaceful night surrounded by happiness?

In the early dawn when everyone was asleep, she alone woke up.

“Ugh……! Uuugh!”

Nausea surged up.

Living with a terminal illness, she had experienced many symptoms, but vomiting was the most difficult.

‘Dinner was meat tonight……’

Lena buried her face in the toilet and emptied her stomach. Physiological tears flowed.

Her body wasn’t good to begin with.

Even if she was receiving love at the ducal residence, it didn’t mean her already broken body would heal.

Lena trembled all over as she continued to empty her stomach.

Perhaps the only fortunate thing was that there was no one to shout that the sound of vomiting was too loud.

No matter how loudly she vomited or sobbed, everything around her remained quiet.

She was grateful for that.

Clutching her stomach that had nothing left to expel, Lena staggered out of the bathroom. The dimly lit surroundings provided some comfort.

After barely rinsing her mouth, Lena trudged toward the bed with an exhausted face.

Her haggard face showed no sign of vitality.

She was too weak to care about her rough mouth or her stomach that ached as if someone was squeezing it.

Utterly exhausted, Lena pushed herself into bed and stroked her hair that Penna had braided so well.

‘I’ll be fine after sleeping……’

Lena closed her eyes, hoping she could fall asleep again. But her wish wasn’t granted.

Until the sun rose dimly, Lena had to rush to the bathroom several times. Eventually, she didn’t even have the strength to run and had to crawl across the floor.

Then she briefly lost consciousness, almost fainting near the toilet.

“Miss, Miss!!!”

How much time had passed? She regained consciousness at the sound of someone calling her. Penna was urgently calling her name.

“Pen…na……”

The touch that woke her was warm. It wasn’t a harsh slap like before.

Lena saw Penna’s tear-filled face and painfully moved her lips.

“Don’t… tell anyone……”

“But Miss……”

Tears fell as Penna looked at her unconscious mistress, but she forced herself to steady her breathing. 

She lifted Lena’s frail body with ease and laid her gently on the bed. 

“Don’t worry, Miss.” 

Penna whispered the promise to the sleeping Lena and pressed a damp towel against her parched lips.