Ferrendo’s young daughter blinked at him, then suddenly ducked behind her mother.

“You should greet His Majesty.”

Ferrendo’s wife nudged her daughter.

“It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty.”

“You look like your father.”

The child peeked out from behind her mother with a face full of worry, and it weighed on Kyle all the more.

Ferrendo, a father and head of a household, was the one worrying about Kyle.

Painfully, guiltily so.

*

Even after returning to the castle, Kyle’s thoughts were too tangled for the documents in front of him to register.

If his unusual bloodline hadn’t given him red eyes, if he hadn’t been born illegitimate, none of this would have happened.

It hurt and angered him more to cause harm to those around him than to himself.

He wanted to quietly disappear, but there was nowhere to run.

The punishment of those who committed treason was based on the laws of treason, but the emperor’s will carried significant weight.

It had been Kyle himself who had insisted there was no sign of remorse from Lucas and ordered the beheading to proceed.

Lucas had been widely known as a devoted family man and a lord beloved by the people of his estate. If he hadn’t harbored the mistaken belief that Kyle had killed his sister, he would never have harbored such resentment toward him.

Kyle suddenly felt as though he had become something truly wicked.

Dozens of people had already bled and died for charges of rebellion.

‘Is this my punishment?’

Kyle smiled bitterly with a heavy expression.

He sometimes dreamed that their spirits were cursing him.

He hated the people who had wounded him with a killing fury, and yet he was tormented by guilt.

Kyle stared blankly at the dim night sky beyond the window.

“She said she was going to the night market.”

The memory of Shiloh mentioning she bought baking ingredients at the night market came back to him.

The image of her struggling with heavy loads while shopping formed in his mind.

Kyle closed the documents and rose from his study.

*

In the night market bathed in moonlight, Shiloh lifted baskets full of fruit and spices with both hands.

“Heave!”

She was staggering under the weight when someone suddenly tried to take the basket in her right hand.

Shiloh spun her head around.

Her eyes went wide at the sight of a man in a black tunic wearing a mask.

She was about to cry out when he pulled the mask down slightly.

“It’s me.”

Her investor.

“How did you find……”

“Came to carry your bags.”

“……”

Seeing his face brought back the embarrassing incident from before, and her face went hot.

But her investor responded as if nothing had happened.

“I’ll hold these, so don’t mind me and finish your shopping.”

It was a blunt voice, but a kind thing to say.

“You didn’t have to come all this way…… thank you.”

Shiloh shuffled and bowed her head.

“I just need blueberries and I think I’m done.”

She went to the blueberry stall and faced the vendor.

“Could I have two kilograms of blueberries?”

“Two kilograms?”

“Just a moment. Let me check the price…… the price jumped ten times?”

Shiloh’s mouth fell open.

“There was a cold snap in the northern region. Fruit, crops, everything died.”

Blueberries were a fruit produced only in the northern region of the Amondi Empire.

The merchant stuck out his lip and muttered.

“Maybe things’ll get better if the one at the top changes……”

At those words, Kyle’s face went rigid in an instant.

The people of the Amondi Empire believed that the country would have a bountiful harvest when the right person sat on the throne.

Shiloh’s brow furrowed.

“Is there any proof the cold snap is His Majesty’s fault?”

“What?”

“The central and southern regions had a good harvest, but you’re not saying that’s thanks to His Majesty.”

The merchant flared up and barked.

“Miss, are you buying or not?”

Shiloh drew in a breath and answered.

“I’m not buying.”

She gave a brief bow and turned away immediately.

Kyle stared at her retreating figure with a blank expression.

Just then,

Shhhhhh.

Rain came suddenly and in no small amount.

“We need to get back quickly.”

“I’ll carry these. Go ahead.”

Kyle tilted his chin toward her.

But Shiloh took one of the baskets from him.

“I can carry this one.”

Kyle reached out to take it back, but Shiloh hugged the basket with both arms and walked quickly so he couldn’t get it.

Kyle went after her and took the load from her anyway.

Droplets fell from the tips of both their rain-soaked hair.

The temperature had dropped with the night, and their bodies shook with cold.

Shiloh and Kyle, both embarrassed by how drenched they looked, hurried out of the market.

*

“You must be cold. Would you like to warm up by the fire before you go?”

Kyle’s eyes went briefly wide, then he answered with composure.

“That sounds good.”

Crackle crackle.

Shiloh turned herself this way and that in front of the oven to dry her clothes.

Kyle quietly shook the water from his hair, took off his tunic, and flapped his shirt casually.

Once their clothes were reasonably dry, Shiloh and Kyle sat side by side on a pile of straw with their knees drawn up.

Listening to the rain and soaking in the heat of the fire, their tired bodies grew warm and loose.

“Isn’t the work hard?”

“It is, but it’s something I love.”

Shiloh undid the tie in her hair and let her damp hair fall loose.

Kyle watched the captivating sight of her pushing her wet hair back for a moment, without meaning to.

In the silence, Kyle spoke first.

“What would you say if an offer came from the palace bakery?”

“How would something like that ever come to me? That’s absurd.”

Shiloh let out a hollow laugh.

“You never know. For what it’s worth, His Majesty tends to respect individual wishes when bringing people into the palace.”

Shiloh gave a brief shudder at Kyle’s words.

“I’m never going to the palace.”

Kyle’s eyes wavered at her firmness.

“You must have heard the rumors about the emperor. Does the thought alone horrify you?”

He gave a self-deprecating smile and glanced at her.

Kyle was well aware of the rumors surrounding him. Everything from claims that he had lost control of the Sun God’s power and turned into a violent madman, to stories that he killed innocent elders and women and drank their blood.

Most were suspected to be fabrications spread by the noble faction.

“What…… rumors?”

“That the emperor has done demonic things……”

Kyle murmured absently, staring at the flickering fire.

Shiloh let out a long sigh and spoke with a sympathetic tone.

“I don’t believe them. They’re probably things the emperor’s opposition made up.”

“What if they’re true?”

“I’m certain they’re not.”

Kyle’s eyes widened at Shiloh’s certainty.

Shiloh had decided to keep her distance from the emperor, but when she had read the novel in her previous life, the emperor’s story had moved her to tears.

Kyle’s lonely childhood had something in common with her own.

“Being separated from your mother at such a young age, how hard must life in the palace have been? And surrounded by people who judged you by your bloodline, you must have been wounded so many times……”

Kyle’s eyes glistened faintly as he listened to Shiloh’s words.

“I think the hardest time of all must be His Majesty’s.”

“……”

“I hope His Majesty finds happiness.”

Shiloh murmured quietly, staring at the burning flames.

After a long pause, Kyle spoke in a voice that trembled almost imperceptibly.

“I feel strange.”

“Why?”

“The truth is, I……”

Shiloh raised her eyebrows and looked at his face.

Kyle’s lips, which had been on the verge of saying something, closed again.

He looked away and smiled awkwardly.

“Never mind. It’s nothing.”

Shiloh tilted her head.

After that, Kyle was quiet for a long while.

As the warmth of the fire loosened her body, Shiloh grew drowsy.

When she went quiet, Kyle slowly turned his head.

Her head had drooped and was tilting toward Kyle’s side.

‘……’

Kyle carefully cupped Shiloh’s face and lifted her drooping head.

Up close, her skin was even more pale and soft, and her long lashes grew prettily.

He swallowed, then shifted slightly closer so she could lean against his shoulder.

Her easy breathing tickled his neck and earlobe.

Kyle stared blankly at the fire, then let out a long, belated breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

*

“His Holiness the Pope is arriving!”

The streets were crowded with people who had gathered to see the Pope.

Shiloh pushed through the crowd and caught a glimpse of him between the people.

“Your Holiness, please grant us your blessing.”

“Please, just take my hand.”

People waved flowers and handkerchiefs enthusiastically toward the Pope, and some could be seen in tears.

When Pope Daniel smiled warmly and waved, the cheers of the crowd grew louder.

Pope Daniel was a man who commanded both reverence and love.