“Prepare cranberry sherbet. The meal must be exactly to Diez’s liking.”

Though it sounded like he was enforcing discipline, it was just Jürgen’s way of saying “please make delicious food.”

Besides, the meals served at the Duke’s mansion had never once been unsatisfactory.

She was already looking forward to mealtime.

As always, the rest of the day passed peacefully. After enjoying a meal that left nothing to be desired, Diez played with Puppy one last time before putting him to bed. Returning to the bedroom, she soon lay down beside Jürgen and fell into a peaceful sleep.

Reading a book beside the dimmed light, Jürgen suddenly gazed intently at Diez’s face as she lay on her side. Staring at her peacefully closed eyelids, he unconsciously raised his hand and stroked her hair.

She must have fallen into a deep sleep, as there was no response from her. She looked more stable than ever. Right beside him, of all people.

Perhaps it was due to the realization of this fact that his mind settled. Jürgen put down the book he was reading and silently dimmed the lights further. Carefully taking his place beside her so as not to disturb Diez’s sleep, he soon closed his eyes as well.

Listening to her small, regular breathing often caused him to fall asleep before he realized it.

When he opened his eyes again, darkness still enveloped everything. It was a dim early morning with no sign of dawn breaking.

Despite his small confusion, Jürgen’s gaze immediately searched for Diez. Since some unknown time, she had been lying with her back to him. He could see her small shoulders trembling intermittently.

The moment the sound of suppressed sobbing finally reached his ears, Jürgen felt sleep fleeing from him and sat up abruptly.

“Diez.”

At his call, Diez curled up even more and buried herself deeper under the blanket. But her crying still wouldn’t easily stop.

Certainly, when they fell asleep, Diez had seemed more peaceful than anyone.

What made her cry?

Did he perhaps do something in his sleep that hurt her feelings?

With anxiety creeping up, Jürgen carefully wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

“Why are you crying?”

“……”

“Please tell me.”

Only then did Diez turn toward him and collapse into his arms. For Jürgen, this was somewhat reassuring. At least it seemed that he himself wasn’t what made Diez cry.

Unable to answer immediately due to her choked voice, Diez swallowed her sobs after sniffling several times before finally speaking.

“It’s…… nothing. Just……”

“It’s okay, please tell me.”

“I just had a bad dream.”

A nightmare? While he couldn’t guess what kind of terrible dream had made her cry when she had been sleeping so peacefully, he thought that calming Diez was the priority.

Probing the content of the dream wouldn’t help her at all.

“……How long has it been since you woke from the dream?”

“I, I just woke up……”

“Would you like a glass of water?”

Even in the darkness, he could see Diez nodding. Jürgen briefly left the bed and poured water from a glass on the nearby table, handing it to her.

After hastily swallowing the water, Diez seemed to have calmed down a little. Laying her down again, Jürgen held his fiancée, who had not yet fully escaped the aftermath of the nightmare, in his arms and comforted her.

“It’s all right. I’m here with you.”

“I’m sorry for waking you. Because of me……”

“Don’t say that, just go back to sleep. Morning is still far away.”

Jürgen soothed her until Diez fell asleep again. The moment her breathing, which had seemed unable to settle for quite some time, finally became peaceful again, Jürgen privately let out a sigh.

What kind of dream did she have?

He thought about asking in the morning, but had a feeling Diez wouldn’t want to talk about it, making it difficult to make up his mind.

What made him hesitate was the fear that had raised its head after a long time.

What if he himself was the very person who appeared in the nightmare that made Diez cry?

It wasn’t entirely impossible. In the past, Jürgen had left large and small wounds on Diez’s heart several times.

Who knows if bad memories sleeping deep in her mind had suddenly attacked her through dreams?

Now it was he who couldn’t possibly fall asleep.

Heavy regret weighed on his entire body. At the very least, he shouldn’t have hurt Diez.

Why did I pour such sharp words on her?

He didn’t have the courage to ask. Though he knew better than anyone that he shouldn’t turn away like a coward, shaking off this cowardly fear wasn’t easy.

If I was really the one who tormented her in the dream.

What on earth did I do to her?

He didn’t even dare to imagine.

The vacation that had lasted just over a month finally came to an end. For someone in the position of head of the family, it was an unusually long vacation.

Of course, the long vacation was planned entirely for Diez. He didn’t want to leave his fiancée, who had just returned from the summer villa, alone in the mansion.

Thinking of what happened in the early morning, he wanted to take one more day off, but that day happened to be scheduled for a meeting with the Crown Prince. If he arbitrarily postponed the schedule with the heir to the throne who would soon have his coronation ceremony, things would certainly get noisy.

If they found out that he had spent the month-long vacation solely with Diez, perhaps the disapproving glances would be directed at her.

In the end, Jürgen, who had spent the night with his eyes open, began preparing to go out as soon as the early morning broke. Just as he was putting on his freshly ironed formal suit and tying his tie, he saw Diez opening her eyes belatedly.

Fortunately, Diez seemed to have completely forgotten the nightmare she had in the early morning. Rubbing her eyes that were not fully awake, Diez asked in a deep voice.

“Jürgen, are you leaving already……?”

“I have a schedule in the morning today. I’m sorry to leave your side as soon as you open your eyes.”

“What is there to be sorry about?”

It might have been just his imagination, but he thought Diez’s eyes looked particularly swollen that day. Before she could make an effort to see him off, Jürgen approached, kissed her forehead, and whispered.

“Sleep more. I’ll be back late in the afternoon.”

Diez didn’t refuse his consideration. The smile he had carefully put on in front of her instantly lost its light as soon as he left the bedroom.

Throughout the car ride, the same worry circled in his mind. He shouldn’t show signs of being lost in distracting thoughts in front of the Crown Prince.

Unlike Leopold, whose current situation was unclear, his younger brother Albert was a man who had few points of contact with Jürgen.

All he could do was hope that he wasn’t as perceptive as Leopold.

Albert, who welcomed Jürgen warmly, invited him to tea time.

Just when he thought the direct gaze felt ominous,

“You look like you have something on your mind.”

Albert finally spoke first. Maintaining his fabricated composure while meeting his eyes, Jürgen poured tea into his cup and answered.

“Nothing in particular.”

“Your face is clearly full of worries?”

“It’s not something Your Highness needs to concern yourself with.”

“I suppose it’s the Duke’s temperament to embrace worries and suffer alone?”

Jürgen sipped his tea and subtly avoided his gaze. Dealing with Leopold had become easy enough through familiarity, but Albert was different, and that was the problem.

Clear hostility could simply be ignored.

Was it because of his experience with the former Crown Prince? He wanted to keep a proper distance from Albert if possible.

But Albert didn’t seem to think that way.

“To be honest, I’d like you to feel more comfortable around me, Duke.”

“I apologize if you felt I was uncomfortable with Your Highness.”

“That’s not what I meant. Of course, I am meeting the Duke as the Crown Prince, but I’d like to say that it would be nice if we could remain good friends beyond our titles. Especially considering that my brother tried to torment you in various ways. I feel like I need to repay Leo’s debt.”

“There’s no need for that. Isn’t it all in the past already?”

“Still, what Leo did at the end must have been hard for you to forget.”

Facing Jürgen, who couldn’t bring himself to answer, Albert gave a bitter smile and continued.

“When there was no justification for me to intervene between the two of you, I couldn’t do it, but I always wanted to apologize on behalf of my brother. Now that I’ve ascended to the position of Crown Prince, it’s become something I should rightfully do.”

“It’s something I’ve never even kept in mind. So please consider it as if it never happened, Your Highness.”