He was certainly a man far from being a smooth talker, though Diez didn’t seem to mind that at all.

“He’s cute even when dirty, but if he makes a mess in the mansion, many people will have to work hard to clean it up.”

“That wasn’t what I meant.”

“If you knew how much Puppy loves making spaces messy, you’d agree with me.”

As if understanding Diez’s words, Puppy barked energetically. Diez smiled as if she found Puppy adorable beyond words, and stroked his fluffy head as if tousling it.

“I’m glad.”

When he spoke again, Diez raised her head to look up at him.

“I mean, thanks to Puppy, it seems you won’t have time to be bored.”

“Without Puppy, I can’t even imagine how my days would have passed.”

In a word, Puppy was practically responsible for Diez’s daily life. While Jürgen nodded, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

Isn’t that role usually assigned to the fiancé?

“Meeting Puppy might be the greatest fortune in my life.”

Such words are usually directed not at a dog but at one’s fiancé……

Though she certainly didn’t intend it that way, Jürgen felt too embarrassed to respond and lowered his gaze. The energetic dog was looking up at him with innocent eyes from near his feet.

He had been away from the mansion frequently these days. Partly due to business at the company, but also because as Albert had newly ascended to the position of Crown Prince and begun preparations to inherit the crown, Jürgen too had less and less time for personal matters.

But in the moment when his eyes met his fiancée’s while taking a brief respite from his busy schedule, such reasons felt as insignificant as flimsy excuses.

Before him stood someone far more important than the official duties he had to perform as Duke. He didn’t want to lose Diez even if he had to throw everything else away. Never again.

“Diez.”

At his call, Diez responded by meeting his gaze.

“Let’s leave Puppy’s bath to the servants.”

“Ah, I was actually just about to do that……”

“Would you walk with me instead?”

Though he felt endlessly awkward, like a man making a clumsy date proposal, Diez didn’t reject him.

Because now she could say she knew this man, who had once seemed like an unfathomable sea, better than anyone else.

“All right.”

Perhaps that’s why Diez no longer found Jürgen difficult.

She now knew that she wouldn’t drown in the deep sea, and that the sea itself had become a sanctuary only she could enter.

The two walked side by side along a short trail through the forest. The moderately cool weather was perfect for a light stroll through the woods.

Once, the forest stretching behind the Duke’s mansion had seemed distant. Both in terms of actual distance and psychologically. Because she had to spend time not even being allowed to go outside the mansion.

The forest had always been beyond the window, but there were days when she couldn’t even imagine that she would ever stroll through it lightly.

It wasn’t that she had never set foot here before.

‘What on earth was I thinking back then?’

She had run into heavy rain still wearing her dress and had even fainted in front of Jürgen. Having been caught in the downpour with her weakened body, she had to suffer through a terrible cold……

Jürgen not only carried her back to the mansion himself but also ensured she received consistent treatment until she fully recovered.

That wasn’t all.

‘I’m sure Jürgen came to my bedroom when I was sick with fever.’

Perhaps because she wasn’t in her right mind, the memory remained vague and refused to become clear.

She couldn’t remember what conversation they had, but there was one thing she could recall.

The fact that he had wiped her forehead with a cold washcloth.

Even that was just part of a hazy memory, but the gentle touch that cooled her feverish forehead remained clearly etched in her mind.

Was I like an untouchable problem to Jürgen?

Sometimes she wondered with what feelings he had looked at her in the past, but she had never directly asked him about it.

She felt there was no use in being curious about a past that had already gone by.

Now that this curiosity, which she had buried and forgotten until now, had resurfaced, Diez suddenly wanted to change her mind.

Was it because walking with him this time was so peaceful? Or was it because the serene quiet surrounding them unconsciously encouraged her?

“I only learned recently that there was a walking path in the forest.”

“……Is that so.”

“I didn’t have occasion to walk in the forest, but I also believed it myself. That it must certainly be a wild forest with no paths at all.”

“The reason you thought that……”

Jürgen, remembering something, let his words trail off. There was only one incident that could connect Diez and the forest.

His expression suddenly grew heavy. How had he felt when, half out of his mind, he discovered Diez looking for him in the rain while he wandered through the rainy forest holding a hunting rifle?

“I’m sorry about that time. I shouldn’t have done such a pathetic thing.”

“I didn’t bring it up to hear an apology.”

“But in the end, I was the one who made you fall ill.”

When he later came to his senses and carried the unconscious Diez to the safety of the mansion, Jürgen had been trembling slightly. Her weakened body had been as cold as ice.

Fortunately, nothing seriously wrong happened to Diez, but she ended up bedridden with an illness severe enough to require regular medical care.

“When I think about that time, I still feel guilty.”

“It’s all in the past.”

“I can’t easily forget it. Because it’s something I did.”

At least that’s what Jürgen believed. Forgetting the wrongs he had done to Diez would be committing another mistake.

“Actually, there’s something I’ve been curious about for a long time.”

A gentle breeze passed by, stirring the hem of her dress. Jürgen, who had tried to clear his mind, responded to her request.

“Please tell me.”

“About that night when I caught that terrible cold…… I was wondering if you really did visit my bedroom. I’ve always wanted to know if my memory was wrong.”

Jürgen, who seemed to momentarily stiffen, soon regained his composure.

“Your memory isn’t wrong.”

He said.

“I did visit you that night.”

“So it wasn’t just a dream after all.”

Diez appeared somewhat excited.

“If it hadn’t actually happened, I would have been a little upset.”

Just as he was about to ask something, Diez immediately continued.

“Then you really did cool my forehead too?”

The memory of him taking care of her while under the influence of alcohol had settled in Diez’s mind as a small but precious memory. In reality, it was also one of the rare moments of sincerity shown by Jürgen, who had always been cold to Diez.

Thinking that Diez had been holding onto what might be a trivial experience for others so dearly in her heart suddenly made it hard for him to bear.

Jürgen’s steps abruptly halted. By the time a questioning look appeared in her eyes as she looked up at him, Jürgen embraced her with a face full of mixed emotions.

“J-Jürgen!”

“There must have been many things besides me that made life difficult for you.”

Jürgen, who had struggled to contain his surging emotions, whispered.

“I’m sorry that I too made things hard for you. Truly…… I should never have been one to leave wounds in your heart.”

The fact that he had not only failed to pull her out of unhappiness but had actually contributed to it cut into him as an enormous guilt. He had vowed not to do the same things as his father, but in the end, he had been just the same disaster and nightmare to her.

Sometimes he had such thoughts.

Is it really all right for someone like me to take the position of your husband?

“Jürgen.”

“I regret it. Those words I said to you, the wounds I left…… I sincerely regret them.”

It was purely his delusion to think he had been on the right path. Far from protecting Diez, he had only added large and small wounds to her heart that was already full of scars.

Why hadn’t he noticed that fact himself?

It’s shameful, but perhaps the pretext of doing it for Diez was just an excuse. Rather than fearing he might hurt her…… perhaps he was more afraid of discovering his father’s image in the mirror.

Jürgen had been terrified. That’s why he hadn’t even realized he was hurting Diez.

His past self was detestable to the point of self-loathing. It was all the more painful now that he could clearly look back on everything with a clear mind.

He didn’t want to make such mistakes again.