After finishing my long bath and stepping out of the tub, I found that the clothes the servants had brought fit my taste quite well. They weren’t excessively frilly with lace, nor were they uncomfortably tight and constricting.

‘Whose are these? They look like new clothes that haven’t been worn.’

Could they be clothes Thadeus had prepared while thinking of his fiancée? My mood, which had improved after the bath, suddenly turned unpleasant.

I didn’t understand why I felt this way. Maybe I felt uncomfortable wearing someone else’s clothes. But in this situation, I couldn’t exactly put my water-soaked dress back on.

“I’m not in a position to be picky about clothes.”

I let out a hollow laugh at my childish sulking. I struggled to move my drooping body, changed into the clothes, and then followed the servants’ guidance somewhere.

The place had a comfortable-looking rocking chair and a cozy fireplace. The flames crackling and leaping looked truly warm. Thadeus sat leaning back in the chair right in front, wearing a drowsy expression. His hair was still damp, seemingly fresh from a bath.

For some reason, I suddenly wanted to disturb Thadeus’s peaceful rest. I held my breath and crept forward stealthily to surprise him, but just as I’d almost reached him, a low voice rang out.

“Sit there.”

How boring. Would it kill him to at least pretend to be surprised? I pouted and sat in the chair next to him, and he suddenly held out a glass.

“Lukewarm black tea with two spoonfuls of honey. Right?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

That was exactly how I’d been enjoying my black tea lately. Adding two spoonfuls of honey made the aftertaste sweet, perfectly suited to my palate. When I looked at him with surprised eyes, Thadeus replied indifferently.

“Know what?”

“That I like drinking lukewarm black tea with honey. How did you know?”

For a moment, Thadeus’s eyes wavered. But he wiped away his expression like it had never happened and casually tossed out his words.

“Doesn’t everyone drink it like that these days?”

“Everyone drinks it like that? I don’t know anyone who does.”

“…People around me do.”

“Who around you?”

I asked without thinking, then belatedly realized my mistake. I felt like I’d pried into something too personal. He had no obligation to explain whose preference it was to me.

It was interesting that someone had the exact same taste, but it wasn’t completely unusual either, and I thought maybe there really were people with similar tastes, just like he said.

“Forget what I just asked. I misspoke.”

I took a sip of the black tea he’d given me, and sure enough, it was exactly the taste I knew. The appropriately lukewarm temperature, the sweetness that gently wrapped around my tongue, and the fragrant tea aroma filling my mouth were perfect.

I’d been feeling chilly and my head had felt heavy since earlier, but drinking the tea made me feel better immediately.

“This is the taste.”

“I really don’t understand what you find tasty about that.”

I rolled my eyes at Thadeus’s expression of complete incomprehension. I became a bit curious whether he always nitpicked like this with that person who had similar taste to mine.

“You just don’t know yet, but do you have any idea how good it feels to eat something sweet? This is the only pleasure in my life.”

Thadeus let out a hollow laugh like he found it absurd. As warmth circulated through my body, I began to notice my surroundings.

The villa’s interior felt somewhat different from Thadeus’s bleak room. How should I put it? 

It was decorated cutely in a way that didn’t suit him. Gift boxes with wrapping barely torn off, and even a toy train decorated near the fireplace.

I tilted my head at the objects that only children would play with. The Thadeus I knew would probably throw them away as cumbersome rather than cherish childhood memories.

Then I discovered a familiar-looking wooden sword hanging among the decorations on the wall. 

If it had been a common design, I would’ve thought I’d just seen it somewhere by chance, but the unusually scattered flower petals carved into the blade felt familiar.

“Huh…?”

I was about to examine the handle too when Thadeus, who’d been sitting in his chair, hurriedly stood up. Then he flew over like a swift leopard and blocked the wooden sword with his body.

“Move aside for a second.”

“Why?”

“This wooden sword seems familiar somehow, so I want to look at it more closely.”

“You can see it from there.”

For someone saying that, he was using his whole body to guard it so I couldn’t even see the sword’s shadow.

“I need you to move so I can see.”

“You can see it fine from this position.”

What kind of game was this? I frowned and glared at Thadeus, but his face was noticeably stiff and rigid. It was truly strange.

“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“Like what?”

“Why are you doing something you never do?”

“I’ve been sitting in the chair too long, so my blood isn’t circulating.”

What nonsense. When I glared at him with an expression suggesting he’d taken some drug that made his head go strange, Thadeus tried to remove the wooden sword he’d been blocking with his body.

“Just leave it. It looks nice there.”

“I’m going to throw it away.”

“Suddenly?”

“Because I can’t stand looking at it anymore.”

What on earth was this object that made him react so strangely? All sorts of speculations floated through my head.

‘Could it be something he received from someone he likes? Judging by how short the wooden sword looks, it seems like he got it when he was younger.’

The image of a devoted person who liked someone for a long time didn’t suit Thadeus. Plus, when we were young, I met with him quite often, so I knew clearly who he was close to. As far as I remembered, there were no girls our age besides me.

‘Girls followed him around, but Thadeus didn’t even acknowledge them.’

When I looked at him with suspicious eyes, Thadeus’s complexion darkened. He tried to remove the wooden sword somehow, and I blocked him from doing so. 

I thought about what kind of behavior this was, but on the other hand, it felt like an opportunity had come to repay all the grievances I’d suffered.

“Did a girl you liked give it to you? Is that why you’ve been keeping it so preciously?”

“It’s not mine.”

“This is a villa you manage, so how is it not yours?”

Thadeus clenched his teeth tightly, seemingly at a loss for words. I continued speaking excitedly, teasing him.

“Why are you so flustered? Looking at the object, it seems like you received it when you were quite young… Seeing that you still have it, you must not have forgotten your love, huh?”

A strange pleasure rose up as the situation reversed from my usual position of always being on the receiving end. This wasn’t an opportunity that came every day. I had to take advantage of this moment to tease him endlessly.

“Who is it? Just tell me secretly. I’ll pretend not to know for the rest of my life.”

My lips curved higher and higher at his appearance, unable to respond. It couldn’t be that he was embarrassed, could it? 

When I stared intently at his face, determined to tease him, it was filled with red heat.

Wavering black eyes and red cheeks that held a deeper color than his violet hair. His expression was like an innocent boy who knew nothing of the world, and I found myself thinking he was cute without realizing it.

‘Am I crazy? How can I think Thadeus of all people is cute?’

Then Thadeus lifted me up and laid me on the table. It happened so quickly that I couldn’t resist.

He pressed down on my body like a beast about to begin hunting in earnest. Though his face was flushed red, his firmly set lips and coldly sunken gaze frightened me for a moment.

“Why did you suddenly become so fearless? Do you know what I might do to you here?”

I could hear servants walking in the corridor. If strange sounds leaked out from here, they’d notice immediately. They probably wouldn’t come inside unless called, but I couldn’t avoid them whispering among themselves.

“Wh-what are you going to do?”

“I’m thinking about checking what I mentioned before.”

“What I mentioned before… which thing?”

“Don’t you remember? We agreed to check together how much bigger your n*pples would get if I sucked on them like a dog all day.”

He was definitely crazy. To do such a thing here where many people passed by when he had nothing better to do. And that wasn’t all. I could vividly picture myself panting helplessly after being tormented in all sorts of ways.

“Are you insane? Not here!”

“Why not?”

“Everyone will notice! What we’re doing here.”

“Is that a problem? Maybe you’ll discover a new pleasure.”

I tried pushing Thadeus and kicking him, but the difference in strength was considerable. Of course it was—how could I beat a knight who’d been training daily for years?

While I struggled underneath, Thadeus’s long fingers crept up toward my chest. A languid smile hung on his lips. As he rubbed my br*ast in circles then squeezed it, I spoke through clenched teeth.

“Don’t. I’ll scream.”

“Screaming won’t help. This is my mansion.”

His fingers found the sensitive peak. When he rubbed that spot with his thumb and index finger, my n*pple began to rise gently. Even though I tried to hold back, faint moans leaked through my teeth.

“Ngh…!”

This wicked beast bit my nape and swept his tongue over the tender flesh. It was a sensation that was both ticklish and somehow gave me goosebumps. Just as unwanted heated arousal was about to boil up, I heard Thadeus’s stiff voice.

“You… why is your body so hot?”

Thadeus stopped what he was doing and checked my forehead with his hand. The temperature that touched me was quite cool. My head felt heavy and spinning, and my voice sounded muffled. It seemed I’d developed a fever without realizing it.

“If you’re not feeling well, you should say something. Why are you stupidly enduring it?”

I felt wronged by the scolding that followed. How was I supposed to know my condition was bad? Plus, who was the one tormenting a sick person until just now?

“I didn’t know either.”

“Wait here. I’ll call the physician right away.”

I tried to say there was no need, but he left the room before I could stop him. I could hear him exchanging words outside, so he seemed to be giving orders to the servants.

‘I could just go home and rest well.’

As I waited for Thadeus, who didn’t return, drowsiness rolled in like dark clouds in that brief moment. My head spun and throbbed, so I closed my eyes for just a moment and ended up falling asleep.