“Lavender. The villages around here make their living producing fragrance.”

“Fragrance?”

Lysiana showed interest, and Thear answered at once.

“I’ll send word to have some brought for you soon.”

Thear’s thoughtfulness, offering that much from just a passing moment of curiosity, brought a flush to Lysiana’s cheeks.

“Did I used to like perfume?”

“…….”

The guileless question made Thear’s expression stiffen slightly. Just before Lysiana could catch the subtle shift in his face.

“I’m not sure.”

Thear gave a vague, evasive answer.

“You didn’t turn away from the fragrances already on hand, but you never went out of your way to seek new ones.”

“Hmm. So I wasn’t particularly fond of perfume, then.”

“You didn’t indulge in luxuries to begin with.”

“But there were so many ornate accessories.”

“Those…….”

Thear parted his lips as though about to say something, then looked away from Lysiana for the first time.

“I chose them all myself and gave them to you as gifts.”

He seemed to have more to say, but in the end he didn’t. Lysiana didn’t press him either.

She had no desire to bring up her own condition and make her husband feel uncomfortable, and besides, she was happy to have found yet another piece of evidence that he had cared for her. For now, she only wanted to sit with that warmth.

‘Then next time, let me choose with you.’

“Whenever you like.”

Lysiana made a small promise of next time and turned her gaze back to the scenery outside the window.

They had been riding for half a day straight. The clock had long since passed noon, and the midday sun was bright enough that they had to draw the curtains over the window.

Just then the road narrowed and the carriage began to rock more sharply. Lysiana pressed her hand over her mouth, frowning at a faint wave of nausea.

“Is your stomach unsettled?”

Thear held a water flask to her lips and asked with concern.

“A little.”

Lysiana managed a small nod and breathed in deeply, trying to settle the queasiness.

Thear watched her for a moment, then moved to sit beside her.

“Just a moment…….”

She looked at her husband reaching toward her and quietly closed her eyes. But even after some time had passed, no kiss came.

“……?”

Puzzled, she opened her eyes a crack, and found Thear pressing firmly at the back of her neck with a serious expression.

“What are you…… doing?”

“Pressing here helps with motion sickness. And here too.”

Press, press. Thear worked steadily at the area around the back of her neck and her wrists with both hands.

Embarrassed at having gotten her hopes up for nothing, Lysiana kept her expression neutral and bowed her head, accepting his touch.

The breeze drifting in through the open window carried Thear’s scent with it. It was fresh, a blend of grass and wood, with the cozy warmth of fabric dried in the sun.

The unsettled feeling in her stomach settled almost at once, and Lysiana’s body tilted toward him. She brought her face close, nearly burying her nose in his black shirt.

“You smell nice.”

“…….”

“Do you wear perfume? Or is it soap?”

“…….”

Lysiana sniffed at his shoulder with the focused curiosity of a cat. She was so absorbed in it that she didn’t even notice his hands had gone still.

Every time she drew in a breath through her nose, Thear’s body gave a small jolt. The back of his neck had gone red and was radiating heat, and the more it did, the stronger his scent grew, drawing Lysiana’s curiosity further.

“……Thear?”

When Lysiana finally noticed something was off and looked up, Thear, his face flushed all the way to the corners of his eyes, pressed his lips to hers.

“Hmng……!”

Lysiana resisted lightly at the sudden kiss, but only for a moment. She quickly gave in to the familiar feeling.

In the meantime, Thear’s hands grew steadily more intent.

The hand that had been pressing the back of her neck to ease the nausea drifted lower and traced along her waist, and the hand that had held her arm traveled upward and stroked her shoulder.

“Mmm.”

Lysiana was making small sounds and dutifully accepting her husband’s kisses when her body was suddenly lifted.

Thear had settled her onto his lap. Without her noticing when, the buttons of her blouse underneath were already undone.

One wrong move and they were going to end up doing something in the carriage. The moment she realized she had grown far too accustomed to what he did to her, a jolt of alarm ran through her.

“W, wait.”

Lysiana grabbed Thear’s wrist in a fluster. He froze like a statue and looked up at her with heat still in his eyes.

“What’s the matter?”

“Th, there are knights outside the carriage.”

“Yes.”

“And the window is open…….”

“Shall I close it?”

Thear asked without missing a beat.

He even reached out as though he genuinely intended to close the window and carry on, and Lysiana stopped her husband once more.

“That’s not what I mean……!”

“……?”

“I, I’m embarrassed.”

In the end she confessed honestly, her face burning red.

“……Understood.”

Thear nodded without argument, pressed a brief kiss to her lips, and began tidying her clothes.

Unspent desire still lingered in his eyes as he fastened her blouse, but at least he didn’t seem to have any intention of holding her in the carriage.

“I’m sorry for flustering you.”

He pressed his lips to her cheek once more.

She gave a small shiver at the ticklish sensation and realized Thear still had her sitting on his lap. He caught her questioning look and smiled with a hint of mischief.

“I’m not letting you down from here.”

With that, he pulled her waist firmly against him as though to make his point. The distance between them narrowed, and his breath settled near her neck.

He even went so far as to rest his chin on her shoulder outright and make himself comfortable.

Lysiana looked down at Thear’s shameless behavior and quietly took hold of his hair. Running her fingers through his dry hair, she felt rather like she was tending to a puppy.

“……Pfft…….”

Calling this large, well-built man a puppy.

The thought amused even herself, and she let out a small laugh. Thear looked up at her face with a puzzled expression.

“You’re acting just like a puppy.”

“I am…… you say?”

Thear looked like a man who had just heard the strangest thing in the world.

Lysiana gave him a brief kiss the way he always did to her, and said with obvious delight.

“Yes. Actually, I had a big retriever when I was little. He was being raised as a hunting dog, but he had such a sweet temperament…….”

Lysiana trailed off and went rigid. Thear straightened up with wide eyes as well.

“Lysiana, just now…….”

“……Oh…….”

Lysiana clapped a hand over her mouth without thinking.

Clear as a dream from the night before, a memory from her childhood surfaced. It was from when she was not yet ten years old.

The dog stood taller than Lysiana when it rose on its hind legs, and it had short golden fur. She used to go out to the back garden and brush its coat, and every time she did, it would wag its tail furiously.

‘……A memory…….’

Without her even realizing it, a memory from her childhood had come back. Just a small fragment, but it was something.

“My memory is coming back!”

She broke into a bright smile and threw herself against Thear.

“……It would seem so.”

Thear answered a beat late and wrapped his arms around her in return.

His response had a faintly hollow quality that nagged at her just a little, but she told herself he was simply surprised. Lysiana dismissed his reaction on her own and rubbed her cheek against his chest.

‘I’ll be able to remember everything soon.’

The day she first met Thear, the day they married, their wedding night, and all the happy days that followed.

She would remember it all soon. Wrapped in that hope, she searched her mind once more.

She had hoped something else might surface, but unfortunately nothing more came. Still, she wasn’t discouraged.

Other memories would come back just as naturally as this one had today.

‘When they do, I’ll confess to Thear.’

She would tell him she loved him again, with every memory of him fully restored. She made the quiet promise to herself, and Thear patted her back in silence.

The day was still bright, and the carriage rolled on without stopping.

* * *

The scenery passing outside had begun to look much the same.

Whether from boredom or the lingering motion sickness, Lysiana dozed on and off throughout the day.

Thanks to that, Thear was still sitting beside her, lending her his shoulder. They still had two more days before reaching the estate in the capital.

‘Is there a village nearby where we could stop and rest?’

Thear rubbed his heavy eyelids and searched his mental map.

‘That won’t do.’

There was a village nearby, but it wasn’t a suitable place for Lysiana to stay.

Instead, if they passed through that village, they could connect to a larger, well-maintained road, even if it meant a slight detour.

‘She was struggling with the motion sickness……’

Would taking that road ease her symptoms? He had just finished working through the calculation and was about to order a route change from outside the carriage when.