The next morning, Thear stepped outside the moment the sun rose.

Insignificant backwater though it was, it remained his territory, so he thought he might as well inspect it while he was here.

‘No major problems, it seems.’

It was much the same as the Neils he remembered. Ordinary and quiet, dull but peaceful.

‘She’s probably up by now.’

He pulled out his pocket watch to check the time and was about to quicken his pace when.

“How about some flowers for your date?”

Someone stepped into Thear’s path.

A boy who looked a little past ten years old stood looking up at him, a brown hat pulled low over his head.

“What?”

“Flowers.”

“Flowers, what about them.”

“Oh, come on.”

The boy furrowed his brow as though he found this exasperating.

“Sir. You’re all dressed up and heading out on a date, aren’t you? If you give flowers to the lady you’re seeing, she’ll love it. I just brought these today, so they’re fresh.”

Just brought them today.

Thear glanced at the bouquet the boy held out.

Just as the boy said, the flowers inside the haphazard bundle looked very fresh. But that was about all that could be said for them.

The pale yellow petals were quite pretty, but these were not expensive flowers like tulips or roses.

The wrapping was downright sloppy on top of that. Crinkled brown paper, damp and limp, barely doing the job.

He followed the direction the boy had come from with his eyes and spotted a girl a few years younger than the boy leaning against a wall.

‘I can’t very well give something like this to my lady.’

Even as that thought crossed his mind, Thear found his hand already digging through his pocket for a few coins.

“Keep the change.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And next time, put a little more effort into the wrapping.”

He said it flatly, flicked the brim of the boy’s hat with his fingertip, and walked on.

‘I’ve already bought it.’

Rather than handing it over as a bouquet, he thought it would look decent enough if he arranged it in a vase and set it in the room.

More than anything, yellow suited Lysiana.

Thear turned over in his mind why he thought yellow suited Lysiana, and soon recalled that the nightgown she had been wearing was yellow.

‘…To lean on, she said.’

He settled into the carriage and plucked out the smallest, most stray flower from the tangled mass of blooms.

“…If these are memories that may never return.”

‘Is there really any need to go out of one’s way to recover them?’

By Lysiana’s own account, she had not lost the knowledge she needed to get through daily life.

And she had never been in contact with her family to begin with, nor had she been the type to enjoy socializing, such as meeting friends often.

So even with some memories gone, she would not feel any immediate, significant inconvenience.

‘They said the memories might come back naturally on their own anyway.’

In the meantime, he was the only one she had to lean on.

‘Then what do you think of me?’

Without her memories, Lysiana did not fear Thear. She did not press her lips shut and look away.

‘Perhaps.’

If he treated her well while her memories were gone.

And if, in doing so, he could build even a small degree of connection between them.

Then perhaps, even after her memories returned, she would not come to dislike Thear again.

He didn’t need Lysiana to like him. He just wanted her to at least stop avoiding him and going silent.

To share tea and conversation from time to time, to clink wine glasses over dinner….

‘I’m not even asking for the bedroom.’

Even in an arranged marriage, he wanted to maintain a good relationship, the way any ordinary couple would.

He glanced down at his hand and found the flower stem he had been fidgeting with crushed and oozing a sticky sap.

‘For now, I’ll just watch and wait.’

It was perhaps a somewhat selfish decision.

But this might be his first and last chance.

Thear was a man who knew how to weigh conscience and guilt against what stood to be gained, and he was equally good at producing a reasonable justification to match.

‘I’m not letting it go. I’m waiting, because there’s no other way.’

And so he finished rationalizing the decision in an instant.

The carriage had already arrived at the villa.

He was crossing the small, modest garden, unremarkable compared to the main estate, when he happened to look up.

His eyes met Lysiana’s, who had been drifting back and forth by the window.

She smiled, her eyes curving brightly, and waved at him.

‘Right. Because there’s no other way.’

Lysiana pointed at him with her finger. Then she tapped her own chest lightly.

That. Is it for me?

Thear adjusted his grip on the bouquet. He nodded, one beat slow, and Lysiana’s smile bloomed even brighter.

The moment he met her smile. Thear realized his justification had far too many holes in it.

‘I wouldn’t mind if things stayed this way forever.’

Thear found himself hoping Lysiana would never recover her memories. Because only then would she keep smiling at him like this.

* * *

Lysiana went looking for Thear the moment she woke up.

“His Lordship has stepped out on an errand.”

Where on earth had he gone? And this early in the morning, no less.

‘He said he would spend time with me.’

Had it been nothing more than an empty promise, something to say to quiet her tears?

Lysiana trembled with anxiety.

Right now, she didn’t even know the names or faces of her own family. If she were cast out in this state, she would surely find herself in serious trouble.

Her husband was the only person she had to depend on, and that husband of hers wore almost no expression.

His manner toward her was gentle and impeccably courteous, but his voice was dry and his face was stiff.

So she couldn’t be sure.

And then there was the attitude of the servants. Their attitude was the biggest problem of all.

Before Thear arrived, they had kept up the pretense of basic courtesy toward Lysiana while quietly treating her with disrespect.

Feeling utterly disregarded, she came to understand it.

‘I was not a mistress who commanded respect.’

On top of that, they would steal glances at her and murmur things just within earshot.

‘No wonder, the way she’s cold as a stone. They haven’t shared a bed once since the wedding night. And now things have come to this…. He might take a mistress.’

Even without her memories, the meaning of those words was not hard to grasp.

‘Was the marriage not a good one either?’

Lysiana had no choice but to fight her anxiety and endure the servants’ quiet contempt in silence.

And then, the moment Thear arrived, those same people flipped their attitude entirely.

They even began to fawn over Lysiana once they saw that Thear was attentive to her condition.

Reading the situation in reverse, it meant that the moment Thear cast her aside, her standing would fall below that of the maids.

So Lysiana had no choice but to cling to Thear with everything she had.

And yet the very person she needed to cling to had slipped out alone without a word.

She paced by the window like a puppy waiting for its owner, watching for Thear. How long had she been waiting?

‘He’s back.’

The front gate opened and a carriage rolled in. Thear stepped out shortly after.

He had a bouquet in his hand.

‘That….’

A flutter of excitement bloomed inside Lysiana, wide open like a wildflower.

Thear was crossing the garden in long, easy strides when he suddenly looked up. His gaze went directly to where she stood.

Their eyes met.

Lysiana smiled and waved at him. Then she pointed at what he held in his hand.

That. Is it for me?

Her husband answered with a nod.

‘What a relief.’

Lysiana felt a weight lift from her chest.

Some might wonder what was so wonderful about a mere bouquet, but to Lysiana, everything Thear gave her was precious.

It meant her husband still held her in favor.

And the thoughtfulness of thinking of her even during a brief outing. A man like that had surely given her his affection generously in ordinary times as well.

‘Stop bringing up that word. I will never have cause to put it in my mouth for as long as I live.’

Though her memories were gone, Lysiana resolved to do her best not to make him feel any sense of unease.

That way, her husband would not grow tired of her, and would go on protecting her for a long time to come.

If it came to it, she was even willing to share his bed.

‘That gossip was probably all lies.’

Her husband thought well of her.

He seemed reserved because his expressions were few, but his actions toward her were remarkably warm, so she was certain of it.

The heavy sound of footsteps in the corridor stirred Lysiana into motion. She hurried to open the door, bright with anticipation like a child.

“Welcome back.”

“Yes.”

Before Lysiana could even step out into the corridor, Thear came striding over and stood before her.

‘Oh, goodness.’

Lysiana looked up at her husband, who had appeared before her in an instant.

“How are you feeling?”

“It seems a bit better.”

“I’m glad. Still, it would be best to keep taking care.”

Thear steered Lysiana back inside the room.

She returned obediently to sit on the bed and stole a glance at the bouquet in Thear’s hand.

“Flowers.”

“A couple of children were going around selling them, so I bought some. The wrapping is a bit rough.”

Thear shrugged and held them out with a slightly awkward air.

“I like them.”

She received the clumsy-looking bouquet her husband offered with both hands, holding it carefully.

The petals, wavy like the rim of a teacup, had opened fully, and the leaves were fresh without a single blemish.

Even the clumsily tied ribbon had a charm of its own when she looked at it.

She especially liked how it looked like someone had gone out into a field and gathered an armful of blooming flowers.

Lysiana examined the bouquet to her heart’s content, turning it over and looking at it from every angle. All the while, Thear stood quietly by the bed and watched what she was doing.

When Lysiana finally noticed his gaze, she found herself looking at Thear’s smile.

Had she not been looking closely. Had they not been standing this near.

It was a smile so small and faint she never would have caught it otherwise.

‘Ah.’

At last, Lysiana washed away the last of the anxiety that had settled inside her.

‘This person….’

Cares for me.