Even as he ordered tea to be made in a corner of Ariadne’s drawing room, Kieron couldn’t stop thinking about it.

It was a sudden impulse. A passing whim.

If it hadn’t been, there would have been no reason for him to find time in his busy schedule just to sit here.

Ariadne was perfectly healthy. She had no health issues at all. In fact, her complexion was good.

So why?

Why was he taking time out of his day for her?

‘If it isn’t a whim, then there’s no explanation.’

It was the most fitting answer.

Kieron let out a small sigh and looked towards the charmingly decorated drawing room.

“Your Grace, if you’re busy, you can leave.”

She looked uncomfortable, as if she had no idea what he was agonizing over. She kept watching him, repeatedly asking if he was really planning to have tea.

If not, why had she stayed in Ariadne’s room all this time?

Kieron extended a hand towards her as she stood awkwardly by the door.

“I thought I said it was fine.”

“Mm… If you say so, that’s good to hear…”

His wife was terrible at hiding her emotions.

As he escorted her towards the table, Kieron found himself thinking about that again.

Ariadne was the kind of woman whose every thought flickered plainly across her face. She never pretended — and even when she tried, she was found out immediately.

How had someone like her become a duchess?

A woman who, in society, must never be underestimated, someone who claimed she wanted to be the kind of capable duchess who could persuade the Council of Elders?

For the first time since their marriage, Kieron truly looked at her, studying her face closely.

Ariadne belonged in a greenhouse. If she stepped outside for even a moment, she looked as though the sun would scorch her. If she simply stayed in the mansion doing whatever she pleased, everything would be fine.

So why was that so difficult for her?

Why did she insist on going out every day and moving around restlessly, as though she didn’t know how to be still?

She wanted a break — just one day. Yet Ariadne always found something to do.

Even though she never worked on internal estate matters, she was still the duchess. That alone was enough.

As Kieron helped her into her seat before taking his own, he thought she was a truly puzzling woman.

Didn’t most people long for simply sitting still and accepting what others prepared for them?

Nearly three years into their marriage, Kieron found himself wondering about his wife for the very first time.

At the same time, Ariadne had also started to harbor doubts about Kieron’s increasingly strange behavior.

What was he planning?

Was he trying to set the mood before they visited the Marquis’s estate? Or was he doing this to prevent her from embarrassing herself once they arrived?

But Kieron had never cared about the opinions of anyone outside the Council of Elders. If he were the type to worry about such things, he would have introduced her to society a long time ago.

People endlessly gossiped about the duchess who had never once stepped outside the mansion since her wedding day. If any of that had mattered to Kieron, he would have acted on it long ago.

He lived only to raise the standing of the ducal house and reclaim what the Council had taken from him.

Nothing else. Truly nothing.

And yet, suddenly, this same man had come to check on her, summoned a physician to confirm her good health, and carved out time he didn’t have to share tea with her.

Receiving interest and affection from someone who had never shown it before made Ariadne feel deeply unsettled and extremely uncomfortable.

Why?

For what reason?

Could a person really change this much without a hidden motive?

The two of them sat across from each other, each lost in their own thoughts. In theory, tea time was supposed to be a light and comfortable moment, an easy exchange of small talk. But this wasn’t tea time at all.

It felt more like they were simply passing the time.

They remained silent for a long while.

Even the nearby maids exchanged uneasy glances.

How much time passed like that?

Surprisingly, Kieron himself was the first to notice their complete silence.

At some point, he blinked and looked up to find that Ariadne was just as absorbed in her own thoughts.

From the moment they had sat down until now, not a single word had been spoken.

Was this what Herald meant when he said that tea time wasn’t just for drinking tea?

Kieron suddenly remembered Herald’s endless lectures about his disastrous first tea time with Ariadne.

Every tea time he had ever experienced had a purpose.

To judge someone’s intentions.

To discuss politics.

Business.

Family matters.

There was always a reason to sit down with someone.

But what Ariadne had asked for back then was something he had never experienced in his life: a cup of tea with absolutely no purpose.

Not even Lorelei, who constantly summoned him to the palace, had ever done that.

Lorelei was greedy; every meeting with her came with demands. Always.

The only time he had ever experienced afternoon tea without any hidden motive was with Ariadne. And he had ruined it. Completely.

Realizing this again left his mind blank.

What was he supposed to say now?

What was he supposed to do?

Why was he the one worrying about this anyway?

He let out a slow, frustrated breath and glanced at Ariadne, who was still lost in thought.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

In the end, he was the one who broke the silence.

Ariadne finally lifted her head at the sound of his voice and responded to his question.

“Ah… I’m sorry. I must have zoned out.”

“Your mind seems troubled.”

“Mm… I suppose that’s true? A lot has happened recently, after all.”

She gave an awkward smile and lifted her teacup.

It looked as though she was trying to hide her embarrassment, but Kieron chose not to point it out.

“Are you talking about meeting your family recently?”

Instead, he brought up the only event concerning her that he was certain of. Well, there had also been the matter of the letter envelope being attacked… but there was no need to mention that.

At his words, Ariadne froze mid-sip, her eyes widening.

“How did you know?”

“What? That you met your family?”

She seemed far more surprised than he expected. Of course—she had no idea that he had followed her. But outwardly, Kieron maintained a perfectly calm expression, as though he knew nothing.

“I didn’t realize it was a secret.”

Was there some reason I’m not supposed to know?

When he asked, Ariadne quickly waved her hands.

“It’s not that… I just never mentioned it to you.”

“That doesn’t mean I can only find out if you tell me yourself.”

There were plenty of excuses he could give to explain how he learned about it without revealing he had followed her. But there was no reason to tell her the truth.

He glanced at her startled face, then lifted his teacup.

“There’s no need to be so surprised. You weren’t planning to keep it hidden forever, were you?”

She hadn’t intended to keep it a secret for life, after all.

At his words, Ariadne’s expression shifted in a strange way. Then she murmured under her breath, as if she couldn’t believe it.

“I didn’t know Your Grace could say something like that.”

“‘Something like that’?”

She looked at him as though she had just heard something she absolutely wasn’t supposed to hear. What part of what I said was so shocking?

Kieron frowned, thinking it over.

“You weren’t joking just now?”

Ariadne had said something utterly absurd.

A joke?

From all people—Kieron Ambrose?

He waved a hand sharply, irritation tightening his brow.

“…A joke? From me?”

“If not, then never mind. It just sounded like that, so I asked.”

She glanced at him quickly and cautiously, then lifted her teacup again and brought it to her lips.

Once more, silence fell.

A long, heavy stillness settled between them.

Just moments ago, it hadn’t been this awkward.

Ariadne watched Kieron over the rim of her cup, her thoughts turning inward.

She still had no idea why he had arranged this meeting so suddenly.

She hadn’t yet shaken off the memory of their last tea time, and the emotions she had felt then remained tangled inside her.

There was no way this tea time could go smoothly.

At least, that’s what she believed.

But Kieron spoke first, and surprisingly, the conversation went well — so well, in fact, that she found herself wondering why they had never tried this before. Yet the moment a small joke passed between them, he fell silent again.

Now, the only sounds were the soft sips of tea and the faint crumble of the biscuit he had picked up.

Was he planning to let the time pass like this again?

With that thought, Ariadne exhaled gently into her teacup, then set it down.

“Are you not busy today?”

“Has there ever been a day when I wasn’t busy?”

Kieron answered, tossing the last biscuit into his mouth.

Ariadne, who had expected such a reply, reached out and picked up a cookie of her own.

Right. It would be strange if he weren’t busy.

So today would probably end the same way, with them simply wasting time.

Or so she thought, until—

“But I thought today was the only day I could do this.”

“You were the one who said you wanted to.”

He said something she never imagined she would hear from him — words that she could not have dreamed of, even in her sleep.

The moment his calm voice reached her, Ariade’s fingers slipped.

The biscuit she was holding fell from her hand with a soft thud.