‘…….’

What in the world was happening to her?

Ophelia, stiff as a wooden plank, hesitated helplessly.

She discreetly attempted to climb down from the camel, only for the man to lift her with both hands and stop her.

“I told you it’s dangerous to keep moving around.”

‘I’m doomed.’

Ophelia instantly grasped the reality of her situation.

She had thought that being dragged around without the ability to resist would end with her father. But it seemed that this tall, handsome kidnapper was next.

Swaying atop the camel, Ophelia stared blankly across the desert.

‘What should I do?’

She forced her confused mind to work, but no useful solution emerged.

After all, she had never once succeeded in resisting anyone throughout her life.

In the end, her thoughts drifted toward resignation and surrender.

‘But would anything truly change……?’

Although being abruptly cast into an unfamiliar place was bewildering, Ophelia was accustomed to having her life controlled by others.

Whether she was imprisoned by her father or kidnapped by a stranger, she had never been able to live according to her own wishes.

‘What could I possibly hope for now……?’

She had imagined the worst, but with her heart set to stop beating within a year, there was nothing left to fear.

She had tried to kill herself, only to wake up in the middle of a desert.

Now, she was being taken away by fierce-looking men who seemed capable of tearing someone apart at any moment.

She no longer had the energy to investigate or understand what was happening.

It felt as though damp sandbags were hanging from her arms and legs. Her entire body felt like waterlogged cotton.

‘Everything is so tiresome……’

If she didn’t do something, she would eventually die of natural causes.

Every time she tried to take her own life, things went horribly wrong, as if the world itself were mocking her.

Ophelia abandoned the idea of escaping.

She was tired of struggling to survive. If it hadn’t been for her kidnapper, she would have ended her life peacefully on the warm sand where she had first awoken.

‘Hmm……’

Seated atop the camel, Ophelia swayed blankly for a long while. Overcome by apathy, she decided to entrust what little remained of her life to her listless instincts.

‘I don’t care. If it bothers him, he can do whatever he wants.’

Her backside had been aching from sitting on the hard saddle for a while.

Ophelia positioned the saddle under her stomach, then draped herself across the camel’s back, her body hanging down on either side like a piece of laundry. Only then did she feel slightly more comfortable.

Although the pressure against her stomach was uncomfortable, and the camel’s every step shook her entire body, it was not enough to stop her from sleeping.

***

She was an unusual woman.

They had been marching aimlessly through the desert for quite some time.

The snow-white woman he had found in the sand initially seemed bewildered by their unexpected companionship. However, after Kapkan thwarted her escape attempts several times, she lost all her strength and slumped across the camel’s back like limp dough.

She was completely unmotivated.

“……You’ll fall if you lean like that.”

She wasn’t laundry draped over a washing line — what on earth was that posture?

Kapkan wore a complicated expression as he observed the most unusual riding position he had ever seen.

Even worse, at regular intervals while they travelled, she would gradually slide forward or backward. Each time, Kapkan had to catch her before she fell and help her back into an upright position on the camel.

Even after he had seated her properly, she would soon return to lying facedown.

“I told you, you’re going to fall.”

“Then let me down.”

“No.”

His repeated warnings had no effect.

The snow-white woman merely glared at him sullenly before going limp again.

When she began to doze off peacefully, Kapkan, still in disbelief, shook her awake.

She faced him with an expression containing faint drowsiness and irritation, but no trace of wariness.

His stubbornness aroused once more, Kapkan propped her up and asked her a question.

“Are you…… not curious why I kidnapped you?”

“Why would I be?”

“I would have answered if you asked.”

“Hmm. I’m not particularly interested.”

Her sharp gaze seemed to question whether he had woken her from her peaceful slumber just for that.

Seeing that she was not the least bit interested, Kapkan suppressed a hollow laugh. This was not the reaction one would expect from someone who had been kidnapped in the middle of the desert.

“Hey.”

“…….”

“Hello?”

“…….”

“Don’t tell me you’ve actually fallen asleep.”

“…….”

As she went limp once more, like an empty waterskin, Kapkan stared at her, wondering what kind of creature he had encountered.

“You do realize you’re being kidnapped right now?”

In fact, he was closer to rescuing her than kidnapping her. Even so, her reaction left him dumbfounded.

“Why are you so calm?”

Kapkan waved the camel’s reins sarcastically in front of Ophelia’s eyes.

She could clearly hear him, yet after their previous exchange, she was deliberately ignoring everything he said.

“Ha.”

Speechless, he let out an incredulous laugh.

It was the first time anyone had completely ignored him. Strangely, however, instead of anger, another emotion slowly rose from deep within his chest.

Why did he want to provoke her?

Taking the woman with him in the first place was out of character.

“Hmm……”

Kapkan pondered the matter for some time before breaking into a broad grin. His face took on the expression of a mischievous boy preparing to do something wicked.

‘Her startled expression was rather appealing.’

Why did he feel the urge to see that expressionless face crumble again?

He thought the impulse was ridiculous, yet a sense of childish mischief stirred within him. He wanted to see those empty eyes filled with bewilderment.

Perhaps it was simply the sudden coolness he had encountered amid the suffocating heat that had captivated him.

Before he could make a rational decision, his body moved first.

“Hon Kapkan. That is my name.”

Stepping closer to Ophelia, he leaned in and whispered slowly and deeply as though revealing a momentous secret.

Only the king’s consort was permitted to call him by his given name.

Yet he wanted this woman, who knew nothing of that custom, to do so without hesitation.

How would she react when she eventually learned its meaning?

Tickled by his whisper, the woman’s eyelids trembled faintly.

He did not miss her response.

“I would prefer it if you called me Hon.”

***

“Are you awake?”

Ophelia opened her eyes to the crackling of a campfire.

Violet eyes reflecting the flames were looking down at her where she lay.

Recognizing their owner, Ophelia furrowed her brow in open distaste.

After enduring his excessive attention since noon, her opinion of the man had long since reached rock bottom.

“You seem to sleep a great deal.”

Kapkan brushed aside the white hair clinging to her cheek.

His thick, straight fingers swept across Ophelia’s pale skin.

With a sandstorm churning in the night sky behind him, Kapkan smiled faintly.

“It must have been noisy, but you slept so soundly that you never woke.”

Kapkan nodded towards the warriors’ completed tents.

They had finished setting up their shelters near Ophelia and were preparing the camp.

Although a sandstorm was churning in the distance and occasionally sending gusts their way, everyone appeared accustomed to it and paid little attention.

Grains of sand were scattered on the wind, sweeping through the dark night. The rushing breeze mingled with the crackling of the campfire, creating the desert’s distinctive stillness.

“How is it? Are you warm?”

Kapkan patted the blanket draped over Ophelia and grinned.

A blanket in relatively good condition had been laid across her body.