He truly wasn’t hungry. How could he be when all his attention was focused elsewhere? And what if some deranged eel, all polished and shined up, approached Carlie while he was away getting food?

“Mmm. Alright.”

Carlie stood up to get her own plate. Raham immediately rose and followed her. She walked with her husband trailing behind her like a cape. People around them exchanged knowing glances. Carlie giggled and drew attention to the plate Raham was holding as decoration.

“Eat this. It’ll be delicious.”

“Yes……”

“Look at what you’re taking, Raham.”

Raham followed Carlie around without even knowing what he was picking up with the tongs, and eventually returned to his seat. His plate was piled high with salad that the mischievous Carlie had served him. While Raham diligently provided Carlie with napkins and drinks, he had no idea what he himself was putting in his mouth.

The guests watching the couple at the seat of honor were storing yet another episode of Sir Raham Desit’s reception hall behavior in their minds.

Raham’s awareness only returned when he began dancing with Carlie in the hall. Having been preoccupied with worrying about someone snatching this beautiful woman, he suddenly found himself face to face with his wife, holding hands on the dance floor.

And he was startled. How had he been thinking about anything else while looking at this face? His beautiful wife looked up at him with a mischievous smile. Slightly curved eye corners. Sparkling eyes through narrowed lids. The crooked smile and affection within them.

Ding—

As the dance music began to play, Raham instinctively lowered his head and stole a kiss from Carlie’s lips. This caused them to miss the first step of the dance.

Daran, daran— dan, dararan—

As everyone in the hall moved in one direction, pushing into their space, Raham wrapped one arm around Carlie and moved to an empty space.

Unexpectedly, Carlie responded enthusiastically to the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. Raham moved with his arm around her waist, practically carrying her. His steps inevitably differed from the surrounding couples following the music, but he skillfully found empty spaces and blended into the overall dance line.

He moved his steps half-unconsciously while exploring his wife’s lips.

Dararan. Daran, daran, dararan……

The band’s performance was sweet, and the sensation of their touching lips and flowing breath was sweeter than chocolate. Carlie’s laughter transmitted through their connected skin.

By the time they had circled half the hall, Raham had returned Carlie’s rose-scented lower lip to its original color. When they completed the full circle, her upper lip had also returned to its natural shade.

Carlie burst into joyful laughter, having had all the rouge she had carefully applied for the party stolen by her husband. Conversely, Raham smiled sheepishly with color smeared around his mouth.

—Dadan!

When one song ended and it was time to find the next partner, none of the handsome men he had been wary of approached. Raham didn’t even notice this fact and was simply happy looking at Carlie.

Carlie reached out a hand to fix her disheveled hair.

“What are you going to do, husband? Your hair is all undone.”

“It’s beautiful.”

The next song began. Raham took the first step and reached out to remove the pin in Carlie’s hair. Her already half-loosened hair came completely undone, and the long, intricately braided tresses cascaded down her exposed back. Raham felt intoxicated by the dizzying floral scent emanating from her.

Carlie skillfully led Raham. He followed her movements, recalling the few times he had done this before. Eventually, she surrendered the lead and leaned into his embrace. Raham blushed and held her in his arms, spinning her around. Her long hair fluttered like a spring breeze within his embrace.

When the song ended, thunderous applause erupted. Carlie, nestled in Raham’s arms in time with the music, grinned. Unable to bear the moment, he kissed her lips again. Carlie burst into laughter and wrapped her arms around his neck. Raham carried her back to their seats.

Once seated, Sir Raham Desit frantically gestured to Willa for help. Willa, who had been watching them with a white lace fan covering her mouth, jumped up. She ran over, receiving envious glances from her friends.

“What is it, Sir Desit?”

“Carlie…… what she put on her lips…… please give me some.”

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

Willa quickly brought her cosmetics. Raham asked for permission in a perfunctory manner and took her fan as well. He held the fan open in front of Carlie to shield her while she fixed her makeup, and from somewhere came collective sounds of swooning. Raham paid no attention, while Carlie had trouble fixing her makeup because she kept chuckling.

Neither Carlie, Willa, nor anyone else informed Raham that he could have gone to the inner powder room. After fixing her makeup while looking at a hand mirror behind the fan, Carlie lightly kissed Raham’s cheek.

“Thank you, husband. Thank you, Willa.”

Willa reopened the returned fan, covering Carlie’s ear and her own mouth.

“You absolutely cannot leave yet. You must tell us everything before you go.”

“All the stories worth telling have probably already spread.”

“Hearing it directly is different!”

Regardless, Raham eyed Willa’s fan with a covetous gaze. The two whispering behind it looked very enviable and useful to him.

In the end, Willa placed her lace fan in Sir Raham Desit’s hand and returned to her seat.

After handing the lordship to her brother, Carlie had been lazy about social activities. People were not quick to let go of her now that she had appeared after so long.

Her husband-hunting romance and marriage story were now so famous it was almost tiresome to tell, but the story of how such a splendid man remained utterly devoted to his wife was entertaining no matter how many times it was heard. This was especially true since she had rejected a picture-perfect knight fiancé like Sir Pail Ratma before picking up this man.

Since this party had indeed lived up to expectations, the invited guests didn’t leave even after it ended. For the first time in a long while, the guest rooms of the Penia family mansion were completely full.

Even by the day after the party, the bustling mansion saw Carlie fulfilling her social duties that she had neglected for over ten years.

Raham also sat beside his wife for a while, playing the role of a beautiful painting. However, just as conversations were getting interesting, he would turn red and interrupt with comments like “That’s not it,” “Rather than that,” or “Do you really have to talk about such things?” and was eventually expelled from the ladies’ tea time.

After being ejected from the ladies’ gathering, Raham wandered around the mansion, keeping an eye on any handsome men he saw. Gentlemen who wanted to stay longer due to family members still present could only take long detours to avoid him.

When there were no more men to monitor after doing this for so long, Raham brought a long chair to the balcony of their room and lounged about. From here, depending on his position, he could see Carlie sitting among ladies who were laughing merrily with their places set up in the shade of the garden trees.

So Raham spent his time occasionally leaning over to check if Carlie was doing well, listening to birdsong from the garden, drinking tea, and writing replies to Rarien’s letters that arrived without fail every afternoon.

He was wondering how many more days would need to pass before he could go down there and claim “I’d like my wife back now” without causing disapproval…

“Daaaad!”

As a carriage approached along the garden path, a small child ran out from beneath the balcony where Raham was sitting. It was Willa’s twelve-year-old youngest sister. Though she showed more signs of being a young lady than Rarien, she was still at an age where she would make a tearful face at Raham out of fear rather than lose her mind over him.

This girl, who had once been afraid, now ran toward the carriage with a bright smile.

Slam!

The carriage door opened, and a man with a bald head glistening in the sunlight stepped out. The head of the Penia family embraced his youngest daughter, who was running toward his arms, with a face that wanted for nothing in the world.

“Ria!”

The pen dropped from Raham’s hand as he watched the scene. He looked down in alarm. The reply he had been working hard on all afternoon, meant for his children, was now being stained with spreading black ink.

“Nngh……”

He should have picked it up quickly to salvage it, but for some reason, Raham just stared at the ink-stained letter paper.

He turned his head to look again at the Penia family head with his contented smile and the young girl in his arms. Then he shifted his gaze back to the first line of the letter he had been writing.

[To my beloved Rari and Calsi]

“……”

This time, Raham craned his neck to the side to look down at Carlie, who was blooming with laughter in the garden. After groaning and rubbing his forehead against the table for a while, he grabbed his outer garment and went downstairs.

From the light morning tea time to the beautifully prepared lunch, to the lingering dessert time after swimming that continued until sunset—Carlie, with her arms blocked by people linking arms on both sides, was immersed in endless chatter. She turned her head. Her husband was walking toward her.

Despite having unceremoniously kicked him out earlier, everyone welcomed the man with beaming smiles as he approached, his elongated shadow exuding elegance.

“Sir Desit. Welcome.”

Carlie burst into laughter upon noticing his rather dejected expression.

‘Did I leave him alone too long? Though he seemed to be watching from the balcony now and then.’