Whitney’s face reddened at the sound of her heartbeat pounding in her ears. The crackling of burning wood and the splashing of waves filled the air.

The sky quickly darkened, and there was no light around except for the bonfire. An endless expanse of sea and a deserted white sandy beach. But strangely, it wasn’t scary or lonely.

Whether it was because of the body heat felt on her back, or the sound of his breathing in her ear, or the rhythmic beating of his heart, she couldn’t tell, but this moment wasn’t so bad.

Thanks to Cheston’s embrace, she was no longer cold. Staring blankly at the burning firewood, she felt strange. The warm temperature made her body languid, and her eyes slowly closed.

“I’m sorry about earlier… I had something to check.”

“I should get a promise from you not to do anything reckless again.”

“Hmm… I can’t promise that.”

Because she didn’t know what the queen might do next. Whitney thought she would do reckless things without hesitation if it meant saving Cheston.

She thought the first reason she came back was for Cheston. So unless it was after saving him, she couldn’t promise anything.

Glancing up at Cheston, he looked at her with an expression of incomprehension. Whitney turned her head and blinked slowly, smiling awkwardly.

“Instead, I’ll be careful. So that something like today doesn’t happen again.”

“…You need to value yourself a little more.”

“Isn’t it fine if I’m being put to good use?”

If it’s to save someone, isn’t that being put to good use?

Whitney at least didn’t think she was wasting her life. It might look different from his perspective, not knowing anything, but she didn’t mind since she didn’t see it that way herself.

Now that she had returned, she was using her purpose better than anyone. Starting with correcting what was wrong, she would also receive all the compensation she hadn’t received in her previous life.

“But is it okay for us to stay like this?”

“It would be nice if other people found us, but that’s not really the case.”

“…Pardon?”

“But unlike me, there will be many looking for you, so we should go now. There might be people watching too.”

The warm embrace that had been holding her disappeared. Then the cold from the sea breeze became noticeable.

‘His Highness has a warm body.’

His body temperature was so high that it felt like melting, and as soon as he moved away from her, she immediately felt cold.

He got up from his seat leisurely. With that, Whitney’s gaze naturally turned towards him.

His bare upper body was revealed in the firelight. Broad shoulders and taut muscles, well-balanced abdominal muscles, and next to them… large diagonal scars lined up.

One, two, no, there were countless small scars all over his body. Whitney’s admiration quickly turned into a sigh.

‘How many…’

She almost reached out to touch his scars. Whitney grabbed her own hand with the other and sighed.

His body held the entirety of the life he had lived. It must have been a miserable and desperate life beyond imagination. She wished no more scars would appear on his body.

What must he have thought each time one of those scars was added?

“I didn’t expect you to look at my body so openly.”

“Ah…! I’m sorry.”

She came to her senses and covered her eyes, turning her head away. He buttoned up his shirt without any sign of being flustered. As the rustling sound came to an end, a low voice penetrated her ears.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

A large jacket was draped over her body. Then her body was lifted from the ground and once again filled with warmth.

“It’s just to prevent you from catching a cold, so don’t look at me like that.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Isn’t it about time you stopped apologizing?”

Whitney lowered her head and avoided his eyes flashing with blue light.

“What on earth happened? Do you know how difficult it was to be left behind?”

“As you can see, it was chaotic.”

Cheston sat on the sofa, drying his wet hair with a towel. When he was with her, it felt like accidents happened several times a day.

Moreover, she was an unpredictable woman who didn’t hesitate to act in unexpected ways. It was like that when she first approached him, and it was still impossible to figure her out even now.

“Her Majesty the Queen called for Lady Elenia. However, due to His Majesty the King going to see the Queen, today’s meeting did not take place.”

“…They’re quite diligent, aren’t they? They’re alike as a couple, it would be good if they got along well, why between them.”

“To be honest, wasn’t it the Queen who interfered?”

“You know that’s not important.”

Aaron nodded. Then, as if suddenly curious, he scratched his chin and asked.

“But Your Highness, why did you go to the cave? It’s summer, but you weren’t playing in the water, were you? Do you know how surprised I was when you came back soaking wet? Were you perhaps driven to the beach by assassins?”

“Assassins would have been better.”

“…Pardon?”

Cheston furrowed his brow, remembering Whitney who had fallen into the water. He was angry at the sight of her peacefully closing her eyes and letting her body be carried by the waves in the blue sea. It wasn’t that she didn’t mind risking her life to protect him, but she looked so serene that it seemed like she had no will to live in the first place.

Thinking he had to save her, he breathed into her, and the moment he met her green eyes, he felt relieved. What was contained in her eyes wasn’t resignation. It was the certainty that she wouldn’t die.

She had recalled the story he had told her.

Ha.

Cheston kept finding himself laughing. He felt strange, as if he was being swept along by her actions. Yet, it didn’t feel bad.

Cheston gently brushed his lips with his finger.

The sensation of kissing her, even underwater, was vivid.

“But Your Highness, why are your ears red? Do you have a fever?”

At Aaron’s words, Cheston removed his hand from his lips and lay back on the sofa. He almost wanted to say it was indeed a fever.

“I must be sick.”

“Don’t say such things! I’ll bring some cold medicine.”

He jumped up and immediately left the room. Cheston closed his eyes and listened to the now quiet sounds in the room.

A faint breathing sound reached his ears. His head throbbed with the image of Whitney that kept circling in his mind. The more he tried to forget, the clearer it became.

Whitney, having safely returned to her room, soaked her body in warm water. Her wet hair had become dry and frizzy, and her body felt sticky from the salty sea breeze clinging to it. Whitney took a deep breath in the bathtub sprinkled with fragrant oil.

The maid had tidied her hair but didn’t ask about anything else. When she said she had slipped while walking on the beach, the maid just nodded.

‘The story will probably reach Her Majesty the Queen.’

She hadn’t mentioned anything about the cliff or the cave, so they probably wouldn’t notice. Even though it was summer, the night sea was cold. Whether it was because her body was shaking from the wind or because she had come back from the brink of death, she wasn’t sure, but her body was quite exhausted.

Thanks to the flower petals and fragrant oil floating in the bathtub, her fatigue was relieved, but in truth, she was full of the desire to quickly go to bed and lie down.

The faintly wafting fragrant oil was exactly the same as the scent she vaguely sensed from Cheston. Whitney splashed the water with her hand and closed her eyes, recalling him.

Vivid blue eyes, disheveled hair, and languidly drooping eyelids. A sharp nose bridge and straight eyebrows. In contrast to his calm expression, his body was full of traces of struggles to escape death.

The shock of seeing it directly was different from what she had guessed. There were faded scars, and there seemed to be wounds that hadn’t fully healed yet.

‘I wonder if he’s alright.’

Whitney submerged herself fully in the water. The waves had guided her to the shore, but if it hadn’t been for Cheston, she might have been found unconscious.

Perhaps by now, he was cursing her. A woman who acts recklessly without thinking. Isn’t he thinking that she just throws herself into dangerous situations without a care?

It was an action taken to find a way to protect him, but Cheston’s thoughts seemed different. If something like this happens again, he might suggest terminating the contract.

Whitney wiggled her feet in the water. Come to think of it, she had never properly learned to swim. She hadn’t had much occasion to be close to water, and hadn’t thought it was important.

I should probably learn to swim at least.

She needs to know how to protect her own life so that Cheston won’t be troubled. Whitney recalled her body being violently shaken by the current in the water and suddenly opened her eyes.

‘I think I… breathed underwater.’

She clearly remembered losing consciousness for a moment because she couldn’t breathe. At some point, she suddenly could breathe, and her consciousness returned. The blue eyes that had entered her blurry vision must have been Cheston’s.

How did I manage to breathe?

Whitney blinked, trying to recall the situation before she lost consciousness, but she couldn’t remember anything. The soft touch on her lips, the firm hands that held her waist and neck tightly, and the relieved blue eyes.

Her hand caressed her lips. With a reddened face, she hurriedly lowered her head and didn’t know what to do with the pounding sound of her heart.

‘…He kissed me.’

If her memory was correct, the reason she was able to breathe underwater was undoubtedly because of the breath Cheston had shared with her.