“Madam!”

“…..”

“Madam! Are you alright?”

Cindy waved her palm up and down widely in front of Belladonna’s blank expression.

Even so, Belladonna slowly blinked her eyes and couldn’t easily come to her senses.

“Madam! What’s wrong? What in the world are you thinking about?”

Cindy put her hands on her hips and tilted her head.

Today, ever since returning from going out with the lord, she had been in that state the whole time.

Even when she returned on horseback, when she was brought to her room and bathed in a warm tub, when her hair was dried, and when dinner was prepared in her room.

“…..”

“Madam, shall I leave now? Call me anytime if you need anything, alright?”

Belladonna nodded with a still unfocused face.

Cindy kept looking back at her, but eventually closed the door and went out into the hallway.

Left alone, Belladonna finally seemed to come to her senses and thrashed about, burying her face in the bed.

Ahhhh…!

She couldn’t believe it at all.

Belladonna lifted her face for a moment and carefully brushed her red lips with her fingers.

His agitated breathing and his rough lips that felt even urgent…

As her thoughts naturally connected to just before, Belladonna began to flail about again, blushing.

‘No way! To have kissed him!’

It was purely because she got caught up in the mood.

The close distance between their gazes. The hot heat emanating from his body, contrasting with the cold air. The gaze looking down with intense longing…

All of that…

‘…I don’t know! I don’t know!’

Belladonna hugged a pillow and let out a silent scream.

Moreover, soon it would be night, and Escalion would surely enter her room as usual.

To have to sleep together with him in this state?

She would surely end up staying awake all night.

Click.

As if cutting off her imagination, the sound of the doorknob turning was heard.

Belladonna quickly stopped what she was doing and sat up, pretending to be calm.

The one who opened the door and entered was Escalion, who seemed to have just finished bathing, giving off a moist feeling.

“…..”

As he entered the room, he paused for a moment and made eye contact with her.

They stared at each other with somewhat subdued expressions, without saying a word.

Ah, it’s awkward…!

Eventually, Escalion dimmed the lights and approached the bed with his characteristic playful and sly smile.

“I thought you’d be sprawled out, but you look surprisingly fine?”

He carefully pulled back the covers and got in next to Belladonna.

Shifting his large body to get comfortable, he raised his arm and pulled Belladonna into his embrace.

The same expression as usual, the same tone as usual, the same posture as usual.

Belladonna blinked her eyes in his arms, feeling an inexplicable confusion.

“You might catch a cold from being out in the cold for so long. You haven’t forgotten that means you’d be forbidden from going out, right?”

What? But you’re the one who took me to the lakeside!

Belladonna looked up at him with eyes full of protest.

He chuckled lowly, then gently stroked the back of her head.

“Go to sleep so you don’t get sick. Wolf said he’d teach you more starting tomorrow. He seems displeased that I took his wife away without saying anything.”

“…..”

“I have to go out early tomorrow morning. There’s an overflow of merchant groups hoping to trade through Griblata’s port. I’ve arranged to meet with them.”

Escalion, telling her about tomorrow’s schedule as if out of habit, was truly no different from usual.

It seemed that only she was overly concerned and confused by the kiss from earlier.

And that fact was enough to make Belladonna feel upset.

‘Is it because he’s the world’s greatest playboy, so that level of kiss is nothing to him?’

But it was my first real kiss…

Belladonna pouted her lips, feeling wronged.

Escalion, having finished speaking, seemed to have fallen asleep without any worries.

His chest moving up and down rhythmically came into view.

‘It seems I was the only one who cared, how ridiculous…’

Belladonna closed her eyes with a small sigh.

The feeling that wouldn’t easily subside was very confusing and dizzying.

Then, a familiar and rhythmic sound reached her ears.

Thump, thump, thump.

At first, the sound was so faint it was barely noticeable, but once she recognized it, it sounded loud enough to strongly ring in her ears.

‘This sound is…?’

Belladonna lifted her head to look at him.

Though he seemed calm with his eyes closed, his ears were flushed red enough to be visible even in the darkness.

“…..”

Belladonna unknowingly lifted the corners of her mouth.

Even if he wasn’t as concerned as her, she felt satisfied by the fact that he was at least reflecting a little on their kiss.

She smiled and burrowed deeper into his embrace.

She felt Escalion flinch. The rhythmic sound of his heartbeat settled even more loudly in her ears.

The next morning, Belladonna, waking up alone in the large bed, slowly sat up.

As he had told her yesterday, Escalion seemed to have left at dawn to meet with the merchant groups hoping to trade with Griblata.

Blinking her eyes for a moment, Belladonna reached out and opened the drawer of the bedside table.

And from inside, she took out an envelope containing a letter from Astanya.

“…..”

A letter sent by the Pope.

With a slightly nervous feeling, Belladonna opened the envelope and took out the letter.

I wonder if you’re doing well in Griblata. This old father’s premature worries only grow day by day.

I’m also curious if you’re keeping the promise you made with this father before getting married. Make sure to serve your husband and live while constantly respecting him.

By the time this letter arrives, it will have been about a month since you got married and left Astanya.

I miss you a lot today.

If you have time, please write back. Thinking of the day when we’ll see each other again someday.

Pope Pronance Briel.]

At the very bottom of the letter, the Pope’s seal was stamped.

She read the contents of the letter again from beginning to end, giving a hollow laugh.

Among the sentences disguised as a letter from an ordinary and sincere father to his beloved daughter, she couldn’t help but understand what those things that caught her eye meant.

‘I suppose he’s telling me not to forget about the divorce in three months.’

Belladonna let out a small sigh and leaned her head back against the headboard.

The Pope was always thinking of calling her back to his side.

Even now, having come far away from Astanya, he was constantly reviving that intention, even going so far as to send this letter.

The light and pleasant feeling she had when she first opened her eyes in the morning now felt trapped in a stuffy and narrow box.

Belladonna silently looked down at the place where Escalion had been lying all night.

“…..”

Now, there was just over two months left of her married life with him.

And that fact was gradually tightening painfully around Belladonna’s chest.

‘Where does this inexplicable impatience come from?’

At first, she thought it was just the feeling of not wanting to return to the Pope’s side.

The feeling of not wanting to maintain silence again, to be stuck in the confessional as people’s emotional trash can.

The feeling of not wanting to be in situations where she had to raise the corners of her mouth and smile beautifully, even for things she didn’t understand.

But now…

She didn’t have the courage to face Escalion’s disappointed gaze.

‘He said he doesn’t forgive those who betray him.’

Would he be able to forgive a wife who tried to backstab him in cahoots with the Pope?

Belladonna slowly shook her head.

Probably not.

Distorting her expression, Belladonna bit her lower lip.

She clenched her fist holding the letter, crumpling it badly.

More than the terribly crumpled letter, she felt her heart was being even more terribly crumpled.

“…Thus, this is a list of materials that need repair this year.”

Wolf held out a thick report.

Belladonna received it with an awkward smile.

“The reception room windows aren’t that old, but considering the increasing number of guests in the future, I think it’s better to replace them completely. The rest were written based on the opinions of the staff.”

The reception room windows, the handrails of the stairs leading to the fourth floor, the chandelier in the empty room on the third floor, even the old furnace in the kitchen…

There seemed to be more places that needed attention than expected.

Belladonna carefully examined the list and began to think if there were any places she thought needed repair.

Seeing so many places that needed fixing, it seems the castle is older than I thought…

“Ah, and regarding the timber you confirmed last time, payment has been completed through the carpenter we’ve been dealing with. The timber delivery will take place slowly over two months.”

Belladonna nodded.

Wolf opened the timber-related ledger he had shown before once again.

“I’ve attached the receipt down here, and after you read it, if there’s no problem, you can sign around here.”

Belladonna picked up the pen without thinking.

As she was about to sign where Wolf was pointing and turn her eyes to another ledger, something caught her attention at the top of the same page.

‘…What’s this? Something seems different?’

“If you’re done, I’ll take…”

Wolf reached out his hand, but Belladonna slightly pulled back the ledger she was holding.

She wanted to check once more.

Wolf nodded without much suspicion and turned to start looking through other documents.

Belladonna began to carefully examine the ledger Wolf had opened again.

Narrowing her eyes and reading the numbers in the ledger, Belladonna was able to figure out quite easily what had changed.

“…..”

It’s gone.

The place where a certain amount of timber heading to Scarlet Leyton’s address was written had been cleanly erased as if nothing had been there from the beginning.

What’s this? Why has that woman’s address disappeared?

Belladonna unknowingly furrowed her brows and looked down at the ledger Wolf was holding.

“Madam? What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with the ledger?”

Wolf across from her asked with a puzzled face.

Belladonna quickly smoothed out her furrowed face and smiled as usual, shaking her head.

Signing where Wolf had pointed, she fell into deep thought.

‘They wouldn’t have stopped sending timber overnight… Did Escalion realize that I know about that woman’s existence?’

And so, did he order Wolf to erase all records related to Scarlet?

Belladonna furrowed her brow.

Perhaps Hazel had told him everything that happened at that time.