As expected, it was Raoul.

“You were still at the castle?”

“…… I’m staying at the annex until further orders. It’s the dormitory used by the priests, so servants don’t usually come and go.”

“You don’t need to explain in such detail…… Anyway, that’s good.”

Diana sighed softly as she gazed into his wistful eyes.

She hadn’t yet decided whether to turn her back on the world and be with Raoul or to embark on a life-threatening adventure with him.

Perhaps this deep contemplation was evident on her face, as Raoul’s expression was also darker than usual.

He fidgeted with his hand on her shoulder, and when Diana sighed heavily with a gloomy face, he flinched in surprise and took a step back.

“Wha……t?”

Surprised by his sudden formality, Diana’s eyes widened.

Raoul stood stiffly like a soldier and bowed his head towards Diana.

“I apologize.”

“Huh……?”

“I’m sorry. No matter how angry I was, I should have considered your feelings first, but I let my emotions get the better of me and acted selfishly. If Father were alive, it would be justifiable for him to expel me from the pack for such behavior.”

The drooping eyes and slouched shoulders, dejected according to his master’s mood, looked very pitiful.

Diana tried to recall the situation when she ran out of the tower, wondering what mistake Raoul had made that warranted an apology.

Disregarding her for joining the rebels, and then immediately switching stances to advocate for the rebels upon hearing her explanation……

Even she herself thought it was a case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Diana thought it was only natural for Raoul to be angry at her attitude of unconditionally pushing him away.

‘Still…… this was a bit too much, right?’

Diana slowly nodded her head as she stroked the nape of her neck that Raoul had bitten and torn.

“You had every right to be angry. But thank you for apologizing……”

As Diana replied with a smile, Raoul’s face became even more regretful as he mumbled dejectedly.

“…… Just because I’m angry doesn’t mean I should vent my anger…… Especially not at you.”

A desolate light flickered in his blue eyes.

Diana approached Raoul, who was only watching her reaction, and looked up at his face that was raised so high it made her neck ache.

“Would you mind lowering your head……?”

As Diana stretched out her arms under his chin, Raoul bowed his body while still standing at attention.

Before his stiffly bowed head could reach her shoulder, Diana pulled his soft cheeks towards her face.

“I was also too emotional earlier. I was afraid you might make the wrong choice because of me. I was upset that you joined the rebels, but…… I don’t think it was a mistake. It was just a matter of my own feelings.”

As Diana spoke with a composed smile, his blue eyes trembled like an earthquake.

“How is that not a mistake? If I really joined the rebels, you should be free to hate me. You’re so kind to even treat a man who has trampled and defiled your heart with kindness.”

“Really? Then can I hate you from now on?”

“Yes. But since I’m not that kind of man…… I’d appreciate it if you only hate me a little. If I can’t receive your love, I might wither away and die.”

No matter how cute, the added words were a kind of threat.

Diana pressed his smooth cheeks until they were distorted and made his lips puff up like a carp.

“Don’t say such things, even as a joke. Dying……”

“I mean it. But if you dislike this too…… I’ll refrain from saying such things in the future.”

Raoul once again dejectedly lowered his tail.

Diana looked at his meekly downturned eyes, unchanged since childhood, and finally burst into laughter.

After a single ordinary conversation, the events of the morning when they argued breathlessly felt like a thing of the past.

I’m quite a hopeless case too.

Even as she trembled in the strong gusts of wind, Diana couldn’t pull away from his lovely and poignant breath that had come close.

As the cold she had forgotten while lost in thought seeped through her thin negligee, goosebumps rose on her back.

For a moment, Diana thought about how warm his broad embrace would be.

I wish he would hug me……

Did he read her mind?

Raoul slowly opened his mouth as if gauging Diana’s reaction.

“If you allow me…… I want to hug you.”

Diana saw her own reflection in his hesitant eyes.

It was too clear what the woman with a thin and withered face, biting her lips, desired. Diana finally decided to grant the pitiful woman’s wish.

“…… I’ll allow it.”

At the same time, her body was lifted up.

Only the indoor slippers Diana was wearing were left scattered on the wind-swept terrace.

The glass door closed behind her, and Raoul reached back to hastily pull the thin chiffon curtains.

Clang. The sound of metal piercing the silence was heard, and soon Diana’s body touched the wall.

Neither Diana, who was clinging to the old tree like a cicada, nor Raoul, who was holding her, said a word.

They simply stroked each other’s hair and rubbed their flushed cheeks for a long time.

That alone was enough for their hearts to race across the sea.

Raoul laid Diana on the bed and watched over her side, just as he did when she was young.

Just like when he couldn’t take his eyes off her for even a moment, fearing Sebastian would crawl onto the bed.

When Diana reached out her hand, his straight waist naturally bowed. Raoul leaned his body and placed his cheek on Diana’s hand.

As she indulged in his soft and warm cheek and rubbed the end of his sharp jawline, she could feel his pulse pounding.

When Diana silently smiled at him, Raoul held his breath and swallowed hard.

She wanted to tease him a little more, finding his patient appearance cute. It was a comfortable and peaceful sensation she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Come to think of it, Raoul had always been in this position.

He would kneel on the floor and look up at her or bow his waist to meet her eyes.

Even now, he looked up at her while subtly rubbing the tip of his lips against the inside of her wrist.

Like a baby duck that only knows its mother, sometimes like a beast that only knows its master.

Diana curled up her body like a pill bug and brought her face close to Raoul, who was leaning against the bedside.

“Raoul.”

“Yes?”

“Do you like me?”

At the sudden question, Raoul looked a little wronged.

“Do you still doubt my feelings……?”

“A little……”

“There’s no one but you. I love you enough to give you my heart if you wish. I mean it.”

Raoul used somewhat intense expressions to explain his feelings.

And even after that, as if his frustration wasn’t resolved, he added a few examples.

It was a rather absurd statement that he could jump off a cliff for the woman he loved, and come to think of it, that had actually happened.

Diana was well aware that Raoul had always been consistent in protecting and defending her since childhood.

And she also knew that the kindness he bestowed was a bit excessive to be simply affection for a friend……

Even though she knew Raoul had been working hard to prove it through his actions, Diana still harbored an old distrust that had settled like a gloom.

And this feeling stemmed not from the present life, but from the previous one.

“I don’t know why you’ve changed. You used to treat me coldly. You really hated me……”

“Did I……? When? If you’re talking about when you first entered the castle…… I was too young then. I didn’t even know what love was. I just didn’t realize that the feeling of being conscious of you and finding you irritating was love. Looking back now, I think I fell for you at first sight too. I just didn’t realize it.”

“For someone who fell in love at first sight, you hated me so much. Before…… That’s how I felt.”

“That’s really not true. Diana. When are you talking about? I’ve never hated you. I was only curt with you for a brief moment.”

Is that really so? Diana lowered her eyes and muttered uncertainly.

“What if you get tired of me after we become lovers?”

Raoul frowned slightly as if it was absurd and answered.

“…… That will never happen, Diana. We’ve been together for over 7 years. Have I ever shown any sign of getting tired of you?”

“No, but you never know what the future holds…… What if I can’t treat you the way I do now? If I like you too much and become obsessed with you……? Then you might come to hate me.”

Raoul kissed her delicate hand and shook his head firmly.

“…… Why do you worry about such things? There’s no way I could dislike any obsession you have. It’s only natural to want to monopolize someone when you love them. If anything, I should be the one worrying about that. You might faint if you find out about a lycan’s possessiveness…… I mean it.”

Diana asked again as if to confirm.

“Even if I like you a lot…… you really won’t hate me? Even if I express it a lot without pushing you away like I do now……?”

“Of course. I’d rather you do that. Please like me a lot.”

Raoul showered kisses on the inside of her wrist, unable to bear his frustration.

He had a wronged expression as if to say, why are you fanning the flames in the heart of someone who’s holding back?

Diana felt a little reassured by the gaze fixed on her face, which held a persistent and deep love.

The anxiety that had lingered in her heart, despite being given the role of a guide, gradually melted away at his confident words.

Diana had to admit it.

Raoul had changed. It was because Diana had tamed him over a long period of time.

Diana had changed, and as a result, Raoul had changed.

Raoul had changed, and as a result, the original story had changed.

Diana had to accept the reality that she couldn’t abandon her role as a hero and run away.

Diana embraced Raoul, whose eyebrows were twitching as if his patience had run out, and gently stroked his protruding hair.

Raoul, who had trapped Diana under his arm and buried his face in the pillow, mumbled words of love over and over again as if to express his grievances.

His face, raised at an angle, was reddish from the rush of blood.

As she brushed back his disheveled hair, Raoul bit his lower lip and spoke with his eyes.

It was an expression that seemed to want to engrave the words ‘Eternal Love!’ directly on his heart.

Diana tugged at his soft earlobe and smiled a little. Then she pondered for a moment.

Should I reveal to Raoul that Father is the final villain……?