When they arrived at the castle, Diana’s room was dark.

Raoul purposely headed towards the bedroom terrace instead of the main entrance located in the main building of the mansion.

It was not a sin for the two of them to spend time together, but Diana’s silk dress drenched in rain bothered him.

They could not show this appearance to others.

The sound of the hinges swaying in the wind was loud. Raoul closed the door while holding Diana in one arm. Diana whined in her sleep, perhaps because it was noisy.

“Mmm… Raoul…”

He smiled slightly and waited for Diana to wake up.

Diana smacked her lips a few times and pulled Raoul’s neck close in her sleep.

Naturally drawn in, he lowered his head, and a faint breath-like word escaped from between her lips.

“Don’t go…”

“I’m here.”

Raoul watched Diana’s face and gently stroked her brow.

‘What kind of dream is she having?’

Diana, who had been quiet, finally woke up thrashing. Raoul turned Diana around in his arms and patted her back.

Diana, who was clinging to him like a cicada on an old tree, took a deep breath without even knowing the situation she was in.

“It’s okay. Breathe.”

“…Heuk…heuk…!”

Diana, who kept dry heaving as if her lungs were filled with water, gasped for a long time and then went limp.

Raoul supported Diana’s bottom with his arm and tapped her back.

“Are you a bit calmer now?”

Startled by the low voice ringing in her ears, Diana jumped out of his arms.

“Eek! I’m sorry! How long have we been like this?”

“Not long since we arrived. I couldn’t lay you down in wet clothes.”

“Oh… I can’t live. Wake me up…”

“You were sleeping so soundly. If I had known it was a nightmare, I would have woken you up sooner.”

“No. My sleeping habits are just so dark…”

Separated from Raoul’s body, Diana felt a chill. Upon closer look, Raoul was also drenched like a wet rat.

“You were like this? Hurry and go wash up. You’ll catch a cold.”

“Okay.”

Diana naturally pushed Raoul towards the terrace.

“I’ll have them prepare hot bath water. Don’t think about coming quickly and sit in there long enough. Understand?”

“I understand.”

He hesitated on whether to hold her hand touching his back, but soon gave up.

‘Not now.’

Even while taking a half-bath, his thoughts were only of Diana.

In one corner of his mind, a black-hearted wolf spouted shameless words.

‘If Diana asks you to wait, you’ll wait for her. Because she’s deeply compassionate and frail. Lycanthropes originally stop at nothing to claim their bride. Throw away your conscience and touch her weak spots. If you plead while crying, she’ll eventually have a change of heart.’

On the other side, jeering voices were also heard.

‘After staying silent all this time, now that your safe return is uncertain, you’re going to confess? There’s no trash like it. Just go out and die.’

Raoul poured water over his hot forehead, covering his eyes with the back of his hand.

How did things get so messed up? If it were up to his heart, he wanted to wrap Diana tightly in a blanket and jump over the castle walls right away.

Even if his whole body was covered in cursed markings, if he could be with Diana, he wanted to choose that path.

‘But for whose sake are you doing such a thing? For me? Or for Diana?’

He could not make Diana a vagabond overnight who only knew love.

He would become the best choice Diana could make. And then confess.

He had never considered any other path.

Raoul took a deep sigh that seemed to sink into the ground and stood up.

The answer was already decided anyway.

‘Rather than hurting Diana’s heart further, it’s better for me to become the bad guy.’

He roughly wrapped his body in a towel and looked for a change of clothes.

A navy tunic with vine-shaped embroidery along the neckline was placed at the very top of the drawer.

It was a gift Diana had personally embroidered to celebrate his coming-of-age ceremony.

‘I don’t want to be hated by Diana, but I also don’t want to foster misunderstandings any longer.’

He left the room with a detached face. He was used to enduring and waiting. He hoped that at least for tonight, neither of them would hold back.

“Won’t you be cold?”

“Put this on.”

Diana, who got cold easily, shivered even in late spring.

As she brushed her arms, Raoul wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

“Thank you…”

The window seat was now too narrow for both of them to sit. Raoul naturally spread a blanket on the floor and lit dry firewood in the fireplace.

‘Raoul must be hot…’

As expected, sweat trickled down Raoul’s temples as he stoked the embers with a poker.

Burning firewood in spring was a considerate gesture for Diana.

“You don’t have to light a fire. I can just cover up with the blanket. Even though you get hot easily…”

“I can sit far away. Go and pick out a book you want to read.”

Diana held a kerosene lamp and illuminated the dim library.

‘What book should I read?’

Then, a novel she had enjoyed reading long ago caught her eye.

‘It shouldn’t be here. I must have put it together with the atlas.’

She tried to put it back in its place, but she was too short.

‘Where’s the ladder?’

As she looked around, she felt a presence behind her back.

“I’ll help you.”

Diana turned her head over her shoulder, still with her arms outstretched.

Raoul’s firm chest was close.

‘Oh my, you startled me.’

Diana’s gaze moved from his collarbone to his neck and face.

A face so handsome that any woman would fall in love at first sight was right in front of her.

Diana froze, trapped between Raoul and the bookshelf.

“Can’t find the book you’re looking for?”

When the lantern held in his left hand faintly illuminated the space between them, the atmosphere somehow felt strange.

Diana ignored her pounding heart and escaped from Raoul’s embrace.

She had to walk sideways like a crab, which looked ridiculous, but if she endured any longer, she felt like she would charge straight at his lips.

‘What’s wrong with me? Get a grip…! In a few days, this one-sided love will end, are you going to ruin everything?’

She plopped down on the blanket, clutching the romance novel she had intended to put back.

“What did you pick?”

Raoul took a seat next to Diana, who was lying on her stomach. The way he looked down at her with his arm resting looked just like a statue.

“Oh, I just grabbed whatever my hand touched.”

A faint soap scent wafted from Raoul’s body. Before being enchanted by that pure fragrance, she quickly turned her head away.

Recently, Diana was on the verge of losing her reason to Raoul’s affectionate offensive.

It was the same during the day. ‘Shall we do that?’ What kind of nonsense was that?

Even though both of them had zero dating experience, it was commonsensically impossible for friends to share such an embarrassingly intimate embrace.

No matter how much of a forever-alone, Diana had to be suspicious.

Could it be that he likes me?

Glancing sideways, she saw Raoul’s blue eyes.

If their eyes met for more than 3 seconds, her heart would ache strangely as if zapped.

It felt as if their gazes were connected by an electric wire.

“Want to read together?”

Their bodies were pressed close together. The muscles touching her arm were firm.

‘When did he grow up so much?’

Diana’s heart pounded.

She couldn’t even focus on the book’s contents. Her dark pupils trembled like pine nuts.

“Turn the page for me.”

Raoul pulled the book over and placed it between them.

She wanted to push Raoul down just like that. Diana handed the book to Raoul and flipped the blanket over herself.

“Y-you read it alone.”

She resented Raoul for crossing the line since daytime.

Wrapping her body tightly like a cocoon, Raoul let out a light laugh.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve already read it all… You read it by yourself.”

“But you brought it to read, didn’t you?”

“I’m good.”

After a moment of silence, Raoul suddenly began to recite the book.

“The duke’s firm arms wrapped around her waist. You are truly beautiful. I cannot understand why you like a man like me.”

“…”

“Then, the woman replied. Because you are the only person who treated me, a sold woman, as a human being. When everyone else ignored me, only you…”

“Please stop…!”

Unable to bear the humiliation, Diana covered his mischievous lips with both palms.

Raoul obediently took a surrender pose, pinned beneath her small body.

In his left hand, which fell beside his head, was the opened hardcover book.

“If you’re going to play around, give it to me!”

Diana reached out to snatch the book. It would be nice if he easily handed it over, but Raoul was being particularly playful today.

Every time her fingertips were about to touch the book, his hand retreated. The harder she tried to snatch it, the more ridiculous she looked.

“This isn’t funny…! Give it to me now!”

At her angry cry, Raoul finally put the book down.

Diana happily hit Raoul’s chest once and lowered her gaze. Then she was startled and her breath caught.

When did we get into this position?

Straddling Raoul’s body, Diana froze stiff.

His body was just like a huge boulder on the beach. Hot and hard.

Diana was so startled she felt like hiccuping.

‘I must be crazy…’

She tried to get off quickly, but this time the situation was reversed.

Raoul, who had turned Diana’s body halfway and trapped her under his arm, whispered in her ear.

“The lines aren’t finished yet.”

“Huh…?”

Raoul pressed his forehead against hers and recited the lines from the novel. Their nostrils touched and their breaths intertwined.

“When everyone else ignored me, only you treated me kindly. You are beautiful.”

“…”

“What do you think the next line is?”

Raoul’s long, thick fingers intertwined with Diana’s.

Everywhere they touched was hot. It felt like her brain would melt just like that.