Katharine was immediately moved to the imperial palace and received medical treatment from the court physician.

Until she escaped from the forest, she thought her body had returned to normal, but it seemed to have been an arrogant misconception.

Katharine suffered from severe body aches for several days.

Her body, weakened to the point of resentment, seemed determined to release all the accumulated fatigue at once, burning with intense fever day and night.

After an indeterminate amount of time had passed like that.

“Ah……”

Katharine, awakening with a clearer mind, raised her upper body while clutching her stiff waist.

As if there had never been rain, the sky visible through the window was as clear as if blue paint had been dissolved in it.

“I thought you’d become a corpse, lying there for so long without waking up.”

Startled by the voice that came without warning, Katharine turned to the side in surprise.

Farnes, with dark shadows under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept for several nights, was setting down a tray with a bowl of thin porridge.

“Eat.”

“What? I just woke up……”

“Are you unable to understand what I’m saying?”

“Ah, I understand. I’ll eat.”

Katharine hesitantly picked up the bowl of porridge.

Farnes sat down next to her, his eyes wide open like a wild beast, as if intending to watch until she finished all that porridge.

As Katharine kept glancing at him instead of quickly moving her spoon, Farnes’s brow furrowed with irritation.

“Are you performing a ritual before eating?”

“Ah, no.”

“Then why.”

“Just…… It’s somehow nice that Your Majesty is the first person I see after opening my eyes in a long time.”

I’m sorry for saying such nonsense.

Katharine smiled lightly and took a big spoonful of porridge.

Thinking it was about time he would say, “You’re talking nonsense right after waking up,” she wondered why he was so quiet and looked up.

Farnes was half-covering his face with one hand, his head tilted slightly.

His ear, barely visible through his fallen hair, was red.

“Why are you like that?”

“……It’s nothing, just hurry and eat.”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t properly thanked you yet. Thank you for saving me. If it weren’t for Your Majesty, I might have been in real trouble.”

He didn’t respond.

He just leaned his head against the wall, tilted askew, staring at her.

Katharine recalled once again his strong yet warm embrace that was still vividly imprinted on her skin.

He, who had embraced her with all his might to share even a little warmth in the cold and damp air, was now keeping his distance as if to say such a thing would never happen again.

Being in this awkward atmosphere made the fact that they had spent a night together in a cave feel like an absurd dream.

“You, do you remember what happened then?”

“It’s a bit hazy, but most of it, yes.”

He let out a short laugh as if in disbelief.

Katharine tilted her head, not understanding the meaning of his laughter.

“Are you usually this trusting of people?”

“No. If anything, I think I’m closer to being distrustful. Why suddenly……”

“You didn’t show a single sign of discomfort despite being held all night, unable to move, with just a thin cloak on. Some distrust you have.”

“That’s.”

“What if I had been a terrible man, or if I had lost my mind for a moment and touched you? How can a mature woman be so lacking in caution?”

“But you didn’t.”

Katharine looked at him straight on with eyes shining clearer than ever as she spoke.

“Far from having bad intentions, you stayed up all night tending the fire, and even secretly warmed my hands.”

“……”

“I didn’t need to be cautious because I knew from the start. That the Emperor Farnes I know is a person more gentlemanly and kind than anyone else.”

He looked like he was about to say something with his slightly flushed face, but then quietly closed his mouth.

He remained silent for a while with a face that had lost words, then at some point relaxed and chuckled.

“Fool.”

Katharine dropped the spoon she was holding with a clang and opened her eyes wide.

“Surely you’re not talking to me?”

“Who else is here besides you.”

Farnes took the tray and pulled up the blanket for her.

“Take advantage of my special leniency and pretend to be sick all you want. There won’t be any exceptions next time.”

Katharine stared at him blankly, with only her eyes peeking out from under the blanket.

It was coincidental, but quite amazing.

It was as if he knew she was mentally strained when with Sharen and Rose, and was deliberately guarding the door so she could rest properly.

“……Alright. I’ll try to fall asleep.”

“How unusual for you to be so obedient.”

“In return, could you tell me an interesting story until I fall asleep?”

“What’s this now?”

Your behavior is so pitiful that I indulged you a little, and now you’re taking the Emperor lightly.

Farnes said this with a face so fierce it would make even the gatekeeper of hell cower, but Katharine wasn’t scared at all.

Instead, she even smiled mischievously.

Well, that’s because his voice was overflowing with the usual kind and warm energy.

“I’m not an idle person, you know. I’ll stay for exactly 5 minutes, so fall asleep within that time.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Katharine neatly folded her hands on her stomach and closed her eyes tightly.

The drowsiness that seemed like it wouldn’t come even if called arrived unexpectedly and silently before she knew it. She fell into a deep sleep in less than 5 minutes.

It seemed that emptying a bowl of warm porridge had helped.

Farnes stayed by her side without moving for the time it took for the minute hand to make one full rotation, then quietly left the room.

“Sweet dreams.”

As soon as Farnes stepped out into the corridor, he encountered an unexpected figure.

It was Sharen.

Who knows how long he had been there, but he moved towards the inside as if he had been waiting for Farnes to come out of the room.

Farnes stopped him with a single word as he was about to enter Katharine’s room.

“She’s fallen into a deep sleep, so don’t think about going in.”

“I just want to see her face and leave.”

“That won’t do.”

Farnes slowly crossed his arms and stood diagonally blocking the door, as if daring Sharen to try and pass.

Sharen’s brow furrowed slightly.

“By what authority do you stop me from meeting her?”

“And by what authority are you trying to enter a sleeping woman’s bedroom?”

“You seem to have forgotten that the sleeping woman is my wife’s lady-in-waiting.”

“You seem to be missing the point. Do you think it’s normal for a king to enter a sleeping maid’s room?”

“It seems you’re the one with impure thoughts. I’m merely visiting out of concern for her condition. Please don’t sully the pure friendship between Katharine and me.”

Pure friendship?

Farnes leaned against the door, letting out a light sneer.

“Who was it that put that maid’s body in such a state?”

As Farnes deliberately dragged out his words in a sarcastic tone, Sharen, seemingly possessing at least a shred of conscience, fell silent for a moment.

However, his eyes were brimming with reckless determination, as if he couldn’t bear this any longer.

“I’m asking this just in case, but do you like Katharine?”

“……”

Farnes responded with silence to Sharen’s direct question.

“If you feel even the slightest interest in her, you’d better give up right now. I told you at the hunting grounds. Katharine is not a pure woman.”

“That story again?”

“I truly regret having to say this, but Katharine and I were once in a serious relationship with marriage in mind.”

“I know.”

When Farnes responded nonchalantly, Sharen’s eyes, which had been overflowing with composure for a while, widened in surprise.

“What did you say?”

“I said I know. Wouldn’t an emperor have to step down if he couldn’t even notice something like that?”

Sharen couldn’t understand Farnes’s indifferent reaction, as if he had already expected this.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something. She and I were together for a full 10 years. We spent most of our youth together and shared a passionate love. In short, I claimed all her firsts!”

“Aren’t you ashamed as a man?”

Farnes slowly brushed back his fallen bangs, as if troubled in a different sense.

As he did so, he glanced at Sharen with a look as if he were looking at an irredeemable scoundrel or piece of trash.

“If you dated for 10 years with marriage in mind, it must have been no ordinary feeling. If you loved her that sincerely, shouldn’t you have cherished her to the end? What? You took her first? Do you see her as just a territory to be conquered?”

Sharen silently drew in a breath.

Only then did he realize that he had been somewhat unbecoming for a king of a country, but at this moment, his pride in not wanting to lose to Farnes came first.

Sharen wanted to see a look of helplessness appear on Farnes’s face.

He felt a strong urge to triumph by flaunting that he had already possessed Katharine, whom Farnes could not have.

Having never regretted or felt sorry about anything since birth, Sharen didn’t think his words and actions could lead to misguided consequences in the future.

But why.

Why can’t I say anything?

‘Say something. Sharen Riche. Hurry up and prove to him that you’re right.’

Sharen only moved his mouth, but the various complicated words boiling inside his throat never came out as sound.

On the other hand, Farnes, with a face that seemed to have much to say but chose not to, stepped closer and whispered personally into Sharen’s ear.

“Do you know how your words sound to me?”

“……”

“In the end, it means you and Katharine are nothing to each other now. It’s all over, and you’re going on and on like someone with some strange ‘lingering attachment’ when it’s really nothing.”

Sharen’s bloodshot eyes bulged.

“Lingering attachment? What nonsense!”

“Get a grip. You’re a married man. If you’re born a man, you should be devoted to your family.”

“Well. I don’t think someone rumored to have dozens of hidden mistresses is in any position to lecture me.”

Farnes narrowed his brows as if genuinely perplexed, then let out a laugh of disbelief.

“Come to think of it, there was such a rumor. People do love sensational stories, don’t they?”

“Well. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

“Fine, let’s say that. Whether I have dozens or hundreds of non-existent mistresses doesn’t matter at all. In return, the rumor of you being the world’s most devoted husband should be the absolute truth without an ounce of lie.”

“What……”

“I’m about to reach my limit.”

Farnes continued, looking down at Sharen with arrogant eyes.

“This might be the last day I quietly watch that child wasting her precious life under you.”