After gathering the necessary things from her family home and saying goodbye to people, when everything was finally over, Katharine let out the tension from her stiffened body.

As a loose sigh escaped between her lips, Farnese’s somewhat cautious gaze touched her face.

His expression darkened silently like the sun being covered by clouds as he gazed at her hollow cheeks and thin shoulders in turn.

“I want to ask if you’re alright, but knowing you’re not, I’m not sure what words to say.”

His fingertips slowly traced across Katharine’s face, touching her dry lips.

“I should have come to get you sooner. I needed some preparations to safely and surely take you to Renel.”

Of course, there weren’t absolutely no other options.

He could have led his knights to break down the doors of the Khan palace, and cut the throats of Charlen Riche and Rose Riche, who would be hiding at the end, as long and painfully as possible.

He could have burned all those who dared to trouble this woman who was to be Farnese’s bride, gathering their sins all at once, and then taken Katharine away.

At least that was the kind of method Farnese was accustomed to, and he had nearly carried it out several times.

‘But Katharine wouldn’t be happy wearing the empress’s crown soaked in someone’s blood.’

So he desperately endured, waited, prepared, and waited for today’s opportunity, but seeing Katharine’s thin figure now, it was true that he felt some regret.

Katharine, who had somewhat noticed the cause of the shadow cast on Farnese’s face, tilted her head slightly and smiled.

“I had noticed early on that Your Majesty had other plans. I knew when I saw that sword you broke at the cabin when we parted unwillingly.”

“……”

“Rather, I want to apologize. I was worried that because of me, things had grown too big and might have caused trouble for Your Majesty and the Renel Imperial Family.”

“Katharine, I told you.”

Farnese’s fingertips barely grazed the corners of Katharine’s eyes.

“You are to be my wife. You don’t need to apologize in any case.”

An infinitely gentle gaze that might one day fade and turn to someone else.

Katharine intended not to give him too much affection, so as not to become a foolish moth rushing headlong into flames knowing it would burn to death.

She had learned all too painfully through Charlen that there were no such things as vows or eternity.

“So don’t apologize to me again. Understand?”

His gruff words, full of warm concern rather than reproach, had a strange power to make one’s heart feel at ease.

Perhaps that’s why the people of the Renel Empire could live enjoying prosperity in an unprecedented era of peace.

Katharine smiled softly without realizing it.

“Yes. As you said, since I’m to be Your Majesty’s wife, I’ll try.”

When she spoke with her eyes gently curving, almost closing from fatigue, Farnese’s breath subtly faltered.

His ears, barely visible through his silver hair like fallen snow, were particularly flushed.

“We’ll cross the border soon.”

He awkwardly cleared his throat and changed the subject.

The scenery outside, passing by quickly leaving only blurry afterimages, was changing from dry wastelands to lush forests.

It felt like the soft scent of the rich soil of the Renel Empire was already tickling her nose.

It was true that she worried whether she, who had lived her whole life in a familiar homeland, could blend in among them as a foreign empress of an unfamiliar country.

Moreover, there would come a time when she would have to formally face Charlen and Rose as the rulers of each country, whether she liked it or not.

“You don’t need to worry about anything.”

As if seeing through Katharine’s mind already beginning to be tangled with worries, Farnese said with his characteristic indifferent expression.

“No one will dare to lay a hand on you, let alone stretch out a finger. That’s the kind of position the Empress of the Renel Empire is.”

His sharp profile, as if carved with an ice pick, was tinged red in the setting sunlight.

His words, simply laying out the thoughts in his mind, sounded to Katharine like a verse of a comforting lullaby.

“Thank you.”

Katharine, whose eyelids had already been blinking slowly due to the sudden release of tension, soon fell into a light doze.

It seemed she was so exhausted that even the occasional bumping of the carriage wheels didn’t bother her.

Farnese, who had been staring out the window for a while with his arms crossed, hesitated as if pondering something and turned his head to the side.

She, leaning against the backrest and breathing evenly, looked like a wounded animal that had finally returned to a warm southern country after wandering the snow fields for hundreds of years.

Farnese just looked at her, unable to do anything.

It was an excessively cautious appearance for someone who had just calmly declared that she would be his companion.

When her nodding head finally settled naturally on his shoulder, searching for a place to rest.

Only then did Farnese carefully pull her body closer to let her lean on him.

“…Katharine.”

Slowly rolling that seductive and irresistible name on his tongue that lightly tickled the roof of his mouth, Farnese kissed her head.

Already deep in sleep, she was completely unaware of how deep blue her eyes were to the man now holding her.

She had a strange dream.

In the dream, she had a more slender body with small feet and small hands.

She was spending a leisurely afternoon sitting across from Farnese in a quiet castle overlooking the blue sea.

The Farnese before her looked different somehow.

He had the appearance of a languid gentleman exuding an irresistibly alluring and mature aura.

‘What are you thinking about so deeply, my lady.’

He spoke in a voice as sweet as a dream, but muffled as if coming from behind an invisible thick cloth.

Along with the sound of waves crashing against the rocks in the distance, the presence of someone else approached.

A beautiful boy with familiar black curly hair and emerald eyes was coming closer with his arms outstretched as if asking to be held.

‘Mother.’

Calling like that.

.

.

.

“Are you awake?”

When she opened her eyes, it was no longer the carriage, and the faint sound of waves was tickling her ears just as in the dream.

Katharine, not yet fully escaped from somewhere between reality and dream, was dazed for a moment before realizing she was being carried in Farnese’s arms, moving somewhere.

Before she could figure out where this was and when they had gotten out of the carriage, Katharine’s face flushed uncontrollably hot.

A guard of at least dozens of men was following behind with an extremely solemn appearance.

To have slept comfortably in the emperor’s arms, without any ladylike dignity, among such people.

“You should have woken me up. Please, put me down now.”

“Why.”

“Why? Can’t you see our surroundings?”

Farnese looked around with an expression of not understanding.

As he gave a sharp sidelong glance, the guards straightened up with discipline and stopped with a click of their military boots.

Among them were some familiar faces like Sir Antonio, so Katharine could only bury her face in Farnese’s shoulder with her neck flushed red.

Seeing her like that, Farnese finally seemed to understand and burst out laughing.

“Are you embarrassed by just this? You’ll have to get used to it.”

“Get used to it? What do you mean…”

“All of you, withdraw. We will spend time alone tonight.”

Hearing Farnese’s order, the guards immediately stopped following and bowed their heads.

While she was confused trying to figure out what his words meant, he comfortably adjusted his hold on Katharine and entered the castle.

The castle was mostly made of white, glossy limestone, and it was a very beautiful place with cobblestone terraces and conical towers.

“Where is this?”

“The summer palace. It’s yours from today.”

“What?”

“The Khan Kingdom doesn’t have many places adjacent to the sea, so you probably didn’t have many chances to see the ocean. So I wanted to show you this view first when you entered my country.”

He set her down on a balcony with a clear view outside.

Though it was hard to see well as night had fallen, the vast sea stretching to the horizon was embracing the coast.

The salty smell of salt was carried on the night breeze, and the sea water breaking into white foam seemed to clear one’s heart just by looking at it.

At that moment, Katharine was struck by a strange sense of déjà vu.

Come to think of it, this place…

“I saw this place in my dream.”

Katharine said that and let out a laugh of disbelief.

But Farnese did not dismiss or mock her, and sincerely agreed.

“You saw it in a dream?”

“Yes. You and I were sitting over there looking at the sea. Sitting at a gray folding table. It may sound like a lie, but it’s true.”

Katharine chattered like an innocent child, pointing from here to there.

“And what’s even more amazing is, a child who looked half like Your Majesty and half like me was standing right here. No, thinking about it, maybe he looked a bit more like me. How could I have such a dream?”

Katharine spoke, recalling the unidentifiable boy whose memory had already grown faint.

A strange silence filled the space between the two.

In the awkward air that seemed to have slowed, Katharine belatedly realized what an incredible thing she had said and covered her mouth with one hand.

“Ah… What I just said…”

“You really have a talent for driving people crazy.”

Farnese’s large hand, covered in many small scars, gently grasped Katharine’s thin wrist.

As he took a big step closer, she keenly felt that in this vast castle, they were the only two people.

Though they hadn’t officially gotten engaged or made an announcement yet, they were to become husband and wife before long.

A relationship where it would be natural to explore each other, and where anything that happened in the process wouldn’t be strange.

“You look tired.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

His cool hand touched her forehead, which was clammy with cold sweat.

Maybe because his body temperature was low, it felt good.

Katharine lowered her eyes slightly and unconsciously rubbed her cheek against his palm.

Farnese inhaled sharply for a moment as if in pain, then gently rubbed around her chapped lips as if to heal them.

Feeling a bit bewildered by the strange feeling, Farnese withdrew his hand firmly as if waking himself from a shallow dream.

“It’s late, let’s go up to the bedroom.”

He spoke in a gruff voice and turned his back first, and Katharine followed him up to the upper floor.

The few minutes of climbing the spiral staircase and walking through the winding corridors felt extremely long.

And when they finally stood in front of the room door, for some reason it felt regrettable that she would have to part from him for a while, even if only for a few hours, with just a wall between them.

“Well then, rest.”

He opened the door himself and even arranged the blankets with his precious hands before leaving the room without lingering.

Katharine lightly grabbed the hem of his clothes just as he was crossing the threshold.

“Your Majesty.”

Farnese’s hand, which had been clenched into a fist so tightly that the veins stood out blue, trembled in the air.

“Could you stay by my side for just a moment?”