“Now, you resent me, don’t you?”

Unable to deny the undeniable truth, Ines nodded her head.

“Yes.”

“I almost hated myself, right?”

Once again, there was no denial.

At first, Ines couldn’t understand herself for resenting him. However, as time passed, the only emotion accumulating inside her was that.

She resented and hated him for lying to her and putting himself in danger. What if something went wrong? What would she do?

She experienced shortness of breath more than once while contemplating that thought. At that time, the pain was unbearable, almost as if she were dying. But what was more dreadful than anything was the sensation that she might lose him. So now, it seemed okay to resent him a little.

“Yeah, keep doing that. If you hate me, get angry with me, scold me.”

If Noah were to witness the current situation, he would undoubtedly say that Carson had gone mad due to the war. However, for him, this moment was close to a miracle.

The feeling that Ines treated him like an ordinary man was much more attractive than he had thought.

So Carson advanced faster than she took a step closer.

“I missed you.”

At the unexpected confession, Ines stiffened again.

“And you? Did you miss me?”

“I missed you.”

His lips, holding her in his arms, drew a pleasant curve.

“Is the anger gone?”

“Yes.”

“Then it’s settled.”

‘Now, that’s enough. If you missed me as much as I missed you, that’s all that matters.’ That was truly what he thought.

The time he was spending now, this one-year period, was the slowest passing days among all the days he had lived. However, time was also something that no one could stop.

Within a few months, Louis had changed unrecognizably. He had grown as tall as other children his age, and his speech had noticeably improved. It was clear that people coming to the temple had greatly helped.

Not long ago, he even said he wanted to increase his economics classes. The child, who used to move slowly, now skillfully cut meat with a knife, meeting eyes and smiling.

“Louis, what’s the most enjoyable thing you’re learning these days?”

“To be honest, there’s nothing enjoyable. Still, they said being good at counting is important, so I’m going to study that hard.”

“Who said that?”

“Ines.”

‘I see.’ As he replied, Carson thought of Ines. It had been a month since he returned to Monstera, but the last time he saw her was that day.

As a temple maid, she did not lift the dining tray or clean the main hall. Of course, he had seen her pass by. However, there was never a distance close enough to feel warmth.

That day, the two of them talked for a long time after that.
Throughout the conversation, he didn’t stop apologizing. Every time he did, it was satisfying to see Ines blush.

At that time, before Ines went back to her room, she had said she didn’t want to do anything noticeable in front of people. Carson knew that it was a way of blaming him. So, before she got angry and exploded, it was right not to do anything she disliked.

When he held her, it seemed like she had lost a lot of weight. It was clear that she hadn’t had a proper meal because of worrying about him.

“Sigh,” as he let out a deep sigh, Louis stared at him intently.

“What’s worrying you?”

“No, everything is peaceful these days. Monstera won’t wage war for a while.”

Louis nodded as he began cutting the meat in front of him.

“Uncle, do you know that?”

Giving him a questioning look, Louis put the knife down on the table.

“Winter makes it hard to eat meat.”

“Really?”

Carson looked down at the meat in front of him; he couldn’t feel any significant difference.

“No, not what we eat.”

Louis, who noticed his gaze, spoke again with determination.

“Bread gets hard, and grains and meat are all from what we stored before.”

In winter, since grains don’t grow, they use what’s stored. Hunting is the same. Although they raise livestock, the number isn’t sufficient. They weren’t starving, but it was certain that they couldn’t have a high-quality meal.

“Where did you hear that?”

“I heard it from the maids. So, they don’t like winter, especially in Monstera, where good grains don’t grow compared to Landhill.”

“Right.”

Carson admired his brother’s words twice. First, the fact that his brother knew a lot, and second, through that, he knew how to express what he wanted.

“Is hunting difficult in winter mountains?”

Carson shook his head, laughing.

“No, it’s not necessarily so, Frank.”

“Yes, my lord.”

He called the butler standing beside him.

“Go to Noah and tell him that we’ll go hunting in three days. Anyone in the castle is welcome to join.”

“Understood.”

Suddenly, he saw Louis cutting the meat again. Silently, with a slight lift of his lips.

News of December’s hunting filled the entire castle. Since they couldn’t predict when the war might break out, it was almost unprecedented for people to move on such a large scale for hunting purposes only.