“The Swedish Count and Countess are already in bed.”

Elena, who loves to sleep in, went to bed early even last night. Thinking about her mother, Ines couldn’t help but smile.

“Last night, our Crown Prince went to bed too late, and that’s why.”

Ines blushed at his words, subtly filled with expectation. Ines guarded the bedroom until the child fell asleep unless there was anything specific happening.

She read books and sang lullabies. Carson often fell asleep beside her.

“Well, if you take a nap on the train…”

“That’s easy for you to say when you don’t know how much effort I put into putting him to sleep…”

Ines’s face turned not only her cheeks but also her ears red now. He was once a man who was a god and the only salvation.

Perhaps that’s why? Ines never got used to his teasing words. As Ines’s face turned redder, Carson’s eyes narrowed.

“What effort did you make?”

There were still many stairs ahead, and the palace servants followed the two. Carson quickened his pace.

“We had a sword fight.”

Eventually, Ines burst into laughter with a sound like “Cook.” At that time, Carson handed a small wooden sword to the child.

Although it was said to be the softest wooden sword, Ines was scared of it, fearing the child might trip and fall while carrying it.

But every time Liam firmly grabbed the handle of the wooden sword, Carson’s eyes gleamed with pride, which made Ines happy too.

“I barely stopped him from saying he would see his mother.”

“Did he really say that?”

Liam hadn’t said such a long sentence yet. It was barely a matter of two trips. Carson insisted to Ines that he had succeeded in putting the child to sleep.

“That’s right.”

“…”

“So now it’s your turn to put me to sleep.”

“Are you really going to sleep?”

“I have to get up early in the morning… It might be a good way to stay up all night.”

As Ines was about to say that it was absolutely impossible, her lips were suddenly blocked when the door opened. She felt Carson’s lips slightly curling up in a good mood.

Following that, with Carson’s breath that soon filled her surroundings, Ines unconsciously reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck. As she thought that perhaps tonight was a good time to stay up and see the morning sun rising from the sea,

“Is it a letter from the palace?”

Ines opened her eyes with difficulty at the small noise coming from her sleep. He was still standing near the bed in his usual attire. The man standing in the dawn light coming through the window was still dazzling.

“Yes.”

“Is there something urgent?”

“Not really…”

He slowly approached Ines and handed her the letter. Ines, who had not yet fully awakened, widened her eyes at the letter she received.

“It’s a message that Priest Hansen is coming!”

“Yeah. Calling him that might be a bit difficult.”

“Will it take about a month for him to come?”

“It should be around that time.”

Ines couldn’t help but show a slightly joyful expression on her face. It was someone she thought she might never see again. Thinking of him brought Charlotte to Ines’s mind. How would Charlotte react to this news?

However, her thoughts suddenly disappeared as the man who grabbed her chin approached her.

“What’s with that expression again?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you making such diverse expressions?”

Bending deeply, he unexpectedly pulled Ines’s lips and asked. Ines, who reflexively closed her eyes, felt her hand, which had clutched her chin, being pulled closer to her neck.

“Don’t make such an expression. I don’t like it.”

With a pouty expression, Ines’s back shivered with a pleasant thrill.

“What does that mean?”

“You’re the man who changed my life.”
The sentence might feel strange when heard, but Ines couldn’t find any words to object.

“It’s not someone who could be misunderstood.”

“I won’t misunderstand.”

“But what do you dislike so much?”

Without answering, he persistently invaded Ines’s lips. Before she knew it, her breath was caught in the intensified movement.

“Such a man wouldn’t be here, right?”

Ines chuckled at the sudden suspicion. But soon, another thought followed.

Here, in Randhill, if there was a man who changed her life, it was Joseph and Jemern. They were the ones who truly changed lives for Ines, risking everything.

“Ines.”

By now, Joseph should have received his peerage.

“Ines?”

Randhill was truly the land where such a man existed.

“Ines!”

“Uh, yes?”

“What are you thinking right now?”

Carson’s golden eyes stared at Ines, making it impossible for her to blink.

As he pressed his thumb firmly against her throat and smiled gently, Ines involuntarily felt a trance. It was a beautiful smile that never failed to disturb Ines without a single failure.

“Jo…seph.”

“Who’s Joseph… Ines!”

“Yes?”

“Are you thinking of your ex-lover in front of me right now?”

“But he’s already dead.”

Carson’s eyebrows twitched significantly. However, Ines didn’t back down. She had experienced the emperor begging desperately every time a man’s name came up.

“That’s also because of me. So, he’s also here.”

“What?”