“I’ll take all of it.”

Even after hearing Kaian’s words, Claude did not immediately understand what had happened.

The jeweler at the spot briefly floated in the air as if wings had sprouted.

“Thank you, Lord. Haha! That’s right. There’s no jewel that wouldn’t suit the Lady, with her fair skin and beauty.”

“Ah…”

Fearing that Kaian might cancel the order, the jeweler gestured to his assistant, and Claude came to her senses only when she saw them quickly closing the lids of the jewelry boxes laid out in front and packaging them.

“Y-Your Grace! Wait a moment.”

She urgently grabbed Kaian’s jacket as he was already standing up and about to leave the shop.

“Are you buying all of that?”

“What’s the problem?”

Claude was struck speechless at Kaian’s confident demeanor.

“It’s too much.”

“Too much? Do you really think so?”

She quickly nodded her head.

“You’re wrong. It’s not too much. It’s necessary to maintain the dignity of the Duchess of Temnes. You, who just became a duchess, wouldn’t know.”

“…”

She wanted to object, but couldn’t find the right words.

In fact, Claude had been feeling unsettled lately because of this very issue.

She hadn’t realized she would become the Duchess of Temnes until she saw her name engraved on the tombstone.

This was the land where she would be buried when she died, not a place to live.

But Kaian had saved her.

And now that she was alive, she was automatically a duchess.

“When we have occasion to go to the capital, we’ll find better ones, so this will do for now.”

“I don’t think we need to buy more. Really.”

“How do you know if we need more or not when we haven’t even had dresses made yet?”

“That’s…”

Claude gently bit her lower lip from the inside.

Kaian was right.

For someone of a duchess’s status, it was common to have several dresses made for each season for social activities.

And then, as a result, one would acquire jewelry to match those clothes.

“If you don’t intend to embarrass me, act befitting a duchess.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“I have a place to stop by. Come.”

As Kaian slightly extended his arm, Claude quickly placed her hand lightly on it.

However, as he walked with wide strides as if he had forgotten her existence, she ended up being half-dragged along at a brisk pace and finally called out to Kaian.

“Your Grace. You’re walking too fast. Let’s go slowly.”

“I was walking slowly.”

Surprisingly, as if he had been considerate of her in his own way, the man’s eyes looked sincere.

“Our stride lengths are different!”

“Ah. I see.”

As the two started walking again, their walking speed finally matched, unlike before.

It was a small town located not far from Lowen Castle.

From what she could see while riding in the carriage, there seemed to be no residential houses, only commercial buildings and marketplaces gathered together.

Valmont was a frozen land, and because it was so cold, there were designated shop spaces for merchants to come and go within the vast lord’s castle.

Broadly divided into outer and inner castles, the market and shops were in the outer castle, which surrounded the perimeter of the inner castle. The inner castle was the space where the duke and the knights resided.

Lowen was warm, so it seemed they had completely separated the commercial city outside like this.

Claude’s eyes were busy with the rare sight of the outside world.

Then a garden with roses blooming widely appeared along the road.

‘Wow. How pretty.’

Now Claude only exclaimed “wow” inwardly, fearing she might sound unsophisticated.

But upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a cafe.

Couples and friends were enjoying tea at pretty tables placed here and there among the spacious rose garden.

Just as she was staring intently at the cafe without realizing it.

“This way.”

Kaian pulled her along. Seeing him heading towards the rose tunnel at the entrance of the cafe, Claude examined his face.

The man who frowned as he ducked his head to avoid hitting it on the tunnel of red, white, and pink roses intertwined, with an expression as cold as usual.

“Are we having tea here?”

“Yes.”

The cafe’s rose garden was much more beautiful up close than when viewed from outside.

The fragrance emanating vividly from flower clusters as big as fists was profound.

And Kaian, dressed in formal attire for outings and seated against a backdrop of red roses, looked quite splendid.

Thump.

Claude’s heart made a fluttering sound.

About this marriage.

If pressed, Claude considered that she had willingly entered into this marriage for the sake of the starving children in the territory, while Kaian had an unwanted marriage.

A forced marriage by royal decree.

She had steeled herself to the fact that there was nothing she could do about him disliking her or despising her for being a Vermonte.

It was different after Kaian saved her life.

Even before that, he had treated Claude with a softened attitude for a while after the incident during the crocodile hunt.

Saying it was because she was his benefactor.

And then, after learning about Herzol, she never imagined he would go to such lengths to find medicine for her, when he had been so infuriated about being “tricked into marriage.”

It was barely a month ago that she had been dying day by day.

Clink.

A teacup with a pleasant aroma was placed in front of her.

“Please enjoy, my Lord, my Lady.”

Looking at the tea and the silver tray with small, pretty desserts piled in layers brought by the maid wearing an apron with white frills, she strangely felt like crying.

“Why are you like that?”

He asked as Claude blinked her eyes, trying not to shed tears while staring intently at the silver tray.

“Because I’m so happy. I’m glad to be sitting here right now.”

That she could enjoy flowers and tea like this under the brilliant sunlight, instead of lying in the dark underground crypt of the castle where no one would come to visit.

And Kaian, who seemed a bit different from his cold exterior.

“Thank you.”

Claude smiled at Kaian.

It had been a life without much to smile about for a while.

She couldn’t help but smile foolishly with each small, pretty dessert she picked up and ate.

‘I’m glad I listened to the butler’s advice.’

Kaian couldn’t understand why there was a place like a cafe, why he had to go to such a place, or how drinking tea in such a humble place could be considered a date.

‘My Lord. You shouldn’t think like that.’

‘What shouldn’t I do?’

‘When you’re dating and going on dates, you must always listen to and accommodate the lady’s opinions.’

‘So, you’re telling me to go to a shabby and humble building and pay money to drink cheap tea.’

The tea that could be drunk in the lord’s castle would be the most expensive tea leaves in Lowen.

The butler’s expression was rather awkward at Kaian’s questioning.

‘Will that woman really like this kind of thing?’

‘As far as I know, Valmont is too cold to have garden cafes like this. Especially roses, which are representative flowers of the southern region.’

The butler asserted with a stern expression.

‘Can you guarantee that Claude will like it?’

‘Of course. If the lady doesn’t like the garden cafe, I’ll gladly accept even a pay cut.’

When the butler came on so strongly, Kaian finally accepted his suggestion.

He decided to stop by a nearby cafe while buying a few pieces of jewelry for Claude to use.

“Thank you.”

But he didn’t expect to see this.

Claude’s brightly smiling face.

He didn’t know that the woman who had been sitting with a pale, sunken face and tightly closed lips without expression until now could smile like that.

Claude, who was in the midst of recovery, had color returning to her skin and her cheeks were roundly filling out.

Her red hair and golden eyes somehow made her look like she had become one of the flower blossoms in this rose garden.

When she was sitting in a small field of white daisies, he thought such a quiet and calm place suited her.

But sitting among the splendid flowers, Claude looked like the most magnificent flower among them.

Wondering if he had stared too intently, Kaian cleared his throat and had the menu brought over.

“See if there’s anything else you’d like to order.”

Claude brightened up.

“Really? Is that alright?”

Kaian answered by folding his arms.

Before leaving, the butler had implored him several times.

‘My Lord. When you go to the cafe, make sure to let the lady choose what to order herself.’

‘Is that important?’

‘It is important. Very important. If you don’t give her the right to choose the menu, it might be worse than not going to the cafe at all.’

And then he had forgotten and ordered the most expensive dessert set and tea for two people at the store.

Belatedly remembering, he thought it would be okay to order more, so he had the menu brought over.

“Hmm.”

Unlike at the jewelry store earlier, Claude was actively and very intently reading each item written on the menu.

‘Is that fun?’

Kaian couldn’t believe that ‘ladies,’ as the butler had said, liked things like this with the names of foods, ingredients, and prices written on them.

However, since Claude in front of him seemed to really like it, just as the butler had said, he kept his mouth shut.

Instead, he could slowly observe Claude looking at the menu.

The thin, southern-style dress made of light fabric suited the petite woman better than the dark northern-style dress that came up to her neck.

‘She must have worn northern-style dresses all the time until coming here?’

Valmont Castle was famous for the cold air flowing inside the castle even in summer.

The slender, long neckline, the finely placed collarbone, and below that, the white and fair nape of the neck that stood out more because she wasn’t wearing a necklace or anything, caught his eyes.

When the thought occurred that his lips and hands would touch Claude’s white neck before the midday sun could, Kaian felt that irritating emotion again.

He had been feeling this way often lately when looking at Claude.

It was strange in itself to feel irritated while watching the woman recover from her sickly appearance and become healthy.

Even though it was a life he had saved with his own hands.

Today especially, his eyes kept going to her red lips, blooming like flower petals among the red roses.

He hadn’t kissed Claude yet.

Looking back, it was strange, but he too had been so preoccupied with spending their first night together that he hadn’t paid attention to it then.

The illness Claude had suffered from was said to cause pain as if a thousand blades were scraping her chest just by breathing.

So during the time their bodies were joined, Claude’s tightly closed eyes and gritted teeth as she endured must have been due to the pain of the illness ravaging her chest.

Not knowing this, Kaian had thought it was because the Vermonte woman found it horrifying to give her body to him, a Temnes.

Even thinking that, he had no reason to be considerate of an enemy family’s woman in a matter he had to carry out by royal decree, so he had done what needed to be done, regardless of whether she was in pain or not.

However, the woman who was not in pain now had lips that seemed liberated from suffering, like flower petals carried on the summer breeze, constantly flickering before Kaian’s eyes.

Claude generously flashed the smile she had shown Kaian for the first time today to the maid she had just met, ordered a few things, and then finally put down the menu and looked at him.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Why did you save me?”

On this lovely day.

She asked Kaian the same thing once again.

‘You’re not going to die. I won’t leave you to do so either.’

‘Why? I’m a Vermonte.’

‘I can’t allow any blemishes in my life. Do I look like someone who would live with the disgrace of holding my bride’s funeral three months after getting married?’

She probably didn’t want to hear the same answer as before.

However, the unresolved tangle of emotions that remained tightly knotted made him answer impulsively.

“Just because.”

Like when she once said she had saved him without any meaning.

“I would have saved anyone if they were dying like that.”

That’s when it happened.

Hearing his words, Claude’s face brightened like a fully blooming flower.

‘Why is she making that face?’