“I missed you, Claude.”

The woman’s lips tasted of the sweet peach puree he had last fed her.

He frantically ravaged her lips, which exuded a tangy and sweet scent.

“Ugh…”

Claude pushed his chest with her fist, as if defiantly resisting.

Instead of being hit by her delicate hand like a tulip petal, Kaian gently cupped the protruding area over her clothes.

“…!”

Claude’s back tensed and her waist arched slightly backwards, which he felt in his arms.

As a man with a broad chest, he had the generosity to respond to being hit by caressing the spot.

“This is a dining room.”

“So?”

“What if someone sees us?”

“Everyone’s already left, sensing the mood.”

Claude still seemed quite dissatisfied with him, perhaps not appreciating such consideration.

“What if Irena comes?”

“Can’t be helped.”

Kaian pulled her into his arms as he stood up.

“Since you’re so worried about showing an unseemly sight to the guest. Let’s go to the bedroom.”

“What? We haven’t finished eating yet…”

“We’re done.”

He kissed Claude again.

His large hand caressed from her earlobe to her nape, then moved along her body, finding the soft, warm spots.

The woman trembled as she felt his desire so plainly.

“No.”

When he loosened his hold a bit, Claude caught her breath.

“Let’s go. Not here.”

Kaian picked her up and headed for the bedroom.

However, the twist came after they reached Claude’s room and locked the door.

Smack.

Claude pushed him against the door, hung on his neck with both arms, and kissed his chin.

Caught off guard by the sudden offensive, Kaian looked down at his wife clinging to him, dumbfounded.

Her golden eyes, faintly glowing even in the dim room, were filled with regret.

“Ah. Can’t reach.”

So that’s how it worked at the lake last time.

Even now, she was comparing and mulling over their first kiss.

Kaian felt heat rising to the top of his head.

“You really drive me crazy.”

Kaian easily lifted the woman pushing his large body towards the door and changed their positions.

Now it was Claude whose back was against the dead end.

“Don’t tease me so half-heartedly.”

“Stop talking and hurry up.”

“…Do what?”

“Kiss me.”

The next moment, their urgent movements overlapped, craving each other.

Kaian lifted Claude’s voluminous dress skirt, pushed his thick, firm thigh between her slender legs, and brought her delicate wrists to wrap around his neck.

The slender woman entrusted her whole body to him, wrapping her arms and legs around Kaian’s body while their lips pressed together frantically.

His wife’s lips, which he tasted after two days, were fragrant and sweet.

Though the earlier peach scent had faded from being licked and sucked so many times, Claude’s fresh and youthful scent that he knew became stronger.

Kaian felt he could now quell his anger and forgive Valkyrie who had stood him up.

They say patience is short but the fruit is sweet.

When he couldn’t see Claude for two days, when he thought it was due to that willful Valkyrie, he was very angry.

But if he could exchange that time to glimpse Claude’s sensuality, there was no greater gain.

Their physical conditions were so different.

After mingling breaths for a while, when they separated, it was usually Claude who was panting.

That’s how it had been until now.

But for the first time, Kaian felt a lack of oxygen as soon as their lips parted.

As if addicted to Claude, he felt a tingling in his nose and a brief headache brushed his mind.

The resentment he had felt earlier when she called him ‘Your Grace’ and kept her distance was long gone.

“If you had greeted me at the gate earlier with even half of this enthusiasm, I wouldn’t have been rude to the guest.”

“You’re really mean. I thought you were doing it on purpose.”

“It wasn’t on purpose, it came from my heart.”

“Are you saying I should have clung to you in front of my sister? It was your first time meeting her, wasn’t it?”

Claude puffed her cheeks, seemingly upset, as she questioned him about the earlier situation.

However, her mischievous hands were struggling to undo his shirt buttons one by one.

Seeing this, Kaian felt as if he had been hit on the head once again.

“Why are you like this today? So aggressive.”

“What about you? You don’t usually make me talk this much. Take off your clothes.”

Frustrated that the large, tight buttons of the unfamiliar men’s clothing wouldn’t come undone easily, Claude pouted her lips.

The sight of her small hands trying to undress him made Kaian’s heart tingle.

“What are you going to do once I’m undressed?”

“I want to feel you.”

Claude murmured regretfully.

“Hold me. Please?”

Kaian hugged her and headed for the bed.

Without even having time to fully undress, he urgently embraced Claude and kissed her.

“As you wish.”

Claude was a bit different today than usual.

She had always been modest during the day and somewhat seductive at night, but today she was indescribably alluring.

Kaian was drawn into an inescapable abyss.

Claude lay with her cheek against Kaian’s chest, tightly embraced by him.

When had she become so accustomed to this man’s body temperature and scent?

“I couldn’t sleep while you were away.”

“Hannah would have allowed you to sleep here.”

“She did. But I still couldn’t sleep.”

There were tired shadows under Claude’s eyes.

“Why? I thought you could sleep well with Hannah.”

“I could before. But Hannah can’t hold me tightly like you do.”

Kaian chuckled softly at her words.

“So you couldn’t sleep because you felt empty without me.”

“Yes.”

His long fingers stroked her hair again and again.

Occasionally his fingers caught in tangled spots, pulling her hair, but she felt too languid to notice any pain.

“I’m glad I came back a day early.”

“Oh, right. Why did you come back early?”

“Well. Haa. It was nothing special.”

Kaian trailed off, but Claude didn’t really care either way.

‘Ah. This feels good.’

Every night, he would let her use his arm as a pillow and hold her tightly with his muscular arms.

She wasn’t particularly picky about where she slept, except for her insomnia.

It was unclear whether she couldn’t sleep because she was lying on a soft pillow instead of his arm, or if just holding Hannah’s hand wasn’t enough.

“Did you get to see much of Rowen?”

“We went to the garden cafe you took me to before. My sister likes flowers.”

“I see. When you leave, I’ll have the gardener pick some roses of different colors from the garden as a gift.”

“Really? Is that okay?”

“I’ll tell the gardener.”

“Thank you.”

Overjoyed, Claude propped herself up on his chest and kissed Kaian’s cheek.

“That’s too meager a thank you.”

As she silenced his grumbling mouth with her lips, the complaining man quieted down.

“You feel a bit hot. You’re not running a fever, are you?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Claude shook her head.

Nothing hurt.

“Why did you call me ‘Your Grace’ earlier?”

“Were you angry because of that?”

“No.”

Ah. Now she understood clearly.

Since Kaian had allowed her to use his name, Claude had never called him ‘Your Grace’.

Earlier, she was so startled to suddenly face him looking so intimidating in his unfamiliar hunting attire that she unconsciously called him that, but it seems his feelings were hurt because of it.

“You looked so angry.”

“Me? Not at all.”

“Liar. You looked very displeased.”

Kaian pressed his lips to her forehead.

“What reason would I have to be angry with you? Something happened at the hunting grounds. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.”

“…Okay.”

When he said he ’caused a misunderstanding’ and took the blame, her sullen mood finally lifted completely.

“Did you catch the fox?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you came back so quickly. Did you just come back without hunting?”

His hand, which had been stroking her hair until now, subtly caressed her shoulder blade and moved down to her waist.

“Why are you curious about that? Were you looking forward to seeing me wear just that?”

“No!”

Claude turned away with a serious expression, grabbing the blanket with both hands and pulling it up.

“Good night.”

“I caught some.”

Kaian bit Claude’s ear and pulled her back into his arms.

“I caught three of different colors.”

“Wow. Three?”

“So I’ll have to show you the necklace three times at night…”

Claude couldn’t help but cover Kaian’s mouth with her hand.

However, he caught that hand and gently bit it with his lips.

“Lecher.”

“You’re quite bold to say such things. If I’m a lecher, does that mean you have a taste for lechers?”

“No.”

“No? You pushed your tired husband returning from a hunt against the bedroom door and demanded a kiss right away.”

“What? When did I do that? And you barely even hunted.”

…And you’re not even tired.

Claude could physically feel how energetic Kaian was.

“Did you miss me?”

More than that, she wanted to confirm what he had said earlier during their banter in the dining room.

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“Enough to want to come home disobeying royal orders.”

Claude’s eyes widened.

“You didn’t really come back disobeying royal orders, did you?”

“Of course not. It was His Majesty who disobeyed the royal command.”

“…What?”

“You don’t need to know the details. It happens sometimes, so don’t worry about it.”

It was a strange night.

They had only been apart for one night.

Yet both Kaian and Claude became much more talkative throughout the night.

They chattered for a long time, then mingled their breaths again, their bodies growing hot, then cooled as beads of sweat formed, feeling each other’s body heat while having intimate conversations.

“Claude.”

It was early dawn, with the sun barely peeking over the mountain ridge, when she finally fell into a deep sleep.

“It might be worth leaving occasionally.”

Does that Valkyrie bastard have some special talent?

Every time he acts up, Claude does something cute, so next time even if he’s suddenly told to go to the royal palace, he might be able to set out without getting annoyed.

“Even her sleeping face is pretty.”

Kaian was quite confident in his aesthetic sense.

His eyes were accustomed to seeing many rare and fine things.

Because Claude’s red hair matched her eyebrows and eyelashes, she looked especially pretty when the pale blue light of dawn shone on her.

Usually at this hour, he would get up and leave the bedroom while Claude was asleep, but often he would spend a long time looking at the sleeping woman before leaving.

“It was supposed to be a hunting trip schedule.”

Today was originally meant to be spent returning from Promhunt to Rowen. In other words, he had left his duties as lord vacant for the entire day.

“I should spend the day diligently serving my lady.”

Having decided to be a lord who lazes in his wife’s bed, Kaian embraced Claude.

He closed his eyes, listening to Claude’s soft breathing sounds.

As Kaian drifted off to sleep, the busy events of the day flashed quickly through his mind.

He fell asleep with a smile at the thought that reached the edge of his consciousness.

‘I’m glad it was you I took as my wife.’

Fortunately, she was to his taste.