“Do you like it here?”

The voice was heard from nearby.

Startled by the man’s voice so close, Claude turned her head and met eyes that resembled the sky.

Under the soft-looking pale yellow blonde hair, white skin with neatly drawn eyebrows as if painted with a brush and golden eyelashes spread like a fan came into view one after another.

“Would you like to go in?”

The red lips of the man who spoke kindly in an elegant tone seemed familiar from somewhere.

Right from the large portrait of Lady Elise, the previous duchess, hanging in the center of the Rowen Castle lobby.

Claude hurriedly bowed.

“I pay my respects to Your Majesty of Oberon Kingdom. Ow.”

But she ended up bumping her head into his chest because Valkyter was standing too close.

“Ah. I apologize, Your Majesty.”

Claude stepped back one step, embarrassed, and quickly bowed her head waiting for the king to say something.

‘How could I make such a mistake.’

Her mind went blank.

“Haha.”

However, instead of harsh scolding for being rude, laughter was heard.

“Raise your head.”

As Claude hesitantly raised her head, the brighter sunlight illuminated Valkyter’s face even more. It looked as if light was pouring down from that person.

Valkyter took out a large golden key from his chest and unlocked the gate.

Valkyter held out his hand as if to escort her. However, the nervous Claude carefully clasped both hands below her navel and stepped into the sky garden while watching his reaction.

Seeing Claude like that, Valkyter withdrew his hand and said,

“There’s no need to be so nervous. Aren’t we very close?”

When Claude blinked, Valkyter kindly asked,

“Doesn’t that fellow talk about me?”

It was in a tone assuming he definitely would have, and moreover, referring to Kaian so familiarly as “that fellow” that Claude finally broke the awkward atmosphere and smiled.

“The duke did mention you.”

“I see. What does he say about me behind my back?”

“That you’re the person he trusts most in the world.”

“My, I called for a brother but a loyal subject came instead.”

Valkyter’s joking didn’t seem like someone she was meeting for the first time.

‘Too familiar.’

The rumored King of Oberon, Valkyter and Kaian were cousins with twin princesses as mothers.

She had heard rumors that they looked quite alike since they both took after their mothers.

‘Do they look alike? No, they don’t seem that alike. But are they similar?’

Claude found herself unconsciously looking for resemblances to her husband in Valkyter’s face.

However, perhaps because of Valkyter’s coloring that seemed to have come alive from the familiar portrait of Princess Elise that she saw every day, he didn’t seem to resemble Kaian.

‘I can’t even imagine him speaking so friendly like this.’

The first impression one got from Kaian was that he was cold and scary.

Once, when she showed Kaian a mirror saying “You always look like you’re angry”, he didn’t seem to be aware that he was making such an expression.

He often spoke sarcastically or shouted, and there were many times when he would just say what he wanted to say one-sidedly as if her answer wasn’t important.

After he started taking care of her as a benefactor from the crocodile hunt, and after Herzol recovered and Claude slowly opened her heart to him, it was better than before, but even now it hadn’t changed that much.

The difference was that back then Claude took his words as painful as daggers, but now she thinks that’s just the way he is and he doesn’t mean it in a bad way.

Valkyter, who was said to resemble Kaian because of their twin mothers, seemed completely opposite to Kaian.

“I thought you would have said at least one bad thing about me to the duchess.”

“Not at all. The duke sincerely respects Your Majesty.”

“Hearing the Vermonte bride defend Temnes, it must be true.”

“Pardon? Ha, haha.”

Claude laughed awkwardly. It was protocol to go along with the king’s jokes. But something bothered her inside.

‘I’m here as the Duchess of Temnes, so why bring up Vermonte here?’

Just yesterday, Kaian had told the castle servants that they would be in trouble if he heard the word Vermonte one more time.

It bothered her a little, but she remembered that this young King of Oberon was the one who ordered the marriage of Vermonte and Temnes in the name of reconciliation.

‘Thanks to that, I married Kaian.’

As soon as that thought occurred, the unpleasantness disappeared instantly and only gratitude remained.

Valkyter slowly strolled around the sky garden.

Claude silently followed behind him.

After walking for a while, Valkyter suddenly turned around.

“We’ve met before.”

“Pardon?”

Claude blinked.

The daughters of Vermonte did not participate in the social circles of the capital.

Moreover, Claude was someone who didn’t attract attention even at the event where she was supposed to debut as a debutante of the north, because she just went through the motions as a side character at Irena’s event.

‘Kaian said the queen would sometimes come and stay at Rowen.’

The reason was that the Duchess of Temnes was Queen Silvia’s sister.

It was simply that the queen headed to Rowen instead of the winter villa to avoid the winter cold of Oberon Kingdom.

In fact, the shift of the balance of power towards Temnes was also related to such movements of the queen. The Duke of Vermonte was very dissatisfied with this.

He couldn’t invite the queen to Valmond, which is frozen solid for half the year.

As far as Claude remembered, neither the crown prince of Oberon nor Queen Silvia had ever visited Valmond.

“You don’t remember?”

“I apologize. I am lacking in memory and do not recall meeting such an esteemed person.”

Claude offered words of apology as if reciting from a script, feeling wronged.

If she had seen someone like Valkyter, there’s no way she could have forgotten.

“Last month in the rear garden of Rowen Castle.”

“Pardon?”

Claude opened her eyes wide.

“I saw you swimming at dawn.”

“…Ah.”

A man she met while swimming at dawn?

Claude barely recalled the memory.

‘My name is… Bark. May I ask for your name?’

A strange man wearing a wide-brimmed brown hat and a cloak of the same color.

She had almost had a heart attack from being startled, having let her guard down because Kaian had forbidden anyone from coming near the rear garden.

“I didn’t recognize that it was Your Majesty.”

“You didn’t tell me your name. You said ‘Queen’.”

When he didn’t hide his disappointment, Claude responded as if making an excuse without realizing it.

“You were far away and wearing a hat. I couldn’t recognize Your Majesty.”

“I’ve been wondering sometimes why you didn’t tell me your name was Claude.”

“Since everyone knows I’m the duchess, I was flustered when you asked for my name.”

Soon Claude felt the flow of conversation was strange.

‘I don’t think this is something I should be interrogated about.’

Except for the fact that Valkyter was the king, Claude hadn’t done anything wrong.

She was the mistress of Rowen Castle, and the rear garden was a place that the lord, Kaian, who had temporarily gone to the hunting grounds, had personally ordered that no one but her should set foot in.

She had encountered Valkyter while resting and catching her breath there, so he was actually the outside intruder, but for some reason, it felt like she had hurt the king’s feelings, and as she spoke giving various reasons, she felt like she had committed a great wrong.

‘I didn’t do anything wrong, why am I acting like this.’

Claude gathered her thoughts and asked Valkyter.

“Why were you at Rowen Castle at that time, Your Majesty?”

“Me?”

“The duke went hunting in Promhunt on your royal order and returned without seeing Your Majesty.”

When Claude asked pointedly, Valkyter’s eyes widened a little and then he started laughing.

‘What a strange person.’

She didn’t understand why he was laughing or what was so funny, but Valkyter laughed for a while, shaking his shoulders as if he had heard a very amusing story.

“Hahaha.”

The man’s pleasant laughter echoed brightly through the cool air of the dawn garden.

“Ah. Oh my. Did I upset the duchess?”

“Not at all.”

“I see. You must keep it a secret from Kaian that I went there.”

“Why did you come all the way there alone?”

Valkyter brushed back his hair that had become disheveled from laughing with one hand.

“Rowen Castle is a place with many childhood memories.”

“Yes. The duke said the same thing.”

“After I called Kaian to go hunting in Promhunt, I found myself missing Rowen Castle terribly while waiting. I thought I would meet him on the way down the road since he started from the middle, but we must have missed each other somewhere.”

His expression was soft, as if recalling memories.

“I arrived at the castle with no one there, and it felt a shame to go back, so I just stopped by the rear garden briefly.”

“I see.”

“However, you must keep that fact a secret from Kaian. He will surely be angry.”

“I will obey Your Majesty’s command.”

To receive a royal order for the first time in her life, and for it to be helping the king lie to her husband.

It felt a bit strange, but Claude bowed her head. Valkyter waved his hand.

“There’s no need to be so formal. More importantly, you swim very well. I understand it’s not an environment you could enjoy in the north.”

“The duke taught me.”

“That fellow did? Well, Kaian often played there since he was young.”

If that wasn’t a royal command earlier.

Then could she counter a secret with a secret?

Claude said to Valkyter.

“Please keep it a secret from the duke that I was practicing swimming there.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to practice in secret and surprise him.”

“Ah. He taught you but hasn’t seen you swimming yet?”

“Yes.”

Valkyter nodded with a brightened face.

“Alright. Let’s exchange secrets.”

Valkyter really seemed close to Kaian.

To think there was someone who could call Kaian by name.

He too had lost his parents early and became the head of the family at a young age, so this was the first time Claude had seen someone call the man who was the Lord of Rowen and Duke of Temnes by his name “Kaian” since she got married.

She too was someone who had been given permission by Kaian to call him by name.

So the King of Oberon she was meeting for the first time, no, meeting for the second time, felt like a close person.

“You can call me Bark too. Of course, only when the nagger isn’t around.”

“That’s…”

Just as Claude was thinking that would definitely not be okay,

“Where did you go so early in the morning?”

A large hand pulled her into his arms.

“Kaian.”

Claude almost smiled with joy but quickly frowned.

“You should greet His Majesty first.”

It was against etiquette to speak to her first in front of the king.

“Do you want to tell me I’ve broken etiquette? His Majesty broke etiquette first, so won’t he overlook this much?”

At Kaian’s words, Claude didn’t know what to do.

“Speaking to another man’s wife without her husband present when you haven’t even formally greeted her.”

At his words, Valkyter calmly responded.

“Another man’s wife? Are you another man?”