Unbearable pain twisted her lower abdomen, and cold sweat poured out from her whole body.

‘A baby.’

It felt like her chest sank. Looking at herself, embraced by her two hands, the man’s gaze was focused on her abdomen with a sense of foreboding.

“Um…?”

“We couldn’t save the baby. When we found you, too much blood had already been shed.”

“Ah. Aah.”

Carina was disheartened. The child was a burden, and what Sabiel left as an unwanted mark on her. However, she had never thought of a way not to give birth.
Resenting Sabiel like an archenemy to the point of hanging onto the fact that she had his child, Carina faced threats not only from the cruel father of her child but also sought refuge in Illeon’s shadow.

Understanding that deceiving and taking advantage of others is not right, Carina’s instinct to ensure her safety and safely deliver the child took precedence. Everything had gone wrong—from the moment she met Sabiel or even when ‘Rona’ may have foretold her fate and she didn’t follow.

The time when Illeon, who was drawn to her from the beginning, and later the time when even her child was involved, became deeply entangled, causing confusion.

“Hehe.”

To Carina, shedding tears, the man handed her a small cup of medicine.

“You need more rest, Carina.”

After shedding more tears, Carina took the medicine and fell asleep again.

‘But did I mention my name?’

As consciousness blurred, a moment of doubt surfaced briefly before being buried in sleep.

Elysia stared blankly at the mirror.

The dress, gradually layered with chiffon in a light blue color below the waist, was the sixteenth dress Elysia had tried on at Levalin today.

“How does it look, Your Grace?”

Knowing what mattered most, Emily once again directed her intention toward Illeon instead of Elysia.

“Well, let me see.”

Elysia looked at him with trembling eyes.

“Illeon, wait a moment.”

When she gestured, Illeon got up and approached.

“This dress. I like it.”

“Is that sincere?”

Elysia vigorously nodded her head.

“You wore different ones before.”

“They were all pretty, but I decided to buy only one today.”

Even if the dresses were expensive, wouldn’t trying on so many and buying just one be a burden to Emily? She had such a thought for a moment, but Elysia remembered that she hadn’t bought dresses commensurate with the value of a townhouse near the capital from the Levalin before. Elysia decided to temporarily set aside her guilty feelings towards Emily.

“You wore blue today too. The atmosphere of you two matching outfits will be nice.”

The cause of this situation was Elysia telling Illeon that she wanted to go home early today because her clothes didn’t suit him. Illeon had a strong determination to always acquire what he wanted. He had no intention of parting with Elysia early today, and she expressed a negative factor in their date, wanting to eliminate it.

So, this situation was a self-inflicted disaster.

“I want to go out and date quickly. Okay?”

“Really? Then let’s leave it at that.”

Illeon released the tension he had been holding in his eyes so far. That means, why was he so tensely focused on trying on a few dresses? Elysia swallowed a sigh.

“Just a moment.”
While Emily went to fetch the order, Illeon came over holding something from the sofa.

It was a shiny silk ribbon in blue.

“Can I do this for you?”

Elysia nodded and turned around. As he took a handful of her hair to help him tie the ribbon, Illeon began to carefully wrap and tie the ribbon.

However, as it was an unfamiliar act for Illeon, he couldn’t create a butterfly shape and clumsily tied and untied the ribbon repeatedly.

‘What? Illeon can’t do this either.’

As the man who had approached her from behind with a sophisticated appearance increasingly pressed his lips and concentrated on tying the ribbon, Elysia watched through the mirror.

“I’ll do it.”

Only then did Illeon, who had finally let go of the poorly tied ribbon, look embarrassed.

“It seems different from what I expected.”

“You’ve never tried tying something like this yourself, have you?”

Normally, the decoration of a tie and the act of dressing up were tasks left to maids or butlers, so he might never have done it with his own hands.

“Yes, but I didn’t think tying was difficult because untying is easy.”

Elysia stared at Illeon in silence. Perhaps it stimulated him because Illeon slowly wrapped his hands around Elysia’s waist.

“Please don’t.”

“But this isn’t the outside.”

“It’s inside the store.”

“But it’s a private room, and there’s only the two of us.”

Illeon licked his lower lip with the tip of his tongue. With an extremely eager expression, he leaned in, bringing his lips close to Elysia’s.

“If you let me do it once, I’ll endure it today.”

Elysia unconsciously narrowed her eyes.

Endure it today? Does it mean not enduring it tomorrow?

Somehow, she felt like she was just now understanding Illeon’s way of speaking that she had been avoiding.

“Hmm? Elysia.”

Even so, with a single word from Illeon, Elysia’s heart trembled.

It was an unfamiliar feeling.

Elysia vividly remembered the things she had experienced with him when she lost her memory.

However, rather than something she experienced herself, it felt like a clear dream, a distance as if something had been overlaid.

It was her own memory, but it wasn’t something she had done.

Originally a character with no distinctive personality, acting as Rona for Yoon Ji Won, pretending to be Elysia while being Rona.

She couldn’t be that person.

And yet, why was her emotion towards Illeon so singular?

Like a large and beautiful jewel ring that continued to shine brightly even as it changed hands, from hand to hand.

Even when she lost her memory and now that everything was remembered, why was she cherishing you like this?

Elysia closed her eyes as if giving permission.

As Illeon cautiously overlapped their lips, a sigh filled with his scent brushed through the warmth between them.

“Elysia.”
The man who tightly embraced her mumbled her name in his mouth like someone intoxicated. Illeon, who was looking down at himself being hugged when the slightly tingling and moist lips separated, lost focus in his eyes as if he had just come out after drinking.

The cool touch of the man’s hand gently caressed the cheek where the fever was rising.

“Smile for me. I want to see your smiling face.”