I was momentarily speechless at Cahirun’s inhuman aspect. How can someone who loves sleep so much stay up for days on end? He was certainly an extreme man.

Seeing my disgusted expression, Machi couldn’t hide his regretful look and belatedly began to make excuses.

“Ah, he only does that when he has something to worry about. Usually, he lives quite normally.”

Machi went on about Cahirun’s ordinariness, but I didn’t believe a word of it.

“Isn’t he too diligent to be called normal?”

Normal people sleep at 4 AM.

As I spoke with a sarcastic smile, Machi’s expression became peculiar. He looked like he was trying hard to suppress a laugh.

“These days, he has more to worry about than ever before. He must have other intentions as well.”

“What could that possibly be?”

I asked earnestly, hoping Cahirun would stop worrying and just get some sleep as soon as possible.

“Well, I can hardly say it myself… But one thing’s for sure, no one could solve it better than Reneola.”

Instead of answering my question, Machi made an enigmatic statement and his lips trembled slightly.

“He’s just clumsy because it’s his first time, so please understand, Reneola.”

His meaningful gaze was strangely unsettling, making me frown.

Just then,

“I wonder what you two are discussing so closely.”

I turned my head at the sharp voice to find Cahirun staring at us intently. His expression was chilly, hard to believe it was the same person who had been smiling just moments ago.

I could see the knights surrounding the circular tile forcibly averting their gazes or pretending to be busy.

“Sir Machi Gridden.”

Cahirun jerked his chin as if beckoning him over. Randolph, who had been sprawled like a mermaid in front of him, seized the opportunity and quickly got off the tile.

“Ah…”

Machi stood up with a distraught expression. Then, looking at me with a pitiful face, he said:

“Please pray for my soul.”

Despite his mournful voice, his eyes were clearly amused.

When Cal stabbed his sword into the ground with a thud, Machi flinched and hurriedly went down to the training ground. Cahirun, who had been staring until Machi stood before him, raised an eyebrow at me.

“What now? What are you displeased about, damn you.”

I muttered through ventriloquism while smiling at Cahirun. After staring at me silently for a moment, Cahirun turned his gaze to Machi, who was now standing in front of him.

Clang!

The sound of swords clashing echoed across the training ground floor. Machi struggled to withstand Cahirun’s fierce attacks.

Though he had never been known to be incompetent with a sword, right now he was barely managing to avoid the barrage of attacks.

Just as he narrowly dodged a thrust aimed at an opening, another attack immediately followed from the opposite direction.

He simply couldn’t keep up with how quickly Cahirun changed directions. Cahirun’s sword tip, unusually sharp today, was only withdrawn after Machi finally collapsed to the ground.

Machi smiled as he caught his breath. To think his master would be so jealous just because they sat and talked for a bit. It seems his lord was more possessive than he thought.

‘And yet you once asked who liked whom.’

As he wiped the sweat from his chin with the back of his hand, Machi inadvertently made eye contact with the other knights.

They all looked at him as if he were crazy, grinning despite being so pathetically defeated. Randolph even shook his head.

“That’s enough for today.”

At Cahirun’s voice signaling the end of training, the knights let out sighs of relief.

The dawn training was several times more grueling than the afternoon session, so everyone sat on the ground, busy massaging their exhausted bodies.

Cahirun headed straight for Reneola. Perhaps because training had gone on longer than usual, she had already fallen asleep leaning against a pillar in the training ground.

She seemed to be in quite a deep sleep, not even noticing the gaze fixed on her.

Cahirun rested his elbow on his thigh and cupped his chin as he looked at Reneola. She kept chewing her lips as if dreaming about something.

“How cute.”

Cahirun’s lips curved into a gentle smile. It was a smile he himself hadn’t noticed. Then, suddenly becoming aware of his own smile, he let out a hollow laugh.

‘I really have lost my mind.’

Just as pain is felt only after discovering a wound, once he became aware of his feelings, they couldn’t be stopped.

He didn’t know why he had denied it for so long when it was going to end up like this anyway. He could now understand why Machi kept grinning as if he wanted to tease him.

Just then, sunlight fell on Reneola’s face. Hurriedly shielding her with his hand lest she wake up, Cahirun frowned as Reneola scrunched her face in response.

Even as he headed to the Second Prince’s Palace to find Reneola, Cahirun hadn’t lost his composure. He had thought dismissively, ‘Locking her in a dark room, what a childish act.’

“She must have fainted! No one can last a day trapped in this room! Most people can’t endure it with their sanity intact!”

Cahirun glared at the head maid. The Reneola Violet he knew wasn’t a woman who would faint over something like this.

Cahirun recalled Reneola looking up at him defiantly. Yet even as he thought this, the careless words being spoken irritated him.

When he opened the door to the underground room and faced the pitch-black darkness inside, Cahirun hesitated. It was too dark and too quiet. Just as he was about to take a step,

“Hey, Ginger, you damned wench!”

An empty wooden barrel hit Cahirun squarely in the chest before falling to the floor.

Then Reneola, unable to open her eyes properly, staggered into view. The moment he saw her, Cahirun was surprised to feel himself relax.

As he caught the collapsing Reneola in his arms, he inwardly let out a long sigh.

“Indeed, she’s no ordinary woman.”

Only then did Cahirun smile faintly.

As Cahirun was about to take her directly to the First Prince’s Palace, Machi and Randolph dissuaded him. Hearing that Reneola would be very flustered when she woke up, he changed course.

Staring intently at Reneola lying on the bed, Cahirun suddenly looked around the room.

Unlike the opposite side cluttered with various items, Reneola’s space was neatly organized. It was sparse, as if she might leave at any moment.

Somehow displeased, Cahirun narrowed his eyes and turned his head at a pained groan. Reneola was sweating, her face deeply furrowed.

“Ugh…”

As Cahirun instinctively reached out towards Reneola clutching tightly at her blanket, he paused and looked down at his own hand. The crescent-shaped marks on his palm were red.

‘When did this happen?’

It might have been when he checked the pitch-black room, or when he caught the collapsing Reneola. Or perhaps when he first heard that Reneola had disappeared.

One thing was certain – his mood was absolutely foul right now. He was angrier than when a long-term plan had been ridiculously thwarted.

Why?

The moment he questioned it, realization struck the back of his neck, and Cahirun let out an empty laugh. He realized that the emotion that had sunk in his chest when the room door opened was anxiety.

All his incomprehensible actions until now could be explained by a single reason.

Cahirun looked at Reneola while covering his mouth with one hand. He knew he found her interesting and felt attracted to her, but he hadn’t realized his feelings had grown this much.

‘Since when?’

Cahirun tilted his head and looked down at Reneola.

When she looked up at him, disheveled and fanning herself with her foot?

When she clearly looked scared but calmly demanded tea be brought?

Or was it when she stepped back, hiding her face behind a mere champagne glass?

No, it might have been when he saw her smiling brightly under the sunlight.

Looking back now, there were too many moments that stood out. Every memory was vivid and colorful.

Recalling the past, he remembered a bottom sticking out of a window one night, a voice sighing heavily unable to let go of a rope, and green eyes looking up at him.

He had been captivated from the moment he waited all night for a face to peek out the window.

“How ridiculous.”

Cahirun laughed self-deprecatingly.

Suddenly thinking of her and making time in his busy schedule to visit, feeling happy just by chance encounters, having his mood ruined all day just by seeing her sitting next to some bastard. The reason he found himself following her with his gaze when he came to his senses was all because he liked this woman.

Cahirun hung his head low. This being his first time experiencing such emotions, he didn’t even know exactly what they were. It was so absurd.

But this feeling wasn’t bad. Rather, it was refreshing and quite enjoyable. Cahirun raised his eyes to look at Reneola.

Just by becoming aware of a single emotion, everything suddenly looked different. Reneola’s forehead, eyes, nose, lips. Everything touched his heart anew.

He reached out and lightly grasped her light brown hair. As he remembered, the ticklish sensation of its softness flowed through his fingers.

Cahirun’s eyes darkened as he gazed at Reneola.

Though he had only just realized his feelings like an idiot, now that he was aware, he had no intention of backing down. He was the type to charge straight ahead without looking back once he made a decision, even on the battlefield.

Reneola would soon come to the First Prince’s Palace. To help his younger brother by leaking his information.

Looking at the sleeping Reneola who knew nothing, Cahirun smiled faintly.

‘I wonder what expression she’ll make when she sees the madman she doesn’t even want to associate with.’