The chaotic courtroom was settled after a person came from the imperial city.

Belatedly, the imperial family grasped the situation and began to resolve it.

They promised treatment and compensation to everyone who was there.

Of course, since the sentence still had to be carried out, I was led home by the hands of the imperial knights.

Thus began my two weeks of house arrest.

Although it was called punishment, honestly, it didn’t feel like punishment at all.

There was the drawback of not being able to go outside, but it wasn’t a big problem.

Anyway, I used to spend most of my time at the hideout or at home. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it wasn’t much different from my previous life.

But there was one strange thing.

‘Where on earth did Ren go?’

I hadn’t seen Ren once since that day I was captured by Siegfried.

I thought I would surely meet him when I returned home, but…

‘What could he be doing and where?’

I wanted to go check if he might be at the hideout, but it was difficult to go outside because of the knights guarding the front door.

Finally, after being trapped in the house for two days, I was able to meet him in an unexpected appearance.

What caught my eye as I turned towards the window to catch some sunlight was a man invading the house through the window.

“…Ren? What are you doing there?”

I could only blink at his baffling entrance.

“…!”

He seemed to have noticed me too, staring at me for a long time. Then suddenly he ran over and hugged me tightly.

I felt a strong force from the arms wrapped around my waist.

It was like an expression of will to never let me go.

He must have been very worried because I suddenly disappeared. I patted his back at this behavior that was different from usual.

“I’m glad… you’re safe.”

Ren said with a sigh of relief, burying his face in my neck.

As I was about to separate him and catch up on what had happened, suddenly my whole body felt heavy. Ren was leaning on me completely.

“You’re heavy. Let go.”

“……”

“Ren? Ren!”

I shouted loudly in his ear, but he still didn’t answer. Finding it strange, I examined him and saw that he was asleep.

‘My goodness, how tired must he have been to fall asleep standing up?’

I struggled to move him into the room, then just used my ability to lift him up.

Then I carefully laid him down on my bed.

“Ah, that was tough.”

Usually, when I passed out and fell asleep, Ren would lay me down on the bed, but today the roles were reversed.

It had been a really long time since I’d lifted Ren like this. It was the first time since the day I kidnapped him.

‘He used to be extremely light in the past.’

Due to not eating well, he was very thin in the past. There was hardly any flesh on his body, just skin and bones.

As he gradually lived with me, he became healthier. He grew stronger as flesh and muscle built up.

‘Especially, it seems like he’s gained a lot of muscle.’

I thought about it when I was in his arms earlier too, but Ren’s body was fundamentally not soft, but firm.

It seemed like a body maintained through consistent exercise.

I hadn’t been conscious of it before, but his sturdy and toned body was just to my taste… No, am I going crazy?

To have such gloomy thoughts about someone who’s sleeping. I was clearly not in my right mind.

I slapped my cheeks a couple of times to regain my senses and sat down beside Ren.

Only then did I notice his messy state.

There were several small scratches all over his body, including his face.

His body was dirty as if he had rolled on the ground, and his clothes were torn in places.

‘What on earth happened?’

Had he been caught up in a big fight?

I thought about waking him up to ask, but decided to wait for him to wake up on his own.

It was the first time I’d seen such fatigue so clearly on his face.

I got up and headed to the bathroom.

Then I grabbed a towel, wet it with water, and carefully wiped Ren’s face.

I ran the towel over his arms and legs, being careful not to aggravate his wounds.

After that, I brought some emergency medicine and applied it to his body.

‘I hope it gets better soon…’

After finishing all the treatment I could give him, I was about to leave the bed and go outside.

I thought it would be better to leave him alone to rest and recover from his fatigue.

At that moment. Ren grabbed my wrist as I was heading out the door.

“…Don’t go, Lady Vivian.”

“Are you awake?”

“……”

I thought he might have woken up, but it seems it was just sleep talking.

I wonder what kind of dream he’s having to call my name so longingly.

I sat down beside him again. I stroked his slightly disheveled hair, tidying it.

He was frowning subtly, as if having a nightmare. He mumbled in his sleep again.

“…Don’t leave.”

I couldn’t help but laugh softly at his voice trying to hold me back again.

Then I whispered quietly enough not to wake him.

“Oh my. Where would I go without you, you fool.”

At the same time, I squeezed his hand tightly.

Was it just my imagination? Ren’s tense expression seemed to relax a little.

I was overcome by a strange emotion.

It was fascinating how he visibly relaxed just from this, even though he was asleep.

‘I wonder what kind of existence I am to Ren.’

Until now, I had thought that we were like friends and family to each other.

I thought it was natural that we had an especially close relationship because we only had each other to rely on during our past days together.

‘But does Ren think the same as me?’

Looking back on the past, Ren always gave his all to me.

I had become so used to his care that until recently, I never found it strange.

However, as I made other friends like Ruby and Dietrich, I could recognize that there was some deep emotion mixed in Ren’s attitude towards me.

‘Is it because we’re like family? No, it feels somewhat different from that.’

I pondered for a while. Still, I couldn’t easily come to an answer.

‘Ah, I really don’t know.’

Perhaps it was because I was tired from being lost in thought. Drowsiness started to overtake me.

My vision was gradually blurring. My hand was still tightly holding Ren’s.

“Mmm……”

“Are you awake?”

Startled by Ren’s voice, I opened my eyes wide.

What? When did I fall asleep?

I remember up to the point where Ren grabbed me while sleep talking, but I don’t recall anything after that, so I must have fallen asleep then.

But I, who surely fell asleep sitting on the floor, was now lying in the center of the bed.

‘Did Ren move me?’

No, now that I look, even the blanket color has changed.

Noticing my confusion, Ren smiled gently and said,

“I’m sorry, Lady Vivian. When I woke up, you were sleeping, so I laid you down. The blanket was dirty, so I changed it. I washed the original blanket and hung it out to dry.”

“Oh my… I made you worry unnecessarily. I’m sorry, Ren. I made you work hard when you’re not feeling well. You should have just rested comfortably.”

Peeking out the door, it was clear he had done more than just laundry.

The house, which had been messy in the day Ren was gone, now looked spotless.

“It’s nothing. I wanted to do it. More importantly, there’s a lot I want to hear……”

Growl. The huge rumbling from my stomach interrupted Ren’s words.

My face flushed with embarrassment.

“Sorry… I guess I’m hungry because I couldn’t eat breakfast.”

“Then I’ll prepare a meal right away, and you can tell me what happened while you eat.”

“Okay.”

Ren naturally started to move towards the kitchen, but I, belatedly sensing something odd, stopped him.

‘His behavior was so natural that I almost let him work again!’

Ren tilted his head as if wondering what was wrong.

“Why are you trying to do it again as if it’s natural? I’ll cook for you today. You’re not feeling well, right?”

Ren immediately tried to say something, but ignoring this, I quickly went to the kitchen and started stir-frying some ingredients I pulled out of the fridge.

I seasoned with pepper and salt, and confidently tasted it, but…

“Ugh, why does this taste like this?”

What’s this? Was I this bad at cooking? The shocking taste made my head spin.

“What’s wrong?”

As Ren approached from behind, I frantically tried to make excuses.

“No, Ren. I’m not that bad at cooking, really. But it’s my first time cooking for someone else, so maybe I was a bit nervous? The taste is a bit strange? Haha. I’ll, I’ll make it again.”

Perhaps finding my rambling excuses funny, Ren chuckled.

“I’ll just cook for you. Lady Vivian, please sit at the table and wait.”

In the end, I was kicked out of the kitchen like that.

As I sat at the table lamenting my pathetic cooking skills, Ren, who had already finished preparing the meal, came with plates in both hands.

He first set a plate in front of me.

I couldn’t help but be amazed. Even at a glance, it looked like it would taste leagues better than what I had made.

‘I don’t know how much I missed this while locked up in prison.’

Then Ren set the other plate in front of himself.

I was surprised. Why on earth did he bring that…?

What was on the plate Ren put in front of himself was ‘that thing’ I had ruined, which should be called dog food rather than cooking.

I asked nervously.

“You’re not… planning to eat that, are you?”

“Of course I am. You said it’s the first dish you’ve made for someone else, right? I can’t miss out on such an honorable experience.”

“Ren, think again. You might lose your sense of taste if you’re not careful.”

He shook his head and insisted.

He usually follows my words, but he seemed quite determined to taste it.

“I don’t know, I warned you. Do as you please.”

“Yes!”

His energetic response made me even more anxious. I quietly waited for him to eat ‘that thing’.

The fork picked up some food. And finally, ‘that thing’ went between his parted lips.

Contrary to my expectations, Ren didn’t grimace and chewed and swallowed the food.

‘Don’t tell me he’s going to lie and say it’s delicious? It’s no use, Ren. I know it tastes bad.’

However, he once again defied my prediction.

“…How does it taste?”

He broke into a wide smile and said very brightly,

“It really tastes bad.”

Huh? What’s this, wasn’t he supposed to say it tastes good?

He kept laughing as if something was so funny.

“It really tastes bad, but I’m so happy right now.”

I couldn’t understand why he was so happy eating something that tasted bad.

I looked at him with a frown, but he didn’t mind and just kept enjoying himself.

“Thank you for letting me taste Lady Vivian’s cooking for the first time.”

He even threw in an incomprehensible thanks as a bonus.

“But Lady Vivian, please let me do the cooking from now on.”

“…Okay.”

At his firm suggestion, I felt unnecessarily solemn.