It didn’t take long to find out who Deos was talking about. Ophelia said to the man who couldn’t leave the doorway even after opening the door:

“You can come in.”

Idren, who entered as if he had been waiting for her permission, asked:

“Have you been crying?”

It would be obvious just by looking at her face, so she couldn’t lie, but it wasn’t something to be proud of, crying at this age.

When she didn’t answer, Idren didn’t ask further and sat down beside her. Ophelia suddenly realized how much her actions must have hurt his pride when he cried. She had openly asked if he was crying. It wasn’t even meant as comfort. More like shock.

“…From now on, I’ll pretend not to notice when you cry.”

She meant it sincerely, but Idren didn’t take it so seriously.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m used to it.”

Ophelia didn’t respond to the man’s words, which seemed narrow-minded at times but not entirely so.

It was common for her to fall silent in the middle of a conversation, so Idren continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

“Is she someone you’re close to?”

“I thought you had met Deos beforehand. Didn’t she tell you?”

Not only did all the people entering the castle go through Idren, but Deos’s words during their conversation had implied that they had met beforehand.

“I didn’t ask about your relationship with her. I thought you might find it unpleasant.”

“That level of inquiry wouldn’t even feel like background checking, so it’s fine.”

From the beginning, Idren seemed to be overly considerate of her. Ophelia thought that she must have been the least profitable investment he had ever made. Even pouring salt into the sea would have been more productive than this.

But Idren just nodded slightly. Realizing that he wouldn’t ask Deos about their relationship even after leaving this room, Ophelia let out a small sigh.

“Do you know that I had a fiancé before marrying you?”

“…I’ve heard about it indirectly.”

Which meant he hadn’t explicitly tried to find out.

Ophelia explained to her strangely honest counterpart:

“It’s his mother.”

She didn’t intend to talk deeply about Haslen to Idren, but this much was okay to share. After all, it was a fact known to all of Reden. If Idren hadn’t been unnecessarily considerate, he would have known this long ago.

And Ophelia realized that her explanation was somehow lacking. Idren had asked her if she was close to Deos.

Not who Deos was.

“So, you could say she was someone close to me.”

At that, Idren clasped his hands that had been resting quietly on his knees. As they were both sitting side by side looking straight ahead, they couldn’t see each other’s expressions, but it wasn’t exactly a pleasant reaction.

It was Idren who broke the silence that had settled.

“…Were you on good terms with your fiancé?”

“We were.”

It would be hard to say they felt the passionate emotions that other lovers typically do, but what existed between them was also affection.

Haslen was the only person she had loved in Reden.

“He was a good person.”

He knew the weight of his words and valued justice more than his own life.

Although Ophelia still couldn’t sympathize with the people of Reden, Haslen, even at his young age, had helped those who had no way to voice their opinions. It was something that couldn’t be done without a noble character.

“You’re a good man too.”

The response to her additional comment was a small laugh.

“Is that a compliment?”

“It’s just a fact. I think others would say the same.”

Probably any woman you asked would give the same answer. A man who is handsome, wealthy, has a clean private life, and a personality without rough edges is hard to find anywhere.

He even embraces all of his partner’s flaws when in love, so it would be hard to find better conditions for a husband.

But Idren, who had repeatedly told her that she was a decent person, was quite harsh on himself. He shrugged and said:

“I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ll get such an evaluation because I can’t treat others the way I treat you in public.”

“You don’t have to be kind to everyone to be considered a good man.”

“Well, there is quite a difference between being good and being nice.”

Only then did Ophelia realize that she had used different words to describe the two men.

While she was momentarily confused, Idren turned to her and said:

“I don’t know about others, but I’d rather appear nice than good in your eyes. Sometimes among nice things, there are things I want to have… Why did you flinch?”

And Idren grabbed her hand. As he pulled it up so that it was clearly visible to him, Ophelia could also see her own hand well.

Startled, she frowned and asked:

“Why is this…”

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“No.”

If she had been feeling unwell, she would have known earlier. Although she wasn’t one to exaggerate, she wasn’t so dull as to not notice when she was in pain.

Recently, the medicine she was taking had dulled her senses a bit… but that was just a side effect that came with effective sleeping pills.

Realizing that something was definitely wrong with her body and retracing her memories, Ophelia recalled that Deos had said the same thing.

“It happened earlier too.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was like this when I was talking to Deos earlier too.”

Then the man looked down at her hand with a hardened expression and said:

“We should see a doctor.”

The summoned doctor was a face Ophelia had never seen before. Having been burned before, Ophelia knew what the royal physician looked like. She had seen his face several times during treatment.

As there was no way multiple people would take turns examining the confidential health matters of the royal family, Ophelia frowned. Idren, who was by her side, explained:

“This is the doctor who manufactures the medicine you’ve been taking recently.”

“You mean the sleeping pills?”

The other medicines were just close to being nutritional supplements. Idren nodded as well.

“That’s the one we suspect, so I called him first.”

It was a passing remark, but it gave a strangely negative impression.

It didn’t take long for his suspicion to prove reasonable.

“Among the herbs with calming effects, there are some that affect the nervous system and can cause hand and foot spasms.”

When the doctor, who had bowed politely, said this, Idren asked as if he had been waiting:

“Then continuing to take it wouldn’t be good for the body, right?”

“There are no direct side effects until you overdose, but you may feel inconvenience in your daily life, so if your original symptoms have improved, you can stop taking it.”

And the doctor added in Aglante with an Egelbamot accent:

“You were supposed to reduce the dosage soon anyway. It might not be a bad idea to stop at this opportunity.”

Ophelia frowned at the words she didn’t quite like. It was then that Idren turned to her.

“What do you think?”

Although he asked for her thoughts, it was clear from his eyes what he wanted. Idren wanted her to stop taking the sleeping pills.

It made sense since unlike other medicines, it wasn’t particularly good for the body, but Ophelia couldn’t agree with his opinion. She still had reasons why she couldn’t stop taking the medicine.

She asked the doctor, who seemed to follow Aglante etiquette well despite coming from Egelbamot:

“What are the side effects of overdose?”

“Mild arrhythmia and cold hands and feet would be about it.”

That’s not too bad. Ophelia shook her head.

“It’s better to keep taking it.”

Then Idren waved his hand to dismiss the doctor. He seemed to not want to show others that they were having a conversation with opposing opinions.

Alone in the room, he turned to her and asked:

“To be honest, I’m against your opinion, so I’d like to know why you think that way.”

“The medicine is effective, so there’s no need to stop just because of minor side effects, right?”

In fact, she hadn’t had any dreams since Idren returned. She had been worried about him finding out what kind of dreams she was having, so this was reassuring.

But what if the problem resurfaced after stopping the medication? Ophelia didn’t want that to happen.

“I know you couldn’t sleep well at night when I wasn’t around. But you can’t live on medication forever.”

“It won’t be forever.”

Although she couldn’t guarantee what the future would hold, Ophelia planned to separate from Idren after avenging Anika and dealing with the matters in Reden.

By then, there would be no reason to avoid nightmares, so she wouldn’t continue taking the medicine.

But Idren didn’t easily agree with her opinion.

“Medication that makes your hands shake doesn’t seem good for your body. I’ll find other ways to help you sleep well, so let’s stop taking it for a while, at least.”