“What is it?”

The question was asked cautiously. Ophelia answered as she took off her outer garment and handed it to the servant.

“From now on, it would be better if we used separate rooms.”

At that, Idren rolled his eyes with an awkward expression. Hmm. After hesitating for a moment, the man spoke.

“May I ask the reason?”

I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. However, there was no confidence in his added words.

Realizing that she had made her words easy to misunderstand, Ophelia clarified.

“We’re just going back to how it was originally.”

In her previous life, she had used a different room from Idren.

That had changed when they combined rooms on the way up from Reden for the wedding, solidifying into the current arrangement.

It wasn’t that she disliked having the man lie beside her, but Ophelia needed to keep some distance from him for a while.

At least until Idren’s birthday.

Ophelia didn’t want him to find out what she was preparing.

Idren seemed to have more he wanted to ask. As he grabbed her hand and walked down the corridor, he began.

“So the reason is…”

“There’s no problem with you, so you don’t need to worry.”

Ophelia wasn’t angry or dissatisfied with him.

No, rather the opposite.

Ophelia no longer had any intention of denying or ignoring the other’s value. Idren was the embodiment of all the best things that could be in her life.

And for some good things, to have them, she also needed to be in a good state.

That was why she wanted to keep some distance from him for a while.

After all, once she resolved what needed to be resolved, they would share a bedroom again. She kept quiet because if she said that, it would instantly lead to explaining the reason for separating bedrooms, but Ophelia had no intention of permanently splitting rooms with him.

Ophelia entered the bedroom and turned to look at the man who had followed her.

“Since we’re on the topic, shall we start using separate rooms from today?”

Idren looked at her with confused eyes and shook his head.

“Let’s just stay as we are for today.”

The question came back just before falling asleep.

In the bed with the lights dimmed, Idren spoke up behind her back.

“I’ve been thinking.”

Though tired from being out all day, Ophelia gladly responded.

“About what?”

“I don’t understand why you want to separate rooms.”

And the man shifted a little. Though lying on his side facing away from the bed, Ophelia immediately realized what expression he was making.

I can’t figure him out. Thinking this, she let out a small sigh.

Usually when he pushed forward he seemed to have a stubborn personality, but sometimes Idren would dwell on trivial things like this.

It wasn’t something she particularly wanted to point out. Unlike in the past, Ophelia didn’t want to hastily judge the man’s personality as not suiting her taste.

If it was uncomfortable, she could just endure it a little.

After all, doesn’t Idren also endure many things while living with her?

But this wasn’t the kind of problem that could be solved by her enduring it.

I suppose I can tell him this much. Having decided, Ophelia reached her hand behind her back. Fortunately, the man quickly grabbed her outstretched hand, not having completely withdrawn due to his troubled state.

Thinking that the feeling of his calloused fingertips on her palm was ticklish, Ophelia said.

“It’s not that I’ll do this forever.”

“Then, why…”

“You just need to wait a little while.”

She knew it wasn’t kind to tell him to just wait without a proper explanation.

But how could she say that she needed time to polish herself because she was embarrassed for him to see her?

That’s right. The reason she was going to such roundabout lengths to keep her distance for a while was none other than that.

Before deciding to go out, Ophelia looked in the mirror and realized her appearance was more serious than she thought.

Setting aside that she had become pale from being in a country without much sunlight, her cheeks were gaunt and there were shadows under her eyes.

She knew why her complexion had changed. To maintain a normal complexion, one needed to live regularly and maintain their health, but since Idren’s return, Ophelia hadn’t done anything consistently.

Of course, Idren seemed to find her pretty no matter what state she was in, but that was entirely because his eyes were strange, not because she was healthy.

Ophelia didn’t want to rely on the man’s biased perspective.

Didn’t Idren say it himself?

“I want to show you only my best side.”

She felt no different.

Moreover, Ophelia had something she wanted to do for his birthday.

Unlike her, who tended to lump things together as long as they roughly matched, Idren was quietly romantic. It was something she realized after carefully considering what he might like.

Even on their wedding night, didn’t he say with a reddened face:

“I don’t like it until you say you like it.”

Though she herself was far from romantic, there was no reason she couldn’t accommodate if that’s what he liked.

It’s not like saying “I like you” was difficult.

Of course, it was something she had never actually said out loud.

But Idren had also done things he’d never done before. Ophelia didn’t want to be someone who took all of the other’s firsts while refusing to give any of her own.

…As he said, she had now come to have similar feelings.

Her well-maintained appearance and the villa she once asked to be let into were props to effectively convey those feelings.

Using separate rooms for a while was to maximize that effect.

Ophelia spoke again to the man who was tightly holding her hand as if it were something precious.

“You’ll find out before long. Just wait until then.”

It had already been several months since he had been holed up in Isily’s house.

On the way back to Brinwell, escaping from assassins who attacked the carriage, Netepel had hidden in Isily’s house and hadn’t taken a single step outside.

People were spread throughout the area. The port’s security was stricter than ever, and it was said that even those who just looked like they had blonde hair or reddish eyes were being questioned.

“So you must absolutely not come out.”

Isily had hidden him in the small house where he lived alone and emphasized this many times.

“It’s still safe, but we don’t know when surveillance might extend this way.”

Netepel had also agreed with the old man’s words.

And that was still the case now. Outside was still crawling with people looking for him, and Isily was his only helper taking care of him in the midst of such circumstances.

But just because he understood it intellectually didn’t mean complaints didn’t build up.

Because he had been locked up in the most dilapidated room for days when he was young, Netepel disliked being in one space for a long time. The suffocating stuffiness reminded him of the helplessness from back then.

Moreover, he had something he needed to repay to Ophelia. This was no time to be stuck in such a cramped hut.

Netepel recalled the events of that night, still vivid even after several months.

After ending his final meeting with Ophelia, he boarded the carriage carrying disappointment, displeasure, and anger, but it stopped not long after.

After the artificial stop, the carriage door was torn open with a loud noise. And Aglante knights who seemed to have no intention of hiding their identity rushed in.

They instantly killed the carriage, servants, and attendants. Netepel too had his stomach pierced by a sword blade.

It was a near-fatal wound, so Netepel thought he would die. His hands and clothes became stickily wet, and his waist felt like it would break.

He crouched under a rock, fleeing from the pursuing knights.

That’s when the unbelievable happened.

Along with the god’s angry voice, the wounds he had suffered instantly disappeared.

If things had ended there, he might have been grateful to the god.

But desire was greedy as its name suggested, and it couldn’t stand the fact that he had harmed what belonged to it.

And saying it was the price for that disloyalty, the god began to punish him once a day. The punishment was a momentary continuation of the same pain as when he was wounded.

But only the pain was felt, the wounds did not reappear, so Netepel could not reveal this to Isily.

Unless it was Bahamal who had witnessed it with his own eyes, he couldn’t trust even the old man Bahamal believed in.

Of course, since he was someone he had to entrust his safety to, he had to take some measures to prevent betrayal.

“If Bahamal had followed me, he would have died there too.”

You know how precious Bahamal is to Tanel, right?

With those words alone, Isily had silently hidden him for months.

But Netepel still couldn’t trust the old man. He had heard about the bond flowing between Bahamal, Tanel, and Isily several times, but he still didn’t understand it.

It wasn’t just now. Netepel had never believed in trust between humans in his life. The only thing he trusted was his own judgment.

The only person he thought would be eternal was Ophelia, but even she had changed.

As he briefly sharpened his hatred while recalling the woman he could never forgive, the old man dressed in outdoor clothes caught his eye.

Quickly composing his expression, Netepel asked the old man.

“Do you have an errand to run?”

Isily stared at him for a moment before answering.

“Her Majesty the Queen has summoned me to the palace.”