“If you need me, please feel free to call me anytime.”

The restless knight left after saying those final words.

After he left, Ophelia sat for a while in the chair by the fireplace. It was to calm herself down a bit.

But physical comfort only increased her mental confusion.

Not long after sitting in the chair, Ophelia abruptly stood up.

No matter how much she tried to understand, the more she thought about it, the more she felt her patience wearing thin.

But Idren was sick, and Ophelia didn’t want to be harsh on someone who was ill. Especially when she remembered how attentive he had been when she was sick.

In the end, all she could do was go to the adjacent room where he was.

The man lying in bed with his eyes closed seemed to be just sleeping. The doctor had already left, and only one servant was watching over the situation.

Ophelia gestured for the servant to leave. The servant seemed hesitant but eventually complied.

“I apologize, but as per custom, I cannot give you much time.”

Ophelia completely understood the man who spoke with a bowed head.

Although the wedding was somehow concluded, she must have been unfamiliar to them. Allowing them to be alone was already quite a concession.

Finally alone in the room, Ophelia approached the bed and looked down at him. His pale face was calm despite having a fever.

It was then that the man opened his eyes.

Idren was looking up at the ceiling with his lips tightly shut.

The focus of his feverish golden eyes was so blurry that it was doubtful if he recognized who was in front of him.

Is he very sick?

As she tried to stroke his furrowed brow on the face that seemed to stick in her mind even though he only did things to make her dislike him, her wrist was firmly grasped.

And Ophelia realized that the man was glaring at her with teary eyes.

I must be seeing things.

That was Idren’s first thought when he discovered the pretty face looking down at him.

There was a reason for this. Given how much of a mess he was, there was no way Ophelia would be by his side.

Ophelia hadn’t considered him important even when he was at his best. There was no reason for that woman’s attitude to change now.

It was then that Ophelia reached out her hand towards his face.

Not wanting to be fooled by an illusion, Idren grabbed her wrist.

The cold sensation felt inhuman, so Idren arbitrarily concluded she was fake. It was a thought made without realizing he was feverish.

With his head ringing, his throat constricted, and breathing difficult, yes, even his sense of touch could be malfunctioning.

“…Don’t touch me.”

The man who said this in a very hoarse voice turned to lie on his side. Meanwhile, he was still holding her wrist tightly.

As always recently, Ophelia couldn’t understand what he was thinking.

Why are you gripping my wrist so tightly if you’re telling me not to touch you? Complaints rose to the tip of her tongue. His hot hand was painfully strong.

However, the sharp rebuke didn’t leave her mouth. She knew that fighting with a sick person would only make her look bad.

His eyes were a bit cloudy, perhaps due to the fever, with tears welling up.

When she reached out to wipe them away, Idren avoided it by burying his face almost into the blanket.

He grumbled in a cracked voice.

“I hate you.”

His sudden words were sulky. Not knowing why he was upset and annoyed that he seemed to think he was the only one, Ophelia retorted.

“You think I don’t?”

At that, Idren seemed to have no words to argue back and just mumbled again after keeping his mouth shut. I hate you.

He looked quite stubborn, persistently saying it even in his hoarse voice.

Ophelia didn’t respond to him.

She thought it didn’t matter how coldly he acted since the marriage couldn’t be undone anyway.

Even though she had listened to everything he said, the man closed his eyes and sobbed. The tears falling along his densely spread eyelashes looked pitiful.

Reflexively trying to wipe them away, Ophelia recalled that he had threatened not to touch him.

Really, how did he hide this stubbornness? It feels like I’ve been tricked into a sham marriage even though it was the marriage I wanted. Ophelia let out a deep sigh.

Ophelia sighs.

Even knowing it was an illusion, Idren’s heart sank. The breath that escaped all at once felt just like criticism directed at him.

Even though it’s just an illusion, how can it feel so real?

He resented the woman who wasn’t kind to him even in moments like this. On top of that, he was afraid to face her, certain she would look down on him with cold eyes.

In fact, what he feared most was something else. Opening his eyes, meeting her gaze, and Ophelia disappearing.

Even if she wasn’t real, she was still Ophelia, so Idren wanted to be with her as long as possible. After all, the real woman wouldn’t stay with him, would she?

Still, there was no way to stop the bitter feeling rising inside him.

Some people say they’re happy just thinking of the person they love, but he only became miserable, no different from usual.

Idren, growing sad, narrowed his eyes a bit more, unable to open them fully.

The words he had long wanted to ask, but had been too afraid to, unknowingly rolled off his tongue.

“…Do you hate me that much?”

“What did you say?”

The voice asking back sounded as if she found it absurd.

But Idren was sincere. It seemed right that Ophelia hated him.

So she wouldn’t leave, and wouldn’t take all these feelings with her…

No, in fact, he himself had caused all this suffering.

It would have been better if he had given up first.

Nevertheless, pretending not to know this, Idren mumbled.

“Why do you, you hate me so much…”

The Ophelia created by his obsession sighed again and muttered.

“I think your fever is quite severe.”

It wasn’t just empty words. Ophelia thought Idren was seriously ill.

Otherwise, there’s no way he would act like this, speaking informally and being so whiny.

Right now, Idren seemed like a child of ten-something rather than twenty-six or twenty-three.

Thinking that if he kept acting like this, she might even find it childish, the man stubbornly shook his head.

“It’s okay if you hate me.”

Getting frustrated listening to him continuously, Ophelia tried to correct his misunderstanding.

It’s true that she was annoyed with him right now, but that wouldn’t last forever.

Probably by tomorrow or the day after, affection would gradually eat away at those negative emotions,

She would have said so if the man hadn’t added in a depressed voice.

“Since I’m lacking, I have nothing to say even if I’m hated…”

At those words, Ophelia forgot what she was about to say.

His self-deprecating attitude overlapped with a moment of her own past self.

While she was blinking, unable to choose what to say in response, Idren spoke in a roughly cracked voice.

“Even if it’s just once, so…”

Please love me a little.

Pleading, Idren thought. Even for an illusion, what is this?

Even though he thought he didn’t want to be fooled.

He knew he was incredibly easy in front of just one person, but he felt like he had sold himself for nothing, and tears came to his eyes.

It was then that the third sigh fell.

A cool hand touched his forehead. The caressing touch was light. The feeling of resentment from just before seemed to ease a little.

“Don’t cry.”

The lowered voice somehow felt warm.

Therefore, all the more, it couldn’t be real. There’s no way Ophelia would speak to him so kindly.

While Idren was repeating to himself who had done something shameful, the fake Ophelia stroked his cheek and said.

“Don’t cry, just go to sleep now.”

I’ll tell you I love you when you’re well.

And the cool hand covered his eyes. Feeling as if the heat that had been tormenting him was washed away by just that, Idren finally followed her words.

The next day, Ophelia prepared to go to the city walls as previously agreed with Salode.

Until yesterday, they weren’t sure if Idren would be able to return in time, so they had canceled the audience scheduled for the day after the wedding and diverted those funds to aid the poor.

On the way to the city walls, bright yellow flowers arranged in vases decorating the corridor caught her eye.

Those yellow flowers were mainly found in the south and shouldn’t have been here originally, but it seemed they had spent some budget on them, perhaps thinking she might be disheartened.

Salode flinched a little from afar as he saw her stop to observe the yellow flowers.

It seemed he had taken the lead in preparing the flowers.

It felt new to receive something like comfort from Salode after experiencing everything. Ophelia’s eyebrow twitched.

Suddenly, she felt like teasing him a little.

Ophelia plucked one flower and waved it towards the man.

“Isn’t this embezzlement?”

“It’s not.”

Salode, who hastily answered, added. It was brought in within the wedding budget set aside by His Majesty.

Underlying that was a request to take good care of Idren. He’s your king after all, that seemed to be the meaning.

It’s not difficult to give the answer the person who cared wants. Ophelia said what he would hope to hear.

“I should thank His Majesty.”

“…He will be pleased.”

I wonder. Before, she would have thought so without hearing anyone else’s words, but now Ophelia couldn’t be sure.

Seeing him cry yesterday, his feelings were clearly the same, but something seemed to be tangled up inside him.

Still, one thing was certain – she had no intention of giving up on such a man.

As she put the flower she had picked back into the vase, Ophelia vowed to bring him back to his original self.

Didn’t Idren say so?

As long as love remains, marriage is eternal.