“I can give you that much.”

His eyes widened a bit at Serena’s unexpectedly cool response.

“I can’t go through another strenuous wedding ceremony.”

At the very Serena-like answer, Lucas chuckled, tightly grasping her left hand and slowly slipping the ring onto her ring finger.

“At least our feelings about marriage are the same.”

Lucas stood up and looked down at Serena sitting on the bed. Her platinum blonde hair shimmering like moonlight and her beautiful cheeks and blue eyes looking up at him were unbearably lovely.

“I will never let go of this hand, no matter what happens.”

Lucas, who had been calmly looking at her, pressed his lips to the diamond ring and then released her hand to match his lips with hers.

However, Serena quickly pushed his lips away with her index finger.

“Even if you push me away, I won’t let go.”

Now they both felt the weight of a lifelong commitment called marriage.

“In that context, can’t we just hold hands while we sleep?”

Men always say the same thing across ages. So their motives would be the same as well.

“Absolutely not.”

Serena spoke while glaring at him, but to accommodate him on the living room sofa would mean folding his large body in half. No matter how shameless Serena was, she couldn’t be that heartless.

“You won’t be kicked out of bed.”

The moment Lucas’s face flushed, Serena lifted her veil to reveal the sturdy barrier she had set up, smiling mischievously.

“It’s clearly unnecessary.”

“It’s a ceasefire line. Crossing it won’t just end with a kick in the shins.”

Serena confidently stated and lay down first on the bed. Her side of the blanket was already tightly wrapped around her, and the bed was so spacious that it didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.

“Huh.”

Lucas let out a short sigh, took off his formal jacket, and lay down in the other half of the bed in a relatively comfortable outfit. He still found it hard to believe that a mere cylindrical pillow could block him.

“Serena, are you asleep?”

It was too early for that. Lucas was keenly aware of Serena’s slight restlessness from the other side of the long pillow.

“No.”

“It’s been an exhausting day, but now that I try to sleep, I can’t. Probably because of this uncomfortable arrangement.”

“No, it has nothing to do with you, so don’t worry.”

His lips twitched in the darkness at her sharp tone.

“So, about the barrier… would it be okay just to hold hands over it?”

Serena chose silence.

“Six years ago, after the departure ceremony and leaving for the battlefield, I had trouble sleeping for a while.”
But Lucas showed no intention of keeping silent.

“At that time, I’d never even been outside the palace, and on the battlefield, my small stature made me hardly noticeable.”

Lucas’s voice, as he began his story, sounded low and soothing. Fortunately, Serena had just woken up from a nap, so his voice didn’t bother her at all.

“I was a burden in that battlefield. Everyone treated me as if I’d come to watch for the sake of earning merit as the crown prince.”

Back then, Lucas was merely 14 years old. No matter how strong and spirited the men of the Thern royal family were, Serena could hardly imagine the boy she remembered from their engagement ceremony going straight to the battlefield.

“The knights showed me special consideration, but not for a single moment did they consider me one of their comrades.”

“You must have been lonely.”

Whether it was because Lucas’s story sounded so melancholy, Serena found herself responding without even realizing it.

“When I think about it now, it’s only natural. A 14-year-old boy, much smaller than his peers, receiving special treatment in the rear of the battlefield; no one could have seen me as a comrade.”

At that time, Serena was already 20 years old. She had not been in this world for long and had not truly grasped how big a deal the engagement was, so she was enjoying her new life in the Astel territory.

“Between you and me, I almost ran away after just three days.”

Lucas spoke calmly with a smile, but Serena found herself thinking about his past six years, something she had never considered before.