Serena’s anxious ears finally heard the sound of a bell.

She stopped her pacing and listened, hearing the sound of the door outside the bedroom opening. And soon, the presence of Lucas approaching the door was vivid.

“Serena.”

Lucas knocked twice out of courtesy and opened the bedroom door. And for a moment, he was at a loss for words at the somewhat absurd sight that unfolded before his eyes.

“May I ask… what you’re doing right now?”

The bride on her first night was only given a white nightgown that was half-translucent.

However, Serena had pondered and come up with several countermeasures before Lucas arrived. One of them was to wrap herself tightly in the blanket to cover her body.

“The imperial palace etiquette didn’t even give me a robe on this cold night.”

Seeing Serena’s nonchalant and brazen reaction, it seemed Lucas’s plan wouldn’t be easy either.

“It’s still autumn? There’s even a fireplace over there…”

“I’m cold.”

Serena couldn’t overcome the awkwardness and abruptly turned her back to sit on the bed. The thought of being alone with Lucas in the bedroom on this late night made her mind wander strangely and her cheeks flush.

“Yes, I feel cold too.”

But it wasn’t just Serena who was brazen. Lucas sat down next to Serena, who was sitting on the bed, and got as close to her as possible.

“Our agreement is still valid, right?”

The blue eyes staring at him asked.

“Unfortunately, it is.”

If only he was a man who didn’t know a gentleman’s honor, he would have easily broken such a promise. However, rather than taking Serena’s body right away, he wanted to win her heart.

“You must be tired. There’s a sofa in the bedroom, so would it be alright for you to sleep there tonight?”

There was indeed a sofa, but it was far too small to accommodate Lucas’s build.

“I don’t think it’s possible unless I fold my body in half.”

“…Shall I fold you?”

Serena’s eyes were fierce as she smiled brightly.

“I’ve decided to keep my promise. So you can at least give me half the bed.”

Lucas let out a long sigh.

“Today has been a very tiring day for me too.”

Serena agreed with that. Moreover, while Serena had at least taken a nap during the day, he would have come straight from being hassled by the guests at the banquet.

Since she had entrusted him with what should have been her responsibility as well, she felt a slight twinge of guilt.

“Of course, I could do even more if it meant being by your side.”

When did the boy who only glared at her 6 years ago grow up to become such a brazen man?

“But Your Highness is a man who knows honor.”

Serena deliberately drew the line as if praising him. But Lucas paid no heed and tightly grasped the hand that was gripping the blanket wrapped around her body.

“Your Highness?”

“I can at least hold your hand.”

It was a fair request from his perspective.

“And I can already interpret that lightly kissing your forehead and lips is allowed.”

“Says who?”

“We did at least that much in front of countless guests at the wedding ceremony. Surely you can allow this much to me, who is doing my best to keep my promise to you.”

Usually, he seemed to be a man of few words, but at times like this, he was very eloquent.

“Above all, there’s something to be done tonight.”

“There’s no such thing.”

Serena cut him off, but Lucas ignored her and caressed her left hand, then took the ring from her fourth finger.

No way, was he giving and then taking it back? Even with Serena’s somewhat dumbfounded gaze, Lucas stood up from his seat and stood in front of her.

“They say wedding rings have the meaning of protection. To protect the couple’s marriage vows and also to protect the precious bride.”

Seeing Serena gripping the blanket around her body even tighter, Lucas chuckled and knelt on one knee in front of her.

“Your Highness?”

Serena had never heard of such a procedure. It was common for a man to kneel and give a ring when proposing to a woman, but it was not something to be expected when the other party was royalty.

Moreover, hadn’t they already exchanged rings at the wedding ceremony?

“At the wedding ceremony, I could only put the ring on over your glove.”

It was a part Serena had never thought of.

“But what I really wanted to put this ring on was your bare finger, like now, not some glove that can be changed at any time.”

Lucas didn’t particularly believe in superstitions, but when he heard the meaning of wedding rings, it felt very special to him.

Although he couldn’t remove the bride’s glove due to the imperial marriage, when they were alone, he wanted to bestow this meaning of protection on none other than his wife’s finger.

“Serena.”

His voice rang particularly low. Serena found herself gazing into the man’s eyes that shone like obsidian, kneeling before her.

“It doesn’t matter when you fully accept me…”

Lucas’s confessions were always upright, honest. And always passionate.

“Because I can live the rest of my life treating you as my one and only wife.”

No matter how much Serena tried to push him away, it was hard to reject such ardent words.

“So all you have to do is cherish this ring and my heart.”

“Is that… really all you want?”

“Of course not.”

His lips curved into a smile.

“But as an honorable man, I prefer to win what I desire myself.”

Although Lucas had pushed this marriage forcefully, they were already engaged. Even if it seemed somewhat arbitrary, it was clear that he had no intention of forcing himself on or taking Serena against her will.

“If I may be greedy for just one thing… I also want to be your one and only husband for the rest of your life.”

“I can grant you that much.”

Serena’s unexpectedly cool answer made his eyes widen a little.

“I don’t think I could handle having a wedding twice, it was too tiring.”

At Serena’s truly characteristic answer, Lucas chuckled lowly and tightly grasped her left hand, slowly slipping the ring onto her fourth finger.

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

Lucas stood back up and looked down at Serena sitting on the bed. Her platinum blonde hair that shimmered softly like moonlight, her lovely cheeks, and the blue eyes looking up at him were unbearably adorable.

“No matter what happens, I won’t let go of this hand.”

Lucas, who had been calmly gazing at her, kissed the diamond ring and released her hand, then pressed his lips to hers again.

However, Serena quickly pushed his lips away with her index finger, so he couldn’t touch her lips.

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

Now he truly felt that the two of them had formed a lifelong bond called marriage.

“In that sense… can’t we just hold hands and sleep?”

Men’s words were similar in any era. No, you could even say they were exactly the same. So their ulterior motives would be the same too.

“Absolutely not.”

Serena said, glaring at him, but indeed, to have him sleep on the bedroom sofa, there would be no choice but to fold his large body in half. No matter how brazen Serena was, she wasn’t that cold-hearted.

“I won’t kick you out of the bed.”

The moment a flush of joy spread on Lucas’s face, Serena pulled back the curtain and showed him the barrier she had firmly set up, smiling brightly.

“It’s clearly unnecessary, as you can see.”

“It’s a cease-fire line. If you cross that line, it won’t end with just a kick to the shin.”

Serena declared confidently and lay down on the bed first. She had already tightly wrapped herself in her share of the blanket, and the bed was so wide that she didn’t feel any discomfort at all.

“Hah.”

Lucas let out a short sigh, took off his formal jacket, and lay down on the other half of the bed in a reasonably comfortable outfit. He still found it hard to believe that a mere cylindrical cotton lump was blocking him.

“Serena, are you asleep?”

It was too early for that. Lucas vividly felt Serena tossing and turning a little beyond the long pillow.

“No.”

“It’s been a very tiring day, but now that I’m trying to sleep, I can’t. I think it might be because of this uncomfortable arrangement.”

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

At her curt and coy tone, Lucas poked out his lips in the darkness.

“Alright, if we call it a barrier… wouldn’t it still be okay to just hold hands over it?”

Serena chose silence.

“6 years ago, when I finished the military parade and left for the battlefield, I couldn’t sleep for a while.”

However, Lucas didn’t seem to have any intention of keeping silent at all.

“I had never been outside the imperial palace at that time, let alone being noticed on the battlefield due to my small stature.”

Lucas’s voice as he began to tell his story sounded low and relaxed. Fortunately, Serena had taken a good nap earlier, so his voice wasn’t too grating.

“I was nothing but a burden on that battlefield. Everyone treated me as if I had come to the battlefield as the crown prince to gain merits.”

Lucas was only 14 years old at the time. No matter how strong and gifted in martial arts the men of the Tern imperial family were, it was hard to imagine the boy Serena remembered from the engagement ceremony going straight to the battlefield.

“The knights treated me with special respect, but they never considered me their comrade even for a single moment.”

“You must have been lonely.”

Perhaps because Lucas’s story sounded so desolate, Serena found herself answering without realizing it.

“Thinking about it now, it was only natural. A 14-year-old boy much smaller than his peers was receiving special treatment in the rear of the battlefield, so there was no way anyone would see him as a comrade.”

At that time, Serena was already 20 years old. She hadn’t been in this world for long and didn’t even realize how significant an engagement was, so she was enjoying her new life at the Astel estate.

“It’s a secret, but I actually almost ran away after three days.”

Lucas said it calmly with a laugh, but Serena was thinking about the past 6 years of his life that she had never once considered.