“Where is this?”

The answer brushed past her ear not long after.

“The Rakhne coast.”

“Where’s the sea here…?”

As she playfully frowned at his teasing smile, his fingertip pointed somewhere behind.

His hand soon gently turned her body around.

Far away, the sea he spoke of could indeed be seen.

The view beyond the cliff was a familiar sight.

“Isn’t that… the place we came to last time?”

“Yes, that sea.”

He seemed to have no intention of letting go of their joined hands, gripping even tighter.

In that state, he moved forward.

Of course, with their hands still linked, despite the cool breeze on her face, his temperature felt only hot.

Following behind him somewhat dazedly, the surrounding scenery flowed like a panorama.

Not an ant could be seen around.

Recalling the recent articles speculating about his upcoming marriage and the awkward relationship between the two families, it was truly fortunate that there was no one around.

If there had been people, it would have been quite noisy just from them being together.

After advancing for quite some time along the path stretching to the cliff, they reached level ground and he came to an abrupt stop.

The sound of crashing waves wrapped around her ears.

Before them stretched an endless expanse of sandy beach, just as she had seen before.

Though the time was different, the place hadn’t changed at all.

Perhaps because of that, memories of that day flashed through her mind.

The red sunset draping over the sea, the man’s smile that seemed like his true one… and even the name etched in the sand.

The man who had stopped abruptly in front of the beach quietly gazed at the sea before him.

Looking at the sea that perfectly mirrored the endlessly vast sky, her heart stirred gently.

Suddenly, she became curious about such a thing.

“That name we etched before must have been erased by now, right?”

After saying it, she felt it might have been a foolish thing to ask.

The name had been etched merely on sand.

Searching for something that would have long since disappeared by now could only be interpreted as wanting to make it anew.

But then…

“If you’re curious, why don’t you check?”

The man, with a somewhat suspicious smile, suddenly bent one knee.

His hand reached towards her foot. Just as she was about to pull back a step in embarrassment, he wrapped around her ankle and brought it in front of him.

Glancing up with a smile at her flustered state, he gently removed her shoe.

Though it was her foot that was bare, somehow her face felt hot.

After that, he loosened his cravat.

The sight of him carelessly dropping that jewel-adorned piece exuded a unique atmosphere, causing her to stare blankly.

The wind settled on top, disheveling his neatly arranged hair.

The man who had been a proper young master just moments ago now looked like he could be some wastrel or ruffian from any street corner.

However, even with his sculpted perfection disturbed, he still boasted a flawless figure, merely with a different aura.

Perhaps even without his background, he would have stirred the hearts of countless women – such was his appearance that made one think so.

Even she, who knew all too well how dangerous this man was, felt her heart flutter in this moment.

Just as she turned her head to calm the tidal wave of emotions crashing like waves, her body was lightly lifted up.

Startled, she tried to pull back, but her body, already caught, could not escape from his embrace.

The sound of their touching hearts pounded, resonating throughout her whole body.

She couldn’t even distinguish whether it was hers or the man’s.

At the same time, memories of the passionate night spent with him flashed through her mind.

Even though all that was touching was merely his arm.

The breath coming from close by became a sticky heat enveloping her entire body.

Below, his sharp jawline, like a sculpture, was even more vividly imprinted in her eyes.

Because of this, even though the scenery behind him changed quite rapidly, she couldn’t notice the change.

Not until he arrived at their destination and looked down at her with a smile.

That smile of his, characteristic of him, overflowed with sensuality that perfectly matched the man’s aura.

The man, who had advanced with big strides without even a tremor in that state, only set her down when they reached the sandy beach.

The sensation touching her toes was as soft as silk.

Only then did the surrounding scenery slowly wrap around her senses.

From then till now, unchanging were the squawking seagulls, the snow-white roofs settled far away, the occasional hermit crabs, and even the sky blurring at its boundary with the sea.

The backdrop boasted as beautiful a scenery as before.

As she turned her head, letters etched clearly on the nearby sand caught her eye.

Those letters, not faded in the slightest, were as vivid as if by magic.

‘Could it be that the waves haven’t swept it away yet?’

Surely at high tide, the water would submerge this place…

He showed no particular change in expression, as if he had known it would naturally still be there.

In the red gaze she met, her own surprised expression was fully reflected.

On the other hand, no wavering could be seen in his gaze.

“Are you done checking?”

While writing this, I thought it would just disappear like me…

When he speaks with such an affectionate voice, it’s as if we’ve really become lovers.

However, her mind wasn’t foolish enough to be deceived by such an appearance.

She knew all too well that he was merely in a relationship of giving and taking what was needed from her, and that in that relationship, the absolute ‘superior’ was him.

What meaning could confirmation have for her?

Wasn’t it all predetermined by you from the start? I just need to move and speak as you wish.

So today too, she tries her best to pull up the corners of her mouth to form a bright smile.

“It really hasn’t been erased yet.”

An indecipherable light mixed into his face as he gazed at her intently.

“Did you want it to be erased?”

“…Pardon?”

“You don’t look particularly happy.”

He applied pressure to their joined hands and curved his eyes into crescent moons.

The more affectionate he becomes, while a sense of relief rises, the accompanying resentment also deepens.

It was also incomprehensible how he acted like this until the very end.

It’s not like he would actually like her, but if he really had such feelings, shouldn’t he not act like this even more?

Either way, it was equally incomprehensible.

The more so, she decides to put on an even more passionate performance of toying with him.

Strictly adhering to the purpose, just like before.

As she pulled on his loosened shirt collar, a momentary wavering settled in his eyes.

Thoroughly concealing her heart dyed with tension, she looked straight at him.

“Yes. I hoped it would be erased.”

He applied even stronger pressure to the opposite hand he was still grasping.

Ignoring that, she bloomed a smile on her lips that she had practiced and traced over thousands of times.

“So we could come engrave it again.”

Looking up at him with such eyes, as if gazing at a truly beloved partner.

“It’s better if it’s erased, so I can make such excuses.”

As the sunlight reflected and then receded beneath his golden hair, shadows fell, clearly revealing his face.

He wore an expression of interest, as if he hadn’t expected such words to come from her mouth.

However, he didn’t show even the slightest movement in that state.

Ah, could it be because I said such things when rumors of breaking off the engagement are circulating?

Honestly, she was curious.

Whether it was true that he was breaking off the engagement with Lady Fiocel, and what the reason was for reaching such a conclusion.

But in reality, such things likely had nothing to do with her at all.

The sound of waves lapping overlaid behind his wavering figure.

She gently lays her voice over that.

“Of course, don’t worry. No matter what conclusion you come to, I’ll wait.”

If one were a desperately loving partner, perhaps they would make such a decision and speak like this.

“I won’t be a burden to you.”

Typically, that’s how noble men were. Even if they spoke of true love or whatever, it didn’t mean they could give everything.

It was just nicely packaged to obtain an object of amusement.

Just as he never gave her the medicine she needed all at once.

Just as he said with a cold face that it wasn’t to that extent, it was just that much.

For a moment, she recalled the times when he saved her at Sleigh and when he came as a project sponsor, but she quickly brushed those thoughts away. Even to her, they were just nonsensical delusions.

Throughout her contemplation, he quietly gazed at her.

But why?

The corners of his mouth that had been raised until just now were stiff.

Normally, when told that one would wait regardless of the choice made, wouldn’t they be pleased that no troublesome matters would arise?

Shouldn’t he be happy, thinking he got a toy for a cheap price?

The red eyes quietly staring at her somehow created an uncomfortable feeling, causing her body temperature to rise rapidly.

‘Did I go too far?’

Just as she stepped back to create distance, a firm arm caught her waist.

So that she could never escape.

In the instantly closed distance, she felt his breath right in front of her nose.

Unlike his languidly curved eyes, his breath carried a dangerous temperature.

A deep shadow fell long over Cassian’s face.

His stiffened lips didn’t show even the slightest movement.

As if he had forgotten how to move.

The corners of his mouth that had curled up when the woman first said she wished it had been erased, and then when she said she needed an excuse, had now vanished without a trace.

Even if those words were the woman’s ploy, he had thought they contained quite a dense concentration of sincerity.

But she’d wait? For what?

This woman who speaks as if she were some goddess of mercy, saying she’d wait – as if all her words of liking him were lies – is just laughable.

As is her appearance speaking without even realizing her eyelids are trembling.

Yes. You could probably wait for a thousand years, ten thousand years.

As long as you have eyes and ears, you who don’t even ask about news that every citizen of the empire knows, you’re certainly capable of that.

This woman who doesn’t have even the slightest question about how the marriage is going, whether the engagement is really being broken off.

His resolve to give this woman everything she needed crumbles in an instant.