Compared to the past days of closing his eyes and ears to everything, Clad found it strange to be paying attention to outside sounds these days.

This morning, Clad, who at 24 years of age could be called an old bachelor in the capital Cielo, admitted that he had lost the virginity he had carefully preserved—though it was more a case of not being able to be close to women rather than having preserved it.

“Looks like the mistress knocked the master down more than once.”

“It seems the two really hit it off.”

“Why though?”

“They’re a perfect match! It’s embarrassingly noisy every night.”

“I saw you not sleeping and giggling by the door, so don’t be coy!”

To Clad, the maids’ chatter about why a man like him would pick up a scrawny crow like her translated into disbelief.

Though he should have listened to the maid’s perspective, Clad was no longer capable of rational thought. Only his inflated self-justification dominated his brilliant mind.

‘Yeah, why did I?’

Unlike the drunken first night, which was engulfed in pain and had turned him into a monster, last night he was perfectly sane and his memories before falling asleep weren’t jumbled.

He touched his numb cheek, where that woman’s presumptuous lips had touched.

‘Am I to believe that nonsense about human warmth being part of the treatment, along with the medicine?’

But he couldn’t deny the effectiveness of this unbelievable charade. Including the first night, he had spent two nights free from pain and nightmares.

Was it just sleep? The pain, which would wake him even after taking near-lethal doses of sleeping pills, had indeed lessened noticeably.

He imagined a scene that only frivolous people like Lancelot Lev would dream of.

‘Perhaps the pain subsided, and the desires you’ve been suppressing emerged, leading to a good night’s sleep?’

If only he could remember, it wouldn’t be so unjust.

What kind of trick was used that he couldn’t even remember a known passionate and heated night?

He wasn’t so foolish as to not understand what ‘human warmth’ she spoke of meant.

‘Did I really sleep with ‘her’?’

Clad stood askew, having flung open the curtains he always kept drawn.

He made sure to stand against the wall next to the window, out of sight from below.

The chattering stopped as soon as he looked out and saw the woman who had troubled him wandering in the garden.

Her neat face was busy moving around a small garden bed where culinary herbs were planted near the garden trees.

“What’s got her so busy?”

As his butler, Gustav, watched this unfamiliar scene of his master getting up and looking out the window, he answered dutifully.

“She wants to tend to the garden.”

“That was rhetorical.”

Embarrassed, Gustav had the same powerless expression as when he answered the master’s ridiculous question about spending the night with his wife yesterday.

“That’s something for the lower ranks to do.”

Gustav answered again with “Yes…” but flinched at the chilling silence.

“Yes…?”

“How are you managing the lower ranks?”

Gustav wondered when the master had ever cared about such things, seeing as he hadn’t personally wandered around in so long. It was just a way to vent his frustration.

Knowing his irritable nature well, Gustav quickly apologized without argument.

But Clad’s gaze didn’t linger on Gustav for long, returning to the window.

Whether he was twisted, troubled, or both, Gustav, basing his guess on Clad’s character, was startled to see Clad suddenly pull the curtains closed with such force…

…and surprisingly, Clad’s face was very red.
“I’m going to sleep.”

“Yes.”

“Leave.”

But to whom should he relay that message?

Gustav, accustomed to such dismissive orders, left the bedroom but couldn’t help but express his belated doubts.

Yuan was busy fetching two big logs from the storage amidst the bustling servants. Choosing two hefty logs was just right to go unnoticed.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, Butler.”

She ran into Butler Gustav, who was lingering near her bedroom.

Gustav, looking incredulously at the logs in her arms and then at her face, quickly snatched them away, turning pale.

Yuan’s face fell slightly, prompting a hasty explanation from him.

“It’s not that I’m taking them away, but you should leave such tasks to the servants.”

“Everyone seemed busy…”

“There may be a lot of work in the house, but looking after you is our top priority.”

Yuan looked at the butler, bewildered.

Gustav, who started to lecture, suddenly remembered his purpose for coming here and cleared his throat.

“We’ll send someone to pack your belongings, although you brought almost nothing with you.”

“My belongings?”

Yuan’s voice rose slightly.

Clad had slept comfortably and hadn’t sought her out the next day. She had been anxiously pacing her room, eventually helping the servants, wondering if she was really about to be thrown out despite showing all she could do.

“Yes, it’s time to officially move to your bedroom. Staying in the guest room doesn’t look good to others.”

“No, I don’t want to. I mean, what did you say?”