Yuan held tightly in her heart the pain that would not diminish no matter how much she took away.

‘Your sister died. Now that you’ve lost your place, didn’t you want to replace everything?’

‘A husband instead of your sister. This black mansion instead of the Peliesse mansion. You’d want to settle down, right?’

Burying her face in his faded blonde hair, Yuan quietly sobbed.

Please forgive me for staying by your side because I needed you, yet in the end, I couldn’t even take away a quarter of your pain.

Forgive me for thinking that half of your pain was the price you should rightfully bear, while hoping to hide in the peace of this place, yet suspecting you might have killed my sister.

“I’m sorry.”

“If you’re sorry, get out now, ugh……”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

Yuan consumed the unending pain bit by bit until the next arrow was pulled out.

If only she hadn’t insisted on staying here.

If only she hadn’t lied about proving the wedding night to stay here, the emperor wouldn’t have come to torment Clard.

So the pain the emperor inflicted on him was not Clard’s, but Yuan’s.

The one who should rightfully be in pain now was herself.

Yuan sincerely thanked God for giving her the ability to feel pain on behalf of someone else for the first time in her life.

“I’m in pain. Why are you crying?”

“……Because we’re family.”

Yuan vowed to finally let go of Louise and do her best for the new family she had brought her to.

She decided to try to get along with him sincerely, not to talk about Louise.

Fortunately.

Clard didn’t say the sad words, “Who are you to be my family?”

He merely turned his head away from Yuan, who buried her face in his hair and endured her groans.

[This is the timeline separator]

The black mansion was busier after the emperor left.

The servants cleaned the rooms where the guests had stayed and removed the decorations from the annex hall that the people from the imperial palace had elaborately set up.

A cart loaded with food ingredients and work uniforms, ordered for the first time by the new mistress of the house, was rattling as it entered the mansion.

The stone path, cleared of snow early in the morning, gleamed as if it had just been polished.

Yuan watched the chef preparing the venison that Emperor Igor had caught, then boiled some soup nearby and went up to the second floor.

“Explain to me why I’m not in so much pain.”

As soon as she entered the bedroom, Clard’s locked voice flew towards Yuan.

Sunlight poured in through the curtains she had opened at dawn. Clard, shielding his eyes from the light with his hand, looked up at the approaching Yuan with a frown.

“Tell me everything in detail.”

Clard, who had been acting as if he was about to jump up, let out a groan as he clutched the tightly wrapped bandage on his side.

“The wound is still there. If you move thinking it doesn’t hurt as much as expected, it will be difficult.”

Yuan supported him to sit up against the headboard of the bed and placed a tray with a bowl of warm soup on his lap.

Clard, who had been carefully examining Yuan’s face through the rising white steam, lowered his gaze to the spoon he hadn’t even picked up. The blonde hair falling over his straight forehead sparkled finely.

“……You could have refused.”

A self-deprecating voice flowed from his pale, dry lips.

Yuan realized what Clard meant by refusal.

The Peliesse prescription she had mentioned.

The medicine she gave and the ‘intimate warmth’.

In other words, if translated into what he imagined, a ‘passionate night’.

Is that bothering him now, of all times?

Yuan chuckled as she watched Clard suddenly focusing on strange things.

“How could I refuse when Your Highness was in so much pain?”

Clard flinched greatly.

His expression darkened even more.

His gaze followed the rising warm steam again and stopped on Yuan’s face.

Pale face. Drooping eyelashes. Slightly swollen eyelids and reddened eye area, with a downcast gaze scattered here and there.

“Don’t accept everything. If it hurts, refuse.”

“?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Clard turned his head away sharply. Yuan stared at his sculpted profile for a long time before whispering.

“This is nothing, really.”

“……”

Yuan, who habitually said it was fine, stared at Clard’s complicated profile for a long time again before lowering her gaze.

Although she had clearly taken away all of the man’s pain, she felt like she was committing a sin.

‘There’s nothing for you to worry about.’

Yuan had only used her ability of her own will.

For the sin of intruding into his life that would have been peaceful if it weren’t for her.

“Since I’m doing this because I want to, don’t worry too much. It makes me feel better too.”

“Because you want to?”

Clard’s face, looking at her again, was very red.

It was a face mixed with shame and confusion, not simply embarrassment.

He stared at Yuan, who said it was fine so nonchalantly, and finally spoke the words he had been holding in his heart.

“You. You know I can’t remember, don’t you?”

Yuan, who understood immediately, nodded, and his nape turned red. But it was no longer the stage to maintain his pride over the fact that he alone didn’t know about the passionate night that everyone now knew about. After all, the person involved knew about it.

Clard asked, as if he had made up his mind, clenching his jaw.

“……Is there no way for me not to lose my memory?”

This time, Yuan’s face turned red.

If he didn’t lose his memory, he would realize that there was nothing between them but pain, not the night he imagined.

Yuan agreed with Lancelot that Clard wasn’t such a bad person, but revealing her ability was a separate issue.

“That’s beyond my ability. But……”

She had no choice but to lie again.

With a bit of sincerity.

“It might be better if you don’t remember.”

But this single sentence seemed to touch something in Clard, as his face became even paler than before.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Yes, they shared a bed last night as well.”

A hollow laugh escaped involuntarily.

Clard laughed emptily in front of the butler who was flustered by the master’s repeated question. A cool smile flowed, deeply imbued with contempt for himself.

“It’s natural, I believe, as the madam nursed Your Highness all night.”

“Natural?”

The butler’s words, meant to comfort and not disturb Clard’s mood, became poison instead.

Clard, staring at the bandages soaked with blood tightly wrapped around his side, shoulder, and thigh, agreed for the first time with his uncle’s opinion of calling himself a ‘beast-like fellow’.

To engage in intercourse while experiencing flesh-tearing and body-piercing pain.

And the reason for that intercourse might be… the same as the reason why he doesn’t remember the pain of the night before.

‘To forget the pain and sleep comfortably.’

Clard irritably ruffled his blonde hair and glared at Gustav, who was hesitating whether to leave his master or not. As Gustav cautiously approached, Clard lowered his voice.

“Why is it that only the woman suffers pain during intercourse?”

According to the chattering maids and Butler Gustav’s report, sounds of enduring pain were always heard from the bedroom.

He wasn’t unaware of the reason, but wasn’t it a bit too much every time?

“Well, if the two of you don’t match well……”

Clard raised one eyebrow.

“Or if the man is quite… inconsiderate……”

The opposite eyebrow twitched.

“Or… both……”

Clard glared at the butler who was only increasing anxiety rather than providing help.

Gustav, with a slightly wronged expression, left his final advice.

“It would be better to restrain yourself given Your Highness’s uncomfortable condition. I’ve seen several cases of monarchs dying from overexertion. It would be the same for women. If the body can’t handle it……”

Click−.

“If you treat the madam well even during the day……”

Gustav slipped out, closing the door softly, saying only what he wanted to say.

Clard clutched his head with a pale face.

[This is the timeline separator]

“I won’t eat.”

The rejection was a bit harsher than usual.

Yuan, recalling the pot full of soup she had prepared in advance, didn’t back down and placed the meal on the table.

“Don’t be like that, please eat a little. I made it myself again today.”

At the mention of her making it herself, Clard’s brow furrowed slightly.

For some reason, Clard always had a displeased look on his face since he got injured.

‘Maybe being mean is better than being cold as ice.’

It really was.

The words like ‘get out’ or ‘leave’ had decreased significantly from Clard’s mouth. Instead, he sometimes stared at her with an indecipherable expression. And there were moments when he acted strangely, very strangely gentle.

“If you don’t like it, I’ll take it back.”

He particularly couldn’t refuse when Yuan brought something she had made herself.

Even though he didn’t seem to like it or welcome it.

Yuan pretended to give in and supported Clard as he slowly got up.

This time too, he neither fully relied on her nor pushed her away completely.

Thinking that he must be quite burdensome due to his tall and large body, Yuan couldn’t help but find him a bit cute for at least pretending to eat.

“Why are you smiling?”

“……”

“I asked why you’re smiling.”

“……Because you’re cute.”

An expression of disbelief appeared on his face at her timid answer.

“How old are you?”

It was an insignificant question, but it made her speechless.

Had he ever asked such a personal question like this before? Out of courtesy? Out of boredom?

Whether he knew or not about Yuan’s confused feelings.

Clard began to eat the soup with his head bowed.

Until he emptied half the bowl, Yuan watched him with a feeling as if her chest had become a balloon floating up.

“I asked how old you are, kiddo.”

Clard, who had finally finished the soup cleanly, lifted his chin.

It was quite elegant, but there was a tiny bit of soup on the corner of his mouth.

Yuan chuckled and wiped the corner of his mouth.

Clard’s eyebrow twitched once.

“You’ve eaten enough.”

“Sixteen? Seventeen?”

His face turned pale blue as soon as he said it, obviously where his thoughts were leading.

“If you’re done eating, let’s go for a walk. I’ve cleared all the snow from the walking path.”

“I asked how old you are.”

Clard insisted, as if he absolutely needed to confirm, with a pale blue face.

“You’re over twenty, right?”

“I’ll tell you if you go for a walk with me.”

For a moment, half of Clard’s always graceful white cheek turned red.

Yuan immediately realized that it wasn’t due to embarrassment, but anger.

A voice pressed between tightly closed lips spilled out.

“How dare you, make a deal?”