The gloom was only momentary.

Yuan also started helping diligently with a spade in hand, but wasn’t Oliver staggering and hiding behind a tall fir tree to avoid them, wheezing breathlessly?

‘That fellow doesn’t want to show me his death.’
‘There are such deaths too.’

Fearing Oliver might run away again and have to be searched for in this white forest, Hena quickly ran over.

Watching Oliver trying to go somewhere else somehow, Yuan admitted that Clard’s words were not entirely wrong.

‘There may be such deaths. But even if it’s a journey of no return, you could at least say goodbye before sending them off.’

Oliver, who no longer had the strength to run away, was embraced in warm arms.

His unfocused eyes blinked very slowly.

Yuan smiled forcedly at Oliver, who was obediently nestled in Hena’s arms looking at her, and wrapped Clard’s gown she had secretly taken from the laundry room around Oliver.

“Oh, Oliver!”

At that, Oliver went wild. He sniffed hurriedly, then cried “pii-ii, pii-ii” again before burying his nose in it.

‘Actually, I didn’t want to run away. I wanted to die seeing Your Highness in your arms.’

Yuan’s lips trembled sadly. Hena’s eyes were already swollen beyond measure.

Yuan sensed that Oliver’s death was now imminent.

The “pii-ii” sound gradually faded, and she could see the light slowly disappearing from the black eyes reflecting the setting sun.

Yuan, along with Hena, embraced the dog to shield it from the rain and whispered to the dying Oliver.

“I’ll make sure to clean your home again.”

When your master’s face becomes clean and bright again like the beautiful prince who loved you before, I’ll scold you for sure and ask why you did this.

Oliver made the “pii-ii” sound again as if he understood the words.

Oliver tried to lift his head with difficulty as if attempting to make eye contact with Yuan, but eventually buried his face in the clothes again.

Feeling the warmth of Hena and Yuan patting him, smelling the scent of his master he had longed for so much, the black eyes slowly faded.

“Your master actually wanted to come to you too.”

Yuan whispered like someone desperately shielding and protecting a flickering candle with both hands.

“He says he loves you, Oliver.”

The dog made a barely audible “pii-” sound and finally closed his eyes.

Hena let out her suppressed cry with a “hueeung-!”

Yuan also lowered her head with furrowed brows and twisted lips.

The dog, once called Clard Yufris’s wolf, looked so small wrapped in the soft gown, a far cry from its former majestic appearance.

The butler smiled contentedly as he carried up Clard’s dinner.

Thanks to Clard diligently following the advice to try being nice during the day if he couldn’t at night, as suggested by him and Lancelot, the days had been quite peaceful lately.

‘The young lady is truly a blessing. His Highness should treat her even better.’

It was nothing short of a miracle compared to before when he would frown at the slightest breeze.

Clard, who had finally started doing his duties to some extent by giving mismatched orders like basking in warm sunlight and decorating the garden, certainly looked better than before.

Gustav could see the undisguisable emotions beneath the impassive face.

It was a brief glance that moistened the heart like a momentary shower, or small gestures proving their emotional closeness, like Clard surprisingly being the first to gently tap Yuan’s forehead or head while curling up the corners of his mouth.

‘The young lady is so caring, indeed.’

To cause such trouble without His Highness’s permission, yet still make sure to request his dinner.

Although it was difficult having to use his unskilled hands since even the chef had run away, Gustav felt indescribable gratitude every time he saw Yuan taking such good care of Clard.

‘His Highness should learn to be grateful.’

To have such a beautiful and kind bride, yet not even go for a walk with her!

For Gustav, who was too old to have a wife by his side, it was utterly incomprehensible.

‘If His Highness gets angry about Oliver, I should take the young lady’s side a bit. What can we do about her kindness? She went out herself when she could have just sent servants or guards to bring Oliver back.’

After a few knocks, the butler was about to enter Clard’s bedroom when he was startled to see Clard standing in front of the window in the exact same position as before.

“Your Highness?”

Butler Gustav called him several times.

Clard did not respond.

The dim gaze looking outside showed no trace of the anger Gustav had expected towards his wife who had left without permission.

“Your Highness…”

He just looked very empty and sad.

Moreover, his jawbone was protruding prominently as if he had been clenching his teeth for a long time.

The butler knew he should leave in this atmosphere, but feeling that Clard shouldn’t be left alone, he stood guard behind him until the dinner he had brought up went cold.

That evening. Yuan returned just before sunset, thoroughly drenched in the rain and snow.

Snow began to fall along with the pattering rain.

Yuan, who had been thoroughly soaked in the rain and snow on the way, took a moment to collect her dizzy thoughts as soon as she entered the black mansion.

Her head was also complicated with various thoughts.

Judging by her throbbing head and sore throat, it seemed she might catch a bad cold by tomorrow.

It would be much better to take a warm bath right away, dry off in front of the fireplace, and drink some hot tea, but she was in a hurry as the sun had already set.

Thinking she should quickly put Clard to bed and return to her bedroom to wash up after just removing the moisture from her face and hair, she opened the door to Clard’s bedroom.

Clard was still standing in front of the window in the same position Yuan had seen him in this afternoon.

Yuan paused for a moment, stepping on his elongated shadow that reached her feet.

Somehow, tears welled up in her eyes.

‘Your Highness is sad too.’

What flowed down Clard’s broad back was clearly sadness.

He couldn’t be indifferent to Oliver’s death.

Yuan took off her wet cloak, hung it on a nearby chair, and carefully walked over to embrace his lonely-looking back.

He didn’t flinch at her touch as usual. He didn’t push her away either.

“I buried Oliver well.”

Yuan reported, hiding her trembling voice from the cold.

To the man who must have watched her rush out to find Oliver from here.

“Oliver didn’t die lonely.”

“……”

“Hena and I only said nice things to him. That he was the kindest dog in the world.”

Yuan swallowed the tears that were about to rise.

“That his master loved him, and will continue to love and remember him in the future.”

“……”

“Was I wrong?”

Clard didn’t answer for a long time.

Yuan thought he was grieving silently.

‘Let’s give him time to be sad.’

“My lady!”

The butler, who had been frantic since seeing her in the lobby, finally returned with an armful of blankets thicker and larger than his own body.

“My lady! Your body is wet. You’ll catch a cold.”

“It’s fine. It felt cool.”

“It’s winter rain! The colds here are not to be taken lightly.”

At the mention of her being wet, Clard’s head finally turned towards her.

Clard’s sunken gaze slowly traced Yuan’s pale lips.

Amidst the crackling sound of the fireplace logs that the butler had hurriedly lit, the quiet sound of Yuan preparing tea mixed in.

Only after the butler had left and the sun had completely set, with not even the sound of servants to be heard.

Clard opened his mouth while gazing at Yuan’s busy hands from afar.

“Just go today.”

“Are you worried about me?”

Yuan was drying her wet hair with a towel the butler had brought.

When bewilderment flashed in her eyes, his lowered eyes twisted ever so slightly.

“You’re going to spend the night in that state.”

“Ah.”

Yuan was well aware that he was quite a neat person.

It must be uncomfortable seeing her look like a drowned rat.

Yuan hurriedly got up from her seat and gathered her wet fur cloak.

“I’ll wash up and come back quickly.”

“You.”

Before Yuan could leave the bedroom with her belongings, Clard stepped away from the window and approached her with heavy footsteps.

His long black shadow stretched from the fireplace to the bed.

Clard Yufris was clearly in a bad mood right now.

Whether because Oliver died. Or because she was wet. Or something else.

“Why are you doing this to me.”

“…What do you mean?”

“You could just do things moderately. Just do your job moderately and be comfortable. Why-”

He paused briefly in his rushed words.

The flickering firelight reflected various colors in his eyes.

“Why are you going this far.”

“How many times are you going to ask? I’m your wife and we’re family-”

“No one likes being in pain.”

Clard repeated with a gloomy smile.

“No one likes being in pain.”

Two pairs of wavering gazes clashed sharply in mid-air.

“This much is nothing to me-”

“Don’t say this much is fine. Stop that bullshit like ‘This much is nothing to me.'”

Clard pointed out the content she habitually said.

His eyes, filled with sadness, loneliness, and confusion, trembled so much that his neat eyebrows twisted in multiple directions.

“I get that you have a strong stomach. But why do you endure me at night to that extent?”

Fragments of emotion rarely seen in Clard seemed to be flying in all directions.

Yuan blankly looked up at him.

It was the first time she had seen Clard express his emotions so quietly yet intensely.

“Is your taste as peculiar as your personality?”

“What do you…”

“Or perhaps really impossibly.”

An intense gaze that seemed a bit angry pierced through Yuan.

Yuan’s eyes rippled like waves.

“You might actually like me.”

Surprisingly, his dark, sunken eyes were also trembling ever so slightly.