Jade poured champagne into the empty glass without hesitation.

“Drink in moderation. It’s not like we’re drinking together with food…”

I snatched the glass away while giving him a sideways glance.

“Give it here, Larien.”

He stared at me intently and wiggled his fingers.

“Jade. You’ll get drunk at this rate. Even if it’s low-alcohol champagne, you should drink moderately-”

“…I can’t help but drink while waiting for someone.”

Jade once again pointed out that I was late.

“I said I’m sorry. We should have made plans in advance. Why did you just notify Mary on your own?”

Irritated by his persistent remarks, I snapped at him without realizing it.

‘Ah, I made a mistake.’

In an instant, the air was filled with a heavy silence.

Jade remained silent, tracing the rim of his glass.

“I’m not angry, Jade. I guess I’m just tired from visiting the imperial palace.”

I made an excuse while gauging his reaction.

“It seems like you haven’t been eating well lately, so I asked you to come… Next time, I’ll check your schedule first.”

At that, Jade also took a step back.

‘Is it because of what I just said? He made a reservation specially to take care of me, I shouldn’t have called it a notification.’

His voice sounded weak.

These days, I would blurt things out and immediately regret it when dealing with Jade.

‘I feel bad for making him wait so long, and I’m tired and want to rest today… I should suggest we eat quickly and leave.’

Feeling like I was disregarding Jade’s thoughtfulness, I remained silent.

“Please enjoy your meal.”

The waiters who had been approaching in a line set the food down on the table.

‘My goodness. All of the dishes are…’

Salmon salad as an appetizer, soup topped with caviar, and grilled scallops enhanced with the flavor of butter.

Lastly, the red lobster stew – everything was seafood.

“Eat a lot, Larien. I ordered only what you like.”

“…Ah. Yeah, thanks for being so considerate.”

It was true that I liked seafood.

As Jade said, salmon salad and grilled scallops were especially among my favorite foods.

‘I haven’t touched seafood since getting sick from it when I was pregnant.’

It was just a temporary symptom of morning sickness, so it should be fine.

‘It must be delicious.’

The buttery aroma from the grilled scallops stimulated my appetite.

“Why aren’t you eating already, Larien?”

“Everything looks so, so delicious that I don’t know where to start.”

Flustered, I stumbled over my words unnecessarily.

I hurriedly grabbed a spoon to try some of the soup.

“Then start with this first.”

Jade personally removed the meat from the lobster stew and placed it on my plate.

I cut the meat into small pieces with a knife and put it in my mouth, chewing several times.

It wasn’t fishy and was cooked just right, tender to eat.

‘Why do I feel so unwell?’

Soon after, as I sensed the distinctive flavor of seafood, I felt nauseous.

It was exactly like the day I got sick from eating seafood when I was pregnant with Blanche.

“Is it good?”

“Mmm, it’s delicious. The meat is very tender.”

“Larien, let me know if it’s not enough. I’ll order more. Try this grilled scallop too.”

Jade kept urging me, seemingly in a better mood than before.

‘I could just say I started disliking seafood after having Blanche and stop eating, but…’

I didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere again and make things awkward with Jade.

‘He remembered that I like seafood and made a reservation specially.’

It was just nausea and discomfort. If I endured and somehow swallowed, I could eat it.

‘When I think about it, I really feel the time I’ve been apart from Jade.’

It felt like my relationship with Jade was stuck at the point just before I got pregnant with Blanche, when I still liked seafood.

Snap-

Jade snapped his fingers to get my attention.

Startled by the sound, I looked at him.

“D-Did you call me? Why?”

“…It’s nothing.”

As if he had called out of playfulness rather than having something to say, Jade didn’t give any particular answer.

‘By the way, why isn’t he eating?’

His plate was clean, and all the food was pushed towards my side.

“Jade, why aren’t you eating?”

“So you can eat more.”

“There’s so much food, what are you saying? Eat with me. I feel uncomfortable eating alone.”

Jade still put some salmon salad on my plate.

“Jade.”

“Just watching you eat makes me full.”

He rested his chin on his hand and gestured for me to eat quickly.

As I brought a forkful of salmon salad to my mouth, I felt nauseous.

‘The lobster stew was cooked so I could manage to eat it, but the salmon is raw and I really can’t eat it.’

I put it down immediately, even before swallowing.

“Larien, what’s wrong? Does it taste strange?”

“…Well.”

“Don’t eat it. I’ll call the general manager right now.”

Jade seemed to have concluded that the salmon had gone bad and was about to ring the hand bell.

“Jade, wait a moment!”

I grabbed his hand and took away the hand bell.

“Larien, are you saying we should just let it slide that they served spoiled salmon?”

His voice rose even higher. There was no use in trying to stop him anymore.

‘The salmon isn’t spoiled, I can’t let them be blamed unnecessarily.’

I shook my head and spoke honestly.

“It’s not that the salmon is spoiled, it’s that I don’t like seafood.”

“What are you saying, Larien? You don’t like seafood? When it’s your favorite? You’re just making excuses because you’re afraid of what I might say.”

“Jade, if you try it yourself, you’ll know it’s not spoiled.”

Jade, looking unconvinced, cut a small piece of salmon and ate it.

“…Since when?”

It was a question acknowledging that it wasn’t spoiled salmon but that I disliked seafood.

“When I got pregnant with Blanche, seafood didn’t agree with me…”

“Then, you were pretending to enjoy it earlier.”

A deep sigh escaped him.

“Rather than forcing myself to eat, the lobster stew was manageable. I think I reacted more strongly to the salmon because it’s raw…”

“And I didn’t even know that, Larien. You could have told me beforehand. Why are you stubbornly eating something you don’t like?”

Displeasure tinged Jade’s voice.

“You don’t need to call it stubborn. Why do you have to say it like that?”

The behavior I had endured to accommodate his mood ended up angering Jade instead. I felt upset.

“I didn’t really mean it that way… Hah. Forget it. Let’s just get up.”

Just as Jade stood up, the sound of rain could be heard from outside the window.

Why did it have to start raining again in this situation?

“Sit down, Jade. We’ll have to stay here until the rain stops anyway.”

I told him to sit while pressing my throbbing forehead.

The light raindrops gradually became heavier.

‘It was just a brief shower earlier, why…’

In the gloomy weather, only hurtful words were exchanged in our argument.

Jade leaned back in his chair and turned his gaze towards the window.

‘I’m already tired because of the princess, and nothing is going right.’

His behavior indicating he didn’t want to talk made me feel depressed, and the words I heard from Princess Casandra flashed through my mind.

“You’ve been strange lately.”

Jade’s lips parted softly.

“What…?”

“I thought I knew you best, that there was nothing I didn’t know about you. But I guess that’s not true either. Everything is out of sync with what I thought.”

It was no different from saying that the expected answers weren’t coming out, that things were deviating from his calculations.

“Nothing lasts forever.”

“…Larien.”

“Am I someone who acts the way you want me to?”

The pent-up frustration burst out. I had endured everything – Duke Belaste, Princess Casandra.

My heart was burning, and I couldn’t control the accumulated emotions.

“Larien. You know I didn’t mean it that way. I just thought you would like it. But since that’s not the case-”

Seeing Jade’s wronged expression, I realized I was taking out my anger on him.

‘Why am I acting like this? Even words I would normally brush off, I’m twisting them…’

I was venting the intense emotions caused by others onto Jade who was right in front of me.

“…Jade. I was too harsh. Actually, I met Duke Belaste and Princess Casandra at the palace, so I guess I was a bit sensitive.”

I lowered my head, trying to calm my excitement.

“I can understand Duke Belaste, but why Princess Casandra? What did the princess say to you?”

Jade, who had been listening quietly, asked what had happened with Princess Casandra.

‘If I tell Jade about this, it feels like I’m tattling unnecessarily.’

Princess Casandra had mentioned Jade and told me not to misunderstand.

‘Other than that, she didn’t say anything else.’

Not wanting this to lead to complicated issues, I wanted to just leave it at that.

“Larien.”

“I just meant I was tired from dealing with multiple people. More importantly, Jade. Forget what I said earlier. It came out in the heat of the moment.”

I felt pathetic for not controlling my emotions and taking them out on Jade.

“Larien, tell me honestly what happened-”

“Nothing happened, I said. Besides, Jade. The emperor said we could postpone the engagement ceremony and exchange of gifts until Blanche’s debutante.”

I changed the subject to escape the situation where he was still suspiciously probing.

“The emperor did? That’s good.”

“It’s thanks to your advice. Thank you. Ah, looks like the rain is stopping.”

The rain was getting lighter. Soon after, it gradually ceased and the sky cleared up.

‘We should leave quickly, in case it starts raining again.’

I couldn’t be too sure, given the similar situation earlier.

“Jade, the rain has stopped. Let’s go.”

Jade followed behind me as I descended the stairs with slow steps.

“…!”

Not noticing a dent between the stairs, my ankle twisted.