The corners of his eyes, which had been drooping at my answer, curved gently upward. He whispered softly in my ear.

“My lady, I am not such a gentle person.”

“Is that so?”

“You are so lovely that I wanted to become the kind and gentle person you like, so I made an effort.”

His lips briefly descended. My face flushed slightly at the kiss that contained affection rather than sensual meaning. My heart became inexplicably restless.

“Of course, since you are so pure, you haven’t noticed even a speck of my ulterior motives, which is regrettable… but thinking that I have been a gentlemanly husband to you all this time, I suppose that’s not so bad either.”

A gentlemanly husband… Those words were accurate. To me, Yezar was not a man who pursued me so aggressively, but rather a gentlemanly and ascetic man who always maintained proper boundaries.

“Of course, I said it’s not bad, but I don’t think it’s good either. Because I’m not really such a gentlemanly man.”

The hand that wrapped around my waist was quite stimulating. My ears naturally reddened and my toes curled.

“Everything I said on the night we made love was my true feelings that I hadn’t dared to express until now.”

“Ah…”

The night I had tried to deliberately erase came back vividly. I had denied it all, saying it was because of magic. That everything he said must have been lies.

So I couldn’t bring myself to say the words “I love you” that had risen to my throat. His other hand grasped mine from below to above. Our fingers intertwined and pressed tightly together.

“I want all of you, from your fingertips to your toes. The way I pressed you, the way I kept whispering that I love you.”

I wished my mind would just go blank. The more gently he whispered, the more loudly red warning bells rang in my head.

“I’m saying that I wasn’t really such a gentlemanly man.”

Without realizing it, feeling like I might do something reckless, I quickly covered his mouth.

“Let’s sleep! It’s getting late!”

I thought nothing much had changed. But that was just my arrogant delusion. He gently bit the palm of my hand that covered his mouth. When I pulled my hand away in surprise, he kissed my forehead.

“I like you, my lady. Let’s sleep close together tonight too.”

“We’ll sleep apart!”

“No. Loving couples always sleep close together.”

The man who answered so naturally no longer looked like the pure and innocent male supporting character. There was a cunning snake beside me. And I was only now properly realizing this.

***

‘This won’t do. I can’t take it anymore.’

I was holding my head in my hands. Thanks to being tormented by Yezar for the past few days, I wasn’t in my right mind.

‘My lady, where are you going, leaving me behind?’

‘Being stuck together all day is enough! I need my own time too!’

‘It makes me sad to hear you say that. I enjoy every moment I spend with you, so I don’t need something like my own time.’

When he pitifully drooped the corners of his eyes, my heart wavered. One day, I barged in without knowing he was changing clothes…

‘I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were changing clothes. I’ll leave!’

‘Wait a moment, my lady. I haven’t buttoned up yet. Would you button it for me?’

I was completely enchanted and even buttoned up his shirt for him. Swept up in the atmosphere, I kissed him and almost confessed my feelings without realizing it. Ah, he really knew how to enchant a person’s heart.

My firm resolve was crumbling like an irresistible force. In this state, rather than accidentally confessing my feelings without knowing it, I even thought it might be better to honestly confess my feelings in advance.

And Yezar, who filled my mind completely, asked me on a date with his usual gentle face.

“My lady, would you like to go see a play with me?”

“A play?”

“Yes. My parents sent me theater tickets. They said it would be nice if I went with you.”

“Um… that…”

I was happy about the date invitation. But a date while being swept away by Yezar like this didn’t seem like a good idea. At my hesitation, he asked in a dejected voice.

“Do you not want to…?”

At his face that immediately lost its brightness, I found myself answering without thinking.

“No, no! Of course not. I’d like that.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

Yezar smiled brightly, seeming happy. I felt anew that I was too weak when it came to him.

Whenever I saw even a hint of Yezar’s sad face, I found myself answering without realizing it.

‘I’m doomed… I just have to pray that we can have an ordinary date and come back.’

***

The day of the play. I briefly resented his mother and father.

“Yezar, this…”

When I asked in disbelief, he bowed his head deeply and apologized.

“I’m sorry… I never even imagined it would have this kind of content…”

“It’s okay. That…”

I was about to say it was fine but ended up closing my mouth. Because the scene unfolding before my eyes was too suggestive.

‘No wonder the title seemed suspicious from the start. “Lady Trivia’s Men” – I thought it was just a melodrama about adultery. Who would have known it dealt with the secret nights of a widowed lady.’

This was definitely a play for adults. The actors’ bold costumes and lines, the gestures of yearning for each other. The feeling of watching all of that from the VIP seats…

The atmosphere of the audience had become heated, and the play was reaching its climax. And we were blushing red and avoiding each other’s gazes.

“My lady, let’s leave…”

“We were told that exit during the performance is not possible…”

“Ah.”

After that short word of realization, Yezar remained silent. I earnestly prayed for this time to pass quickly.

***

‘I don’t even remember how the play ended. The only impression I have is that Lady Trivia’s love life was quite dissolute.’

Originally, we were supposed to enjoy the play and then walk with Yezar for a while to go to the restaurant we had reserved. But when we came out of the theater, it was drizzling.

‘The date is completely ruined… We sent the carriage away and we don’t have an umbrella…’

We couldn’t walk in the rain, and it was problematic in many ways. Then Yezar took my hand and pulled me into his embrace.

“Shall we wait for the rain to stop?”

He seemed worried about me. Because he now knew well that my condition wasn’t good when it rained. He had deliberately pulled me into his embrace. I laughed at that small consideration.

“Yes. Let’s wait. The rain is light, so I think it’ll stop soon.”

But the rain showed no signs of stopping. Soon the raindrops became heavier and began hitting our ears. Panicked by the unexpected situation, I gripped his clothes tightly.

“My lady, are you alright…?”

A worried voice directed toward me. I tried my best to pretend I wasn’t scared. Because this was outside, not the bedroom.

I couldn’t be a burden to him.

“I’m fine! Really! There’s no way I’d be scared by something like this…”

Just then, lightning flashed and a few seconds later, thunder roared frighteningly. My body trembled without my control.

“Ahaha. I’m sorry. I might not be okay…”

I was trying to smile and speak, but Yezar quickly noticed that my face had turned pale. Soon he took off the hat he was wearing and put it on me. Then he took my hand and slowly ran through the rainy street.

“Yezar?”

“I know of an inn nearby with good soundproofing.”

“No! If we quickly catch a carriage…”

“To catch a carriage, we’d have to go out to a bigger street. I don’t want to see you shivering in the carriage.”

Even though his hair was getting completely wet from the rain without even wearing a hat. I was grateful to him for thinking of me even in this moment.

‘How could I not love someone like this?’

I deliberately squeezed the hand I was holding tightly. Even though the heavy rain soaked our bodies, the hand I was holding was burning hot.

***

The inn we arrived at had good soundproofing as Yezar had said. Once we went inside, the sound of the heavy rain and thunder became barely audible.

We were assigned a room on the top floor of the inn and dried our hair and bodies that were wet from the rain. After drying myself, seeing his thoroughly soaked hair, I gestured for him to come over, saying I would dry it for him. Yezar obediently accepted my touch.

“Really. Why did you give me the hat? You got completely soaked like this…”

At my words, spoken out of guilt and regret, he smiled as innocently as a child.

“But didn’t you get less wet? That’s enough.”

What more could I say to words like these? How long had it been since I received such unconditional love? Sometimes there was a part of me that melted warmly at his words.

“Then shall we wash now?”

Since our clothes were all wet, we needed to wash to change. That’s why I asked, but he blinked and looked flustered.

“Pardon…?”

“You got spare clothes from the inn owner. We need to change out of our rain-soaked clothes and wash ourselves too.”

“Ah… That’s right. I understand.”

Then he suddenly lifted me up. And walked steadily toward the bathroom.