After finishing his shower and changing clothes, Yezar recalled what he had said and blushed.

‘Why did I say such things to my wife?’

He should have just understood and comforted her. Seeing Julieta’s face saddened by hypotheticals, words spilled out before he knew it.

Perhaps because in that hypothesis, his existence clearly seemed to be absent.

‘Is this jealousy? But to be jealous of not existing in a hypothetical that may never exist.’

He didn’t know when he had become such a narrow-minded man. Certainly, he wasn’t like this with Bertisha.

When he saw her smiling at Camileo, though his heart ached, he understood. Instinctively, he knew there was no place for him between them, like a destined pair in a picture.

It was strange. After being drawn to Bertisha at first sight as if by fate, he watched and supported her love with Camileo. It wasn’t difficult to accept and follow all of that, as if it were his role.

Though it was hard, he never acted jealous or differently than usual towards her. He was always by her side as a kind and gentle person who cared for her.

But meeting Julieta made him feel unfamiliar emotions. He began to act in ways he normally wouldn’t. He investigated which family Julieta belonged to. Afraid she would be disappointed if he told her, he ran away like a coward.

But he kept remembering her face as she chattered, tilting her wine glass. Then, upon hearing that Julieta was looking for a husband, he who had only watched quietly from afar went to her first and proposed a contract marriage.

All of these were actions he wouldn’t have taken normally. He wouldn’t have investigated the identity of a woman he met at a bar, as it would be impolite.

Whether she was disappointed or not, he would have honestly confessed the truth and calmly accepted her reaction.

Rather than going to propose a contract marriage without properly sorting out his feelings, he would have secretly helped her meet a good match from behind the scenes.

‘Why am I acting like this?’

Such thoughts kept popping up whenever he saw Julieta. It was even more so when he saw himself now even harboring ugly jealousy.

But if he had acted as usual, it was obvious he wouldn’t have gotten this close to Julieta. He didn’t regret it.

Married life with her was more enjoyable, thrilling, comforting, and at times bewildering yet happy than he had imagined.

Julieta calling his name with a bright smile was lovely.

‘Yezar!’

Her red hair fluttering in the wind, her eyes sparkling like green leaves, her face full of smiles – he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

So he felt a greed he had never experienced before. He wished she would smile when she saw him, just as he did when he saw her.

When their hands touched or their bodies made contact, he wished she would also feel her cheeks flush and her throat parch with thirst.

Even though to her, he was still just a contract husband. No matter how close they became, when the term ended, Julieta would leave his side without regret.

‘If I begged her not to leave, would my wife…’

His continuing thoughts were interrupted by Count Warden.

“Duke Perhaem, where are you going?”

Count Warden laughed heartily and very naturally put his arm around Yezar’s shoulders.

“I was going to where my wife is.”

“No wonder you’re newlyweds! Seeing your good relationship makes me think I should treat my wife better too.”

For a moment, Yezar recalled the Countess Warden hitting Count Warden’s back. Thinking it disrespectful, he only recalled it briefly.

“No, I should treat my wife better.”

Then, as if sharing a secret, Count Warden whispered to him.

“In that case, how about gifting your wife a sword that suits her? It seems she doesn’t even have her own sword to carry around.”

He had thought about it. Julieta would always swing wooden swords, breaking the wooden dolls and swords in less than an hour, so the cycle of ordering training equipment became shorter.

If she trained with a sword that suited her, even if the wooden dolls couldn’t be helped, they wouldn’t need to order wooden swords separately. In fact, even without such issues, seeing Julieta hold a sword with the happiest face made him want to gift her a suitable sword.

“Yes, I was thinking of preparing it as a return gift for the gloves. These gloves were given to me by my wife.”

Since receiving them as a gift from Julieta, Yezar wore the gloves she gifted every day. Then the knights pretended not to know and asked him.

‘Who gifted you those gloves? Seeing you wear them every day, it must be from someone you love, right?’

‘Isn’t there a sweet scent coming from somewhere? Just going near our lord, there’s a pink aura – ah! Too bright! I think I’m going blind!’

It was clear they had conspired together, so as punishment, he personally sparred with them. Seeing the knights sprawled out unable to say a word made him feel refreshed.

“Indeed. You must have seen the Duchess wielding a sword up close. I forgot that there’s no way the Duke wouldn’t have thought of gifting a sword. I seem to have made an unnecessary suggestion.”

“Not at all. Thank you for sparring with my wife today. Of course, some of Julieta’s precious hair was cut, but I’ll forgive that.”

Feeling killing intent from Yezar, Count Warden asked while breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Duke, are you really smiling?”

“Yes. Probably.”

Yezar’s mouth was smiling, but his eyes were not. At this, Count Warden was reminded again of how dearly the Duke of Perhaem cherished his wife.

“Still, it’s partly my fault for not stopping it. What is there to hold Count Warden responsible for?”

“Why didn’t you stop it?”

“Because I couldn’t stop it.”

To Count Warden’s question, Yezar could only answer that he had no choice. In truth, he was worried when he heard about sparring with real swords against Count Warden. He wanted to stop it, but seeing Julieta’s serious eyes, he couldn’t.

Because he knew how much she loved swords and immersed herself in them.

“Julieta has talent for swordsmanship and loves swords. Watching our match, she must have wanted to directly feel the trajectory of Count Warden’s beautiful swordsmanship. By what authority could I stop her sincere curiosity towards swordsmanship?”

Watching Julieta exchange blows with Count Warden, Yezar marveled anew. She was growing. She was absorbing his teachings exactly and wielding the sword in her own way by applying them.

Though worried she might get hurt, he found himself unconsciously entranced watching Julieta’s swordsmanship.

“Still, thank you for stopping it at the end. When we return to the duchy, I plan to teach my wife that such methods are not good.”

Count Warden shook his head at Yezar’s words of thanks.

“Not at all. Other than that, it was flawless. I was truly impressed by the Duchess’s persistently following gaze and movements. There was something captivating about the Duchess’s swordsmanship.”

As if recalling their sparring session, Count Warden smiled with satisfaction.

“Though still unrefined, if polished well, it will shine like a jewel. Ah, I had something to tell you, Duke, but the topic shifted elsewhere.”

“What did you have to tell me?”

“I’m telling you this as an apology for the mistake of cutting the Duchess’s hair. The sword that Countess Orbetian used should still be in circulation.”

If he meant Countess Orbetian, it must be referring to Julieta’s mother who passed away when she was young. Her sword is still in circulation.

“Why isn’t my wife’s mother’s sword at the Orbetian estate?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The heart that keeps mementos and the heart that removes them from sight entirely are not so different. It’s because of longing for that person.”

He knew that Julieta’s father was famous for his devotion to his wife. But he didn’t know that in his grief over losing his wife, he had let go of her belongings entirely.

“That’s probably why the Duchess evaluated her own talents so harshly. There’s no way Count Orbetian could have watched his daughter, who resembles his wife, wielding a sword. She must have learned in secret. I understand now why the Duchess said she had never received a single word of praise.”

Like pieces of a puzzle coming together, he began to understand the attitude of the Orbetian family knights who didn’t praise Julieta’s talent despite seeing her handle a sword.

He had thought they simply didn’t bother to mention it since Julieta wouldn’t inherit the family, so her talent would never shine. But that wasn’t it.

“They couldn’t have given proper praise. Because then Julieta might have decided to properly learn swordsmanship and become a knight.”

If that happened, the end was obvious. It would become an unrealizable dream, blocked by Count Orbetian’s opposition. He never imagined such complicated circumstances existed.

“I wasn’t going to say anything thinking it might be unnecessary meddling, but I mentioned it because you would want to give that sword to your wife.”

“Thank you for telling me…”

‘If mother had been healthy, what would it have been like? Would I have learned swordsmanship normally, receiving love, and become a knight?’

Perhaps that’s how it would have been. If so, she would have inherited her mother’s sword and wielded it more brilliantly than anyone else.

Julieta said it was a meaningless hypothesis, but Yezar wanted to make even a part of that hypothesis come true.

It was also repentance for his own unworthy jealousy.