At that moment, Veronia felt her heart sink.

That’s right. She had a home to return to. She had a child and family waiting for her.

‘I almost… couldn’t go back home. I almost never saw Jediel again. Our Jediel…!’

A terrible imagination swept through her entire body, causing chills. And tears flowed down.

“Sob… I’m a bad mother. To forget our Jediel in that moment!”

She couldn’t bear how pathetic she felt. It was a devastating feeling.

“How in the world, how could I forget Jediel. Our Jediel…! Huu-uck…”

Hot tears like fireballs kept flowing down continuously. She felt like she failed as a mother. She felt foolish and stupid.

“Huu… Huu-uck!”

When Veronia suddenly burst into tears, Killian was bewildered. He felt awkward, thinking he had made her cry.

‘…To make Her Highness cry!’

He had only said a word out of great concern, but that word made her blame herself.

“…nia, don’t cry.”

Killian, who had approached her side before he knew it, hugged her and patted her back. Her body trembled under his palm.

“Hic! Huu…”

The tears showed no signs of stopping. Veronia cried and cried while embraced in his broad arms.

“Nia, you’re not a bad mother. That’s not possible.”

“…”

Killian, who was slowly stroking her back, gently comforted her. He slowly murmured, hoping his sincerity would reach her even a little.

“You are the most precious, one and only mother to Jediel. I’m sure you’re a caring and affectionate mother.”

“…”

“The reason I spoke like that was… because of me. I was going crazy with worry that something might have happened to you when you went into the water to save a drowning child.”

At Killian’s sincere confession, Veronia’s crying gradually subsided. She raised her head to look up at Killian.

“…nia, it wasn’t because of you, but because of me. I’m sorry. So you don’t need to blame yourself.”

Killian’s eyes looking down at Veronia became moist. Veronia was momentarily flustered by that pitiful gaze.

Thump thump, her heart began to react. This man crying because of her was unfamiliar. No, more precisely, it was unfamiliar yet also very familiar at the same time.

“Still… I hope you’ll be more careful next time. Because… I don’t want to lose you again.”

It was very similar to Killian’s gaze when he confessed that he was bothered by the kiss and night they shared long ago, that he was bothered by her.

‘Why of all times… am I remembering that scene from back then, why…’

Past and present intertwined in Veronia’s mind, creating a fierce storm. Her mind went numb and turned white in the strong wind. Her heart swayed back and forth, unable to keep balance in the rough waves.

“…So don’t cry. I’m sorry.”

Killian lowered his head and kissed the tear stains on her cheeks. The soft, tender sensation touched her skin briefly before lifting away.

‘Killian…’

As she repeated his name in her heart, unable to call it out loud, tears that had stopped flowed down again.

She was pierced by this man’s tenderness as he cried, worried about losing her. She couldn’t help but tremble at this man’s honesty as he apologized, telling her not to blame herself for what he said because of himself.

She couldn’t bear how lovable this man before her was. She felt like she would go crazy.

‘I… I think I really love this man.’

This feeling… since when had it been? Was it from the moment she met him again? Or was it from when she held his hand in the rain-soaked garden?

‘Maybe… from when we clung to each other and jumped into the river long ago? Ah… was it from when we first met at the victory ceremony?’

She didn’t know since when. But she knew this one thing for certain. Right now, at this moment, Veronia loved Killian.

It wasn’t loving the male protagonist of the original novel she had read over and over in her past life. It wasn’t loving the fiancé of the body she possessed, a man perfect in personality, ability, looks, and family background.

She liked this man who was anxious about what might happen to her. She liked this man who was restless at her tears and apologized.

Though a false death had separated them, though time had passed in that state, though they now lived in completely different worlds… she liked this man who was still sitting beside her, overcoming all of that.

She liked this man, Killian, who embraced her and kissed her tears.

‘It’s not just liking… I love him.’

She couldn’t bring herself to utter those words rising with a hot temperature. She had to restrain that. Because once words are spoken, they can’t be taken back.

But she had to express this uncontrollable emotion raging like a storm somehow. Otherwise, she felt like she would go crazy. She felt like some part of her body would break down if she just stayed still like this.

So Veronia gently placed her lips on Killian’s lips. The plump, soft skin interlocked with each other.

Killian’s shoulders stiffened momentarily, perhaps surprised by the sudden start of the kiss. But soon he held her cheek with one hand and her lower back with the other, exploring and exploring her lips.

They shared each other’s breaths between their rubbing lips. The hot passion and intense emotion contained in the breaths could be felt clearly. The inhaled breath circled through their entire bodies, creating an electrifying current.

The heat of desiring each other grew hotter and hotter, finally turning into bright red flames. It felt like they might get burned if they weren’t careful. It was a flame that might take everything away, but Veronia thought it was impossible to stop.

‘This kiss… is dangerous. It’s wrong. But… I hate stopping here even more.’

Veronia firmly grasped Killian’s collar. She had grabbed it to push him away as he kept coming closer, but before she knew it, her hands were pulling him in. She didn’t want to be apart from him.

She felt like it would be fine even if all her secrets were revealed. She wished she could live like this forever, kissing in his arms, the safest place in the world.

It felt like Killian would understand everything.

‘Just for now… just for today, just for this moment alone…’

She wanted to be greedy. She wanted to be greedy for Killian, at least in this present moment when she could be completely honest between a past covered in lies and a future punctuated with deception.

Veronia wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him. Perhaps that was the signal. Killian’s hands, which had been holding her lower back, began to exert more strength.

Their already interlocked lips connected even more deeply, and their hot breaths intertwined even more intensely. The two pushed themselves against each other so much that it felt like they might break.

After the ecstatic kiss, Killian was almost out of his mind. He didn’t even know how he got on the carriage or when he returned home.

When he came to his senses, his freshly showered body was already on the bed.

“Veronia…”

He softly murmured her name, repeatedly recalling the kiss they had shared. His face turned red as if it might burst at any moment. His heart was the same. It was beating wildly, thump-thump.

He wanted her.

He could clearly feel that she wanted him too. There was no room for doubt.

In that moment, they existed just as one man and one woman, forgetting their names and circumstances.

It didn’t matter at all that Veronia was hiding her identity, or that he was hiding that he knew her identity.

It was a time focused only on expressing their feelings unreservedly and accepting each other’s feelings without reservation.

“Ah… Veronia…”

He called her name again.

This time, he felt only a cool breeze instead of heat. The reality of being left alone after the hot kiss felt lonely and sad.

He wanted to run to her right away and hold her in his arms. He wanted to hold Jediel together.

He wanted to kneel before her and beg her to accept him, not to abandon him, not to leave him.

But he couldn’t.

Because he knew that the moment he uttered those words, she would vanish like smoke.

“Sigh…”

A long sigh mixed with lamentation came out.

There was another problem.

He was worried that Veronia might find the impulsively started and passionately continued kiss burdensome, and avoid him because of it.

Judith’s words at mealtime still lingered in his mind.

At the time, Judith had said no, but those words clearly implied that Veronia might quit the Magic Tower research institute.

“Sigh…”

It felt like he might go crazy if he just stayed still like this.

The best way to relieve a mind full of various thoughts and anxiety was to move the body.

Killian immediately got out of bed and picked up his clothes to put on. It seemed he would have to spend the night at the training grounds today.

Veronia was also unable to sleep. The mind of Veronia, lying in bed, was filled with the passionate kiss she had shared with Killian.

‘Why on earth did I do that… I must have gone crazy!’

Her cheeks were so hot and flushed that she had to cover only half her body with the blanket. Still, the hot heat circling inside her body made her sigh frequently to release the heat.

Thinking she wouldn’t be able to sleep, she deliberately called Jediel to lie down together, but nothing improved. Even listening to the child’s steady breathing sound, suh-geun suh-geun, as he slept, she felt more awake rather than drowsy.

Lying on her side, Veronia blankly looked at Jediel’s face, unconsciously searching for resemblances to Killian.

‘His straight, dark eyebrows seem similar. Also… his high nose bridge seems similar. And… his philtrum and lips are also clearly similar to Killian’s.’

She hadn’t noticed before, but looking closely, Jediel resembled Killian a lot.

‘So that’s why he caught my eye even when we briefly crossed paths in the market by chance.’