“Mmm…”

Blair, who had been hugging her pillow in her sleep, suddenly opened her eyes as she felt something different.

What she thought was a pillow was actually Herdin.

The man who had become her husband in her past life, and now in this life as well.

He was lying asleep next to her. Just like in her past life, when he pretended to love her.

The warmth emanating from him was comforting. So much that she wanted to fall back asleep.

That’s why she hated it.

Afraid of getting used to this warmth again.

Afraid of mistaking this warmth for love.

Blair tried to sit up and leave the bed. At that moment, her eyes fell on the fireplace.

The red flames blazing as they consumed the firewood.

Seeing it, Blair involuntarily gasped.

Fire.

The calamity that had burned away her happiest times.

Fear gripped her, as if those flames would once again consume everything she had. Her breathing quickened, and her vision began to blur.

At that moment, a large hand covered her eyes and gently laid her back down.

When Blair finally regained her senses, Herdin’s face was right in front of her.

“Are you scared?”

Normally, she should have been. After all, she was terrified of fire.

But her rapidly beating heart gradually calmed. Her breathing returned to normal.

Simply because he was by her side.

It was strange.

After checking Blair’s condition, Herdin closed his eyes and spoke in a low, husky voice.

“Go back to sleep.”

Blair hesitated for a moment and tried to move away from him, but the arm around her waist seemed unwilling to let her go, holding her firmly.

As Blair remained stiff, Herdin opened his eyes and said,

“I’ll use the consummation clause from the contract today.”

Blair flinched at his words.

She had thought that he might demand consummation someday, but she hadn’t expected it to be today. The two of them had just fought and made up today, and she had lost consciousness and then woken up.

But if that’s what he wanted, she had no intention of refusing. If she was going to demand consummation from him when she wanted to have Asiel, she would have to accept his demands without rejection as well.

“Then… I’ll go wash up first. I didn’t get to after coming back from outside…”

As Blair spoke, Herdin’s eyes grew cold as he gauged the meaning of her words, and he let out a bitter laugh.

“You seem to think I’m the kind of scum who would take advantage of a patient.”

“…I didn’t think that. This is part of the contract, so we should keep our promise—”

“Enough.”

That damned contract again.

Herdin’s brow furrowed for a moment at the word ‘contract’ that habitually flowed from Blair’s lips, but he soon relaxed his expression.

After all, he was the one who had first mentioned the clause of that contract just now.

“I meant exactly what I said—let’s just sleep together.”

Why on earth…?

Unable to understand his intentions, Blair looked at him with questioning eyes.

Herdin sighed and added an explanation.

“You can’t sleep alone with the fireplace on, can you?”

Blair’s eyes blinked slowly as she looked at him.

It was strange. Simply sleeping together without doing anything held no benefit for him.

So this was solely for her sake.

“I won’t do anything, so just go to sleep.”

As if his words were sincere, he covered Blair with the blanket that had slipped off her body, then removed his hands and lay down away from her.

They were close enough to touch if either moved even slightly, but he seemed to really intend to sleep just like this.

Blair blankly stared at Herdin’s profile as he lay with his eyes closed.

The air in the room, warmed by the fireplace, was cozy; the blanket he had covered her with was soft; and the warmth of the person next to her, even without touching, gave her a sense of security.

I still dislike you.

But today was really tough. I’m so exhausted. So…

‘Just for today, it should be okay, right?’

Blair, blinking slowly as she gazed at him, soon drifted off to sleep.

It was the warmest night she had experienced in a very long time.

* * *

The next morning, when Blair woke up, Herdin had already left the room.

The fireplace was out, but there was still some warmth in the room. It seemed he had been tending to the fireplace until just recently.

Blair pulled the bell rope and waited for a moment. Lina entered, carrying a silver basin with water for washing.

As soon as Lina saw Blair, her eyes welled up with tears. Her face showed that she knew of Blair’s emotional struggle the night before.

“Why, why did you do that? You’re so afraid of fire… If you wanted the fireplace lit, you should have called me.”

“I’m sorry. You must have been worried.”

Blair didn’t explain why she had lit the fireplace herself.

Badmouthing Herdin would only reveal her own shortcomings, and the issue had already been resolved.

After comforting Lina, Blair asked,

“What about Pipi?”

Blair usually took care of feeding the baby marten herself, unless something came up.

It wasn’t out of a sense of responsibility or duty, but simply because she enjoyed watching the tiny creature that resembled Asiel grow.

“Ah, Melly went to give it milk a little while ago.”

Hearing Lina’s answer, Blair asked with a slightly surprised expression,

“You’ve forgiven Melly?”

“…Should I not have?”

Lina looked ready to dismiss Melly immediately if Blair said so.

Blair shook her head with a smile.

“No, don’t do that. If you’re okay with it, I’m fine. I want you to get along well with others too.”

“But she wronged you too, my lady.”

Blair took Lina’s hand and spoke in a gentle voice.

“Lina, everyone makes mistakes.”

“…”

“Of course, there are mistakes that can never be forgiven no matter what, but there are also those that can be corrected, even if belatedly.”

“…”

“If a person’s entire being were determined by a single mistake, people would give up everything after one error. Even though they could improve.”

“…”

“What Melly did was wrong, but I don’t think it was an irredeemable mistake. And most importantly, she’s showing remorse on her own.”

The night before, when they left Blair’s room together to return to the servants’ quarters, Melly had apologized to Lina.

Recalling this, Lina slowly nodded in agreement with Blair’s words.

Blair asked with a slight smile,

“So, why don’t we give her a chance to make things right?”

“Ah, our lady is too kind for her own good.”

Lina sighed and grumbled, but her face bore a faint smile as she spoke.

“Well… I suppose she’s not a bad girl, as you say. She was the first to find you when you collapsed yesterday and took action.”

“Is that so? I should thank Melly then.”

Blair felt quietly proud that her actions, different from her past life, had caused a change from before.

As Blair washed her face with the rosewater Lina had prepared, she listened to the small stories Lina shared about the mansion.

Just as Blair finished wiping her face with a towel, Lina exclaimed as if suddenly remembering something.

“Oh, that’s right! His Excellency asked me to tell you when you woke up. He wants to have the meal you missed yesterday together.”

“…He does?”

This meant that Herdin had not yet eaten.

After lightly tending to her skin and changing her clothes, Blair immediately went down to the dining room. Mason, seeing her, bowed in greeting and promptly opened the door.

In the dining room, he sat as usual, wearing a shirt and vest.

“Did you sleep well?”

Though his appearance was impeccable as always, there was something about him tilting a wine glass with a languid expression that gave the impression of a rake from high society.

Even when he observed etiquette, even when he dressed neatly, there was something about this man’s sharp nature that couldn’t be hidden.

A kind of atmosphere that, despite knowing its danger—or perhaps because of that danger—one couldn’t help but be captivated by.

It was an impression not much different from when she first met him as a child.

Newly aware of this fact, Blair sat down beside him.

“Yes, thanks to you.”

As soon as Blair took her seat, the dishes began to be served. Only the sound of cutlery clinking against plates filled the dining room.

Herdin was never one to speak first, so this silence was familiar to Blair. The only difference now was that, after last night, the silence was no longer uncomfortable.

As Blair cut her steak into small pieces and chewed thoroughly while observing Herdin, she cautiously broke the silence.

“Herdin. About what we talked about yesterday.”

Instead of answering, his gaze turned to her.

“I understand that from your perspective, I might seem quite suspicious.”

They had talked about this yesterday too, but it had ended with his apology. She felt she should give some kind of response to that.

“But I will never do anything that would harm you. I stake everything on that.”

Blair’s expression was quite solemn as she said this. Herdin’s lips curved up slightly as he gazed at her steadily.

“Does that ‘everything’ include yourself?”

“Pardon?”

“What in this world could be more precious than ‘oneself’? If you say you’ll stake everything on a promise, but leave out the most valuable thing, it lacks credibility.”

Blair looked at him with confused eyes.

He had clearly said yesterday that he wouldn’t doubt her anymore, yet here he was changing his words after just one day.

However, seeing his expression, more relaxed than usual, it didn’t seem like he was really suspicious or upset.

Nevertheless, Blair answered sincerely.

“…Of course it includes myself. And I’m also sincere about wanting to maintain a good relationship with you.”

Herdin smirked as he looked at Blair.

A woman asking him to trust her, even though she couldn’t be completely honest.

Ridiculous, but… he decided to believe her for now. After all, he hadn’t detected the scent of another male on her yesterday.

As Herdin was tapping his wine glass while looking at Blair with intrigued eyes, there was a knock at the door and Mason entered.

“An invitation has arrived for both of you.”

The invitation he presented bore the royal family’s crest. It was an invitation to Katrina’s birthday celebration.