Idel hurriedly lowered her head. The silky blonde hair flowed down her cheeks like ripe wheat.

Under the moist, long eyelashes, her irises still glistened with moisture. The woman, with trembling lips hidden beneath her wet eyelashes, looked incredibly delicate.

At that moment, as he observed her in such a state, Kieron’s hands, unconsciously, twitched, wanting to reach out to her. He clenched the hand that had formed a fist and bit into it with force.

He had to endure.

To cut through her feelings, he, too, had armed himself with a blade. Even if that blade were to pierce and penetrate him like a double-edged sword…

“It’s late, so it’s best to wrap up the conversation here.”

As he rose from his seat, his tone calm and devoid of emotion, he advised her with a concealed sentiment.

“Since your body may not be fully recovered, lie down on the bed and rest deeply.”

Upon hearing his suggestion to conclude the conversation, Idel’s shoulders shuddered slightly. She looked pitiful, like a fragile leaf that seemed to fall at any moment in the midst of a storm.

Suppressing the impulse to embrace her and move her to his arms immediately, he barely managed to hold back. If he were to touch her even with a fingertip now, it felt like the resolution he had just barely established would crumble.

Closing his eyes, he turned his head away from her as if avoiding her, looking towards the study connected to the bedroom. In a low, suppressed voice, he spoke.

“I have matters to review. Rest first.”

At his parting words, Idel covered her mouth with both hands. Passing by her, who dropped her head even more without a word, he took steps that seemed reluctant to separate.

“Sigh…”

Seated at his desk in the study, he lowered his head, burying his face in his hands placed on both palms. A low and heavy sigh escaped through his lips.

Only when he was alone in the space without her, he could finally take off the mask he had been struggling to wear.

Beneath that mask, a man’s face distorted mercilessly with the agony of a throbbing pain in the heart was vividly revealed.

Throughout the time, he had been suppressing emotions and clinging to reason. The scent of blood spread through his mouth as he gasped. Simultaneously, a bitter sneer crept onto his lips.

He somewhat anticipated it.

When she said she would come tonight to keep the past promise, it wasn’t just to fulfill the obligation of the Grand Duke. She was not coming just for the physical union stipulated in the contract.

Yet, recalling their previous conversation, he had tried to interpret it according to his own wishes.

[Dash] May I come to your room?

[Dash] Wait for me to return. Tonight, in my room.

Before the kidnapping incident occurred, Idel shyly asked about her intentions.

While she had consistently refused the cohabitation based on the obligation of the Grand Duke, he interpreted her changed behavior according to his own expectations.

[Dash] …I have something to say. I…

[Dash] Idel. Let’s talk later. Rest for now. We’ll talk again after you recover your strength.

He deliberately avoided looking at her gaze that stared at him from the hospital bed.

He had tried to dodge it, but he was expecting it.

The moment she wanted to say something to him. What she wanted to share with him.

Perhaps it was… a form of spiritual communion beyond the physical.

Commonly known as the emotion called ‘love.’

‘Love…’
It is an emotion that calls for the recklessness of willingly throwing oneself towards the other, a foolish sentiment that, even if shattered miserably in the process, only makes one think of the other…

From some point, Idel had been looking at the emotions he had been neglecting and deeming futile.

That appearance… following the tangled threads of memories, it brought to mind the figure of someone else. It was none other than his late mother.

[Dash] I saw a portrait of you and Queen Maryelle together.

When Idel mentioned her mother, Maryelle, that memory became even clearer.

[Dash] What kind of person was Queen Maryelle? I’ve been curious for a long time. What kind of person was your mother? I heard she was beautiful, wise, and strong.

That’s right. The mother who lingered in his memories was wiser and stronger than anyone.

However… for only one person.

It wasn’t in front of the imperial court. In matters related to the imperial court, the mother was more attached and fragile than anyone else.

‘All because of that love…’

The image of his mother in the portrait that Idel saw still vividly lingered in his mind, as clear as yesterday.

The day they painted the portrait was the fifty-sixth birthday of Grand Duke Roman, his stepfather. There was also another occasion to commemorate. It was the anniversary of the marriage between the Grand Duke and his mother.

Grand Duke Roman had prepared a marriage anniversary gift for his stepdaughter, who had come to congratulate him on his birthday. At that time, he called the most prominent artist in the capital to paint a portrait to commemorate the anniversary.