It was a day with not a cloud in the sky.

Outside the window of the running train, a metasequoia road full of the faint green of spring stretched out.

Eyes that resembled the freshness of the verdant leaves blooming outside were fixated on the print.

She was always a woman who responded honestly and uprightly.

Caeron, who had been gently watching her unmoving emerald eyes for quite a while, chuckled softly.

Idel’s eyelashes trembled slightly in response to his laughter. Coughing lightly, she turned the page she had been reading.

“My Duchess seems to love books.”

The hand that was turning the pages paused for a moment. Idel slowly lifted her head. The playful smile on his lips deepened.

“It’s like memorizing, seeing you look at one side for a long time.”

For a moment, Idel’s pupils enlarged, and she quickly lowered her gaze. Her pale earlobes blushed red.

Idel was in the firstclass cabin of a train heading to the Grand Duchy of Elyos. It was a private space only for the Duke.

The moment she entered here, she was surprised. The inside of the train was like a luxurious small villa.

The firstclass cabin, which used a whole carriage, was filled with mahogany furniture.

There was a table with drinks such as tea and whiskey, and fruit, and of course, a soft sofa… even a vintage bed was prepared so that you could rest sufficiently during the long journey.

This space, equipped with a bathroom with a bathtub, was unbelievable to be inside a train if it wasn’t for the moving scenery outside the window.

From the moment the attendants disappeared and only the two of them were left in the first class, Idel began to get nervous.

Especially, her eyes looking at the bed were trembling relentlessly. She couldn’t have imagined there would be a bed in the train.

To hide her nervousness, she deliberately took out a book from her bag… but she couldn’t read the print at all.

“I’m getting a bit bored.”

As Caeron turned the whiskey glass he was holding, the ice cubes inside clinked.

“Somehow I’m a little tired too.”

Her eyebrows crinkled slightly at his claim of tiredness.

‘He came back late yesterday….’

She thought he would be tired enough after coming home late and leaving early in the morning.

But if Shade had heard his words, he would have fallen backward in disbelief.

The Duke, who had participated as the commander of the allied forces during the civil war in the Rattleland Kingdom a few years ago, led the operation perfectly without a moment’s sleep for three days.

His eyes, which did not know a moment of fatigue until the moment of victory, shone vividly.

Shade, who saw this scene firsthand, would have known that his words of being tired from coming home late were an absurd act.

“Are you very tired?”

The innocent Duchess had no idea of such facts. As her eyes full of worry turned to him, Caeron smirked.

“I want to rest a bit.”

Caeron, who had put his whiskey glass on the table, slowly rose from the sofa.

“Do you want to rest with me?”

He reached out his hand towards her.

“Just leave the book you’re not absorbing over there.”

Idel’s mouth slightly opened at his words that accurately pointed out she was only pretending to read the book.

Unconsciously, strength entered the hand holding the book.

Looking at the Duke’s hand reaching towards her, her eyes started trembling again.

She instinctively knew that he was heading for the bed to rest.

Seeing her like this, the smile on Caeron’s lips deepened.

He enjoyed this moment. The moment her peaceful heart wavered because of him.

He snatched the book from her hand, which was looking at the tormented face of the woman, and placed it on the table.

“Act more productively, Idel.”

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms, Caeron whispered softly.

“Once you’ve rested enough, the print in that book will enter your mind.”

Of course, for the time being, he had no intention of letting the book steal her gaze.

Because she would be busy only looking at him.

“Shall we rest now?”
Looking at the captive who couldn’t move, his deep blue eyes shone vividly, just as they had when he had fought in the battlefield.

Liar.

Idel bit her frenziedly heaving lips, casting a glance at the man on top of her.

It was impossible that the man pushing her so hard could be in a tired state.

She didn’t even have time to regret being fooled by his sweet lies.

Idel hurriedly swallowed another moan that was on the verge of bursting out again.

“Your Majesty… there are others outside…”

Even though this place was separately partitioned, it was inside a train. It was obvious that other passengers, including attendants, would be aboard the connected cars.

Merely realizing this fact made her body heat surge and she couldn’t regain her senses.

The sound of the steam train rushing forward felt like the pounding of her pulse.

Her enticing wheatcolored hair swayed like waves over the white sheets. The woman bit her lips even harder.

“Just focus and don’t worry.”