“Do I need to let you touch me to hear your review?”

Idel instantly flushed not only in the face but all over, just like the setting sun before them, painting the sky a subtle shade of red.

Struggling to avoid his thirsty gaze, she deliberately looked towards the sea and changed the awkward subject.

“The sun is setting.”

The ocean she turned her gaze to captivated her instantly.

“It’s always beautiful here, no matter when I look.”

With eyes full of awe, she took in the last spectacle of brilliant light the ocean was emitting under the sunset.

Tomorrow they would return to the capital. Realizing that she would no longer see this scenery she woke up to every day made her somehow anxious.

“Do you like it here?”

“Yes. Although it’s my first time seeing both the sea and the island, I don’t think there’s any place more special than here.”

“Indeed. It’s a special island.”

As Caeron recalled past memories on the island, his eyes deepened.

Overlaying Idel’s face as she gazed at the sea with a bright smile was another figure.

[Dash] The sea breeze is cold. Let’s go inside.

[Dash] It’s okay. I’m just getting some sun. The palace physician said afternoon sunbathing helps.

Her increasingly deteriorating face grew more pallid each day. They had been on this island with therapeutic sea baths for quite some time, but there was no improvement.

Yet, her obstinate eyes shone as brightly as the sun fracturing on the ocean surface. Seeing the woman gazing far across the ocean with a smile, Caeron exhaled deeply.

“Even if you wait like that… they won’t come.”

Swallowing the words that rose to his throat, he clenched his fist. Understanding her desperate waiting, given that she used sunbathing as an excuse at the palace physician’s suggestion.

Without a word, he draped a shawl over her frail shoulders and sat beside her.

Until the glimmer of anticipation in her eyes, which were staring at the slowly setting sun over the ocean, completely faded…

Even though she couldn’t move freely, lying on the bed, her eyes were still aimed at the sea outside the window.

Until the last flicker remaining in them died down completely…

Caeron could not comprehend it.

The woman, who had shined brighter and prouder than anyone before her illness, why had she fallen into such a vain and pitiful waiting?
[Dash] Why are you doing all this? The Emperor despises you…….

Unable to continue his words, he clenched his teeth. It would have been better if the Emperor had no feelings for her at all.

However, the Emperor clearly despised her, as if looking at his own shame.

[Dash] Your Majesty is… a pitiable person. Don’t resent him too much.

[Dash] Is your feeling towards the Emperor compassion?

[Dash] Compassion… perhaps it could be.

Her eyes, like stars risen in the azure sky, gradually lost their light.

With a dimly flickering gaze, she searched her memories and finally spat out her hidden truth with her last breath.

[Dash] Nevertheless… it was also love.

The woman, who had been his mother and the Empress of the Empire, finally closed her eyes with a relieved smile, as if she had arrived at a longconsidered conclusion.

‘Love, you say…’

It was fortunate that she had left without knowing that when he, who had never loved her so much, heard the news of her death, he looked as if he had lost a lingering illness.

A smirk floated on Caeron’s face that had turned rigidly cold.

Even upon reflection, it was such a fleeting emotion.

“Your Highness… no, Caeron… are you okay?”

The atmosphere around him had become so dark and sharp that she didn’t dare to approach him recklessly.

In his eyes, which had darkened as much as his complexion, it seemed as if valleys of indescribable deep emotions were visible.

Idel’s pupils filled with concern as she encountered the darkness in his abyss for the first time. Not knowing what to do, her eyes trembled intensely.

He silently stared at her.

As his cold and sharp gaze met her, Idel’s body stiffened. Contrary to her rigid body, her pulse quickened and her heart began to flutter.

“Caeron…”

Her chest felt suffocating, as if someone was choking her, making it hard to breathe. Idel weakly called his name with a voice akin to a whisper.

She had barely uttered his name… but Idel could no longer see the person she had desperately sought.

The young man who had been lying languidly under the warm sunlight disappeared like a mirage.

“The sun has set.”

His eyes, like dark blue seawater, shimmered with an unknown light.

“It’s going to be difficult to read now…”

He carelessly threw the book that had been on her lap onto the table.

“Shall we fulfill the duty of a Duchess?”

His words were the same as usual, but unlike usual.

Captivated yet unsettled by the Duke’s smile, Idel shivered and hugged her arms around herself.

It felt as if she had fallen into a cold sea, a piercing chill digging into her skin.