“Are you still sorry to me?”

“I am always sorry to you, my lady.”

Demian answered sincerely without hesitation.

He was full of apologies to Arasila.

From dragging her into the messy family feud to harboring feelings that broke their contract.

Fortunately, he never had to directly express these feelings to her.

Unaware of Demian’s inner thoughts, Arasila continued to ask questions without taking her piercing gaze off him.

“Are you very sorry even though it’s not your fault? Enough to treat me this well, doing everything I ask?”

In fact, Arasila hadn’t expected Demian to nurse her so diligently.

She had thought to tease him a bit and be done with it, but he was more serious than expected.

To think his devoted husband act in front of others would be performed just as flawlessly when they were alone.

Just how sorry was he to act like this?

Looking into the clear eyes filled with curiosity, Demian slowly opened his mouth.

“Yes, I am sorry. But it’s not just out of guilt.”

“Then what?”

“I simply want to treat you well, my lady.”

Demian’s voice echoed softly.

Though their relationship began as a contract marriage based on thorough calculation, now he wanted to give her many things without expecting anything in return.

Since he had violated the terms anyway, he wanted to help minimize Arasila’s losses when the contract ended.

“Why do you want to treat me well?”

“……”

Demian silently finished massaging Arasila’s legs, then gently lowered her dress that had ridden up to her knees.

Arasila persistently followed his movements with her eyes.

If he left without answering, she planned to follow him on her injured leg.

Fortunately, Demian did not avoid answering. He spoke calmly as he straightened the crooked pillow.

“Because you are special to me.”

Demian’s hand rested beside the pillow. Feeling the bed dip slightly, Arasila quietly looked up at him.

Even from this angle below, Demian’s face was flawlessly perfect.

His eyes, as if containing the light of the summer noon sun, gazed directly at her.

“I want you to be free of pain, unhurt, and always smiling.”

“……”

The voice whispered out sounded calm on the surface, but somehow suppressed underneath.

Like the mud clumped beneath a beautifully blooming lotus, it seemed to hide thick emotions underneath.

Overwhelmed by the inexplicably deep gaze, Arasila held her breath, unable to say anything.

Demian gently grasped the lavender hair strewn across the white pillow surrounding Arasila and kissed it.

“Even if it’s greedy, that is simply how I feel. I have much to be grateful for and sorry about to you.”

Finishing his words at an appropriate point, he reached out to pull up the edge of the blanket Arasila was lying on.

He covered her completely with it and then stood up.

Arasila, who had been staring at him blankly, blinked in confusion.

“Get some rest.”

With that, Demian swiftly left the room.

Left alone wrapped in the blanket, Arasila pondered over what he had just said.

She was special to him?

Suddenly, she recalled what Paula had said earlier when bringing a get-well gift.

‘By the way, Lord Vandermir seems to really care for you. He had that subtle argument with Frederick, and even then he kept looking after you.’

‘Did he?’

‘Yes. He brought you new dessert when you finished, made sure your teacup wasn’t empty. Above all, it was his eyes. They looked at you as if he cared for you very much.’

Why was her friend’s words, which she had dismissed as trivial before, now weighing on her mind?

Arasila tried to recall how Demian’s eyes had looked at her.

His golden eyes, once so cold, had at some point changed to be as warm as an autumn sun shining on a wheat field.

To think that gentle gaze was because he considered her special…

She felt an inexplicable tickle in her chest.

Arasila clutched the blanket tightly. It felt as if that tickling sensation had spread to her palms.

On the dark street of 4th Avenue.

Oscar opened his eyes in one of the small houses crowded together in the alley.

He yawned widely, ruffling his messy hair, and reached out to grab the shirt hanging on the chair and put it on.

As he fumbled to put on his pants, a woman approached from behind.

“Are you leaving already? You could stay a bit longer…”

Oscar waved his hand in annoyance at the coquettish voice filled with regret.

Even after hearing Iris’s firm rejection that he could no longer deny, he did not immediately return to the duke’s estate.

Since it had come to this, he planned to play around as much as possible until he was caught before crawling back to his family home.

If his father learned the plan had failed, he would hound him relentlessly, so he needed to prepare himself mentally like this.

So Oscar had been frequenting 4th Avenue almost daily, playing with women.

He was refraining from touching noble ladies for fear it might reach his parents’ ears.

“Who does she think she is to act so high and mighty?”

Oscar muttered, chewing on his words as he thought of Iris, feeling his blood boil.

Her looking straight into his eyes and saying ‘I don’t like you, young master’ had left such a lasting impression that she sometimes appeared in his dreams.

“She’ll soon be at an age where her value in the marriage market will decline.”

“Are you talking to me…?”

The woman who had been watching Oscar mutter gloomily asked cautiously.

He frowned and shook his head.

As she followed to see him off as he grabbed his jacket to leave, the woman lightly grasped the end of his sleeve.

“Um, my lord. May I ask your name?”

Oscar quietly looked down at her.

With a gentle impression but voluptuous figure that he liked, this was already the fourth night they had spent together.

But he was starting to get bored and wanted to find another woman, so being asked his name was also annoying.

‘Hmm, what should I do?’

Oscar curled his lips crookedly as he looked at the woman whose cheeks were faintly flushed in the darkness, her eyes sparkling with expectation.

“You want to know my name? My name is—”

Three days earlier than expected, Arasila got up from her bed.

She rotated her right arm and leg once, feeling that the broken bones had perfectly healed.

When she finally walked on her own, she nearly cried.

Goodbye, tedious bed rest.

Sally and Rudy were delighted to see their senior return after eleven days.

“Kyaa! Congratulations on your recovery, senior!”

“We’ve been waiting so long for your return. Sincerely congratulations!”

The two clapped their hands while sprinkling flower petals around Arasila. Arasila smiled contentedly.

Many people had congratulated Arasila from the mansion to here.

Somehow, it felt like she hadn’t lived her life too badly, which made her feel good.

“Shouldn’t we throw a party to celebrate your full recovery?”

“A party?”

“Yes! After all, the monster subjugation operation was successful, and you’ve been through a lot, so I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have a celebratory party.”

Rudy chimed in with Sally, whose eyes were sparkling brightly.

“It was an incredible mission where we took down six high-rank monsters and one top-rank monster, so I think it’s worth having a party too.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

Arasila nodded, her hand on her chin.

It didn’t seem like a bad idea to have a party celebrating the success of the subjugation rather than her injury recovery.

Despite achieving the feat of capturing several high-rank monsters due to the incident where she was injured, they hadn’t received any special commendation from the imperial family and it had been vaguely passed over.

They had worked as hard as anyone, but they couldn’t just end it with a few words of praise on paper.

Especially the junior mages who participated in the subjugation team, weren’t they the ones who came following only her, believing in her?

As their senior, she felt a strong need to give them some compensation.

“Alright, then shall we throw a party to celebrate the success of the monster subjugation?”

“Yes! That’s great!”

“I agree!”

Sally and Rudy cheered in agreement.

Smiling brightly, they suddenly exchanged glances and carefully asked.

“Senior, if it’s a subjugation commemoration party, will the Red Hawk Knights also join?”

“Huh…?”

Arasila, who hadn’t thought that far, tilted her head and asked back.

“You’re asking because you don’t want them to attend?”

“No, it’s not like that… Many of us received help from them during the final battle. Including me.”

Rudy said with a slightly embarrassed expression. Sally continued his words.

“But I heard no one properly thanked them. We were in chaos after that madman threw a dark magic bomb at you, senior.”

“Ah, I see.”

Arasila nodded understandingly.

From the mages’ perspective, their leader-like senior was bedridden, and from the knights’ perspective, the captain’s wife had collapsed.

Who would have been leisurely chatting and making small talk in such a situation? Everyone must have moved silently in the heavy atmosphere.

And after returning to the capital, there would have been no further points of contact, so it must have ended without even exchanging proper greetings.

“Then shall we hold a joint party with the Red Hawk Knights? We did carry out the mission together after all.”

“Well, I’m okay with that.”

“Me too.”

Sally and Rudy, who had been feeling somewhat regretful, nodded.

As they carried out the subjugation operation together, they had also opened their hearts a little to the knights.

In the past, they would have hated even being in the same space, but now it was different.

Backed by her juniors’ approval, Arasila went straight home after work.

She was slightly excited at the thought of proposing a joint party when Demian arrived.

“Huh…?”

As she entered the central hall, she spotted a familiar back and opened her eyes wide.

Unlike herself who had left work early on her first day back, she thought Demian would naturally be absent as he would leave work on time.

However, that tall yet sturdy back figure was unmistakably Demian’s.

“Demian, you’re back already?”

“…Ah, welcome home, my lady.”

Demian turned to look at her, reacting half a beat late.

In his hand was a letter, and in front of him was a large box.

Arasila approached him, looking at the box in confusion.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a reward from the imperial family for this monster subjugation. There’s money and jewels inside.”

At those words, Arasila opened the box to check.

Gold coins that seemed to be worth several million gold and jewels flaunting brilliant light were revealed.

Considering the difficulty of the request where a top-rank monster had appeared, it could be called a modest reward.

“But why do you look so serious? Are you not satisfied with the reward?”

“No, it’s not that… ”

Demian sighed and looked at Arasila with a complicated expression.

He hesitated for a while, then held out the letter he was holding.

“You’ll understand if you read this.”