The warm water filled with fragrant flower petals that had fully bloomed was just the right temperature to relieve the fatigue accumulated throughout the day and relax tension.

Despite polite refusals saying it was fine, they insisted on doing it because they wanted to help, so I had no choice but to entrust my body to them. The hands of Judith and Anna gently massaging my stiff shoulders were soft.

Before I knew it, Elaina’s body had become languid, but as time passed, that is, as the bath was coming to an end, her mind became clearer instead.

“I’ve finished applying the perfumed oil, Lady Elaina. I only applied a moderate amount so it won’t be too slippery, you shouldn’t feel uncomfortable.”

“Now I’ll help you get dressed!”

Judith and Anna chirped alternately like sparrows. They looked like excited younger sisters eagerly dressing up their older sister.

“It’s a silk garment that will wrap around your body nicely and suit you very well. As I felt when choosing the dress before, our Lady Elaina has such a beautiful figure.”

“That’s right! Other people, even after marriage, especially on the first night like today, put on makeup again after finishing their bath. But Lady Elaina has such good skin and refined features that just lightly applying lipstick like this is more than enough.”

Would you like to look in the mirror?

After finishing all preparations to return to the bedroom, Judith carefully helped Elaina up.

And, standing in front of the mirror, Elaina was left speechless.

Whatever Judith and Anna were chattering about now, she could no longer hear it.

A slip far more revealing than the dress worn during the ceremony. Milk-white bare skin giving off a sweet scent from the applied perfumed oil. Even her lips dyed red…

[You may not realize it, but that kind of attire is dangerous, Elaina Aswald. Especially in an enclosed space like this with just the two of you.] [Feel free to fill whatever you need. I don’t mind anything. But don’t buy things like a bed. After all, we have to maintain a perfect marital relationship for the next year.]

Sinclair’s low voice seemed to echo endlessly in her mind.

[We have to maintain a perfect marital relationship…]

Specifically, this part.

[A perfect marital relationship…]

“…”

[Marital relationship.]

“R-robe.”

“Pardon?”

“Could I have a robe please?”

Judith and Anna looked disappointed, as if wondering what she was saying after they had gone to the trouble of dressing her up so alluringly, but Elaina took the robe they handed her without a moment’s hesitation and wrapped herself tightly in it.

Like someone who believed that a mere robe that would flutter open at the slightest breeze was the only armor that could protect her.

[This is the timeline separator]

By the time she reached the bedroom door, Elaina’s face clearly showed signs of nervousness.

“…”

Elaina anxiously grasped the doorknob, let it go, tightened her robe, touched her lips, and kept pointlessly brushing back her hair over and over.

While the other actions weren’t particularly problematic, when she suddenly swept back her hair, a chill settled on her nape.

Ah, it’s because her neckline was showing.

Elaina, who had been mulling over this obvious fact repeatedly, briefly wore a blank expression before dividing her thick hair into two parts to cover her chest.

“Hah…”

Elaina took a deep breath, finally ready to enter the bedroom.

But just as she was about to take her seventh deep breath, the bedroom door suddenly swung open.

“What on earth are you doing?”

Sinclair, who had opened the door and come out, asked with his brow slightly furrowed.

“Are you praying there or something?”

I’m sorry, but the temple isn’t in this direction. Sinclair said in a voice that couldn’t understand.

“…No. But how did you know I was standing here?”

“I could clearly hear someone’s presence, but no matter how long I waited, you wouldn’t come in.”

Waited?

For me?

Why?

Elaina’s face turned pale on its own.

“…”

Sinclair looked at Elaina with puzzled eyes for a moment, then shortly after, let out a snort of laughter. As if he had just realized what kind of misunderstanding Elaina was having.

Then he stretched out his arm.

“Wait, just a moment!”

Elaina, suddenly lifted into Sinclair’s arms, cried out briefly, but Sinclair paid no heed. He carried Elaina into the bedroom and carelessly shut the door.

Elaina flinched at the sound of the door slamming shut, echoing through the corridor.

But Sinclair did not commit any despicable acts like forcibly laying Elaina down on the bed or undressing her. He merely sat her on the bed.

“You really are a high-maintenance woman. I can roughly guess what you’re thinking, but don’t worry, I have no such intentions.”

“…”

“Of course, if you were to pounce on me wanting to do it, I’d be more than willing.”

Seeing Elaina’s body tremble slightly, Sinclair let out a small snicker.

“Now lie down. You can do that much on your own, can’t you?”

He looked ready to lay her down himself if she said she couldn’t do it this time either. It was better to just lie down on her own than that.

So Elaina carefully, as far to the edge of the bed as possible, lay down and covered herself with the blanket. While lying down, she kept her robe tightly closed.

Sinclair, who had been staring at Elaina like that, made a somewhat dumbfounded expression.

…It’s not like I can’t touch her just because she does that.

My goodness, to think there could be such an excessively innocent woman.

Anyone who saw, no, even if you brought a street dog and asked, they would say it was the behavior of someone who had absolutely no experience with men in their lifetime.

She might have…

Met someone, I thought.

During that long time.

A faint smile appeared on Sinclair’s lips. But that smile didn’t last long.

‘So, what if she hadn’t met anyone?’

…Then what difference does it make?

It was absurd. To harbor such feelings in that short time. Sinclair made a self-deprecating expression as he became aware of his situation.

Sinclair, who had momentarily stood still in his place, bit his lip and slowly got onto the bed. Then he opened the bedside table and took out a small dagger.

Startled by the metallic sound of the sheath opening, Elaina turned around, but Sinclair had already drawn blood.

“What are you doing…”

Sinclair, who had cut his own palm without any hesitation, answered with a dry expression.

“I told you, didn’t I? That we have to deceive everyone perfectly.”

Sinclair said, clenching his fist on the white sheet.

“This should be enough evidence that we spent the first night together.”

Drip, drip. After confirming that the red blood had appropriately stained the sheet, Sinclair picked up the bandage that had been lying next to the dagger before she could say anything.

Then he carelessly wrapped his hand and lay down facing the wall, in other words, with his back turned to Elaina.

“…”

Eventually, a heavy silence that seemed to press down even on their bodies settled between the two.

So it was my misunderstanding after all.

Elaina’s blue eyes, faintly reflecting the moonlight, shimmered softly.

Yes, come to think of it, Sinclair had plenty of opportunities to forcibly lay hands on her until now.

On the day she was kidnapped by Duke Hank, and during the few days spent at the villa. He could have taken her anytime if he had wanted to.

But Sinclair didn’t do such things. Not then, not now.

Coming to this conclusion, she felt somewhat apologetic towards Sinclair.

“…Thank you for today, Sinclair.”

“For what.”

Sinclair replied curtly, still with his back turned.

“Actually, I was worried about how people would look at me if I limped in… Even though you probably already knew.”

“…”

“But you carried me in like that. And you said a lot of nice things that made me feel at ease. Very much so.”

“…I told you earlier too. Even if you had entered limping, not a single person would have paid attention to that.”

Because you were so beautiful today. Sinclair thought to himself.

“What I was worried about wasn’t the gazes directed at me.”

“What?”

“Being laughed at is everyday for me. I can take it as much as it comes. But… I was worried you might become a laughingstock for taking a half-witted cripple as a bride.”

“…”

“I’m really glad that didn’t happen.”

Hah…

A sigh-like sound escaped through Sinclair’s slightly parted lips.

I told you not to be any more stupid, Elaina.

You were already stupid enough back then.

“In a year, we’ll be in different places, but the gratitude I felt towards you today is something I won’t forget for a long time. So I thought I should tell you that.”

Elaina Aswald, no, Elaina Butler, who knows nothing.

Unfortunate, and fortunate because of it.

You have no idea, do you? What kind of emotions overwhelm me every time you say such things. What kind of impulses I feel every time I see your face uttering those words.

But Sinclair wasn’t unaware. Rather, he knew all too well.

Since he didn’t even have the courage to honestly reveal everything, he had to remain nothing more than the frivolous scoundrel Sinclair to her until Elaina completely left Edenbell.

“…But why do you keep staring at the wall?”

Now that the misunderstanding was cleared up, it seemed they could at least have a conversation face to face. But Sinclair still had his back turned, not even glancing her way.

“Sinclair…”

“It’s due to a physiological phenomenon, so I’d prefer if you didn’t pry.”

“…”

“And it’s also a highly personal matter.”

Elaina didn’t give any response.

“Do you still want to know? Why I’m like this?”

“Um, no.”

With that brief answer, this time Elaina turned her back slightly.

“Good night, Sinclair. Have… nice dreams.”

That was their final exchange. Elaina, who had been tossing and turning for a while, must have been very tired as she soon fell asleep, and only then did Sinclair open his tightly closed eyes.

In the darkness as black as Elaina’s hair, Sinclair’s golden eyes shone sorrowfully.

[I like you, Ren.]

“…”

[More than anything in the world.]

Did I smile when I heard your words then?

If I smiled, how did I smile? No matter how hard I tried to recall the memory, nothing came to mind.

Only the face of young Elaina smiling as brightly as the sun clearly appeared…

Elaina, you probably had no idea.

How much I regretted after returning to the imperial palace that day.

How foolish I thought I was for not being able to give any answer.

[Help me, Ren!]

But Ren, no, Sinclair, would never again be given the chance to give that answer. And it would remain so in the future. Because Sinclair had shamefully failed to take Elaina’s hand in the end.

It was the same on the day she smiled brightly and conveyed her true feelings, and when she reached out her small white hand begging him not to leave her.

It was the same even now.

All these impulses, this heart surging like waves, this pain, it’s all just because of guilt. Sinclair repeated endlessly to himself.

But now my nights will be interminably long. Like an endless thread that keeps unraveling and unraveling.

Sinclair squeezed his eyes shut with a pained expression. And then he remained motionless.

And so, Sinclair suppressed with cold rationality the heat of wanting to reach out to Elaina, who was still as beautiful as the sun even now. It was literally cold heat and hot rationality.