“It’s heavy.”

Cain realized today, while carrying Joseph around, the hardship Jane must have endured all this time.

Even for a child, it was not a weight that a delicate woman like Jane should carry while wearing shoes.

“It’s okay. It’s just for a little while.”

Every time Cain looked, Jane was either carrying Joseph or had him sitting on her lap.

She might say that, but it must have put considerable strain on her back and feet.

“Do it in front of me.”

Cain half-turned his body while holding Joseph. As his hand, which had been barely touching Jane’s, separated, tears welled up in Joseph’s eyes.

‘He has something to tell me.’

Jane realized as soon as she saw his eyes.

“Cain.”

Jane stared at Cain intently. She was starting to be stubborn again. Cain’s brow immediately furrowed.

‘She’s just as stubborn as the child, even though they’re not blood-related.’

Or perhaps Joseph had come to resemble Jane in just a few days. Cain clicked his tongue. He reluctantly handed Joseph over to Jane.

With servants and ranch staff watching, they couldn’t keep standing there arguing.

“Thank you.”

Jane spoke so only Cain could hear, then took Joseph to a corner.

“Joseph, why do you want me to ride a horse?”

Joseph craned his neck and looked around. The adults, including Cain, were pretending not to pay attention.

Only after confirming that others weren’t listening to his words did Joseph open his mouth.

“I, I want to choose a good horse. Father said you have to ride to know… Co, couldn’t you ride and tell me quietly? Just for Joseph?”

“Why? You can just choose the horse you like.”

“I, I want to make Father proud. I want to be a go, good son, a pre, pretty son. I want to make Father happy.”

Joseph stuttered but clearly expressed his intention.

Whether because he was a child, or because Joseph was particularly pure, even his cry to be loved and acknowledged was lovable.

That’s why Jane wanted to grant Joseph’s request. But Jane’s clothes were a problem.

‘Should I borrow clothes from Cedric?’

As soon as that thought occurred, she immediately erased it.

This was Cain, who had sneered that Jane, Joseph, and Cedric looked cozy together in one office.

If she said she was going to borrow clothes from Cedric, she couldn’t even imagine what sharp words he might say this time.

She had felt it at the wedding too, but he was excessively wary of Cedric.

Almost as if he were jealous.

‘That’s absurd. Cain, jealous?’

Jane let out a hollow laugh and was about to tell Joseph it couldn’t be done again.

But when she met Joseph’s earnest eyes, the words of refusal got stuck in her throat and wouldn’t come out.

“Mother…”

The child clutching her collar tightly and blushing his peach-colored cheeks as he pleaded was heart-achingly cute.

Jane hugged Joseph tightly, almost suffocatingly, and set him down on the ground.

“Alright, Joseph. I’ll ride a horse and give you hints.”

“Re, really? But what about your clothes?”

Belatedly, Joseph worried about Jane’s attire.

“There’s always a way.”

Jane said with a wink and approached Cain.

Cain, who had been watching the horses peacefully grazing, gave a puzzled look at Jane’s aggressive approach.

With a resolute expression like a knight before battle, she held out her hand to Cain.

“Cain, let me ride a horse.”

* * *

Cain helped Jane onto the horse first, then mounted behind her.

“Suddenly wanting to ride a horse, what’s this whim?”

Cain reached his arms around Jane’s body to grasp the reins. The veins on the back of his hands bulged.

“Tell me why.”

Jane only swallowed her breath without saying what she was told to say.

It wasn’t that she deliberately didn’t respond. She just didn’t have the energy to reply while focusing on her posture.

She was too close to Cain. It was a familiar position. Similar to how he would trap her on the bed.

“Jane.”

And his low voice clinging to her ear made Jane’s lower abdomen tighten.

“You know how to ride a horse too. Or have you forgotten?”

“No, my body remembers. But I don’t have the clothes. The road isn’t good for riding in a dress.”

“Don’t they have spare riding clothes here? What a poor excuse for a ranch.”

“That’s not it. Cedric offered to lend me some, but…”

“Cedric?”

Cain’s voice rose at the end.

Jane let out a long sigh. She knew he would react so sensitively again.

“He offered to lend me some, but I refused.”

“Why?”

What reaction would Cain show if she answered, “Because I thought you wouldn’t like it”?

Thinking it wouldn’t be a pretty sight, Jane shrugged and said,

“You can just give me a ride, can’t you? Surely you’re not incapable of riding with me? You’re good at horseback riding.”

Cain looked at Jane with a strange expression.

Afraid of being caught caring so much about his mood, Jane rambled on about anything.

“Or have you forgotten how to ride with a person?”

“Not likely.”

Cain’s gaze clung to her intensely. Jane turned her head away from his gaze that seemed intent on exposing her innermost thoughts.

“Then just ride.”

Whether Cain laughed at Jane’s reddened nape and ears, a hot but light breeze brushed past her nape.

Jane shuddered at the ticklish breeze that raised goosebumps on her skin.

“Please, just ride.”

Jane practically begged.

“As you command.”

Soon Cain spurred the horse. They said it was a speed-loving horse, and true to form, it shot out like a bullet as soon as the rider gave the signal.

“Ugh!”

Jane’s body, stiff from not having ridden in a long time, nearly lost balance and fell backward. But Jane didn’t end up rolling on the ground.

Behind her was Cain’s chest, as solid and broad as a castle wall, and on either side of her were Cain’s arms, stronger than steel cables.

“Don’t be nervous. I’m here.”

Cain had noticed Jane’s tension from the moment she mounted the horse.

She seemed afraid of horses. It was a completely different look from when she used to enjoy horseback riding in the past.

The sight of her riding towards the sunset with her red hair flying had been spectacular.

He felt somewhat regretful.

‘I suppose she didn’t have the chance to ride for 7 years.’

Cain clicked his tongue, imagining her difficult life.

He wanted to make Jane feel the joy of horseback riding again.

So that when she left the duke’s house, she would remember all these things. So that she would miss this life, just as Cain had missed Jane in the past.

Cain gradually increased the horse’s speed.

“Ca, Cain, slow down!”

Jane shouted with her eyes tightly shut, but he ignored her. Instead, he spurred the horse even harder.

The wind slapped Jane’s cheeks and tousled her hair. Her muscles became stiffer and stiffer, and her stomach churned.

“Open your eyes, Jane.”

“No, I don’t want to!”

Why did I say I wanted to ride a horse?

And with Cain, no less!

She had overlooked the fact that he greatly enjoyed speed. She had also forgotten that horseback riding she couldn’t control was terrifying.

“It’ll be better if you open them. I promise.”

There was a power in his voice that moved people. Jane reluctantly pushed up her trembling eyelids.

And she saw.

The vast prairie, the sky turning sunset colors, and the wide-open vista.

It was nothing extraordinary, but seeing it from atop a galloping horse made it special.

Jane’s lips parted slightly as the tension left her body. Cain, pressed close to her, didn’t miss it.

What expression would Jane be wearing at this moment?

Cain suppressed the urge to stop the horse immediately and check her expression.

‘What good would it do to see Jane’s pleased expression?’

Even as he thought this, Cain didn’t slow the horse’s pace.

The aimless gallop refreshingly blew away complicated thoughts.

For the first time in a very long while, Cain also enjoyed horseback riding.

* * *

Watching Jane and Cain choose a horse for Joseph, Cedric’s eyes hardened.

His fist was clenched tight. Inside that fist was the note he had just received.

Cedric recalled the contents of the note.

The Griffin has uprooted the Rose.

At last, Cain had found and captured the Rose Faction.

Did he truly intend to stain the Emblen Kingdom with blood?

‘But then Jane might get hurt.’

Cedric glared at Cain returning with Jane on horseback.

He needed to find a way to protect Jane before Cain started an all-out war.

Hurriedly leaving the ranch, Cedric went to a shabby house.

However, it was only a house on the outside; inside, instead of household items, it was filled with weapons—a hideout for the Rose Faction.

A disciplined young man stood guard here and there, armed with swords.

“You’re here.”

A man drinking beer acknowledged Cedric’s arrival.

Instead of greeting, Cedric slammed his hand on the desk.

“Don’t touch Jane.”

“How long are you going to wait and watch! That woman is finished already!”

The man drinking beer, Augustus, raised his voice without backing down and slammed his beer mug hard on the table.

The beer that splashed everywhere even wet Cedric’s hand.

“Hey, Augustus. Don’t speak carelessly about Jane.”

Cedric shook off the beer on his hand and pulled up a chair to sit.

“Cedric, wake up! That woman is different from Count Whitney. Just look at her marrying that Hastings bastard. She’s a traitor!”

Augustus spoke with veins bulging in his neck. Then he looked around, urging others to agree with his words with his eyes.

As a few people reluctantly nodded, he grinned, baring his teeth.

Augustus was one of the current leaders of the Rose Faction.

About 10 years ago, those tired of discrimination and oppression gathered under the slogan “Bread in the left hand, roses in the right!”

The Rose Faction, which coalesced around intellectuals who had studied in countries where revolution had succeeded, first recruited people from the lowest classes, then drew in wealthy merchants.

People voluntarily gathered, dreaming of a world without hunger and discrimination-free equality.

The size of the Rose Faction grew larger and larger, and as large groups often do, internal opinions began to diverge.

The hardliners who wanted to bring about revolution through force, and…

The moderates who wanted to change the world without bloodshed, even if it took longer.

The two factions checked each other and sometimes cooperated as they grew the Rose Faction.

And 7 years ago, an incident occurred.