Click. I opened the door and entered my room.

The most splendid room in the entire mansion.

This was the place Edan had prepared for me while I was staying in the North after collapsing from meeting Ivy.

Surprisingly, the soundproofing between rooms was perfect, so I couldn’t hear any noise from Edan moving around.

Though we were now separated only by a single wall—much closer than before—our relationship felt distant over these past few days.

I curled up on the bed, and all sorts of thoughts flooded my mind.

Strange. Definitely strange.

It started precisely from the moment we emerged from the Archmage’s secret chamber.

Since that day, Edan had never once asked me first to pour my healing power into him.

‘What was that day like again?’

I remember joking, “Shall we sleep?” Edan had hesitated, as if something troubled him, but we still held hands and fell asleep.

Literally, just holding hands.

So up until that moment, nothing had changed.

I hadn’t thought it particularly strange that he hadn’t tried kissing me.

Edan always touched me casually, yet he respected boundaries.

Lately, he’d hovered right at the edge of crossing them—but whenever I showed reluctance, he willingly stopped.

But recently, I haven’t rejected Edan even once.

‘Why suddenly now?’

I stretched out my curled body, raised my arm, and blankly stared at the hand Edan had once held. Moonlight softly streaming through the window settled gently on my knuckles.

He had held my outstretched hand, so it wasn’t that he was avoiding physical contact…

‘Could that blue pill have contained something?’

There’s no such thing as a pill that makes you smarter. If such a thing existed, the Archmage wouldn’t have gone bankrupt despite gambling all year—he’d have made an absurd fortune.

Since Edan sometimes spouts nonsense like “confession-free zones,” maybe he just mumbled something vague to hide that he’d taken a different pill.

But whatever that pill was, it shouldn’t concern me.

Unless… there’s another reason?

I furrowed my brow, straining to recall what happened that day.

Maxim had used the artifact he brought to verify my power, and mentioned he’d find a way for me to avoid going to the temple.

‘Could it be?’

Perhaps—though this is a truly awful hunch—

Maybe he thinks I might discover a way to heal without going to the temple.

Then healing would be possible even without me.

‘Is he preparing in advance to distance himself?’

That might be it.

If my healing power disappears, I’ll be useless—no need to keep me close.

The shock hit me like lightning, freezing my body.

It was a cruel hypothesis, even if I’d thought of it myself.

“No…”

I pulled the blanket over my head and buried myself deep inside.

I shouldn’t think about this.

If it’s really true, it’ll just make me sad.

After repeatedly taking magic books out to read in the library and returning them, I grew accustomed to coming and going from the secret chamber.

Eventually, I just settled myself at the Archmage’s desk.

Lately, Hillstain Mathias had been visiting again, bringing flowers, so I felt uneasy leaving magic books lying around in the library.

Though Hillstain had turned friendly toward me, he remained Captain of the Imperial Knights—and a direct subordinate of the Empress, who hated Edan.

Therefore, I didn’t want Hillstain to catch me reading magic books.

“Not this one either.”

I stuck a small sticker onto the cover of the finished magic book.

Maxim had given me these pink bear stickers, saying he used them when reading from the bookshelves.

After putting the book away and sighing softly at the still mountainous pile of magic books, the parlor corridor opened.

“Edan?”

He was holding a small cake box with a handle.

As the corridor closed behind him, Edan placed the box on the desk, then glanced at the sticker in my hand and chuckled.

“Unrealistic.”

“What?”

“Where in the world do you find pink bears?”

You’re being oddly realistic about the wrong things. It’s just a sticker.

I muttered that only to myself.

I narrowed my eyes slightly, pretending not to hear him, and set the sticker down.

Then Edan picked it up, peeled one off, and firmly pressed it onto my cheek.

I watched his lips curl upward, clearly amused.

More than a week had passed, so I thought he might finally ask me to heal him today—but he still said nothing.

Peeling off the sticker, I abruptly turned and grabbed a random magic book.

“What brings you here?”

My tone came out a little sharp due to lingering resentment, but Edan ignored it and grabbed my wrist.

“Come over here.”

I followed where he pulled me and stood before the desk.

It was the cake box. Food…

“You want me to pour healing power into this?”

Edan frowned slightly, as if my intention was strange.

“What are you talking about? I brought it for you to eat.”

“The cake?”

“It’s not cake.”

Edan opened the box to reveal something round, resembling rye bread.

“Bread?”

Did he really need to put this in a box?

I looked up at him questioningly, and he stabbed it with a fork, sliced off a piece, and offered it to me.

“This bread is made from the first wheat harvested this year in the North.”

Ah! Only then did I look at the bread again.

So that’s why he brought it in a box.

“Thank you. It’s meaningful bread.”

“Yeah. They always tell me not to bring it, but it’s a custom among my people. Every year, they bring some to me.”

I had been about to reach for the bread absentmindedly—but I hesitated.

“But why are you giving this to me?”

“Because it’s something special I receive only once a year.”

I’d thought so during the festival too—Edan seemed quite popular among the Northerners. First wheat harvested from barren land… and he brought it to me.

Seeing Edan act as if giving it to me were perfectly natural made me happy.

“I’ll eat it well.”

The bread melted softly in my mouth.

I hadn’t expected such good wheat from a land with no distinct seasons and bitter cold.

“It’s delicious.”

I hadn’t expected much, but objectively, the bread was truly delicious.

Edan just watched me chew quietly.

“Aren’t you eating?”

“I’m fine.”

At that, I abruptly set down the fork.

“You seem to find a lot of things ‘fine’ lately.”

Everything I say, you just reply, “It’s fine, it’s fine.”

“Why are you being so difficult again?”

Edan shot back playfully, shoving his hands into his pants pockets and half-sitting on the edge of the desk.

Then he tilted his head up and began scanning the magic books one by one.

“You’ll need some time to finish all these. But don’t push yourself too hard. I’ll go to the temple…”

When I remained silent, Edan finally sensed something odd and stopped speaking.

“What’s wrong?”

The words wouldn’t easily come out.

“What is it?”

Edan straightened up, pulled his hands from his pockets, and dragged my chair closer.

He positioned me in front of him and leaned slightly back against the desk again.

I looked up at Edan.

Even the distance between us had subtly widened.

Close enough to reach out and touch, yet not truly intimate—awkwardly separated by about a hand’s breadth.

It’d be hard to articulate this vague sense of disappointment precisely…

“Did I do something wrong?”

I know you, Edan. You wouldn’t act like this without realizing it.

So answer me. Why are you treating me this way?

I looked up at him.

I saw his playful smile slowly fade into calm seriousness.

He blinked slowly, let his gaze drift into empty space, then lowered it while rubbing his neck.

“You’re not quite as oblivious as I thought, Princess?”

Edan lifted his head, his eyes flashing with sudden brilliance.

“I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?”

“That you’d been uncomfortable all along.”

Edan grimaced and added a quiet sigh.

“What are you talking about?”

“I always assumed you didn’t want to go to the temple simply because you didn’t want to die. But you said it in the secret chamber—just thinking about it makes you want to vomit.”

Wait, hold on. That’s the reason?

My mind went blank.

So… because of what I said to Maxim that day, you deliberately stopped asking me for healing power?

But that was about other people—not you.

I’ve never once felt like vomiting during healing with you.

The pleasure was so intense it felt alien—but never nauseating.

From the very beginning, the people who made me feel like vomiting at the mere thought were never you, Edan.

“Ha, but you didn’t say anything that day. You held my hand like always…”

Edan leaned forward, gripping the chair as he continued.

“We even slept.”

My fingertips resting on the chair’s armrest brushed against Edan’s fingers.

“So…”

“It was damn hard holding back while someone snoozed sweetly beside me. Hm?”

Edan’s lips curled slightly as his gaze slowly traced my neck.

“I—”

One of Edan’s eyebrows arched slightly, then settled back into place.

“It’s fine.”

“What’s fine?”

“Everything.”

It’s all fine.

“I’ll heal you. Whenever you want.”

Instantly, Edan’s expression changed—but then quickly calmed again.

“Don’t. Forget it.”

He leaned back, and his fingers slipped away from mine.

I immediately grabbed his hand.

Edan froze, his gaze dropping to our clasped hands before meeting my eyes.

“Let go.”

“No.”

“You’ll regret it.”

“I won’t.”

“You say that, then do it every day.”

Ugh. But this time, absolutely not. I’ve decided to help you. I don’t want to see you suffer.

“Latieana.”

“Yes?”

“Actually, monster extermination is almost finished, so it’s fine. Even without your direct healing, we have pepper spray—and if not that, we have mist sprayers too.”

“You knew about that?”

“How wouldn’t I? That strong healing power raining down on my head—anyone who isn’t an idiot would notice.”

I felt a bit embarrassed.

I see. I worried you were suffering alone because you didn’t ask me for healing—but you’d been using the things I’d quietly prepared for you.

“Well, then, that’s good news.”

I released Edan’s hand. As long as you’re not hurting, that’s all that matters.

But then Edan leaned forward abruptly, coming right up to me.

“So… how far is ‘fine’ exactly?”

“What?”

His large hand gently cradled my neck. The space was so quiet I could even hear the subtle sound of his fingers tangling with my hair.

“Is holding hands fine? Is this much also fine?”

“That’s…”

A shiver ran down my spine from the electric sensation. I bit my lower lip hard and scrunched my eyes, making Edan smile smoothly.

“Or is even more also fine?”

His fingers slowly rose, teasing my earlobe before cupping my cheek.

And the moment he tilted his head slightly, coming so close I could feel his breath—

“Lady Latieana!”

Clunk. The bookshelf moved, and Maxim appeared.

I felt Edan’s fingertips tense instantly.

Slowly pulling his face back, Edan turned his head.

“Priest.”

His sharp, arrow-like gaze pierced Maxim’s face.

“You really have no sense of timing, do you?”