The words he uttered were:

“Um… Who are you?”

For a moment, I failed to control my expression. How could she not know me?

But thinking about it, Latieana had never seen me before. So when I reminded her, her whole body trembled. As if she had received a death threat from someone.

I only told her my name. As if I had done something terribly wrong.

I wondered how I should respond if she fell for me at first sight and pounced on me. With her perfect healing power working hard for me, I even thought I should gladly accept it. But because of Latieana, who only backed away instead of pouncing, all of Edan’s resolutions became useless.

“Are you afraid of me?”

“Ah, no?”

She bravely lies even in this situation.

Rather than saying she’s scared, she says she’s not? With a face that looks like she might burst into tears if touched lightly?

“I, I have a condition where my body trembles at night.”

Making nonsensical excuses too.

I had a headache from the long battle, so I closed my mouth because I was too annoyed to answer, and it quickly became quiet. That was fine, but……

“Make it again.”

The day after seeing Edan, Latieana did not infuse healing power into the breakfast.

What is she so afraid of and hiding? How long does she think she can hide it?

She was so small yet trembling so much, Edan slowly approached and trapped her in his arms so she couldn’t escape.

“What seasoning did you forget?”

Her round eyes rolled around.

Right, left, ceiling. Then down, then ceiling again.

Rolling around so much that all her scheming was clearly visible.

“P-pepper! I forgot the pepper!”

As she said this, Latieana quickly pulled out a pepper shaker from her pocket.

“The neighborhood aunt gave me this pepper! She said it’s expensive and hard to get, but it seems to have been effective for headaches!”

“…Really?”

What nonsense. And she calls this an excuse.

Come to think of it, she seems to say strange things once in a while.

And the strangest thing is…..

‘She has no reaction when looking at my face.’

Is her eyesight bad? Edan was well aware that his appearance was far superior to others.

Although he didn’t like it himself, he was fully aware that he was a handsome man whom women never failed to praise, with no one disliking his looks. But Latieana’s reaction was different from other women he had seen so far.

Last night, it was dark so she couldn’t see me well, and I was covered in blood, so I could understand a hundred times over that she was scared. But now it was broad daylight.

Yet if anything, she seemed to be trying to avoid him.

“Pepper isn’t something you eat a lot of anyway.”

That damn pepper.

Edan brought his face closer and closer while maintaining eye contact with Latieana.

Her eyes, as clear and large as her healing power, blinked slowly as if embarrassed.

“If you eat too much, you’ll cough…”

Though her shoulders and hands were thin, her cheeks with just the right amount of chubbiness gradually turned pink.

“Your throat will hurt…”

Cheeks that looked soft and fluffy, that would probably taste very sweet if you took a bite.

“It’s spicy…”

Would she cry if I touched her? That wouldn’t be so bad.

It was while he was having such thoughts.

How dare she try to escape, Latieana pushed against his arms.

Judging by her tightly clenched lips and forehead flushed red, it seemed she used all her strength, but well.

Their eyes met as she looked flustered.

“Why are you so weak?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Latieana Merigold.

She has the perfect healing power I want, and she’s pretty.

“I like you! I’ve wanted to say it all along. So if you dangle a carrot, I’ll take responsibility!”

She’s pretty so she even receives passionate confessions from other men.

“I have a fiancé.”

She’s pretty so she even has a fiancé.

“You’re not even good-looking, how dare you?”

How annoying.

“This is the fifth invitation from the Imperial Palace.”

Ruben held out an envelope with golden patterns.

Edan took it indifferently.

“A celebratory ball…”

It seems Ivy Violet has finally been consecrated as the Grand Saint.

“Will you be going?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I think we should respond this time. They’ve been coming for a month now. If you really don’t want to go, should we decline as usual?”

“…I’m not sure.”

It’s been a while since the Imperial Palace held a ball.

Since it was a very important invitation for the Grand Saint, it was time to send a reply, if only for the sake of courtesy. But Edan’s interest seemed to be elsewhere.

With an indifferent face, Edan finished reading the contents and carelessly dropped the invitation on the side table.

“Latieana submitted her resignation letter.”

“Pardon?”

Ruben looked at Edan with narrowed eyes.

It was an expression of utter disbelief. All this time, Ruben had been secretly hoping that Latieana would fall head over heels for Edan like other women.

After all, she was the first woman with the perfect healing power that perfectly suited his master.

But the situation Edan was relaying was nothing like he had expected.

It was strange enough that she didn’t engage in any skinship and even avoided it, but now a resignation letter? Quitting her job? Why?

“Ah.”

Ruben, lost in thought, slapped his forehead as if he had forgotten something.

“She said she had a fiancé, right?”

“Well, apparently so.”

“Latieana must really love that fiancé.”

“…”

Edan’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but he didn’t respond to those words.

“So did you accept her resignation?”

“Am I crazy?”

“Right? You did well. Then, if you resolve it through conversation…”

“I tore it up.”

Edan smirked.

“More importantly, Ruben.”

“Yes.”

“Bring me some magic traps.”

“Magic traps? Where are you going to put them?”

“At the old castle.”

Ruben immediately understood why his master wanted magic traps.

But to put expensive magic traps, made for catching magical beasts, in that rural old castle. Isn’t it too much equipment just to monitor one frail woman… It’s used for catching magical beasts…

“Here they are.”

However, Ruben was a loyal subordinate, so he handed the traps to Edan, who then installed them around the old castle and connected them to himself with a magic spell. And sure enough, Latieana triggered the trap.

“Ha.”

In the deep darkness of a northern dawn.

Edan, who had been in the midst of battling magical beasts, stopped his sword in mid-air.

At that moment, the magical beast’s huge hand flew towards Edan’s head. However, with a thunderous sound that shook the ground, he cut off the beast’s arm in one stroke, then swept back his hair and turned around.

“L-Lord Duke?”

“Lord Duke!”

“Lord Duke! Where are you going?”

His subordinates called out anxiously from behind, but Edan crossed through the portal without a moment’s hesitation.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

When I’m calling you, is there any reason to look back with such a desperate expression?

Latieana, who was about to climb onto the castle wall in a ridiculous pose, made a face as if the world had ended the moment she encountered Edan. Moreover.

“You can run away.”

“R-really?”

Usually so good at hiding her true feelings, she reacts honestly to a single probing comment and tries to escape.

With such a delighted face, annoyingly.

“But if you get caught, you die.”

Go ahead and try. If you can.

Edan smiled smugly. Fortunately, Latieana was timid enough to quickly change her attitude with just a little threat.

She seemed to have given up on escaping out of fear, but Edan couldn’t care less about Latieana’s circumstances.

Who said you could leave my hands?

“Hold me. Don’t let go. I’m cold.”

Edan, who was about to lay the unconscious Latieana on the bed, stopped in his tracks.

The small body in his arms was trembling. Having been enveloped in the chilly air of the north and then returning to a warm place, she seemed to be shivering from the temperature difference.

“Am I… catching a cold?”

Edan, who had been contemplating whether to pretend not to hear and put her down, couldn’t let go of Latieana after hearing the murmur that escaped her lips.

“I don’t want to die…”

Really, what is this?

Turning around while still holding her, Edan headed to his own room.

Latieana’s words and actions are too contradictory.

She trembles in fear at the sight of Hillstain, yet she tried to step in when Ruben got hurt.

And then she says she doesn’t want to die?

Edan laid Latieana on the bed and went to wash up.

But he had thought only he was dirty, yet the magical beast’s blood that had been on his clothes had stained her clothes as well.

Moreover, she was squirming uncomfortably in her bag and outdoor clothes.

“…”

Edan went to Latieana’s room and rummaged through her wardrobe.

There were three or four white nightgowns of similar design that she wore to bed every day.

Picking up one of them, Edan clicked his tongue.

Is this really clothes? It’s too small? But when he returned and tried it on her, it fit.

After quickly changing her clothes, Edan covered Latieana with a blanket and quietly gazed at her face.

Finally seeming at ease, Latieana was falling into a deep sleep, making soft, steady breathing sounds.

After debating several times whether to touch her cheek or not, Edan just gazed at Latieana’s face before falling asleep.

And the next day, Latieana’s fist flew at his chest.

“Are you crazy!”

It’s completely like a cotton swab. Is she hitting me expecting it to hurt? Should I pretend it hurts on purpose?

“You saw me naked without permission! I’ve never shown anyone before!”

What’s this? Why is it the first time? Hasn’t she shown her fiancé?

Jenald or whatever, that bastard. How could he resist with this woman in front of him?

I managed to hold back because I don’t have a taste for taking advantage of sick people, but if Latieana had opened her eyes last night, Edan might have seduced and pounced on her somehow.

But first time? Damn it.

Laughter escaped Edan’s mouth before he could hold it back.

But regardless of his good mood, Latieana wore an extremely aggrieved expression.

Apparently, she wasn’t satisfied with just fondling my chest.

So I started to lower my pants, willing to show her mine too, but she freaked out and left the room.

Flopping down on the bed with his arm across his forehead, Edan’s head was filled with Latieana’s voice.

‘I’m glad there are no scars on your pretty face.’

Despite trying to run away, she was thinking that?

It was the first time in his life that a compliment about his appearance felt this good.

I did well being pretty, didn’t I?