Click. I opened the door and entered my room.

The most splendid room in the castle.

It’s the place Edan decorated for me when I collapsed after meeting Ivy and was staying in the north.

Surprisingly, the sound insulation between rooms was perfect, so I couldn’t hear Edan moving.

Despite being much closer than before, with just a wall between us, our relationship felt very distant over the past few days.

As I curled up and lay down, all sorts of thoughts flooded in.

Strange. Definitely strange.

It was exactly from the moment we came out of the archmage’s secret space.

Since that day, Edan hasn’t once asked me to infuse healing power first.

‘How was it that day?’

We joked about sleeping together. There was a moment when Edan seemed hesitant, as if something was bothering him, but we fell asleep holding hands.

Literally holding hands while sleeping.

So up until that moment, nothing had changed.

I didn’t think it was particularly strange that he didn’t attempt to kiss me.

Edan would touch me carelessly but still maintain a proper boundary.

Recently, there were times when he almost crossed the line, but he would willingly stop if I didn’t want it.

But lately, I haven’t rejected Edan.

‘Why so suddenly?’

I stretched out my curled body, extended my arms, and stared blankly at the hand Edan had held. The moonlight gently streaming through the window settled on the back of my hand.

He held my outstretched hand, so he’s not avoiding physical contact…

‘Was there something in that blue pill?’

There’s no way a pill to make you smarter exists. If such a pill existed, the archmage wouldn’t have gone bankrupt even if he gambled all year round. He would have made an enormous fortune.

Edan sometimes talks nonsense like ‘no confession zones,’ so maybe he took a different pill and is trying to cover it up.

But whatever that pill is, it shouldn’t have much to do with me.

Or is there another reason?

My eyes narrowed as I tried to remember what happened that day.

We confirmed my power with the artifact Maxium brought, and I said I’d find a way not to go to the temple.

‘Could it be?’

Maybe, maybe this is really a bad feeling, but…

Maybe because I might find a way to heal without going to the temple.

Then healing would be possible without me.

‘Is he preparing to distance himself in advance?’

That might be it.

If the healing power disappears, I’m useless, so there’s no need to keep me around.

My body stiffened, shocked as if struck by lightning out of nowhere.

It was a truly cruel hypothesis, even though I thought of it myself.

“No…”

I pulled the blanket over my head and hid my body deep within it.

I shouldn’t think about it.

If it’s really like that, it would be quite heartbreaking.

After repeatedly bringing out magic books to read in the library and returning them, I became accustomed to coming in and out of the secret space.

So I settled at the archmage’s desk.

I was also concerned about magic books being out in the library because Hillstain had started visiting again with flowers recently.

Although he had become more favorable towards me, Hillstain was still the captain of the imperial knights and a direct knight of the empress who hated Edan.

So I didn’t want Hillstain to catch me looking at magic books.

“Not this book either.”

I stuck a small sticker on the cover of the magic book I had finished reading.

It was a pink bear sticker that Maxium had brought, saying it was used when reading books in the archives.

As I put the book away and looked at the still mountain-like pile of magic books with a small sigh, the passage to the reception room opened.

“Edan?”

He was holding a small cake box with a handle.

While the passage was closing, Edan set the box down on the desk. Then he looked at the stickers in my hand and chuckled.

“That’s unrealistic.”

“Pardon?”

“Where in the world are there pink bears?”

You’re being unnecessarily realistic about the wrong thing. These are just stickers.

I only grumbled inwardly.

I narrowed my eyes and pretended not to hear his words as I put the stickers down.

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

I looked at his lips, slightly raised as if amused.

It had already been over a week, so I thought he might ask for healing today, but he still didn’t say anything.

I peeled off the sticker and turned around abruptly, pulling out a magic book at random.

“What brings you here?”

The words came out a bit gruffly due to my hurt feelings, but Edan didn’t seem to mind and grabbed my wrist.

“Come over here.”

I stood in front of the desk as he pulled me along.

It was the cake box he had brought. Food…

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

Edan frowned one eye as if my words’ intention was strange.

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

“The cake?”

“It’s not cake.”

Edan opened the cake box to reveal something that looked like a round rye bread.

“Bread?”

Why go to the trouble of putting this in a box?

As I looked up at him quizzically, Edan stabbed it with a fork, cut off a piece, and held out the bread to me.

“It’s bread made from the first wheat harvested in the north this year.”

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

So that’s why he brought it in a box like this.

“Thank you. It’s a meaningful bread.”

“Yes. They tell me not to bring it, but it’s like a custom of the domain people. They bring it to me every year.”

I hesitated as I was about to reach for the bread unconsciously.

“But why are you giving this to me?”

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

I thought this during the festival too, but Edan seems quite popular among the northern people. Bread made from the first wheat harvested in a harsh land. The fact that he brought it to me.

I felt good about Edan’s attitude, speaking as if giving this to me was natural.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

The bread melted softly in my mouth.

I didn’t know they could produce such good wheat in a land without distinct seasons and cold climate.

“It’s delicious.”

Although I ate without high expectations, the bread was objectively really tasty.

Edan just watched me munching away.

“Aren’t you eating?”

“I’m fine.”

At those words, I put down the fork with a thud.

“You seem to be ‘fine’ with a lot of things lately?”

Every word is ‘I’m fine, I’m fine.’

“Why are you being so picky again?”

Edan retorted glibly to my words, then shoved his hands into his pockets and half-sat on the edge of the desk.

Then he lifted his head and started scanning the magic books one by one.

“It’ll take some time to go through all these books. But don’t overdo it. I can go to the temple…”

When I didn’t say anything, Edan finally sensed something was off and stopped talking.

“What’s wrong?”

The words wouldn’t come out easily.

“What is it.”

Edan stood up, took his hands out of his pockets, and pulled the chair I was sitting on closer.

He sat slightly leaning against the desk in front of me.

I looked up at Edan.

Even the sense of distance had grown slightly farther.

A distance where I could easily reach out and touch him, but not particularly close, an ambiguous distance of just a span.

It would be difficult to specifically express this feeling of disappointment, but…

“Did I do something wrong?”

I know, there’s no way Edan would act like this without knowing.

So answer me. Why are you doing this to me?

I looked up at him.

I could see Edan’s playfully raised lips settling down calmly.

He blinked slowly once, resting his gaze in the air before lowering it and rubbing his nape.

“You’re not such an oblivious princess after all?”

Edan’s eyes flashed with a strange light as he raised his head.

“I didn’t know.”

“Know what?”

“That you’ve been uncomfortable all this time.”

Edan added a low sigh as he frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve always thought the reason you didn’t want to go to the temple was simply because you didn’t want to die, but you said it in the secret space. That even the thought makes you want to vomit.”

Wait, wait a minute. That was the reason?

My mind went blank.

So, because of what I said to Maxium that day, you deliberately didn’t ask for healing power?

That was about other people, not Edan.

I’ve never felt like vomiting during healing with Edan.

It was just that I felt an unfamiliar sensation because of the incredibly pleasurable feeling.

From the beginning, the ones who made me feel like vomiting just at the thought were other people, not Edan.

“B-but you didn’t say anything that day. We even held hands like usual…”

Edan leaned forward, gripping the chair as he continued speaking.

“We even slept.”

My fingertips, resting on the chair’s armrest, touched Edan’s fingers.

“So…”

“It was damn hard trying to hold back while someone was sleeping soundly next to me. Hm?”

Edan’s gaze slowly brushed my nape as he slightly raised his lips.

“I!”

One of Edan’s eyebrows rose slightly before returning to its place.

“It’s fine.”

“What’s fine?”

“Everything.”

Everything is fine.

“I’ll heal you. Whenever you want.”

For a moment, Edan’s eyes changed. But they soon settled calmly.

“Forget it. Don’t do it.”

He pulled his body back and our fingers separated.

I grabbed his hand firmly.

Edan’s gaze, frozen in place, fell on our joined hands before meeting my eyes.

“Let go.”

“No.”

“You’ll regret it.”

“I won’t.”

“You say that, but you do it every day.”

Ugh. But, but this time I definitely won’t. I decided to help you. I don’t want to see you in pain.

“Lati.”

“Yes.”

“Actually, the monster subjugation is almost over, so it’s fine. Even if you don’t heal me directly, there’s pepper, and even if not that, there’s the spray bottle.”

“You knew about that?”

“How could I not know? Such strong healing power being sprayed above my head. Anyone who’s not an idiot would know.”

I felt a bit embarrassed somehow.

I see. I thought you might be suffering alone because you didn’t tell me about needing healing power, but you were using the things I had prepared in your own way.

“Th-then that’s good.”

I let go of Edan’s hand. If you’re not in pain, that’s fine.

But Edan leaned in, coming right up to my face.

“So, how far is ‘fine’?”

“Huh?”

His large hand gently cupped my nape. Perhaps because it was such a quiet space, I could hear even the detailed sound of my hair tangling in his hand.

“Holding hands is fine, and this much is fine too?”

“That…”

A tingling sensation sent chills down my spine. As I pressed my lower lip firmly and scrunched my eyes, Edan smiled smoothly.

“Or is even more than this fine?”

His fingers slowly rose, fiddling with my earlobe before cupping my cheek.

And just as he tilted his head slightly and came close enough for me to feel his breath, it happened.

“Lady Latieana!”

With a clunk, the bookshelf moved and Maxium appeared.

I felt Edan’s fingertips tense for a moment.

Slowly pulling his face away, Edan turned his head.

“The priest.”

Sharp eyes like arrows pierced Maxium’s face.

“Has no tact, does he?”