Warmth seeped into the bandage wrapped around the wound.

The dizzying sensation caused by the delicate breath clinging to his nape.

Cedric’s hand, which had been floating in the air, lost its way and wandered.

At the moment when he swallowed the breath he had been holding without being able to swallow or spit it out.

“……!”

She, who had burrowed a little deeper into his embrace, wrapped her slender arm around his waist.

‘Ugh…….’

He tightly shut his eyes, swallowing a groan that he couldn’t voice, at the sharp sensation spreading over the wound.

Her soft cheek rubbed against his bare flesh, where the bandage had not covered.

Every time he swallowed his breath at the soft and tender sensation given by the closely fitting female body, his heart thumped.

His welltoned body felt like it was going to melt.

A pain different from the one given by the wound weighed down on his body.

“Haah…….”

Cedric took a deep breath with his eyes closed.

And he regretted it.

“Ugh…….”

As her large chest heaved, she, with a furrowed pretty brow, pulled her arm that was wrapped around his waist even tighter.

It was not a joke he made to her; it was really painful enough to kill him.

The wound that began to burn rather than sting.

He repeated short exhales, trying as much as possible for her not to react.

‘Ah. It seems to be alright now.’

The pain given by the glasscut wound had dulled bit by bit.

‘But it feels like I’m going to die anyway.’

The fragrant body scent flowing along his nose.

The warm body temperature gradually attaching itself to his body.

Soft flesh rubbing against his.

Due to instinctive, tenacious control, the ensuing pain intensified.

“Haah. I’m going mad…….”

A groaning sound escaped through clenched teeth.

At that moment.

“Heh…….”

Cedric’s crumpled eyes flickered at the small laugh that exploded from within her chest.

“Heh. Heheheh.”

She laughed again.

……Laughing? Laughing now?

With twisted eyes, he stared at her, who had a faint smile on her lips.

Her long eyes, which had been shedding tears, were softly curved.

“Damn it.”

Cedric, who had been looking at her slightly, burst into a wistful laugh.

He captured his wife’s face, which was tightly wrapped and stuck with his arm, silently over his pupils.

Still wandering in the air, his arm slowly moved, and the wound throbbed.

But he didn’t stop the movement and gently embraced her small body.

“Okay. That’s good enough.”

He muttered a sigh mixed with a grumble and then laughed.

Pat, pat.

What’s embraced within is a doll.

Thinking so, he carefully patted her back, then.

“…….”

Her eyelids, thickly embedded with eyelashes, slowly rolled up.

His hand, about to touch her back, stopped in the air.

Blink, blink.

Underneath the slowly rising and falling eyelids, her eyes filled with a dazed light revealed themselves, then hid, repeating the process.

“She’s awake…….”

Are you awake? Cedric’s lips, about to ask, closed again.

Her drooping eyelids, filled with dazedness, concealed her violet eyes.

Soon after, a delicate breath flowed through her slightly parted, red, and plump lips.

‘Has she fallen asleep again?’

After watching her in silence for some time, he carefully set his hand that had been guarding her back.

Another long time passed.

Carefully laying her, who had been embracing him, onto the bed, dropping her arms, he gently placed her down.

“Haah…….”

Cedric, who had let out a sigh full of meaning, got up from the bed.

And he donned a gown and left the room.

The mansion’s grand garden, where the dawn light had begun to descend.

He closed his eyes slowly, taking in the cool dawn air.

“It was indeed a painful night.”

Since the one who had asked to be together tonight was himself, he couldn’t blame anyone else.

Cedric slowly opened his eyes.

And he recalled the soft touch that had wriggled in his arms a moment ago.

The feeling of heat gathering again over his cooling body in the cool dawn air.

“I was not mistaken in my thinking.”

His blue eyes, diffused with the dawn light, flashed sharply.

Something any healthy man could experience.

A physical reaction, arising from an instinctive sensation.
But for Cedric, it was a reaction that had disappeared long ago, now unfamiliar to him.

5 years ago.

Since the day he returned after ending the brutal war.

He had not desired anyone.

He was introduced to many young ladies, but he showed no interest.

A body that could never be someone’s man.

“Mother, I am someone who cannot love anyone. So, the person who marries me will be unhappy.”

He vowed to live his life as a brave knight.

And then.

A sudden marriage by royal command.

He was baffled, but his worries vanished the moment he met Lamein.

He thought it was okay since she looked like she didn’t even want to spend the night with him.

He thought it was a marriage that would make no one unhappy……

But the moment he made the vow with a kiss at the wedding, his eyes not betraying a single emotion,