Eustar turned to Laila with a somewhat surprised expression.

“Right now?”

“We might as well since it came up. Come on, lie down.”

Was she always this proactive? For a moment, Eustar had such a thought. As he awkwardly lay down, pushed by Laila’s momentum, he said:

“Wait, Laila. You’re not saying you’re going to copy it all tonight, are you?”

“We should see it through since we’ve started. Why?”

Eustar moved his lips with a bewildered expression and said:

“I don’t think it can be done in just an hour or two?”

Laila, who had found paper and a pen rummaging through the drawer, stared at him as if to say that was obvious.

“You can sleep.”

Her tone was strangely indifferent. Eustar burst into laughter for the third time and properly positioned himself on Laila’s bed. With one cheek buried in his arm, his gaze as he looked back at Laila was languid as if drowsy.

“You’re saying I should sleep while you’re struggling to draw my body in this dim light.”

“I’m drawing the seal, not your body.”

“Either way, you’ll be looking at me. You’ve decided not to let me sleep.”

Laila’s head tilted slightly to one side. Eustar realized that she didn’t understand the context of this conversation at all—and had no intention of understanding it—and… He cleared his throat and rested his forehead on his toned forearm.

“Alright, Laila. Do as you please.”

Laila climbed onto the bed with paper and pen in hand. She needed something solid to support it. Looking around, Laila took down a frame hanging on the wall and placed it under the paper.

Eustar said:

“The painting in that frame is very precious. The artist would probably be furious if they knew.”

“I don’t care.”

At Laila’s simple response, Eustar laughed briefly, looking troubled, and buried his forehead again. For a while, only the scratching sound of the pen continued.

Occasionally, the sound of a cuckoo could be heard from the forest beyond the palace garden, and the flapping of wings from large birds like owls. Other than that, no sound could be heard. It was quiet.

Eustar, who had been silent with his forehead buried as if sleeping, said:

“I saw the servants on my way to your room earlier.”

Laila waited for his next words without taking her eyes off Eustar’s back.

“They said your elder brother’s condition suddenly worsened.”

The pen sound didn’t stop. Laila was still silent and… Just as Eustar was about to turn his head slightly, she spoke:

“Your elder brother’s illness is incurable, isn’t it?”

Eustar, who had been tapping the sheet with his fingertips like a child, answered:

“Probably. Numerous doctors have come and gone, but it only got worse. There were times when there was improvement, but only for a very short while.”

“And you’re not even sure what the illness is.”

He nodded. “That’s right.” Then suddenly, he turned his body sideways to look up at Laila. Startled while drawing the seal, Laila abruptly lifted her pen.

“Eustar!”

As Laila scolded him, Eustar smiled faintly with one hand on his temple.

“I don’t think I thanked you when you said you would make a tincture for my elder brother.”

Laila stopped moving and looked at Eustar silently. He didn’t seem to be joking or teasing her. Suddenly, she recalled when she first met Ord.

A man who looked so ill that it wouldn’t be strange if he died right then… With sunken cheeks that revealed his bones, like a moving skeleton. The fact that this man was Eustar’s brother suddenly became unbelievable.

“Lie down again.”

Eustar obediently followed her words. As his long hair fell messily covering his back, Laila carefully brushed it aside with her fingertips. When she felt the warmth from his skin, she suddenly felt relieved for no apparent reason.

Laila said:

“Now stay still.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Eustar turned to look sideways, giggling mischievously as he joked. This time, unexpectedly, Laila was looking at Eustar as if surprised.

“I’m not your lady, Eustar.”

Laila’s voice sounded resolute, almost to the point of being pedantic.

But Eustar only thought he had offended Laila, not realizing at all that she had done so to bury the thoughts and imaginations spreading in various directions deep inside her.

“It was a joke. I’m sorry.”

As Eustar whispered, Laila’s tensed shoulders relaxed a little.

“I’m not angry.”

“Really? I think…”

“Just stay still.”

And the sound of the pen started again.

The sharp tip sliding over the moist ink as it gently scratched the paper was vividly imagined. Mixed with that was Laila’s shallow breathing. Cuckoos crying in the forest.

Eustar unknowingly fell into a deep sleep. Before his consciousness was taken by slumber, the last thing he thought of was only the very faint sensation felt from Laila’s fingertips.

There was a continuous ticking sound coming from somewhere. It wasn’t the sound of someone knocking on the door… Nor was it the sound of a clock moving.

It was lighter than a knock, yet too dull to be a clock. Anyway, the sound kept ringing in Laila’s ears, uncomfortably poking at her consciousness that had fallen into a deep sleep.

“Hmm…”

Just as Laila, curled up, was about to pull the sheet over herself, the ticking sound was heard again, and then someone’s breath was felt on her ear.

“Wake up, Laila. We’re late.”

Her mind suddenly cleared. Laila abruptly sat up as if she had fallen into a mud pit.

Immediately, she felt a dull pain in her right shoulder. As she groaned softly and grabbed her shoulder, she felt firm fingers gently caressing her nape and shoulder blade.

“You were sleeping curled up. That’s why your shoulder hurts.”

Needless to say, it was Eustar. He was already wearing a shirt—different from the one he wore yesterday—and underneath, he wore Tentinella uniform pants. Leather suspenders hung over both forearms.

Laila remained still for a moment, not realizing what was going on even after seeing this sight, and then looked around. The first thing that caught her eye was the seal she had drawn, staying up almost all night, neatly placed on top of the drawer.

After being lost in thought for a moment, Laila belatedly realized the identity of the ticking sound and quietly gasped in shock. It must have been Eustar clicking his tongue near her ear.

Laila asked with a flustered expression:

“Did you sleep here, Eustar?”

Eustar put on a serious expression as if trying to explain:

“I swear I didn’t do anything lecherous. I fell asleep while you were drawing.”

“I know that. But I think I woke you up…”

Or did I not? Laila was only able to finish copying the seal drawn on Eustar’s back when the sky outside was turning bluish bright.

After comparing one by one to see if there were any mistakes or omissions, an irresistible drowsiness came over her and…

—Wake up, Eustar. I’ve finished drawing.

She whispered that almost in a daze and fell asleep not even a second later.

It’s hard to call that ‘waking him up’. Laila thought. She didn’t shake him, let alone speak two or three times…

Eustar said:

“I had breakfast brought. Eat quickly before it gets cold. And we need to move right away.”

Laila looked up at him while rubbing her eyes that were still heavy with sleep.

“Move?”

“Yes, we have work to do.”

Eustar brought her breakfast to the bed. There was just the right temperature tea, soft bread, fragrant butter, and dried fruits. Her stomach, which hadn’t eaten properly for days, suddenly churned with hunger.

Laila first tried a bite of bread spread with butter. For some reason, it felt like eating white bread was a very long time ago.

Since coming to the palace, no, since leaving home, even when eating, her mind was always elsewhere.

“What about you?”

Eustar sat down next to her with a grin.

“I’ve already eaten.”

His face seemed to glow white in the bright sunlight streaming through the window. Laila, who was eating dried fruit and bread together, suddenly furrowed her brow while chewing what was in her mouth.

“Did someone come in here?”

Confused for a moment by the sudden question, Eustar asked back:

“They did. The servants came to bring breakfast, Mel came in, and someone came to bring my clothes…”

“So everyone knows that we slept together last night?”

So that was the issue. Eustar tilted his head amusedly and smiled faintly.

“Those who should know probably found out. But… There’s nothing strange about it, is there? Only you and I know that we’re only superficially married. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

“It’s not that, but…”

Eustar leaned slightly towards Laila. At that moment, Laila was startled by how familiar his scent felt.

It was the smell of hot, clean flesh. At dawn, it reminded her of rain-soaked rocks, but now that the sun had risen, he had a different fragrance.

Was it because it had been warmed by body heat all night, or had he used perfume? Under the scent of lavender, the heavy and sweet smell of the finest leather and vanilla was hidden.

That smell was familiar… Laila knew she had been enveloped in this fragrance throughout her sleep. Suddenly, her face flushed hot.

Eustar said:

“It’s okay. There’s no way strange rumors will spread. We’re married, after all. It would be stranger if we used separate rooms from the first night. If we had, truly strange rumors might have spread.”

“You didn’t come.”

Laila herself was surprised by the words that came out petulantly, contrary to her heart.

As she gulped down her tea to hide her flustered expression, Eustar approached Laila with an even more charming and gentle smile. It was a very small movement, but his gesture sliding on the sheet was graceful.

“I’m sorry about that. I thought you wouldn’t like it… In the end, it was a wrong thought. It ended up letting the Decepter frighten you.”

Decepter. The moment she heard that name, Laila felt a streak of drowsiness that had remained somewhere on her eyelids flee as if burned.

“Come to think of it, that demon… Is the Decepter always by your side? Even when I can’t see it?”