“What do you think?”

Adeline’s tightly closed eyes softly opened at the voice echoing in her ears again.

“W-what…?”

Adeline was so flustered that she didn’t even realize she was stuttering.

Only then did she notice that his gaze was directed at the candle flickering faintly on the table.

“I meant the scented candle. What do you think of it?”

He met Adeline’s eyes. It was a direct gaze, as if urging her to answer.

Adeline frowned deeply.

On the surface, it seemed like he was asking about the scent of the candle, but Adeline sensed his true intentions.

Wasn’t it a candle she had lit herself? He would know the scent better.

He didn’t really want to ask about the fragrance; he was suggesting they spend the night together.

In that moment, she became aware of the reality she had momentarily forgotten, intoxicated by his appearance.

This was the kind of man Casius Mile Torpeo was.

Adeline pushed him away as he approached and said,

“I can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

She found it extremely annoying that he feigned ignorance while knowing full well.

“What do you mean, what? The doctor said absolute rest is necessary in the early stages! You can’t look at me like that, it’s not allowed!”

Adeline was about to burst out more when she saw his gaze fixed on her.

A smirk twisted his lips as laughter erupted.

“When did I say we should sleep together?”

He approached Adeline, raising one corner of his mouth.

“I didn’t know you wanted it so badly. It’s a shame, but I can’t stay in the study forever, you know.”

“…”

“We’re quite a passionate couple, aren’t we?”

Casius patted Adeline’s shoulder a couple of times, then went to the table and sat on the sofa.

Then, showing her a stack of documents, he said,

“I’ll be working here today, so keep that in mind and go to sleep.”

How much time had passed?

He seemed to be true to his word about working, as he never came to the bed where she was lying.

A dreadful silence lingered.

Except for the sound of papers turning and the scratching of his fountain pen against paper, it was quiet.

Adeline turned her back to the window and lay down.

In the deep predawn hours, even the moonlight that had risen beyond the window was tilting and fading away.

For some reason, she couldn’t easily fall asleep.

No matter how much she turned her back, that man was seated just beyond the bedroom.

Occasionally, the man seemed to turn a page and then exhale.

The sound of his breath clearly reached Adeline’s ears, though she was far away.

It felt as if he was breathing right next to her, tickling her ear.

Involuntarily, Adeline’s mind conjured an image of him.

The man sitting on the fabric sofa, leaning back with his legs crossed, turning pages of documents.

This is driving me crazy.

It felt as if all her nerves were on edge, focused on Casius.

Worried that he might notice she wasn’t asleep, Adeline could barely breathe in or out.

As she was spending the night like that, unable to do this or that.

The sound of turning pages stopped.

Soon, there was a sound of wind as if blowing out candles, and darkness fell in the bedroom.

The sound of footsteps drew closer, then the sound of clothes dropping echoed.

Then the end of the bed shifted.

Adeline’s heart tightened and relaxed repeatedly.

The bedding seemed to be pulled towards him, and Adeline felt an intense gaze.

It seemed he was looking at her.

‘He didn’t notice, did he?’

It was in complete darkness. A deep breath touched the back of her neck.

Of course. This man wasn’t the type to leave her alone to sleep peacefully.

Adeline’s heart raced.

If she could hear her own heartbeat so clearly, there was no way he couldn’t hear it.

With a dizzying feeling, Adeline clenched her fists.

Just as she thought she was done for.

The breath settling on her ear moved away.

Then there was the sound of rustling bedding, followed by silence.

Adeline was bewildered.

The man she knew wouldn’t leave her alone like this if he knew she wasn’t asleep.

At the very least, the Duke of Torpeo would have said something mischievous.

‘Did I… perhaps want it?’

In the quiet predawn, Adeline placed her hand on her pounding heart.

It felt different from the heartbeat that had been throbbing in suffocating tension.

Late morning. Adeline finally got up, roused by the sunlight touching her eyes.

In the end, she hadn’t been able to sleep properly, her nerves on edge because of Casius who had insisted on working in the bedroom last night.

Adeline had thought she would stay up all night, nervous about being in the same space as Casius. But after being on edge for a long time, she had only managed to fall asleep as dawn approached.

The maid who immediately entered the bedroom at Adeline’s stirring greeted her.

“You look very tired, are you alright?”

One of the few maids in this ducal residence who didn’t disrespect Adeline from the start. It was Betty.

Adeline answered with a faint smile.

“I’m fine. I just had a bit of trouble sleeping.”

“With a child in your belly, you should be getting plenty of rest… Was it morning sickness that kept you up?”

‘I couldn’t sleep because I was conscious of the Duke all night.’

She couldn’t say that her lack of sleep was due to Casius, not morning sickness. Adeline just smiled at Betty’s words.

“You don’t have any daytime schedule, shall I draw the curtains? It might be good for you to rest a bit more.”

“Would you? Thank you, Betty.”

Perhaps it was because she had been on edge for so long last night, unable to sleep. Adeline found it extremely difficult to shake off her fatigue. So she intended to try to sleep a bit more as Betty suggested.

As Betty was moving to the window to draw the curtains, something fell with a thud as it hit the curtain.

It was the scented candle that had been left burning on the bedside shelf. Betty picked up the candle she had knocked down.

“Oh my, this is…”

Adeline turned her head at Betty’s reaction.

In Betty’s hand was the candle that had been burning last night.

When Betty hesitated while looking at the candle, Adeline thought she was misunderstanding. And for good reason, as there wouldn’t be many other reasons for burning a candle in the marital bedroom. Especially since she had just mentioned having trouble sleeping.

Adeline’s face flushed as if she could guess Betty’s thoughts.

“Ah. That’s.”

“It’s a candle that’s good for morning sickness! Did the Duke give it to you as a gift?”

Adeline had been planning to make an excuse that she had just lit it because she liked the scent. However, the words that immediately came out of Betty’s mouth were unexpected.

“Morning sickness?”

“Yes. The quince scent along with the subtle lemon scent is very good for easing morning sickness. It’s a folk remedy, but how did the Duke know about this? Hohoho”

Adeline recalled her own misunderstanding about the candle.

‘It wasn’t that kind of candle.’

Adeline felt as if embarrassment was rising to the top of her head. Her face felt like it was about to burst into flames.

Her face must surely look not just red, but about to explode. Adeline instinctively pulled the blanket over her head.

Although it was a reaction born from Adeline’s embarrassment, Betty misunderstood it as having upset her mood.

“Oh my. You’re tired. I’ll take my leave now.”

Having finished drawing the curtains, Betty bowed to Adeline who was hiding under the blanket and quickly left the bedroom.

Adeline couldn’t believe that the candle had been prepared out of concern for her nausea.

‘It’s not Mel, but Casius.’

Even as Adeline thought it couldn’t be possible, she couldn’t help but feel a tickling sensation in a corner of her heart.

No matter how tightly she curled up, the tickling feeling in her heart wouldn’t subside.

“Is there still no news of the Marquis?”

“Your Highness. When the heir of the Credion family has hidden himself, if he were easily found, he wouldn’t be a Credion.”

The Marquis didn’t know how to lower himself even in front of the Crown Prince.

He only maintained the minimum courtesy towards the royal family.

“I will send a letter as soon as we find him.”

The Marquis, who was already displeased with the Crown Prince’s constant nagging, was in a bad mood.

After finishing his words, the Marquis left his seat and gestured to the secretary standing behind him.

At the Marquis’s gesture, the secretary approached the incense burner in the center of the table and began to burn something.

The secluded banquet hall where the Crown Prince was left alone was filling with thick smoke.

Severus left the banquet hall, leaving behind the Crown Prince who was gradually closing his eyes.

The acrid smoke spreading thickly was a kind of drug called ‘Asis’ that could only be obtained through the Marquis’s family.

Asis was one of the small reasons why the Crown Prince couldn’t treat the Marquis like others, even though he kept pressing him.

The Marquis headed straight to the mansion.

Entering his study, the Marquis ordered the secretary who followed him.

“Everyone return to their posts.”

The secretary immediately bowed to the Marquis’s order and quickly disappeared.

Severus, lying down on the leather sofa in the center of the study, lit his tobacco pipe.

Although he had answered that there was no way a person from the Credion family could be found so quickly, the child couldn’t be found even with the Marquis moving in person.

Deep breaths, as heavy as continuous sighs, followed, and hazy smoke filled the study.

After some time passed and the thick smoke dissipated all at once, ‘they’ began to appear in the study one by one.

Severus’s limbs who handle the secret affairs of the Marquis’s family, that is.

“Withdraw from domestic search. Go abroad.”

He had filled the Crown Prince with Asis just before he went crazy with impatience, so that annoying Prince would be quiet for a while.

Severus found both social circles and politics extremely bothersome. The Marquis had grasped power to suppress and interfere with those who bothered him, while on the contrary, his daughter had thrown everything away and run away from home.

In a way, the Marquis thought that his daughter, whom he barely knew, resembled him in this aspect.

‘She took after something unnecessary.’

Between the exhaled tobacco smoke, his raised corner of the mouth slightly showed.

He intended to forget about Adeline, who had run away, for the time being.

However, the peace was short-lived as an invitation from the Imperial Family arrived at the Marquis’s residence.

The Marquis, who was reviewing his work, burst into laughter when he saw the contents of the invitation.

The invitation date written on the card was just two days away.

The Marquis had been intentionally blocking information for a while, receiving only minimal information.

It had been less than a few days since he received the report that the Duke had returned alive.

There were no nobles who could refuse an invitation to a banquet called by the Crown Prince.

A banquet for the Duke who had returned alive, whom he had regarded as such an eyesore.

Severus’s gray eyes flashed. He was starting to get interested in what kind of affair the Crown Prince would stir up this time.