From early morning, carriages and luggage were being prepared busily in front of the duke’s mansion.

Adeline had decided to recuperate at a nearby villa for a week starting today.

Adeline, who naturally thought she would be going alone, blinked her eyes upon seeing Casius.

“Since I’ll be there, the knights won’t be necessary. Let’s just increase the number of guards in the surrounding area.”

“Yes. The chef and maid will bring food at set times and then leave.”

“That’s suitable.”

However, listening to the conversation with Gwen, Adeline sensed that something was amiss.

Moving her stiffened body, she approached the duke.

“Your Grace, are you perhaps planning to come along?”

The duke turned at Adeline’s voice.

His gaze, looking down at her as if it were only natural, settled.

“Why ask about something so obvious? Did you think I was such a worthless man that I’d send you alone to recuperate while carrying my child?”

The gazes of the surrounding servants focused on the two of them.

“It’s fine if I go alone. You’re busy, after all.”

“You needn’t worry about me. Let’s depart.”

Exclamations burst from the surrounding maids.

The eyes of the maids gathering and whispering about the two sparkled.

As if they had found a week’s worth of gossip.

‘Did you hear? That cold duke is going along for the lady’s sake.’

‘Who knew our duke had such a romantic side.’

‘It seems he really loves Lady Del.’

Adeline felt a headache coming on at the sound of the maids’ conversations that followed.

The opportunity she had sought to be apart was now gone.

Once he had packaged this recuperation as the duke’s love in front of everyone, there was no justification to leave him behind.

How cunning.

She knew he was a sharp-witted man to begin with. Adeline felt nauseous once again.

Was there still no escaping the duke’s eyes?

The door of the carriage, which had finished preparations to depart, opened.

Casius entered first and extended his hand toward Adeline.

“Take it.”

“Thank you.”

Adeline, having boarded the carriage, was about to sit down.

Her brow furrowed slightly.

Did he smile?

It might have been her imagination.

But in that brief moment as he turned to take his seat, he seemed to be smiling.

Adeline leaned against the wide-open window, lost in thought.

She gazed at the mountain where autumn colors were peeking through the green foliage.

A villa surrounded by mountains. Just below it stretched a blue lake.

The sunlight glinting off the lake’s surface should have made her squint.

Is this paradise? It felt so beautiful, as if she had come to heaven.

Phew, as Adeline inhaled, the crisp air swept through her lungs.

Though it had been a while since the start of autumn, the outside air was quite warm even with the window open.

They said if the duke had a favorite place, he would undoubtedly choose this villa. Those words resonated deeply.

A scenery that brings peace to the heart. Warm sunlight.

Everything would have been perfect. Except for Casius being there with her.

“You said you wanted to come, so we came, but why do you look like that?”

Adeline’s gaze met Casius’s, who had approached without her noticing.

Dissatisfaction was evident in his eyes as he looked down at Adeline with his arms crossed.

“I was thinking of coming alone to rest.”

“Alone?”

He furrowed his brow as he questioned Adeline.

“It’s for recuperation, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Isn’t that why we came here now?”

“For me, it’s more comfortable without you.”

Unable to communicate, Adeline blurted out a direct statement without realizing it.

At that moment, Casius’s face darkened.

He quickly uncrossed his arms and approached Adeline, murmuring.

“Then this uninvited guest will disappear so you can recuperate comfortably.”

Perhaps quite offended by Adeline’s words, he did not return after that.

After a long silence, Adeline raised herself from the window frame.

He was not a man to say one thing and do another. Perhaps Casius really would not return.

As Adeline turned her gaze, she noticed the outside had already grown dark.

Should I read a book?

Unable to bear the boredom, Adeline approached the bookshelf.

They said the young duke had used it, and the books on the shelf seemed to be from that time.

‘That fairy tale… I used to read it a lot before.’

Adeline, scanning with her eyes, stood on tiptoe at the familiar title.

And as she reached out to pull the book, a candlestick placed on top of the bookshelf tipped over.

Seeing the flame, Adeline instinctively reached out to grab the candlestick.

“Ah!”

However, it must have been quite sharp, as her hand was cut by the candlestick.

Then, with a crash, the sound of objects spilling filled the villa.

At that moment, the door burst open and Casius appeared.

“What are you doing? Ha… I can’t take my eyes off you for a moment.”

He approached Adeline with hurried steps and sat her on the sofa.

Then, as if looking for something, he came back to her again.

The duke pulled out a chair next to the sofa and sat facing her.

“It’s a deep cut. Does it hurt?”

“Ow… it hurts.”

As Casius pressed firmly with a gauze cloth to stop the flowing blood, Adeline’s face contorted in pain.

A long wound had formed across her pale palm.

“…Your Grace!”

Adeline tried to twist her hand away from the stinging pain.

He then reached out with his other hand and grasped Adeline’s hand. To keep it from moving.

“We need to stop the bleeding, so bear with it.”

How many minutes passed like that?

Thinking he had stopped the bleeding sufficiently, he relaxed his grip.

His eyes darkened as he looked at the wound on her milky-white flesh.

“The wound is deeper than I thought. I should call the doctor.”

Adeline was dumbfounded.

No matter how deep the wound, it was just a cut from a candlestick. And only a graze at that.

“It’s fine! Who would call a doctor for a wound like this?”

“All the items here are things I’ve used since I was young. We don’t know how it might get infected…”

“I know my own body. Just apply some ointment, please give it to me.”

Casius, looking at Adeline, let out a quiet sigh.

Then he pulled Adeline’s injured hand towards him.

“I can do it mysel…”

“With your right hand in that state, what could you possibly do?”

He took out the ointment and began applying it to the affected area.

The man before her eyes was Torpeo, the Iron Duke who had swept through battlefields.

The touch she had expected to be rough and coarse was delicate.

He was careful not to touch Adeline’s wound and cause her pain.

Adeline felt a lump in her throat without realizing it. It was a touch that reminded her of someone.

“…”

Silence flowed between the two.

Adeline, who had initially tried to reject Casius, was now watching him.

He took out a long strip of gauze bandage from the basket and began wrapping it around Adeline’s wound.

“You’re not alone anymore, so don’t do this in the future.”

Adeline, who had been looking down, raised her head at the voice seeping into her ears.

It was a voice that sounded as if he was worried.

“You’re free to use your body as you wish, but the child inside you is my child. A noble being born with the bloodline of this House Torpeo.”

“…”

“I’m telling you to always be mindful that your actions could harm my child.”

Of course.

It was a moment that made her feel foolish for thinking that this man’s concern might be for her.

She felt stupid for having softened her heart towards him even for a moment.

“I know. That this child is the precious heir of the ducal family.”

“If you know, that’s enough.”

With those words, the duke tied a knot on the bandage.

“Go to sleep first. I’ll come after finishing some work.”

And with that, he left the bedroom, saying he would do some work in the study.

After he left, silence returned to the villa’s bedroom.

Adeline sank deep into the sofa.

Then she raised her bandaged hand towards the ceiling and looked at it.

“It’s the same.”

During the time they spent together at Horn’s villa.

It was so similar to when he treated Adeline after she cut her hand on a broken window hinge.

Back then, Mel also treated Adeline with very careful hands.

‘Even getting angry when I get hurt is similar.’

A man who normally didn’t know how to get angry would become upset when Adeline got hurt.

Looking at the knot that looked just like the bandage Mel had wrapped back then, Adeline let out a small laugh.

“…Of course it’s the same.”

Because Mel and the duke are the same person.

Adeline covered her eyes with her raised hand.

The same person. Though Mel, with whom she had spent a season, and Duke Torpeo were the same person, the gap between the two was stark.

Mel felt like he no longer existed in this world.

So she gave up. She didn’t want to waste emotions searching for someone who no longer existed.

Perhaps because she was reminded of Mel from the duke after a long time.

Though he was clearly an uncomfortable and disliked man, the palm he had treated seemed to tingle.

Gradually, a fever built up.

Adeline sat up straight on the sofa and fanned herself with her hand.

But it was not enough, as Adeline’s face continued to burn for a long time.