“Are you feeling a bit better?”

Adeline opened the door of the temporary residence and met eyes with the duke standing in front of it.

The duke gave no answer to her question. He just stared blankly.

After a moment of silence between the two, Adeline pulled open the half-open door the rest of the way.

Guessing he was unwell, Adeline strode towards him.

“If you’re not feeling well, you should just rest…”

Before Adeline could finish speaking.

Casius, who had been staring blankly at Adeline, suddenly embraced her, trapping her in his arms.

“…Your Grace?”

He just held her like that for a while without saying anything.

When he opened his eyes and Adeline was gone, anger set in, followed by a wave of sadness.

To hide his disappointment that she had run away from him again, he expressed anger instead of sadness.

The unbearably cold space beside him. The indescribable feeling when Adeline appeared as he was about to open the door with a resigned heart.

Relief sprouting amidst resentment. Joy from an unknown source. In that moment that felt so unreal it might have been a dream, what he felt was a strange mix of myriad emotions.

Casius assumed Adeline had surely taken advantage of his illness to run far away.

Perhaps he was the one who had driven her to run away. With a tinge of regret along with anger, he vowed to find her again.

But the woman he longed for had returned. If she was an illusion before his eyes, he would cling to even that illusion.

Now that she had returned to his side, he had no intention of letting Adeline go.

He opened his lips.

“Where did you go?”

His voice came out utterly hoarse.

“…I went out briefly to buy some medicine.”

Adeline stared blankly for a moment before answering him. She was not an illusion.

“And I needed to inform the duke’s residence of our location.”

Meanwhile, Adeline’s gaze towards the duke grew calm.

She recalled the path she had taken back.

At first, she had no intention of returning. She was just going to send someone on the way to inform them that the duke was in the temporary quarters at the mine, and then she planned to leave.

Her senses, which had been scattered by the atmosphere, returned as she saw the morning sun rising.

Adeline left right away. As she walked aimlessly, she found herself stopping in front of a doctor.

Even without this medicine, the duke would not die.

Though she knew this well, Adeline couldn’t leave. He had fallen into danger while trying to save her, and he was ill.

But all of this was nothing more than excuses she was making because she wanted to go back.

‘A trap.’

Even knowing that the hand he extended was not salvation but a snare around her own neck.

Even knowing that if she was caught like this she would never be able to escape again, she couldn’t refuse.

Because with just those few words telling her not to leave, he made her regret every moment she had run away.

With this realization, Adeline turned her steps back.

And so, finding herself standing here again, she looked up at Casius with half-doubting eyes.

“It’s alright if there’s no child. But Adeline, you must stay by my side.”

Sincerity seeped through Casius’s hoarse voice.

If someone saw her, they might point fingers calling her foolish. For missing a golden opportunity to escape, and walking into the trap herself.

An unpredictable future. But Adeline decided to entrust herself to this raging torrent.

She couldn’t keep hiding her identity as Lady Credion and living as the commoner Del forever.

If she continued this life as a mistress, someone who recognized her might appear.

It was a relationship where the ending was already clearly set. Knowing that end clearly, Adeline couldn’t answer that she would never leave again.

However, she thought she wouldn’t run away out of fear of a future that had not yet come.

Though she couldn’t give an answer, instead she simply embraced Casius in return.

Adeline gave Casius, who was still unwell, the medicine she had brought.

Perhaps due to the effects of the medicine, Casius soon leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes.

Adeline stared blankly out the window as she watched him fall asleep.

That was when.

The sound of horse hooves began to be heard from afar.

Adeline rose from her seat and headed to the window at the sound approaching the temporary quarters.

Before she returned, she had sent someone to inform the castle of their location. It seemed the castle’s knights had arrived.

Adeline stood up. It was time to return now.

The two put back on the clothes they had taken off.

And when they came out of the temporary quarters, the waiting knights approached the two.

Adeline was still shaking out her damp dress.

“Eric.”

The duke called out to Eric, who was standing at the front among the familiar faces.

Seeing the duke and Adeline’s disheveled appearance, Eric hurriedly offered words of apology.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

“Why don’t I see a carriage?”

The duke coldly asked Eric why there was no carriage to escort him.

“Due to the unexpected downpour, there are severe landslides in several places, Your Grace. It will be uncomfortable, but it seems you’ll have to return on horseback.”

Due to the muddy ground and landslides blocking the return routes, there was no space for a carriage to enter.

To think he couldn’t take Adeline, who had barely escaped, back in a carriage.

The duke was displeased with this situation, as he had hoped for Adeline to return as comfortably as possible.

“Please let me ride with you, Your Grace.”

Though there was no way the daughter of a marquis wouldn’t know how to ride a horse, Adeline requested to ride together out of concern for the duke’s condition.

With those words alone, the duke’s displeasure vanished like it had been washed away.

It had been an unsatisfactory situation with nothing to his liking, but now there was an aspect that pleased him somewhat.

A faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.

“Very well.”

He extended his hand towards Adeline.

Adeline straightened her back after settling onto the horse with Casius’s help.

The knights also mounted their horses. And they were waiting for the duke to depart.

“We’ll follow slowly behind. You all go on ahead.”

“Understood.”

The escort was already inadequate without traveling by carriage.

Though it was an unreasonable order, Eric set off with his group without a word of complaint.

Casius and Adeline silently watched as the knights disappeared from view.

And after everyone had left, a deep silence fell between the two.

Casius stroked the horse as if finding his seat, then mounted in one swift motion.

He moved forward as if finding his place.

Soon, the duke’s body heat touched Adeline’s back. One hot hand wrapped around her waist as if to support her.

A burning sensation spread through her still damp dress.

A man radiating heat from his whole body. Even knowing he was still a sick patient, an inexplicable sensuality spread due to their touching body heat.

Adeline clenched her hands tightly.

He said it was fine even without a child. It sounded like something Mel would say, as if thinking of Adeline.

He had changed from treating her coldly as a mistress.

Maybe we can go back to how we were that summer we spent at Horn’s villa.

A small hope was growing in a corner of Adeline’s heart.

“You drive.”

Along with the low voice seeping into her ear, Casius handed over the reins he had been holding in his other hand to Adeline.

Then he wrapped both hands around Adeline’s waist.

Burying his head deeply in Adeline’s shoulder, he nibbled at her lips near her collarbone.

“As you know, I’m unwell so it’s better if I lean on you.”

Adeline unconsciously tried to turn around at his words about being unwell.

“I’m a patient.”

Her face flushed red again at the ticklish voice pooling in her ear.

Though she needed to depart, she just gripped the reins tightly, unable to move.

Her heart began to pound wildly. Was this excitement? It was an emotion she shouldn’t be able to feel in her situation, having been caught again and returning to the castle after trying to escape.

‘Should I drive the horse? Should I not drive it?’

But soon a smile appeared on Adeline’s lips. This situation wasn’t bad.

Eventually, Casius’s large hands enveloped Adeline’s hands holding the reins.

As the reins moved, the horse began to walk slowly.

The horse carrying the two walked leisurely through the forest, lush with greenery despite it being autumn.

The cool breeze gently tickled Adeline’s cheeks before fading away, over and over.

The damp scent of rain added to the fragrance of grass wafting to her nose.

The downpour that had seemed about to swallow up the Torpeo territory had stopped as if it had never happened.

The sky that had been full of rain clouds was now clear.

Adeline felt the fatigue melting from her entire body in the warm sunlight shining through the clouds.

It was quite ironic.

This forest path that had been so harsh the night before, the road leading to Torpeo Castle, now felt only beautiful.

Though she didn’t know what the approaching future would be like, Adeline decided to set aside her worries for a moment.

The sound of breathing from the duke leaning against her back added to the peacefulness.

Adeline slowed the walking horse’s pace by one more beat. It was her small consideration for him as he slept.