“The Duke of Vermont? He must have another plan. Keep a close eye on him.”
Kaian’s voice was filled with vivid coldness.
Sometimes, it was colder than the north wind of Valmonde, and it was as if someone with the temperature befitting a true King of the North had somehow been born in the South.
“Now that I have personally set foot in Valmonde if you try to talk nonsense, I will not let you off easy.”
His words antagonizing Vermont pierced my heart painfully.
In an instant, my mind went blank and my vision went dark.
It was as if the air surrounding me had disappeared, and I could not breathe. I gasped and staggered, pounding my stuffy chest.
At that sound, Kaian suddenly appeared on the other side of the carriage and looked surprised at me.
“Claudel!”
He quickly approached me, seeing me pale. Kaian reached out to support me.
“What the...”
Knock.
I shook off his outstretched hand and backed away in a panic.
However, I couldn’t even move away properly, and soon I tripped on a pile of snow that had been pushed aside and collapsed.
Only then did Kaian realize that something was wrong with me, and he slowly approached me, lowering his body to meet my eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“You. Do you still hate Vermont that much?”
I barely managed to say that as if it was really hard for me to say it.
“I thought it wasn’t like that anymore.”
My heart, which had been beating normally, grew cold and the blood that had been circulating through my veins felt chilled.
A marriage for the reconciliation of families that were enemies.
It felt like the invisible stigma that had been branded as enemies by our families before we had even met each other was making me bleed again.
“I thought you didn’t think that way anymore.”
Thinking about all the things Kaian had done for me, I thought he was sincere.
When I started living with Julien at Rowen Castle, I would flinch involuntarily whenever he touched me or reached out to me.
It wasn’t that I hated him, but I was afraid.
I loved him, so I realized that I couldn’t throw away the bezel of the button that was evidence of insult like this, even though it was something he had given me. However, it wasn’t that I wasn’t afraid of Kaian.
I knew that the person I gave my heart to could stab me in the most painful place.
It was right before Kaian left for the war that I was able to close the distance with him and get along as before.
As the worst-case scenario of not being able to see him again loomed in a corner of my head filled with anxious and ominous thoughts, I desperately wanted to hold Kaian and have him hug me. Only after I overcame my feelings of rejection was I able to treat him without any worries.
After hearing the cold words of the order to ‘watch over the Duke of Vermont,’ everything went to waste.
The joy I had felt that things were changing and that I could hold onto the edge of my current happiness had now been shattered into nothingness.
To me, happiness was not something that surrounded me like a flower blooming in the center.
It was like sand that I had barely managed to hold onto with great effort. It was hard to hold onto and it seemed like it would just fall away if I let up even a little.
Kaian’s words from earlier had driven a wedge into her anxiety.
“No.”
Kaian covered my face with both hands as I flinched.
“It’s not what you think. It’s absolutely not.”
“Sob.”
I let out a sobbing sound as my emotions surged.
Kaian forcibly held me in his arms as I still refused his touch and led me to the carriage.
“Let’s go!”
He ordered, and the carriage began to run toward the Castle de Valmonde.
The rhythmic rattling of the carriage strangely calmed me.
“Don’t you trust my sister?”
When I asked again, Kaian placed a hand on his forehead and let out a short sigh.
“That can’t be true.”
“Then why did you do that?”
“That was... your uncle.”
When I looked at him, still confused, Kaian added.
“The Duke of Vermont is referring to Princess Irena, but it’s not about her. It’s about the previous Duke who is in custody.”
My uncle?”
“He still has followers within the family. And he was ousted by his daughter.”
Kaian said calmly.
“We are the guests, and with Julien in tow, wouldn’t it be stranger to not care about what happens?”
“Ah...”
Even though he seemed to understand, my sad face did not lighten.
“So what? I just did what I had to do as the head of the Temnes family.”
Kaian also felt frustrated, but comforting my heart took priority.
“Protecting you and my child.”
“Yes.”
He wrapped my hands around him as if covering them. We sat across from each other in the carriage, facing each other, and Kaian placed his elbows on his knees and held my hands, so my shoulders and head naturally lowered as if I were confessing.
“Is it hard for you that I keep the Duke of Vermont in check?”
“...I’m sorry.”
“I'm asking. Answer me.”
I could hardly open my mouth. However, since it was my fault that this story came up, I could not hesitate any longer.
“Yes. That’s right.”
My heart was still pounding in surprise.
“Kaian. I know that you care about me.”
I clearly understood in my head.
“I know you’ve endured many hardships that you wouldn’t have if you weren’t with me.”
So I felt sorry and grateful to Kaian for doing that.
In fact, I felt much more sorry than grateful, but Kaian didn’t want me to apologize and feel sorry for the past, so I tried not to show it.
“If you let such trivial things shake your heart, you’ll be disappointed in me.”
I wanted to act boldly.
However, the moment when I could straighten my shoulders and shout confidently was based on my trust in Kaian.
Why do things like this happen?
It was like discovering a rotten pillar in the basement of a castle that looked fine on the outside.
“It’s okay.”
Kaian answered readily.
“We didn’t decide to be together because we only saw each other’s good sides.”
My eyes widened.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re a little lacking and incompetent. As long as you’re by my side.”
“It’s touching, but it’s a little strange.”
“What?”
“It seems like we haven’t shown each other much of our good sides, just like you said.”
Before I knew it, the carriage had arrived inside the inner castle of the Valmonde Castle.
When the carriage stopped, Kaian answered mischievously.
“I didn’t show you much of a good side. Is that so?”
“...”
“You don’t like my face?”
“What?”
I looked at him with a pout.
“And my body.”
“Excuse me first.”
I, who had half-jumped out of the carriage to escape without an escort, was grabbed by the waist from behind.
“You’re going to the bedroom anyway.”
I, who had been caught and dragged by Kaian, had to offer him ‘something that was born and raised in Valmonde.’
The man, who had been sucking on something sweet while licking my lips for a long time, asked secretly.
“Are you still anxious?”
“Yes.”
When he hugged me tightly and showered me with affection, the awkwardly tense shoulders gradually relaxed.
After a period of deep indulgence, Kaian asked again.
“Right now?”
“I think it’ll be okay if I just kiss you one more time.”
When I closed her eyes and raised her head, Kaian smiled.
“How timid.”
“It’s not that I’m timid; it’s that you’re amazing.”
In the meantime, I seemed to have recovered from the shock from earlier, as I continued to respond. When Kaian put his hand through my lovely red hair and gently rubbed the back of my neck with one hand, I yawned softly.
“You must be tired from going out, so just get some sleep.”
“I have to see Julien.”
“I’ll bring him over.”
“Ugh.”
As I quickly fell asleep as if I had been tamed, Kaian stared at the woman in his arms for a long time.
“This is driving me crazy. Really.”
The stability of a couple meant that the relationship became lukewarm.
There was no such thing as burning hotly and leaving only ashes like when he found out Claudel had lied about being sick or exploding and tearing his emotions apart like when she disappeared.
However, Kaian couldn’t hate it when he got a glimpse of Claudel’s intense feelings for him.
His heart pounded like crazy at the fact that his words could still hurt, sadden, and surprise her.
“It’s really crooked.”
It could have been a completely wrong love.
No matter how good the feelings were, if they didn’t start off well and were not perfect, there was a problem with the framework.
“Who else is there besides you?”
Kaain and Claudel had already been cut down to fit each other if anything, so there was no way they could find a suitable match anywhere else.
They couldn’t leave Rowen Castle for too long.
Furthermore, the weather around Valmonde Castle was still snowy because it hadn’t yet reached spring.
There was nothing else they could do, and the castle’s security and structure were sensitive information, so he couldn’t walk around the castle comfortably while he was there.
They were only planning to stay at Valmonde Castle for five days. They were going to spend three days recovering from the aftereffects, then hold a ceremony where Irena would make Valmonde independent and ascend to the throne of the Grand Duke, and then stay for another day to celebrate and then leave the next day.
So the fact that they went to see the lake where the ceremony would be held was a sudden thing because Claudel was trying to treat him like a guest.
“There’s something wrong.”
The moment he saw the lake, he felt strange.
The servant of the castle of Valmonde spoke casually, but it was the intuition of the head of a family.
He had a feeling that there might be something in that lake.
However, Claudel had a point. Her uncle was imprisoned, and the current Duke of Vermont was in a relationship of trust with them, so it was not surprising that he was suspicious of her sister.
Kaian left the bedroom and called the attendant.
'If I hurt her feelings that much.'
There was no need to stir things up.
"You called?"
He ordered as the attendant quickly bowed and greeted him.
"Let's stop the fox hunt."
Sometimes, it was colder than the north wind of Valmonde, and it was as if someone with the temperature befitting a true King of the North had somehow been born in the South.
“Now that I have personally set foot in Valmonde if you try to talk nonsense, I will not let you off easy.”
His words antagonizing Vermont pierced my heart painfully.
In an instant, my mind went blank and my vision went dark.
It was as if the air surrounding me had disappeared, and I could not breathe. I gasped and staggered, pounding my stuffy chest.
At that sound, Kaian suddenly appeared on the other side of the carriage and looked surprised at me.
“Claudel!”
He quickly approached me, seeing me pale. Kaian reached out to support me.
“What the...”
Knock.
I shook off his outstretched hand and backed away in a panic.
However, I couldn’t even move away properly, and soon I tripped on a pile of snow that had been pushed aside and collapsed.
Only then did Kaian realize that something was wrong with me, and he slowly approached me, lowering his body to meet my eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“You. Do you still hate Vermont that much?”
I barely managed to say that as if it was really hard for me to say it.
“I thought it wasn’t like that anymore.”
My heart, which had been beating normally, grew cold and the blood that had been circulating through my veins felt chilled.
A marriage for the reconciliation of families that were enemies.
It felt like the invisible stigma that had been branded as enemies by our families before we had even met each other was making me bleed again.
“I thought you didn’t think that way anymore.”
Thinking about all the things Kaian had done for me, I thought he was sincere.
When I started living with Julien at Rowen Castle, I would flinch involuntarily whenever he touched me or reached out to me.
It wasn’t that I hated him, but I was afraid.
I loved him, so I realized that I couldn’t throw away the bezel of the button that was evidence of insult like this, even though it was something he had given me. However, it wasn’t that I wasn’t afraid of Kaian.
I knew that the person I gave my heart to could stab me in the most painful place.
It was right before Kaian left for the war that I was able to close the distance with him and get along as before.
As the worst-case scenario of not being able to see him again loomed in a corner of my head filled with anxious and ominous thoughts, I desperately wanted to hold Kaian and have him hug me. Only after I overcame my feelings of rejection was I able to treat him without any worries.
After hearing the cold words of the order to ‘watch over the Duke of Vermont,’ everything went to waste.
The joy I had felt that things were changing and that I could hold onto the edge of my current happiness had now been shattered into nothingness.
To me, happiness was not something that surrounded me like a flower blooming in the center.
It was like sand that I had barely managed to hold onto with great effort. It was hard to hold onto and it seemed like it would just fall away if I let up even a little.
Kaian’s words from earlier had driven a wedge into her anxiety.
“No.”
Kaian covered my face with both hands as I flinched.
“It’s not what you think. It’s absolutely not.”
“Sob.”
I let out a sobbing sound as my emotions surged.
Kaian forcibly held me in his arms as I still refused his touch and led me to the carriage.
“Let’s go!”
He ordered, and the carriage began to run toward the Castle de Valmonde.
The rhythmic rattling of the carriage strangely calmed me.
“Don’t you trust my sister?”
When I asked again, Kaian placed a hand on his forehead and let out a short sigh.
“That can’t be true.”
“Then why did you do that?”
“That was... your uncle.”
When I looked at him, still confused, Kaian added.
“The Duke of Vermont is referring to Princess Irena, but it’s not about her. It’s about the previous Duke who is in custody.”
My uncle?”
“He still has followers within the family. And he was ousted by his daughter.”
Kaian said calmly.
“We are the guests, and with Julien in tow, wouldn’t it be stranger to not care about what happens?”
“Ah...”
Even though he seemed to understand, my sad face did not lighten.
“So what? I just did what I had to do as the head of the Temnes family.”
Kaian also felt frustrated, but comforting my heart took priority.
“Protecting you and my child.”
“Yes.”
He wrapped my hands around him as if covering them. We sat across from each other in the carriage, facing each other, and Kaian placed his elbows on his knees and held my hands, so my shoulders and head naturally lowered as if I were confessing.
“Is it hard for you that I keep the Duke of Vermont in check?”
“...I’m sorry.”
“I'm asking. Answer me.”
I could hardly open my mouth. However, since it was my fault that this story came up, I could not hesitate any longer.
“Yes. That’s right.”
My heart was still pounding in surprise.
“Kaian. I know that you care about me.”
I clearly understood in my head.
“I know you’ve endured many hardships that you wouldn’t have if you weren’t with me.”
So I felt sorry and grateful to Kaian for doing that.
In fact, I felt much more sorry than grateful, but Kaian didn’t want me to apologize and feel sorry for the past, so I tried not to show it.
“If you let such trivial things shake your heart, you’ll be disappointed in me.”
I wanted to act boldly.
However, the moment when I could straighten my shoulders and shout confidently was based on my trust in Kaian.
Why do things like this happen?
It was like discovering a rotten pillar in the basement of a castle that looked fine on the outside.
“It’s okay.”
Kaian answered readily.
“We didn’t decide to be together because we only saw each other’s good sides.”
My eyes widened.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re a little lacking and incompetent. As long as you’re by my side.”
“It’s touching, but it’s a little strange.”
“What?”
“It seems like we haven’t shown each other much of our good sides, just like you said.”
Before I knew it, the carriage had arrived inside the inner castle of the Valmonde Castle.
When the carriage stopped, Kaian answered mischievously.
“I didn’t show you much of a good side. Is that so?”
“...”
“You don’t like my face?”
“What?”
I looked at him with a pout.
“And my body.”
“Excuse me first.”
I, who had half-jumped out of the carriage to escape without an escort, was grabbed by the waist from behind.
“You’re going to the bedroom anyway.”
I, who had been caught and dragged by Kaian, had to offer him ‘something that was born and raised in Valmonde.’
The man, who had been sucking on something sweet while licking my lips for a long time, asked secretly.
“Are you still anxious?”
“Yes.”
When he hugged me tightly and showered me with affection, the awkwardly tense shoulders gradually relaxed.
After a period of deep indulgence, Kaian asked again.
“Right now?”
“I think it’ll be okay if I just kiss you one more time.”
When I closed her eyes and raised her head, Kaian smiled.
“How timid.”
“It’s not that I’m timid; it’s that you’re amazing.”
In the meantime, I seemed to have recovered from the shock from earlier, as I continued to respond. When Kaian put his hand through my lovely red hair and gently rubbed the back of my neck with one hand, I yawned softly.
“You must be tired from going out, so just get some sleep.”
“I have to see Julien.”
“I’ll bring him over.”
“Ugh.”
As I quickly fell asleep as if I had been tamed, Kaian stared at the woman in his arms for a long time.
“This is driving me crazy. Really.”
The stability of a couple meant that the relationship became lukewarm.
There was no such thing as burning hotly and leaving only ashes like when he found out Claudel had lied about being sick or exploding and tearing his emotions apart like when she disappeared.
However, Kaian couldn’t hate it when he got a glimpse of Claudel’s intense feelings for him.
His heart pounded like crazy at the fact that his words could still hurt, sadden, and surprise her.
“It’s really crooked.”
It could have been a completely wrong love.
No matter how good the feelings were, if they didn’t start off well and were not perfect, there was a problem with the framework.
“Who else is there besides you?”
Kaain and Claudel had already been cut down to fit each other if anything, so there was no way they could find a suitable match anywhere else.
They couldn’t leave Rowen Castle for too long.
Furthermore, the weather around Valmonde Castle was still snowy because it hadn’t yet reached spring.
There was nothing else they could do, and the castle’s security and structure were sensitive information, so he couldn’t walk around the castle comfortably while he was there.
They were only planning to stay at Valmonde Castle for five days. They were going to spend three days recovering from the aftereffects, then hold a ceremony where Irena would make Valmonde independent and ascend to the throne of the Grand Duke, and then stay for another day to celebrate and then leave the next day.
So the fact that they went to see the lake where the ceremony would be held was a sudden thing because Claudel was trying to treat him like a guest.
“There’s something wrong.”
The moment he saw the lake, he felt strange.
The servant of the castle of Valmonde spoke casually, but it was the intuition of the head of a family.
He had a feeling that there might be something in that lake.
However, Claudel had a point. Her uncle was imprisoned, and the current Duke of Vermont was in a relationship of trust with them, so it was not surprising that he was suspicious of her sister.
Kaian left the bedroom and called the attendant.
'If I hurt her feelings that much.'
There was no need to stir things up.
"You called?"
He ordered as the attendant quickly bowed and greeted him.
"Let's stop the fox hunt."
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