* * *
Carlos, seeing Masera’s hardened expression, covered his mouth and sneered.
“Something unpleasant happen?”
To Carlos’s playful question, Masera seized his hand as if grabbing Cynthia’s hairpin.
“No, I’m just grateful. My wife has been searching for you all day and even caught a cold.”
Carlos’s brow gradually furrowed as he felt the increasing pressure on his hand.
‘Typical soldier, all brawn and no brain.’
At this rate, his bones would break.
“I see. How is Cindy doing?”
Carlos, unable to endure any longer, pulled his hand away and asked nonchalantly.
Masera slowly tilted his head, lowered his eyes, and stared at him.
“She took medicine and fell asleep.”
“I’ll visit again when she feels better.”
Carlos waved his hand and turned away.
Judging by Masera’s expression, it seemed he had won, but suddenly, a sense of defeat washed over him.
According to Charles, the guard at the residence, they had fought briefly, but overall, their relationship wasn’t bad.
‘…After all, her current husband is that man.’
He never expected that being bound as a family after the marriage registration would become an obstacle.
As Carlos headed towards the banquet hall, he sighed, recalling Valeria’s contemptuous gaze.
* * *
Masera returned to the room and looked down at the sleeping Cynthia.
He tucked a hairpin into her scattered hair, but she didn’t react, deeply asleep.
“…….”
Under the dim light of the bedside lamp, Cynthia’s flushed face was covered in cold sweat. The moisture clinging to her long eyelashes made her look pitiful.
He reached out to check her temperature, placing his hand on her forehead.
“Cool…….”
In her hazy state, Cynthia rubbed her face against his cold hand and murmured.
Masera’s gaze fell upon the basin of cold water and the damp towel beside the bed.
He wrung out the wet towel and gently wiped her face and neck.
“Ugh, cold!”
As soon as the towel touched her collarbone, Cynthia startled and opened her eyes.
“I apologize.”
Masera, flustered, quickly withdrew the towel.
Cynthia blinked her red eyes, as if trying to focus her blurred vision, and looked at him.
“Hasn’t the banquet started yet?”
“It’s not too late.”
“No matter how I think about it, I feel like I should go with you since you’re the esteemed Brigadier General’s superior…….”
Cynthia groaned and tried to sit up, but Masera shook his head.
“You still have a fever. It’s probably not a good idea in your current condition.”
“I’m tougher than I look. I’d go out to buy a sandwich even with gastroenteritis.”
How strong was her appetite?
Masera put down the towel and tried to dissuade her once more.
“I’ll have food and desserts brought to you separately, so there’s no need to push yourself.”
But Cynthia, already off the bed, stood firmly on her feet and confidently squared her shoulders.
“See, I took medicine and got better quickly. Besides, the esteemed Brigadier General, nursed me…….”
Suddenly, her head spun.
Seeing Cynthia sway backward from dizziness, Masera quickly caught her.
Thump-!
Masera, throwing himself forward, barely managed to catch Cynthia and sighed as he lay on the floor.
Cynthia, unintentionally on top of Masera, widened her eyes.
‘Oops.’
Her senses focused on the large hand gripping the back of her head and the firm arm wrapped around her waist.
“Are you doing this on purpose?”
Masera’s resigned voice reached her.
Cynthia cautiously raised her upper body.
“I made a mistake like an overzealous newbie. Sorry.”
A strange woman who was all talk even when sick.
Masera stared up at Cynthia, his eyes gradually darkening.
Suddenly feeling uneasy, Cynthia looked down.
“But what’s that in your pants…….”
Then, as if realizing the truth, Cynthia’s face turned red.
Masera also abruptly sat up.
It was the man’s instinct, not listening to the commands of his head, that had moved on its own.
“Please move…….”
But as soon as he saw her face so close, his thoughts froze.
The unique, refreshing scent of peach completely ensnared him.
The breaths of the two people facing each other at a precarious distance grew louder.
In the silence, broken only by the ticking of the table clock, an eerie atmosphere prevailed.
Masera’s eyes were fixed on Cynthia’s lips. Cynthia’s shoulders rose and fell noticeably as she breathed.
‘The atmosphere…….’
Cynthia, feeling restless, shifted her body and averted her gaze. The sound of her pounding heart seemed to penetrate the inside of her ears.
Meanwhile, Masera’s eyes slowly closed and opened. In his pai eyes, which looked like blue lakes with purple paint dropped in, his pupils seemed to be fully dilated.
‘What should I do?’
Her bewildered thoughts were interrupted as the hand supporting Cynthia’s back pulled her closer, bringing their upper bodies into contact.
Soon, warm lips touched hers.
“Gasp.”
Cynthia’s eyes widened in surprise.
‘Wasn’t kissing between us just for show?’
The fleeting question quickly vanished somewhere.
Masera, after a brief kiss, turned his head.
He took a deep breath that made his body heave and looked back at Cynthia.
“I’ve warned you several times. I’m a man, and…….”
Masera trailed off.
Even in the dim room with the soft light of the bedside lamp, Cynthia could see that the corners of his eyes were red.
He swept back his platinum blonde hair with one hand and continued with a sigh.
“Because you are beautiful.”
Cynthia stared blankly at him, her lips slightly parted.
Beauti…… ful?
He usually had such thoughts?
Then, Masera lifted Cynthia into his arms and gently laid her on the bed.
“It bothers me. To the point of anger.”
He left the room immediately after uttering those meaningful words.
Lying on the bed, Cynthia curled up into a small ball. The lingering feelings of that brief moment were too long.
‘Was it just a man’s impulse? Or, perhaps, does he…….’
Masera falling in love with her.
That was her goal for survival, and what she had hoped for.
‘But what if my lies are revealed?’
She had optimistically thought that he wouldn’t kill her if he loved her.
It was definitely like that at first…….
Cynthia felt a bitter emotion rising from the depths of her heart.
Now, she was afraid of him being disappointed in her.
Cynthia rubbed her lips and pondered.
‘What kind of feelings do I have for him?’
Her head wasn’t working well, perhaps due to the lingering effects of the medicine.
Cynthia, lying awake with her eyes open, let out a deep sigh.
* * *
Masera was just as complicated. He arrived at the banquet hall and immediately downed a strong whiskey.
‘Why did I act so impulsively? No different from those pathetic men who chase after women.’
He had confidently declared that he would never give his heart to a princess of Bariesa. He had vowed to make her just as miserable as he had been…….
He alternated between self-reproach and self-pity instead of appetizers.
“Brigadier General, did you come alone?”
Just then, a lady spoke to Masera.
Masera, who was filling his empty glass alone, looked at her with an indifferent expression.
“I don’t have a partner either.”
She was quite beautiful, but Masera had only one thought.
‘Why did I do that?’
The lady spoke to him several times, but he only sipped his drink and didn’t answer.
From a distance, Helene, who had attended alone without her husband, the Duke, was seen dancing and laughing with a gentleman. It was natural to dance with other people at a banquet, but…….
‘Unpleasant.’
Imagining Cynthia dancing with another man, he unconsciously tightened his grip on his hand.
“Brigadier General!”
Startled by the surrounding voices, Masera looked down at his hand. He was holding a broken crystal glass in his bleeding hand.
“Are you alright?”
The lady who had offered to be his partner took out a handkerchief to stop the bleeding.
Masera firmly refused and took out a handkerchief from his coat to tie around his hand.
‘What the hell is this feeling?’
Masera was both furious and questioning the unfamiliar emotion he had never felt before.
But when no answer came even after pondering, he headed to the terrace to clear his complicated thoughts.
An officer smoking a cigar on the terrace offered Masera a cigar as well.
“I quit.”
“Since when?”
“Before the wedding.”
“Ah, is it because the Princess doesn’t like it? Many people quit after marriage.”
Masera looked up at the night sky adorned with greenish aurora and replied.
“……That’s right.”
Come to think of it, it seemed so.
A maid in a maid’s uniform quietly watched Masera, who was lost in thought, before quietly slipping away.
