“I can’t sleep after drinking coffee at night.”

“This isn’t coffee.”

He was right. There was a brown and clear liquid in the cup instead of coffee. However, Rubica was still suspicious, so he added, “I drink it from time to time when I get a headache. It’s good to drink it before sleeping.”

Was it the drink Carl had proudly introduced to her in front of Edgar’s office this morning?

“Tea?”

“Yes, you know it?”

Edgar’s lips curled up again as few people knew well about tea in Seritos.

“Carl told me about it, that’s how I know.”

“I see.”

Rubica thought about it for a moment and carefully took a sip. Then, she frowned and said, “It smells weird, and it’s bitter.”

“No way.”

Had he made a mistake when making it? He quickly drank from his own cup.

“But it smells good and it’s delicious.”

“Not to me.”

Rubica gave him back the cup of tea, and Edgar put it on the table. He was a little sad that Rubica didn’t like his favorite drink.

“You will get used to it if you keep drinking it. Coffee is even bitter than this, but you enjoy it even without sugar. Plus, tea is even more expensive and rarer because it came across the desert.”

Rubica sat down on a chair next to the bed and stared at him with her twinkling eyes. His voice started to get smaller and smaller as she kept staring at him.

It was strange. Her irises were dark. However, the more Edgar looked at them, the more he got to think they shined brightly like two gems. Bum, Bum. His heart started to beat hard again.

He hadn’t had any champagne today. Moreover, his doctor had announced he had no cold at all before he went downstairs for dinner. But then, what was wrong with him? Why was his heart beating so fast? He couldn’t even guess what kind of disease he had.

“Edgar.”

“Yes?”

“It’s one o’clock.”

Edgar had been tense and sighed at hearing what Rubica said. He had promised to leave the bedroom at one o’clock and sleep in the resting room adjacent to his office. Actually, that wasn’t strange to him. He had always slept in his office alone to avoid any accident. But today, for some reason, he couldn’t just make himself stand up and walk away.

“I will leave after seeing you fall asleep.”

Rubica was shocked to hear that.

“I am not sleeping before you go.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you have a conscience? Do you think I can sleep defenselessly in front of you?”

Edgar didn’t even have to drag his conscience before admitting he was guilty. Thinking about it again, he wasn’t sure he would be able to leave Rubica alone when she was sleeping. Yesterday he had experienced something he had never felt before. As he still didn’t know what had caused it, he couldn’t let himself face a similar situation again.

“Okay. As it is the promised time, I will go. But instead…”

“Instead?”

Edgar sat on the sofa and didn’t talk for some time, and Rubica could feel that he was nervous. What on earth was he trying to say that he was feeling that nervous? Soon, he rubbed his knee a few times with his big hands and determinedly opened his mouth.

“Let me give you a goodnight kiss.”

“What?”

Edgar realized Rubica was about to yell, ‘Get out, now!’ Therefore, he quickly waved his hand.

“Not on your lips, on your forehead.”

It made Rubica calm down a little.

“Is that really necessary?”

Edgar suddenly started to think that it was unfair. This woman wasn’t special. Why was he almost begging to her? However, his mouth betrayed his mind and started to move on its own.

“It’s a tradition.”

“Tradition?”

“Giving a goodnight kiss is a tradition that has been in the Claymore Family for generations.”

Rubica was confused. Mrs. Shaynie, who had visited Rubica this morning to give her a speech about why she had to learn the manners of the Claymore Family, had given her a list of manners. Moreover, what Edgar just said hadn’t been among them.

“I’ve never heard of it, and it wasn’t on the list Mrs. Shaynie brought…”

“Of course she doesn’t know about it. Only lineal family members of the Claymore know about this.”

Of course, there wasn’t such a tradition. Edgar wanted to scold his mouth which kept saying lies, but he couldn’t afford to. Taking a step back now would only make Rubica doubt him even more.

“But Edgar, we… got married because we had no choice after things went wrong because of my aunt and your messenger. There’s no need to do that when we are alone.”

Rubica explained to Edgar and studied his expression. With each word she said, Edgar got more disappointed.

Rubica was saying what was only right, nevertheless, she started to feel sorry for him. Why was the man who had everything making such a request to her? There were many women who would gladly kiss him and give even more if he wanted.

She recalled how he had looked when watching that statue drowned under the fountain. He had been full of longing and sadness. Moreover, there was that moment of rage he had been suppressing for so long…

Maybe being perfect and cold was just part of his mask. Rubica had seen at least a little part of his loneliness and pain of pushing others away. That much must have taken lots of courage for him.

‘Love your enemies as your neighbors.’

Rubica recalled Hue’s teaching. Why did he ask her hand in marriage? Why was he trying to have her next to him even when it cost him so much? She didn’t know. But apart from their deal, agreement, whatever it was, she was the person who was now closest to him and who he could at least show his pain.

Why on earth had the gods sent her back in time and let her meet Edgar, she didn’t know. However, if this was the gods’ will, she wanted to do what she could do.

“… well, I guess I have no choice if it’s a tradition. You may do it.”

She had been taught to willingly heal those in pain at the abbey. Moreover, that pain didn’t only mean physical pain. Maybe Edgar had pain in his heart. Maybe he was in so much pain that he was pretending to be so cold to hide that. Then, there was a need for Rubica to push aside her own bad feelings for him and care about him and his pain. She was Hue’s diligent follower, after all.

“I… really can?”

Edgar couldn’t believe that he was suddenly getting her permission that he asked again to make sure. Rubica had barely found the courage to say yes and blushed in embarrassment.

“Then don’t do it.”

He hadn’t heard wrong. Edgar couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud. It had been so cold like mid-winter, but now it felt as if the warm sunshine of spring was on him. He gently put his two huge hands on her face. Her skin always felt so soft, but her cheeks were even softer.

“Uh, um.”

Rubica hadn’t known he would wrap her face with his hands. She was puzzled. Edgar was worried she might change her mind and quickly kissed her forehead. Her warm breath reached his neck and tickled it.

It was just a kiss on the forehead, but it felt so good that he wished he could stay that way forever.

The sound of his beating heart got even louder. Moreover, he felt some kind of excitement wrap his body.

That was the feeling he had had when he walked up the dais to give a presentation about the thesis he had prepared for more than a year in front of the many professors and students at the Academy. Actually, it felt a bit more pleasant.

“Edgar?”

Edgar didn’t move away his lips from Rubica’s forehead for a long time. She then found the courage to call him. He managed to get to his senses, went away from her forehead, and looked at her.

The moment he looked into her clear eyes, he jumped to his feet and ran out of the room. His ears were fiery red as he left.

“What was that about? He said he wanted to give me a goodnight kiss and left without saying goodnight…”

Rubica didn’t know what had just happened and blankly stared at the door Edgar closed behind him. He said he wanted to give her a goodnight kiss and then suddenly ran out?

Really, she didn’t know why he was doing all that.

‘Is my reaction funny to him? No, there must be several people around him who show him an even funnier reaction.’

Rubica put her chin on her hand and thought about it for a moment. However, she couldn’t find an answer. Just like she was a strange woman to Edgar, he was a strange man to her as well. Rubica had never met a guy who reacted so strangely to her.

‘And it’s not like he is the kind of man who will give me answers if I ask…’

Rubica knew the solution to all the questions she couldn’t find answers to.

‘Let’s sleep for now.’

Getting a good night’s sleep will either get me an answer or let me forget everything and feel better.