“I’ll talk to Ann.”

Rubica brightened up in an instant. Edgar then felt like a heavy rock had been removed from his chest. He wanted to kiss her cheek, but he restrained himself and put a piece of cheese in front of her lips instead. Rubica lowered her guard after hearing he would talk to Ann for her and ate the cheese. Edgar’s chest tickled at seeing her accept food from his hand. He found his mood changing with her every action. It was strange and unfamiliar, but he couldn’t deny that it felt good. Lately, he had been waiting for the sun to set quickly.

“But you must take longer walks instead.”

“Don’t I exercise enough already?”

“You only walk for about half an hour. I want you to walk for at least an hour.”

Edgar thought of her while he worked at his office. Sometimes he recalled what she said the night before and smiled. Sometimes he wondered what she was doing. Then, there came moments where his curiosity wanted to know if she had fallen or something happened to her which drove him crazy. Each time that happened he called Carl to check if Rubica was safe, but he couldn’t believe everything Carl said.

‘I am always his top priority. He doesn’t care about Rubica’s safety.’

There was something not right with Carl’s loyalty. He wouldn’t report to Edgar even if Rubica was just about to breathe her last breath if he thought it wouldn’t do Edgar any good.

Edgar really couldn’t believe what he said.

So, he often sent Carl to Rubica to recommend taking a stroll. Most of the time, she would get mad at what he said and refused to do as he wanted, but that was only when she thought it was wrong. She tended to follow any reasonable request. Although she found it bothering, she took a walk every time Carl asked her to. Three among the dresses she had commissioned to Khanna and were supposed to arrive in two days were for taking strolls. Rubica didn’t protest when Edgar wanted her to take care of her health. The mansion’s garden was wide and beautiful that it was quite pleasant to walk in it. However, there was one thing she didn’t like.

Edgar’s blue eyes now looked green because of the yellow candlelight. Sometimes his face looked more like the masterpiece of a skilled sculptor instead of a human’s face.

“If you really care about my health that much, there’s something more urgent. You, Edgar.”

Edgar couldn’t understand what she was talking about and looked confused. His lightly raised eyebrows and frowned forehead made him look like a mischievous boy. Rubica suddenly realized they were too close. Although they were wearing clothes, her thigh was right next to his legs. She thought jumping to her feet would look strange and slowly inched away, but the area where their bodies met seemed to be only getting bigger. It appeared Edgar was coming close to her as much as she backed off.

“What do you mean?”

“Um…”

Had he realized she was in a panic? She tried to look away but, at that moment, Edgar grabbed her chin and made her look at him. He didn’t like that she was looking away, so he put his face right in front of hers.

‘Oh, I wish you were not so handsome.’

It was really a torture to have such a handsome guy as your husband. Without realizing it, she gulped hard. He instinctively knew how to tempt a woman.

“Tell me. Don’t look away.”

Why on earth was this man doing this to her? Her heart beat so fast that it almost leaped out of her chest. She barely managed to talk back.

“I meant your health. You should care about it more.”

“What?”

“I’m not the one who needs to take walks. It’s you. You stay in your office and don’t come out. At least I meet relatives in the reception room and talk about goods to prepare for the next month with Ann, but you do nothing and stay inside your office all day.”

Edgar’s eyes, that had just been shining so clearly, became dull. His body went away in an instant like a waterfall running down a cliff. He reclined on the sofa and looked at Rubica with dark eyes. Those clear blue eyes had now the colors of a deep ocean.

“I don’t need it.”

His voice was icy cold. Rubica didn’t know why he was so angry at what she just said. At first, she wished Edgar to detach himself from her and go away. But funnily, when he did go away, she felt somewhat hollow.

“Yes, you do. Books about health say it is good for your health to walk under the bright sunlight.”

“I am getting enough sunlight through my office’s windows.”

“But you can’t get fresh air…”

“I often have the windows open for that, so it’s fine.”

He was firm, so Rubica shut her mouth. Actually, she wanted to ask him to walk with her.

She had been living in abundance ever since she came in the Claymore Mansion. When she said she wanted to eat something, it was instantly brought to her. She could dress in anything she wanted. Nevertheless, she felt somewhat hollow.

Servants in the mansion, including Ann, were all kind to her, but there was a strict line between them.

The line between the mistress and servants.

That line was hard to cross. When she had been treated like a maid at the Berner Mansion, she had had to talk while glancing at Angela and her parents. She had to think hard to please them with every word she said. True friendship? That was only possible between equals.

Rubica found out why Angela had been annoyed by her only after she became the duchess. She wanted Rubica to think of them as equals. That was why she was mad when Rubica tried to please her, and when she pointed out her faults, she eventually did as she said although she protested.

Rubica could see that line clearly when taking walks. Even when it was gloomy, everybody nodded when she said, ‘The weather is so nice.’ They all said such a day was the best for taking walks as the sunlight isn’t too strong. That happened on rainy days and sunny days as well.

When she stopped in the middle of taking a walk, they tried to find out what had displeased her or what grabbed her attention.

Although Ann and the maids followed her while she walked, she felt like she was walking alone. She had taken a walk every day for a week, but she hadn’t even looked around half the garden. The sceneries she saw were new but boring. She even waited for the dinner with Edgar these days.

‘I know you’ve been watching me.’

When she turned around because she couldn’t stand the boredom the curtains of one of his office’s windows moved.

‘He’s secretly watching me again.’

Although she couldn’t even see a strand of his hair, she guessed so. Then, the boring walk got a little enjoyable. She tried to go to parts of the garden that couldn’t be seen from the office’s windows. Carl came every time and asked her to change the direction of her walks.

‘If you are going to watch me from behind the curtains like that, you’d better just walk with me.’

However, she didn’t want to ask that to him first. If she said that, that incubus-like man would smile saying, ‘So you are falling in love with my charms after fall.’ She really wanted to see Edgar smile like that.

Out of impulse, she got up from the sofa and lay on the bed.

“I want to sleep. You should go now.”

Ding, ding, ding. The bell rang to announce it was one in the morning. Edgar looked at the grandfather clock and turned to Rubica who was lying down with her face buried in her pillow.

“Sleeping in that position isn’t good.”

Rubica rolled and lay in the right direction. She never disobeyed when what he was saying was right, but she really didn’t like what he said and pouted. Strangely, Edgar wasn’t mad at that. He was rather grateful.

-I meant your health.

He was glad that she was caring about him.

Each time Rubica went out to take a walk, she abruptly turned back to look at Edgar’s office. Then Edgar quickly hid behind the curtains to not show himself in his wheelchair. The sound of his beating heart would get louder than ever.

At first, he didn’t like getting interrupted while spying on her and enjoying the fact that she was being safely protected in his mansion.

‘Does she wonder if I’m doing well?’

But after he came up with that tiny and trivial possibility, he didn’t get annoyed when she looked back. He even found himself counting the times she looked back.