When Seren woke up the next morning, the moment she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the handsome face of the man sleeping next to her in her bed. He was laying on his side while facing her, and she could see the steady rise and fall of his chest with every breath he took. It made her recall the 'lesson' from the previous night, and all of a sudden, her heart started to race.

'This man sure is scary to make my heart like this just by existing. I hope I won't die from a malfunctioning heart.'

Just as she tried to calm her heart, Drayce opened his eyes, shocking her heart into a fiercer gallop.

'This man looked like in a deep sleep, but he was not sleeping!'

She immediately closed her eyes to pretend she was asleep, but her heart was beating so fast she felt afraid that the man beside her could hear her heartbeats.

"Feel free to look at me. I told you only you are allowed."

Seren didn't react to that hoarse, sleepy voice, and Drayce did not say anything else after that. The following silence puzzled Seren.

'Did he fall back to sleep? Did he get out of bed already?'

However, she felt no movement beside her when he got out of bed, nor did she hear his footsteps.

Seren slowly opened her eyes, only to find a face only an inch away from hers. His red eyes greeted her with a fiery gaze, causing her to be unable to breathe. Before she knew what was happening, she was being pulled closer to him by the waist, with only their nightclothes separating their bodies.

Those red eyes continued to stare into her own as his hoarse voice warned sweetly, "This time, I won't use my powers to protect you from falling down, my Queen."

Only then did Seren realize that she was at the edge of the bed, and he had pulled her because she would have fallen off the bed otherwise.

"I won't fall," she countered stubbornly as she pushed him away.

To her surprise, Drayce let go of his hand on her waist, and the force of her pushing against him instead became her grabbing onto him for dear life. She managed to hold the front of Drayce's clothes in a reflex before she tipped over the edge.

Drayce returned his steady hand on her small waist and pulled her towards him once more. "Do you still want me to let go?"

Of course, this time, Seren shook her head. No sane person would want to fall off the bed, especially since the cold and hard floor of the Loyset Manor was made of pure marble. She would have bruised herself.

As she looked up to thank him, she realized there was almost no space left between them. She could feel his hot breath brushing against her face and the warmth of his palm on her slender waist, as if all of her nerves were twice as sensitive than normal.

This strange feeling made her curious. She stared at him as she tried to understand her reaction to this physical closeness to another person. It sure was not fear, but something else...something strange.

She feared this strange 'something'.

Seren didn't want to look at him anymore, but her eyes wouldn't stop staring at him. It was another one of the strange things she wanted to understand.

Those red eyes, they used to scare her, and most of the time, they made her wary and uncomfortable. However, by now, she had grown used to them watching her every step and every move. She had grown used to gazing into them, as if she could see through his mind and his soul through them.

"Stay still," she heard him say as he moved his hand towards her face.

She didn't know what he was doing but she obeyed what he said.

Drayce brushed away the hair strands from her forehead and on the veil covering her cheek. His fingers stopped at the golden blue scales in the right corner of her forehead. He caressed them, slowly tracing their path, without saying anything.

As he did that, she wondered what he must be thinking. 'Does he think the scales are ugly? Perhaps, he finds it interesting since he's touching them with a wistful expression. If this disgusts him, he would have pushed me away. I think I touch Dusk's feathers the same way. Is he treating me like Dusk? He is really a strange man. '

She then realized his fingers were slowly trailing down towards her veil and she turned alert. She immediately stopped his hand from touching the veil. He only looked back into her eyes, not shrugging off her grasp.

"I am not removing it," he said, and she felt relieved, only to hear him say, "I understand you are used to wearing it always so I won't ask you to take it off all of a sudden. But I expect you to soon get into the habit of not wearing it. I want my Queen to face everyone without this, with her head held high and not worrying about her appearance however it is."

Seren shook her head in protest. She didn't know how to tell him that she couldn't take it off. If she were to tell him the reason, would he believe Martha's warnings or would he just take it off to check what will happen? Even though Martha's warnings were quite vague and hard to believe, she trusted Martha and her words. As such, she decided to never take it off in front of a man.

Drayce did not know the thoughts in her mind, not even realizing how important the topic of the veil was to her. He only thought she was reluctant because she was used to wearing it her whole life, or she must be concerned by her appearance. But how she looked, did it even matter to him? Regardless if she was a nation-toppling beauty or as plain as a village girl, she was his wife and she was perfect for him.

"There will be a day when you have to. Do you want your husband to not see you ever? Can it even be possible?"

Seren felt troubled. What would she do when one day he demanded her to remove it? Would she be punished for ignoring a king's order? Before that day came, she could only run away from him.

Not wanting to dwell on such a scary future, she didn't reply to what he said and changed the topic. "I need to get out of bed."

Drayce let her go, and she immediately got out of bed.