CH 48.1

“What about you, Lady Cherryl?”

Cherryl, who had been lost in thought, returned to reality when she felt Cade’s body temperature covering the back of her hand.

“What?”

“Do you also worry a lot, Lady Cherryl?”

Cherryl grimaced before a despondent smile spread across her lips.

“Of course. I also… I worry about a lot of things often.”

As soon as she said that, an uneasy light flashed through Cade’s eyes.

The large hand that grabbed the back of Cherryl’s hand slightly trembled in an instant.

Cade spoke hurriedly. “What kind of concerns do you have? Were there any inconveniences while you stayed at the castle?”

“Inconveniences?” Cherryl repeated playfully as she smiled at the man who had the most useless worries in the world. “It’s not like that. I didn’t come across any inconveniences. I’m having a great day every day.”

“Then what are you concerned about? Are you in pain somewhere? Hell, it won’t be a coincidence if you slept for fourteen hours.”

Eyes wide, Cherryl shut her mouth at his baseless assumptions.

But then, he touched her forehead out of nowhere.

At that moment, she wanted to grab his cheeks and tell him out loud that it was just oversleeping.

“Calm down. It’s not a big deal. For example——”

She hugged her knees, getting shy for no reason.

“When I moved to your main residence recently, I was indecisive about organizing my clothes whether by color or season. Once I realized I didn’t have that many summer dresses, my concern vanished in a few seconds.” Cherryl went on to rave about her dull woes.”I also thought about what to read first among the books that the librarian had given me as a gift. Before I went to bed last night, I was thinking about what tea to drink when I just drank a glass of apple wine. Oh, it was supposed to be a secret that I drink before bed. Anyway, my worries are merely trivial.”

Cherryl looked up at him with her chin resting on her lap.

The man, who looked as if he wouldn’t bat an eye even if a knife was thrust into his face, gave her a blank stare.

For some reason, she felt like she was about to laugh so she bit her lip.

Soon, Cade slowly rubbed his brows and exhaled with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

He seemed relieved that Cherryl’s worries were so insignificant.

“I feel a sense of kinship with you when you said you worry a lot too, Your Grace.” Cherryl murmured dreamily.

Cade shook his head.”I don’t worry about the kind of  things you’re worried about.”

“Ah.”

‘I see.’

That made her drop her smile.

Despite matching his blank gaze, she didn’t hesitate to speak again in a deliberately serious tone.

“In fact, I have a grave concern.”

“Hmm?”

Right after hearing her trivial concerns earlier, Cade didn’t seem particularly impressed.

Still, he asked politely while holding Cherryl’s hand.  “If you’re concerned about it, it’s also my concern. Lady Cherryl. Can you tell me what it is?”

“I’ll never tell you.” Cherryl murmured coyly.

She couldn’t tell him that she was worried about the first night she would have to spend with him right after the wedding.

It was an embarrassing subject to confide in a man who had made her suffer like this.

Still, compared to the past, this problem couldn’t be dismissed as a concern.

Before coming to Carlsvik, she had a lot of thoughts in the past that were so different from the current.

It was a thought that had stemmed from grief over her mother’s death, bitterness toward her insensitive father, and anger at her stepmother who had no respect for her.

When she found out that she was going to be sold to a sixty-year-old man due to debt from her father’s business, she was worried about the future direction of her life.

Cherryl leaned on her chin, hugging her knees tightly in her arms.

She felt so different now when she looked back on her past.

She wouldn’t have guessed that she would leave for the North with a man she was so scared of and enjoy a romantic moment with him sitting together in front of a lake filled with fireflies in the near future.

She was immersed in her retrospect as she gazed at the ecstatic scene of the bright yellow Milky Way spreading out before her eyes.

‘Someday, a moment will come when I’ll look back on what happened tonight. By then… ’ Cherryl smiled as her thoughts trailed off.

“Anyway, don’t worry. Thanks to you, I’m doing fine. I eat delicious food every day———”

“You always oversleep.”

A sweet low voice cut her off and she looked up at Cade with resentment.

“Oh, can you stop talking about that? I feel like I’ve become a huge slob every time you mention that, Your Grace.”

Cherryl looked pretty stern.

Unfortunately, her eyes reminded him of a grumpy kitten.

“It’s not normal to sleep for fourteen hours, is it?”

“It’s normal.”

Cherryl turned to the lake again.

“People who are happy and relaxed are supposed to sleep well.”

Cade lowered his eyes and slowly caressed the back of her pale hand.

For her, it might have been a word thrown to defend herself for sleeping too late but it meant more to Cade than anything else.

Was there anything more reassuring than the fact that Cherryl was living a sheltered life in Carlsvik?

Enthusiastic joy was what he wanted to give her the most.

On the other hand, what about Cade?

Even if he never had a peaceful sleep in his entire life, he had never felt happier.

An empty heart was always empty.

Even so, he had no space to give up for others, let alone a gap to squeeze in.

He struggled with a life that ended in tragedy and even experienced ending his life with his own hands.

Such a person was miraculously presented with a second life.

Could he really be happy?