‘Jewelry? No. And not a dress either. Adeline has no interest in luxury goods.’

Kael pressed on his throbbing temples and leaned back deep into the chair.
After hearing about Adeline’s birthday from Zion, the word ‘birthday present’ floated around in Kael’s head.
Even when he was very busy dealing with his work, and when he had to get some shut-eye for a moment, it suddenly came to mind and made his sleepiness disappear.

The problem was that even if he thought about it like that, he couldn’t think of an answer.
Today was already the fourth day since they returned to the north, and Zion nagged Kael, saying that whatever it was, he had to tell him within this week so that he could get it.

‘If it wasn’t for Zion, I would have been less impatient. No. If it wasn’t for Zion, I would have let this day pass by.’

His emotions changed every second. Kael swept his face down roughly.

‘I think it would be a good idea to build a villa in the most beautiful place in the north, but that won’t happen in a month.’

When he came up with a plausible idea, he had no time to do it.
He could hardly think of a gift, which he wanted to be perfect, so it was really killing him.

‘I want to give her something that she really likes.’

He wanted to give Adeline a gift that would make her the happiest. The standard for choosing was high, and the goal he wanted to achieve with the gift was high, so it was difficult.

“I wonder if seeing her face in person will make a difference.”

Kael spoke to himself in a low voice as he gazed at the door.
If he went through that door, he would be in Adeline’s bedroom.
As he was completely covered in work, he had not been able to have a proper conversation with Adeline for the past four days. They exchanged a few words when they encountered each other in the castle, but that was it.
Kael was already as busy as he was, and Adeline also had no free time as she was studying the north.

‘Yeah. I need to see her face.’

Kael jumped up from his seat and walked towards the door.
He thought she was already asleep because it was late at night and it would soon be dawn, but he wanted to see her quietly sleeping, her eyes closed.
In fact, it would be better if Adeline was asleep when he thought about the situation. If he saw Adeline awake, he felt like he would once again only realize his overflowing feelings.
He was always repeating that he should never overlook the curse, that he should her back because he couldn’t love her. But when he stood in front of Adeline, he was shaken by her.

“… Adeline?”

But when Kael quickly passed through the study and carefully opened the door to Adeline’s bedroom, an unexpected scene confronted him.

“Kael? Are you still awake?”
“That sounds like something I should ask.”

Adeline opened her eyes wide and dropped a bunch of books and papers on the floor, scattering them.

***

“It’s too late.”
“You’re right. I didn’t know it was this late at night.”
“If you go to bed this late, your body will hurt.”
“I don’t think that’s something I should hear from someone who has been barely sleeping for days.”

Adeline took it without losing.

“That’s…”

Adeline gave a little smile at Kael blurring his words.

“It’s not as much as you, but I also have a lot to study these days.”
“Are these family trees?”
“Yes. I was organizing them so I could look at them at a glance.”

As if she had only been waiting for the day to hand them over, Isabel immediately gave her the various materials she had arranged.
The documents had detailed information about several northern families, and Adeline had been looking at this data very carefully these days.

“It wouldn’t work if I only knew the members of a family in general. Why this person in this family became powerful in the social world, why this person and that person became sworn enemies; to look at this organic situation, I need to know its history. So we started studying history together, and my mind has been all over the place.”

Not only that, but she was also looking at the castle’s living expenses whenever she could. So, of course, she had no choice but to reduce her sleep.

“I keep looking at how the castle’s money was spent and how the budget was laid out, but Isabel has been managing it really well. I think I just need to reduce my budget a little bit without touching it too much.”
“Reducing your budget?”
“The budget I have is too large.”
“Isabel would have set it that way because we could afford it and you could use it that much. Don’t think about reducing. Just leave it.”
“It’s because I really don’t need it. It’s too much.”

Adeline appealed to Kael with all her sincerity. It wasn’t that she didn’t know how Kael felt about it, but it was useless.

“Are there any other difficulties? Tell me anything I can do to help.”
“It’s alright so far. When it’s time to ask for help, I’ll ask for it right away. Ah, by the way…”

Adeline, who was speaking, suddenly blurred her words as if something had suddenly come to her mind.

“I looked around and found that there was no family you didn’t exchange marriage proposals with when you were a child.”

Kael’s eyebrows moved when something more than ten years old, even before Kael inherited his title, was mentioned.

“Ah, I’m not saying that it bothers me. I just looked at it and noticed it. The marriage talks that had been actively going back and forth when you were a child suddenly stopped. I was just wondering.”

A little bewildered, Adeline explained the reason for mentioning it. It would be a big deal if he found out she was jealous or upset.

“Does it bother you?”
“What? No. Not at all.”

Adeline immediately denied it, but Kael couldn’t hide the smile on his face.
Adeline, who was clearly bothered by it but was trying to hide it, was too cute.
He was happy even though he knew he shouldn’t be. It meant that Adeline wanted to monopolize Kael, just as he felt whenever he saw her, so he couldn’t be happier.

“It really doesn’t. Are you going to keep smiling like that?”
“At that time, I was not the grand duke’s heir. So it was relatively easy to approach me. I didn’t want to put up with the weight of being the grand duke, but all the families who wanted to get connections with the Inver family brought up the marriage talks.”

Kael calmly continued his explanation with his characteristic relaxed smile.

“My father, who knew this, rejected all of them.”
“Ah…”
“Do you think you’re alright now?”
“I said it didn’t bother me.”

Kael smirked at the answer that kept getting stuck in the loop. Adeline, who was going to deny it to the end, was so adorable.

“What is there to be bothered about? You were the one I married. The one sitting in the seat of the grand duchess is you.”

The words Kael uttered made Adeline’s heart flutter again.
Adeline lowered her head, afraid she would reveal her blazing face.

“You should leave now.”
“But I just came. Are you trying to kick me out?”
“Yes. It’s late. Go back and sleep a little.”
“I don’t think you’re trying to send me back because of that consideration.”
“You’re right. I’m kicking you out because I’m embarrassed. With my authority as the room owner. So leave quickly.”

Adeline, who had approached Kael before long, raised him and took him to the door.

“What are you doing? Are you not leaving?”
“Do I have to go even if I accept that you weren’t bothered by it?”
“Yes. You only had one chance.”

Kael smiled again at Adeline’s firm voice.

“Alright. I’ll leave. In return, you should stop and lie down. It’s not good to overdo it.”

Kael was returning to his bedroom, as Adeline requested,
when he suddenly stopped walking and turned around to face her.

“I feel like I have to say this.”

Kael slowly met her eyes, admiring their beautiful light green color.

“You will do well. So don’t overdo it, don’t be too greedy, and go slowly.”

He wasn’t trying to soothe her. He was being serious. He had no doubt that Adeline would do well.

Kael returned to his bedroom with a big smile.
He had gone there to see her face one more time under the pretext of not knowing what gift to prepare, but he encountered a lot of unexpected joy.
Above all, the greatest outcome was that he had decided what to give her.
After facing her and seeing her smile shyly with a reddened face, an idea came to his mind.

“I hope you like it, Adeline. More as I’m a little late.”

Kael thought of the smile he had seen just now and prayed that Adeline would like the gift.
Kael was hoping that on the day he gave her the gift, he would be able to see a smile brighter and more beautiful than that.

–