I thought Zachary would be happy. Even I, who had spent half my life bound to this mansion, felt stifled – how much more so for Zachary? Unlike me, Zachary was in a state of forced confinement. It was natural that he’d want to leave the mansion immediately after being cooped up for so long.

“…You mean go outside?”

But his response was oddly off.

I shrank back at his visibly deflated expression.

“Ah, yes…”

“…”

Zachary was silent for a while, as if thinking about something. He didn’t look at me, just stared at the floor lost in thought.

‘Did I say something wrong?’

Flustered by this completely unexpected reaction, I felt I should say something.

“There’s a day when both the Duke and Mother will be away from the mansion. If we disguise ourselves like during the hunting competition…”

Back then, Zachary said he had followed me in disguise under the Duke’s orders. Since nothing happened after that, it seemed we could do the same this time.

“This time I’ll disguise myself too, so we’ll be even harder to recognize. We’ve never gone out just the two of us before. I’m sure you must feel stifled too. So…”

All sorts of explanations poured out, as if I was making excuses. Yet I wondered, why am I explaining myself to Zachary now? Without realizing it, I kept trying to gauge Zachary’s mood.

“Why would I feel stifled?”

“What do you mean, why…”

Zachary finally looked at me directly.

He truly seemed not to understand, and I suddenly felt embarrassed.

Come to think of it, how detestable must I look in his eyes, acting like this now? Despite having many opportunities until now, I had never once suggested going out.

“Forget I said anything. I’m sorry.”

It seems I had a sudden impulse at the thought of soon parting from Zachary.

Thinking about it from the other side, even I would have been bewildered. Here I was suddenly suggesting we go out, after all this time had passed.

I lowered my head slightly, overcome with embarrassment. Zachary pulled my shoulder and asked back.

“Why are you apologizing?”

He lowered his head, trying to see my expression. Our eyes met as he lowered his upper body to match me. He kept observing me, as if my reaction puzzled him.

“Did you want to go out?”

If I told him my true feelings, wouldn’t he think I was even stranger? After a brief hesitation, I sighed and opened up.

“Besides the hunting competition, we’ve never gone out together, just the two of us. I suddenly… felt regretful about that.”

It was the honest truth, without any pretense.

While it was an excuse, I had been busy with many tasks within the mansion. Moreover, I was always too preoccupied with reading the atmosphere to even think about taking Zachary out.

‘Now I’ll get married, and Zachary will return to the Holy Empire.’

With our parting right around the corner, I felt a great sense of regret.

Since I wasn’t the heir, if I got married, I would have to leave Serpentine House. The Raven family and Serpentine House would probably discuss and grant us a territory. Afterwards, Genevieve and I would live there. As a married couple on the surface.

And by then, Zachary wouldn’t be by my side.

‘It really is a strange feeling.’

From the moment I first saw him, I had been determined to send Zachary back to his original place. That vague idea was now becoming a reality, but I couldn’t imagine my life without Zachary.

Until now, I hadn’t thought about his absence because there was no definite way to help Zachary escape.

But now that concrete plans were being made to send Zachary back to the Empire, our parting was truly imminent. Thinking about it, even now was a moment that would never come again. That’s why I thought it would be nice to go out to the territory together, look around the shopping district, or enter a tavern. I wanted to create memories, just the two of us, in this brief moment of freedom.

“Just forget I said anything.”

But seeing Zachary’s expression, it seemed like words better left unsaid. He didn’t seem particularly moved.

Still, he didn’t seem angry at my suggestion.

‘Could it be due to the curse’s influence?’

He might not be able to leave the mansion due to trauma from the curse.

He stared at me blankly. Somehow, his eyes seemed deep in thought, as if trying to understand me. It wasn’t long before Zachary spoke.

“I don’t want to go far.”

What did he mean by not wanting to go far? As I mulled over his words for a moment, my eyes widened.

“You’ll go out with me?”

“Yes. But I don’t want to leave the mansion if possible.”

My expression relaxed more than before. After all, didn’t this mean Zachary was willing to move with me?

Of course, I was curious about the exact reason he didn’t want to leave the mansion, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

Hadn’t the atmosphere immediately sunk when I suggested going outside earlier? It didn’t seem like I’d get a proper answer even if I asked him the reason. If it was because of the curse, I had nothing to say. It would only increase my guilt towards Zachary.

“Then…”

I rarely moved around due to my weak constitution, but the mansion grounds were vast with many places to see. There was a mountain behind Serpentine Mansion, but with this poor physical condition, we couldn’t climb it together, and the open walking paths had many eyes of servants and others watching. Where could we move freely within the mansion?

“…Want to go to the greenhouse?”

Suddenly, I thought of the greenhouse where luminous flowers were planted. It was a greenhouse that the previous Marchioness had created to soothe her fear of the night.

“I’ve never been there at night because I was scared of the path, but they say it’s so beautiful when night falls.”

Is it really beautiful at night? When I went once with Erhan during the day, it was quite eerie.

It was a gloomy greenhouse, dreary enough that it wouldn’t be strange if something jumped out. The plants grown like a jungle, the grass hanging down like long hair, looked just like seaweed.

However, they say that at night, this gloomy greenhouse changes 180 degrees. So I wanted to go see it at night, but was Serpentine Mansion ever an atmosphere where one could wander around at night?

The greenhouse was in quite a remote location. Moreover, the row of statues on the way there was quite frightening.

“But I think it’ll be okay if you’re there.”

This time was different. With Zachary there, I felt it would definitely be less scary.

‘And inside the enclosed greenhouse, we can relax freely.’

If we instruct the servants not to enter, Zachary would be able to move freely inside the greenhouse too. Since it wasn’t an open space like the garden, it would be even more comfortable.

“Do you mean the greenhouse within Serpentine Mansion?”

I was puzzled by Zachary specifically asking if it was within the mansion. I nodded, tilting my head, and he immediately replied.

“Then that’s fine.”

I was taken aback by his reaction, so different from before. He was even wearing a slight smile now.

I was just bewildered, unable to fathom the reason at all.

‘Why does he dislike going outside when he’s been forced to live here since childhood? I don’t understand. What’s so good about this gloomy mansion?’

Was it really because of the curse? My mind was complicated, but even this would be alright once he returned to the Empire and fully broke the curse. I forcibly pushed down my complex thoughts.

‘There’s not much time left anyway.’

Was “time left” the right expression? It would be the day Zachary found his freedom, and while I wanted that too… Somehow, I felt like I might make a bitter expression. As I tried to smile awkwardly, Zachary smiled back at me. If it wasn’t my imagination, he seemed to smile more often these days than before.

When he first smiled, it was a bit awkward, but now he often smiles like this in daily life, surprising me. I stared blankly at Zachary’s upturned mouth corners before turning my head away.

My gaze caught the black letter on the desk. As soon as I saw the letter, my face hardened without me realizing it. It felt like I had been in a dream until just now and fallen back to reality, and Genevieve’s words came to mind.

“If a letter with no content arrives, it means I’ll be coming in five days.”

This letter from Genevieve had no content written in it. I had checked the blank white paper several times.

Strangely, every time I looked at that letter, it felt like my heart was being squeezed. It was a political marriage without love anyway. There were no better conditions for sending Zachary back…

“Both of them are in the mansion today, so let’s go to the greenhouse tomorrow night.”

“Alright.”

Why does my heart feel so heavy?

Zachary slowly approached and naturally embraced me. Although I was being held in his large body, strangely, it felt like I was the one embracing him.

“Young master.”

Zachary looked at me with his deep, dark blue eyes.

“Are you just going to sleep tonight?”