Lucia tussled with him all night and was barely able to sleep at dawn. By the time she woke up, it was already daylight.

She was against his new way. His tenaciousness was inexplicable and she’d already given up on explaining his endurance.

Lucia continuously thought about getting up from bed, but her body did not listen to her. She had such a hard workout for two consecutive days in a month so her body felt languid.

She fell into shallow sleep and upon woke up, she felt a soft touch on her hair and opened her eyes. She didn’t know when he’d come in but he was sitting on the bed, his finger running through her hair.

She was sleepy-eyed and watched him with an empty gaze. Their eyes met and he lowered his head, lightly kissing her lips.

“I was worried since you haven’t gotten up yet. Are you okay?”

The soft touch on her lips told her this was real. Last night, she hated him a little but seeing him now, the hatred vanished into thin air.

“…at least you have a conscience.”

She bluntly blamed him, closed her eyes again and heard him laugh a little.

Hugo’s fingers ran through her hair, sweeping through it like a comb. It felt good and a little ticklish.

‘Isn’t my hair is completely disheveled?’

As the thought came to her mind, her sleepiness deserted her and she raised the blanket over her

head.

“What’s wrong?” (Hugo)

“…my head…”

“Does it hurt? The doctor…”

“No, it’s not that.”

She lowered the blanket a little, her eyes peeking at him.

“Yesterday…I didn’t dry my hair properly. It’s probably a mess.”

It was the heart of a woman who wanted to show only a pretty figure in front of the man she loved. He could not understand her words, and tilting his head to the side, ripped the blanket off her. She let out a short scream and he kissed her lightly on her lips.

“What of it? You look pretty.”

Lucia stared at him, her gaze full of intent.

“…Flirt.”

“…What?”

“Nothing.”

He felt wronged. If she’d said that in the past, he would honestly have nothing to say. But not now.

“Vivian, did I do something wrong?”

“Aren’t you busy?”

“Don’t change the topic. I know your list defines me that way, but why are you saying this now, all of a sudden?”

“What list?”

“I know you have a list of all the things I’ve done wrong in your head.”

“What?”

Lucia was dumbfounded and burst into laughter.

“There’s a list in my head?” (Lucia)

“Weren’t you steadily adding one at a time?”

Lucia started laughing again. He sourly looked on as she began to laugh. He couldn’t see why she was laughing so much about what he said and couldn’t understand her laughter.

“Then, when did I make this list?” (Lucia)

“Why are you asking me that? You know better than I do.”

Lucia shrugged and once again burst into

into laughter. The thought that he also wonders what other people are thinking was very amusing and  interesting.

‘Things I’ve done wrong.’

Through those words, he admitted to her that he’d done a lot of things wrong. She thought he was someone that was very unlikely to admit it even if he made a mistake.

“There is no such list. I can’t put up with something so complicated.”

“Then what was the word that popped up before?”

Lucia shyly pursed her lips.

“Because you said that all of a sudden.”

“What did I say?”

“…look…pretty.”

Lucia felt a bit embarra.s.sed to say it herself and her words weren’t clear. She’d heard herself being called gentle or cute but she didn’t think the word ‘pretty’ matched her appearance.

“Is it wrong to just say what I feel?”

Lucia stared at him blankly. He was flirtatious yes, but he wasn’t the type to whisper sweet nothings into a woman’s ear so his words came off a bit unfriendly.

He was someone who had a lot and as such, was the flirt that women loved to cling to. Lucia reached out and rubbed her head.

As expected, just by touching her hair, she could feel it was untidy. Even without looking at a mirror, it was obvious it was a mess.

“Pretty? This look?”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with it, you look pretty.”

His expression did not change at all. It was as though he was looking at a tree and saying

and saying it was a tree. As Lucia kept staring into his eyes doubtfully, his expression grew increasingly awkward.

“Is it that you don’t like that way of expression? Then, your beauty is so bright that it seems blinding…”

“Are you making fun of me?”

Lucia replied sullenly. Hugo sighed and placing one hand on his forehead.

“Tell me what you want me to do.”

“…Pretty? Me?”

“You’re pretty.”

She didn’t know what he was thinking, but she decided not to think more complicatedly about it. It was good even if it was empty words.

She felt pleased, happy, ticklish inside, and when she looked at him, she couldn’t help but chuckle.

His expression became somewhat twisted and he spoke.

“Don’t laugh like that. It makes me want to eat (you).”

Lucia laughed even louder and looking at her, Hugo burst into laughter too. It was hard to pinpoint it but anyhow, it was nice to see her feeling comfortable.

After admitting to herself that she loved him, Lucia’s heart was more at peace and the mood around her grew relaxed.

When Hugo was away from Roam, Lucia was always on his mind. Although they’d reconciled before he left, he’d felt like it was somewhat insufficient and was uncomfortable with it.

It seemed like they weren’t putting out the fire but simply covering it up so they couldn’t see it. He was worried that when he came back to Roam, she would turn away from him as the issue

as the issue wasn’t fully settled.

Contrary to his worries, she was doing very well. Rather, she became even brighter than before.

The thought that even without him, she would be completely fine, made his heart feel cold.

‘I want her’

He wanted to have all of her body and mind.

But how could he have a woman that had declared that she would never love him. It was the biggest challenge in his life.

He’d never properly fallen in love before. The brother he loved, said he loved him but chose death in the end.

She was going to be his first love. However, it was a tragedy that he’d experienced too much physical love before he knew of emotional love.

At times, love was so simple that an honest word of confession could be the key but he didn’t know that.

“Is it okay for you keep staying here? You aren’t busy?” (Lucia)

Hugo could sense that her voice was much clearer than before.

‘She likes being called pretty.’

Now, he began making a list in his head.

“Busy or not busy, for me, there’s no end to work so I can rest for as long as I don’t do it.”

“So you’re not working?”

“It’s not like that, I mean you don’t have to fret over it. Is it troublesome if I don’t work?”

“…It would be.”

“Why?”

“The husband has to feed his wife. And to do that, you have to make money.”

Hugo couldn’t help but laugh.