Casimir swiped the stray ashen locks of the woman sleeping peacefully in his arms and sighed contentedly. No matter how many times he woke up with her still sleeping inside his embrace, it still feels like as if it's the first time.

Gingerly tracing her rosy lips with his fingers, he was overcome with the urge to place a kiss on them, softly so he wouldn't disturb her peaceful rest, before he gently slipped out to grab food for when she wakes up.

He may have overdone it a bit this time and really exhausted her. Well, he can't help it. He missed a date with her and their son and that was unfair! He ought to have his fair share of her attention as well!

Arriving at the kitchen, where Roman kept Heise cooped up and distracted—by letting the maids, servants and cooks feed him with sweets and whatever the child wanted—he briefly stopped on the door before scanning the room to look for the head cook.

Everyone turned to look at their sloppily-dressed prince, wearing only an untucked white dress-shirt, and Roman immediately knew what this man did for the past few hours—and why the princess wasn't with him.

This man... Was he that upset? To the point that he overdid it!? Think about your wife's constitution, your highness!

"Your highness! How rare! Do you need anything?"

An elderly woman, who was the head cook and was the one primarily responsible for preparing their everyday meal, smiled warmly at the newcomer.

"Soup. Warm soup for Adira... Please."

Casimir answered and the mere word of request surprised everyone, they were practically staring at this handsome renewed creature with wide eyes. Like an upgraded version—Prince Casimir 2.0!

It was a different feeling to personally witness his changes with your own eyes. It really does feel like a dream.

Like the person in front of them wasn't really the first prince of the empire—popularly known as the Great Demon Lord—and was someone who uncannily looked like him.

"Of course, your highness."

The woman beamed happily before she got busy.

Casimir, noticing Heise's eyes dart all around as he searched for his mother, walked close to pet him in the head.

"She's sleeping so don't disturb her for now. Just eat your fill there."

Heise felt sad at not seeing his mother but decided to distract himself with the sweets the servants lined up in front of him. Mind you, those sweets were also Adira-approved.

They were strictly instructed not to feed Heise anything she hasn't tried or tasted. That was why everything that was given to Heise underwent meticulous taste-testing from his mother.

"By the way, Alexander Richter Vuori."

Casimir called the knight's complete name along with the sudden change in his temperament and atmosphere. He suddenly entered frost-mode in a split second.

"Yes, your highness!" Came the immediate and firm reply of the red-headed knight as he knelt in submission to this prince.

"When you escorted my wife and son earlier this afternoon, what happened?"

The man asked with a strict and hard tone which suggested that he was very aware that something was wrong with his wife.

How could he not know? He knew the way Adira usually behaves even with his eyes closed. He's as observant as that.

Ehem. He's not a stalker, I swear.

Roman commented in his head while watching this prince interrogate his wife's knight.

"We were about to head back when the mistress bumped into a man."

"A man?" And with this information, the temperature dropped yet again as he seemed to have reverted back to his cold personality.

Really, almost everything about him has changed save for that jealousy.

"Yes. It seems as if she knew him however the man did not know her. I also noticed how terrified she was of this man."

"What did he do to her?"

Casimir asked with a calm and quiet tone but was betrayed by the shadow looming over his dark figure and his expression. His mood was plummeting deeper and deeper with each information.

"Yo-Your highness! Keep calm, okay? We don't want the little prince telling on you to the princess, right? He'll tell your wife if you lost your composure and raged here, you know?"

Roman tried to pacify him and save everyone's lives by baiting him with Heise and Adira. They were after all, for better or for worse, the only thing that could stop him.

The latter, taking his aide's words into consideration, breathed deeply to calm his raging nerves and finally the tension let up a little bit—enough for all the servants to breathe a little bit better.

"He did nothing, your highness. The mistress suddenly had an anxiety attack and we promptly returned to the carriage."

"That can't be right. Why would Adira be scared of him if he didn't do anything?"

"He smelled wrong. He reeked of fetid rotten meat with a disgusting stench of blood."

Heise, who was still eating his cakes, gulped down what he was chewing on and told his father of what he noticed.

He didn't want to remember what the man smelled like because it made him nauseous but he maybe it might have something to do with his mother acting weirdly like that.

Casimir, Alexander and Roman both turned to the child and the former had this pondering look.

If Heise said that he smelled that way then he must be. Dragons have keen senses that was leaps and bounds better than humans. So if it was, then that man might be trouble.

Not like he could judge him. Because, he was gravely aware that he must have that same smell as well. He was no saint, might I remind you.

Maybe she instinctively knew he was dangerous and thus she reacted that way?

While both Roman and Alexander—especially Alex—just stared in confusion at the little child chiming in and saying what the man smelt like when even Alexander himself, who stood directly in front of the man, did not notice such scent on him.

"Anyway, I shall ask Adira about this when she wakes up. In the meantime, try to look into that man you bumped into, Alex." Casimir said.

Adira's soup was also done just in time before the other servants placed it in front of the prince and he carried it away after excusing himself.

...

Returning to his room, the creaking and the gentle sound of the door closing stirred the woman awake as she immediately called for his name.

"Casey?"

"Did I wake you?"

"Did you not rest again?"

His wife replied him with her own question before she pushed herself up and grabbed and wore Casimir's tunic shirt that went all the way down to her thighs.

"Stay in bed. I got you soup to warm you up."

He said while adoring how she looked too comfortable and small wearing his shirt. Somehow, he loved that look as well.

Noticing Casimir's stare on her, Adira smirked while rolling the tunic's sleeves up to her mid-arm and tried to tease the man.

"Like what you see, husband?"

"No."

And his quick and brief reply surprised the girl that she momentarily halted on her tracks. Well, she didn't expect that answer from him. But, he wasn't finished yet as he added,

"I love it."

Adira blushed before she let out an exasperated sigh and smiled sweetly.

"My, even though we're already married, you still love to make my heart flutter, huh?"

The man only gave her a small loving smile before he placed a kiss on her head and remembered the question that's been bugging him since.

"Adira, will you tell me how your day went?"

And she immediately knew that her husband had seen through her. That he was more or less aware of what transpired earlier but wanted to hear it directly from her.

So she took a deep breath before deciding to disclose the reason why she acted the way she did when she met that person.

After all, it wasn't good nor was it healthy to keep a secret in a marriage.

"I was... reminded of a distant dream. A nightmare about a life that was a bit too different from my life right now."

Notes:
Hi! I'm back! This week was hell!!! The exams were too hard to the point that I felt very nauseous and dizzy! 😭

Anyway, enough about that. I'm sorry for being absent but I hope you are still looking forward for more chapters! Love ya guys! 😘 banzaaaaiiii 🎉🎉🎉