“That’s a much more wholesome reason compared to mine.”

“…I’m sorry?”

“Now that I’ve returned to my senses, I remember.”

Yelena’s voice had calmed down. Kaywhin had braced himself for the disappointment Yelena was bound to express, but he didn’t hear any hint of such an emotion in her voice at all.

Kaywhin shifted his gaze to meet Yelena’s eyes.

“I was the one who avoided you first, before you started avoiding me.”

“…Yelena.”

Kaywhin looked at Yelena with a rather confused and puzzled gaze. Yelena’s pale cheeks were redder than usual, but anyone could tell that it wasn’t caused by anger.

More importantly…

“Since you told me your reason, I’ll tell you mine too. I avoided you because I was embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed…?”

“I had a dream about you. An erotic one.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You seduced me, wearing a wet shirt.”

Kaywhin’s blue eyes shook like an earthquake. Yelena looked into her husband’s shaking eyes and chuckled.

“You have no idea how passionate we were in my dream…”

“…”

“So that’s why I ran away. It was really hard for me to face you, you know.”

Kaywhin stood frozen, with a face that said he didn’t know how to respond. Yelena looked down for a moment and then she looked back up.

Chuckle, chuckle.

Laughter had been escaping from her lips for a few minutes now. She couldn’t keep a straight face.

“But you… um, must have misunderstood. And because of that… you became jealous just from seeing me with the marquess.”

“…”

“Is that right?”

Jealous.

It was an unfamiliar word, but Kaywhin nodded his head. He now knew what exactly he had felt towards Aendydn, that mysterious displeasure and childish hostility.

Jealousy.

“That’s right… I was… jealous.”

“Hehe.”

Yelena’s eyes crinkled as she laughed. Kaywhin couldn’t take his eyes off her smile.

“Rosaline—my friend once told me.”

“…”

“If you get jealous, it means you’re in love.”

“By the way, how do I know if we love each other?” Yelena asked on the day she first went to Rosaline for dating advice.

“You become jealous when you’re in love,” Rosaline replied easily, with her chin tucked in her palm.

“Jealous?”

“You’ll want that person to be yours and yours only.”

“…”

“You’ll want them to only be kind to you and only smile at you. You’ll feel an immature sense of possessiveness, to the extent that it’ll make you wonder if you were always this kind of person.”

At the time, Yelena had nodded like she understood what Rosaline had been talking about, but the words had really just gone in one ear and out the other.

Jealousy and possessiveness? Those were two words that had no relation to Kaywhin whatsoever.

‘At least, back then.’

Yelena looked into her husband’s eyes, which had widened as if he was surprised.

She reckoned she understood now. Even if Rosaline hadn’t said anything, she now understood completely.

Sometimes, when you realize one thing, you learn 10 other things along with it. Like sunlight when you open the curtains, what once was dim and faint was now bright and clear.

‘There was a time when I thought that if love was a 10, then what my husband felt for me must have been at least a 5.’

She had estimated that she was halfway there.

But she was wrong.

Her husband’s voice, the look in his eyes, his body language, his tone. The current situation. Everything was telling Yelena that her husband’s feelings were, without a doubt, a 10.

Kaywhin, who had been gazing into Yelena’s eyes quietly, spoke up.

“Jealousy and love…”

“Should I tell you one more thing? I have also been jealous.”

Yelena had another realization. She had not only realized her husband’s feelings for her, but also her own feelings for him.

She had no idea when it had begun.

She was already in love with her husband.

“The possessiveness you spoke of… Now that I think about it, I have a lot to say too.”

“…”

“I can’t explain everything one-by-one. Thinking back on it, there were too many times when I wanted you all to myself.”

Yelena took half a step towards Kaywhin. Kaywhin didn’t back away from her. They stared at each other.

“Well then, I’d say that we love each other.”

“…”