The Price of Breaching the Contract - Chapter 109

“I always took it for granted that you were by my side. But I believed that my heart was writing for you, that’s what I believed.”

She quietly closed her eyes. Old memories flashed by. She had often spoken coldly and carelessly to him. She justified herself even as she inflicted wounds.

“I didn’t understand you back then. Or maybe I thought I didn’t need to.”

Santia didn’t say anything for a while. His touch stopped, and instead, his breathing could be heard quietly. Finally, he spoke in a low voice.

“Back then, I didn’t really know what kind of person you were either.”

Yulania raised her head. Santia slowly met her gaze and continued.

“You were always far away. Aloof and strong, like someone who would break if I touched you.”

“You thought that?”

Yulania was startled and lowered her face at Santia’s long-held, unexpected sincerity. Santia still looked down at her with hazy eyes. He seemed too relaxed for someone sharing such deep feelings.

“I wanted to approach you, but I couldn’t. You didn’t see me.”

Yulania felt a pang in her chest.

“I see.”

He still had a calm expression, but the emotions hidden within were very clear to Yulania.

Soft sunlight was seeping into the room.

The warmth of sleep still lingered on the sheets, and beyond the window, birds cautiously announced the morning.

Yulania quietly sat up, holding the edge of the blanket. Santia was still lying next to her pillow, his eyes closed and unmoving. As she threw back the blanket and got out of bed, a familiar knock sounded.

“Princess, it’s Vanessa.”

Yulania straightened her back lightly and turned her head.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Vanessa stepped inside cautiously, as if trying not to make a sound. Her gaze briefly lingered on Yulania’s light indoor clothing before she bowed politely.

“It’s time for you to get ready. The garden table is also ready.”

At those words, Yulania’s eyes widened slightly, and she looked out the window.

“Oh my, is it that time already?”

Today was the day she was going to spend time with Angela. Angela had been saying for months that she wanted to see the gardens of Makari Castle in detail.

Yulania had remembered those words and sent an invitation as soon as the weather warmed up. This time, it wasn’t just a simple walk, but a chance to walk together through the gardens she had tended with her own hands, and to share a conversation at a tea table set up beneath them.

She hadn’t told anyone yet, but Yulania was planning to tell Angela something today that she held in her heart: the fact that there was a new life growing inside her.

If Angela heard that another small light had come after Shuria, she would probably widen her eyes and jump for joy. Just imagining that made her smile.

At that moment, Santia quietly looked at her and slowly sat up.

“Are you getting up already?”

“You’re usually more diligent than I am.”

Yulania smiled and sat on the edge of the bed.

Santia quietly came to her side and turned his gaze to Vanessa.

“Vanessa, bring the trolley here.”

“Yes, Duke.”

As Vanessa retreated, Yulania blinked in confusion.

“What are you thinking?”

“I wanted to do it for you for the first time in a while.”

When she raised her eyebrows slightly at those words, Santia threw back the blanket, got out of bed, and folded a damp towel in his hand. Then, without a word, he began to gently wipe her cheeks with meticulous care. The sensation of the water, neither cold nor warm, touched her skin.

After calmly wiping her eyes, the bridge of her nose, and her jawline, Santia put down the towel, picked up a comb, and carefully brushed her hair.

Yulania entrusted herself to his touch and quietly asked.

“What’s your schedule for today?”

Santia paused for a moment before answering.

“I’m going to the Sacred Stone Landfill.”

“Ah, there…”

Yulania closed her eyes and fell into thought. The land that had been called the Devil’s Land until last year had now gained a completely new name as the Sacred Stone spread.

The Landfill of Hope.

Instead of a land filled with the aura of disaster as before, it was being reborn as a new base for building the foundation for Makari’s future.

“I still can’t believe that’s what it’s called now.”

“Didn’t you say that we’re the ones who ultimately change the name? That we just need to give it a new meaning.”

Santia quietly said as he tied her hair.

“So, I’ll keep watching over that meaning.”

Yulania silently looked at his profile. There was a time when he used to wield a sword in front of her with a blank face. A sword that blindly followed the king’s orders. But now, his hands were building walls and moving in a direction to protect life.

Soon, Vanessa came back in. She pushed the trolley in and quietly set the breakfast on the table.

“I prepared the tea with fresh herbs. It’s still chilly.”

“Thank you. I’ll be out soon.”

“Yes, Princess.”

As Vanessa retreated again, Santia got up, placed his hand on her hair, and whispered.

“Oh, now that I think about it, I hope you can come and see it soon too. There’s something I want to show you.”

Yulania stood by the window, her gaze fixed on her toes, and said.

Santia put on the neat shoes on the floor and turned to look at her.

“I was wondering about it too. Let’s go before your belly gets any bigger.”

At those words, Yulania smiled softly and replied.

Sharing each other’s daily lives in this way, and lightly promising a future to walk together, was no longer awkward. They could read each other’s inner thoughts with just a look, and it was a conversation where sincerity was conveyed even without placing any weight on it.

She looked at the sunlight outside the window for a moment before turning around and looking for Vanessa to finish getting ready. Before she could knock on the door, Vanessa came in first. She carefully held out the clothes she had draped over her arm.

“Princess, this is the dress you mentioned.”

“Okay.”

Yulania said briefly to Vanessa, who bowed politely, and reached for the clothes he had placed.

The dress she had decided to wear today was a one-piece dress made of soft, pale yellow fabric, with a loose waist and a naturally flowing silhouette. It wasn’t flashy or extravagant, but it suited her calm and warm atmosphere well. Above all, it comfortably wrapped around her lower abdomen, which was not yet noticeable but was gradually showing.

“This color will stand out even more when you go out into the garden.”

Vanessa said cautiously.

Yulania looked in the mirror and slowly nodded.

“It’s a little early, but it feels like summer.”

“Maybe it’s because the sunlight is so good. How would you like your hair?”

“Today, just lightly braid it into several strands and sweep it over.”

Vanessa grabbed her hair with familiar movements and divided it into thin strands. She fixed small decorative pins one by one each time she braided it, and the softly flowing, neatly arranged hair flowed along Yulania’s neckline.

In the time flowing along Vanessa’s fingertips, she recalled Santia’s words.

‘There’s something I want to show you.’

When he said that, it was usually not just a simple landscape, but a place imbued with the desire to share it together. Santia seemed indifferent on the outside, but he was more attentive to her physical condition than anyone else.

After finishing her hair, Yulania lightly raised her hand in front of the mirror and fiddled with her hairpin. The person in the mirror had a softer impression, and she stared at it silently for a moment.

Now that summer was just beginning, and another life was growing within her. A feeling that something new was beginning was quietly spreading from deep within her heart.

Her steps toward the garden were light yet firm.

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