After the waiter was dismissed, Killian took on the wine bottle and filled her glass. Rowena, determined to reject his gesture but after a slight hesitation, accepted the glass.

The moment she received the glass, she brought it close to her lips. She took a sip but nearly spit it out seconds later once she heard him ask her.

“What else did you want to eat?”

“… What?”

Rowena could not believe her ears. She expected to hear some kind of a warning, if not a sharp threat.

“What else did you want to eat?”

Killian reiterated the question with a rare display of patience while she was still puzzled. Abandoning the utensils he was holding, he listened closely to her answer.

“Do you want to hear such a thing?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Damian is not even your child.”

Rowena spoke, trying to change the subject, but Killian seemed to be unbudging. She glanced at him wondering what he was thinking, eventually she loosened her hand, and took a sip of her wine.

She drank two glasses one after the other, instead of savoring the wine gracefully as she usually does, to the point where she thought she might be drinking too much and Killian answer only came after then.

“Just because of my denial, it doesn’t mean that the child will go back into your belly.”

The tension she was feeling until a moment ago dissolved with relief at the rather unpleasant reply. As soon as her stiff back loosened a little, she felt a little tipsy, probably from the wine she had just drunk, which had quite a high alcohol content. Rowena nestled her chin in her arm.

“A poached egg topped with cheese.”

“Poached egg?”

“I enjoyed having it back then, it’s a poached egg that I often eat in the morning for breakfast. When I was younger my nanny used to make it and put cheese on top…”

“You had a nanny?”

With a different look in his eyes, Killian re-filled her glass.

“Yes…..”

Nodding, Rowena tilted her glass. It was the first time she had spoken to him about the time when she was a child. She had never confided in Killian about her past, except that both her parents had died in an accident and that she was living with a close relative.

“It was really delicious, I think she added something more to that poached egg at the time… Because after that, I tried to make it the same exact way, but it just didn’t have that same flavor. Although I didn’t think there was anything special about it.”

Since the subject of the conversation shifted from Damian, she don’t mind telling him this much. Rowena, who had been talking effortlessly while eating, closed her eyelids, which were gradually getting heavier.

She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them to find herself on a rocking saddle. As she looked down, she saw the mane of a horse. She also saw long, calloused hands gripping the reins.

Killian, who had been holding the reins while she leaned against him, sleeping soundly, suddenly asked from behind her.

“Are you awake?”

“Yeah..”

“Sleep more.”

Kilian whispered in her ear, wrapping his arms around her waist and then making her lean against him more steadily. Rowena murmured, her mind fuzzy under his gentle touch.

“The sea was so beautiful. The food was delicious.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

Perhaps she was hearing wrong, but there seemed to be some slight amusement mixed in with his voice. His voice was gentle, careful and soft, as if he was cherishing a small animal.

It seemed that drunkenness had made her ears hear things incorrectly. In any case, now was her chance, she concluded. She placed her hand on the top of his hands that were holding the reins when Jeremy’s face suddenly popped up in her mind.

She heard him take a short breath as if he was holding something back. She curled her lips briefly, and then gathered her courage.

“Well, since you’ve granted me a wish… I have one more wish.”