The air was thick with the damp scent of earth, moss, and rotting leaves. Plainspoken King Gryn seemed not to have understood one of her "teases."
He cleared his throat and said solemnly, "It is the same during the day."
At that, Margaery lifted her little face. After pausing for a moment, she could not help but let out a tinkling laugh.
The rose trembled with laughter. The corners of Gryn's lips rose, and he, too, could not help smiling.
Amid the laughter, dark brown eyes met light brown ones.
Time seemed to freeze. After a pause, Gryn's gaze shifted away as naturally as possible. He casually grabbed a piece of wood and tossed it into the flickering campfire.
At the sight, a gentle smile touched Margaery's lips, vanishing in an instant.
Margaery also picked up a piece of wood and threw it into the fire before removing her soft leather gloves.
Holding the dark brown gloves, which made her slender fingers appear pale, she stared at the flames and suddenly said, "I am actually very reluctant to leave King's Landing. Not for my family, but because of... my selfishness."
After a brief pause, her red lips parted. "But I will leave. I know that my 'journey' should come to an end. This is also for my own sake."
She let out a weary sigh. "And for the family that raised me."
After a stretch of silence, Gryn raised a hand slightly, signaling for the wine servant waiting some distance away with a decanter and goblets to approach.
Splash—
Crimson Summer Wine flowed from the golden mouth of the decanter like a silken stream, slowly pooling in the goblets.
Once the young wine servant had filled the cups, bowed, and departed, Gryn first took a sip of Summer Wine before