That night, the Emperor and Empress had dinner together in the Empress’s chambers.

“Tonight’s meal is exceptional as well.”

Enoch smiled with quiet satisfaction.

They say the way to hold a man is first to hold his stomach. It had never been her intention from the start, but Enoch had already grown accustomed to the food made in Alexa’s Empress’s chambers.

“Oh, I’ve arranged to have a tea party with the young noblewomen the day after tomorrow.”

“The matter you mentioned before?”

“Yes. Duchess Taira recommended the young ladies.”

“Who did she recommend?”

Enoch’s dark eyes sharpened.

“Lady Colton, Lady Haitz, and Lady Knox.”

Enoch’s expression eased at the names.

He had expected her to push forward daughters of the Taira ducal house’s retainers, but it seemed she had made a fitting selection of young ladies with the appropriate rank of marquis’s daughter. Aside from the imperial household and the Taira ducal house, a marquis’s daughter held the highest standing, so it was a sensible choice.

“I heard that each of their fathers holds an important position.”

“Marquis Colton is my chancellor, and Marquis Haitz is the Foreign Affairs Minister. Marquis Knox is… the Minister of Foreign Diplomacy, but due to the particular nature of his work, I have only met him a handful of times.”

“What exactly does the Minister of Foreign Diplomacy do?”

“He travels to other nations and uses the authority I grant him to establish or strengthen diplomatic relations.”

“Then he must spend a great deal of time away from the empire.”

Enoch nodded.

“You could say he spends more time abroad than here.”

That alone made it difficult to learn much about Claire. But information about Claire, a proper marquis’s daughter, would not be circulating freely.

In the end, she would only know by meeting her in person.

“Your friendships are all well and good, but shall we have our dessert in the bedchamber?”

There was a particular nuance in Enoch’s words.

Alexa nodded shyly.

At that, Enoch took Alexa’s hand and left the dining hall. Then, regardless of who might be watching, he laced his fingers through hers and made his way to the bedchamber.

The talk of dessert in the bedchamber had been a lie from the start.

The moment Enoch stepped inside the bedchamber, he went straight to the bedroom. He tossed Alexa lightly onto the bed, then shrugged off his upper garment and cast it aside.

“What about dessert?”

“There is no dessert sweeter than you.”

Enoch pressed his lips deeply against hers. The heat of his lips and the softness of his tongue came through in full. Enoch’s tongue, pressing into Alexa’s mouth without restraint, carried a desire that the word hot alone could not contain.

Enoch’s passion burned in the most literal sense.

He cleared away everything between them and settled over Alexa with half his weight resting on her. Then his wet lips began to trace the full curves of her body.

“Ah.”

Alexa let out a small sound, but Enoch tightened his grip on her interlaced fingers.

Enoch pressed his tongue with deliberate force and explored the delicate lines of her body with growing intensity.

“Ahng…”

Alexa flinched but did not push him away. Instead, she gripped his shoulders tightly. She felt that if she did not hold onto something, she would have no way to manage the sensation overwhelming her.

Just then, Enoch’s hand moved to Alexa’s back. He caressed it with a gentle touch, then moved slowly downward.

“Ah… Enoch…”

A tingling pleasure spread through her entire body, like a drop of paint falling into clear water.

Enoch felt a pull in his lower abdomen at Alexa’s flushed voice and unsteady breathing. He could feel the faint trembling of her waist beneath his fingertips. The more she trembled, the more insistently he caressed her.

“Hng, Enoch…”

Alexa’s nails dug into his shoulder, but Enoch paid it no mind at all. He kept caressing her, as though to tickle her. At the same time, his hand moved to go lower than her waist. Alexa’s waist gave a startled jolt.

“Enoch.”

Alexa’s face, hanging from his neck with her arms wrapped around it, looked pitiful. He pressed his lips to her forehead, then continued downward, lower and lower. And then Enoch took hold of her hips.

“……!”

Alexa startled and tried to close her legs, but it was already too late.

The mere fact of Enoch’s hand touching her lower body sent a shiver through Alexa’s entire body.

“Hng… Enoch…”

At the same moment, Enoch brought his lips to the nape of her neck.

Alexa felt a thirst rising within her that could never be quenched, and gripped his shoulder even harder.

“Hng, ahng…”

Alexa felt a sensation that was growing harder and harder to bear.

“Enoch, s-stop…”

The waves of pleasure surging from within her kept crashing in, one after another. But no matter how much she tried to push him away, he would not be pushed.

“E-Enoch…”

The more Alexa pleaded, the more relentlessly Enoch’s lips followed the line of her neck. And at some point, Alexa could wait no longer and called his name.

“E… Enoch…”

Enoch lifted his hand from her waist and settled himself properly over her again. She felt the firm press of his body against her thigh.

“Your skin smells sweet.”

Enoch’s lips were wet.

He wiped the moisture away with the back of his hand, then kissed Alexa. At the same time, he slowly pressed into her.

“Hng…”

Alexa’s thighs trembled. It was not their first time, yet receiving Enoch still looked like a struggle for her.

Enoch kissed her gently, coaxing and soothing, and barely managed to press all the way in.

“Ah.”

When she felt him reach the deepest point, tears clung to the corners of Alexa’s eyes. Not from pain or sorrow, but the remnants of the pleasure that had washed over her earlier.

Enoch wiped the tear tracks away with his thumb.

“Mmmm.”

Enoch began to move. Alexa’s body swayed in the air with each movement. Seeing that, Enoch drove harder. Each time he reached the deepest part of her, Alexa’s waist trembled finely.

“Ah, Enoch… hng.”

The more desperately Alexa called his name, the harder and hotter Enoch grew inside her.

“Hah…”

Enoch continued his movements, then let out a low breath. He took hold of Alexa’s shoulders and pulled her upright.

The two of them came to face each other, joined together. Enoch gripped her hips and began to move. The angle was entirely different from before, and her mind went completely blank.

“Hng, ah, hng.”

Alexa’s cries broke apart with each of Enoch’s movements. And then, she felt the first signs of something that could not compare to the peak from before.

Alexa wrapped her arms around Enoch’s neck. Enoch drove into her even harder in response.

“Ahng… Enoch…!”

Before she knew it, Alexa was moving her hips to meet his. It was entirely instinctive.

As the two of them fell into rhythm together, she suddenly felt as though her body was lifting off the ground. Tears rolled down without reason, and her entire body tingled with pleasure until she felt she might melt away entirely.

“Enoch…”

Alexa’s parted lips were wet. Enoch kissed her and drove harder to the very end, then stilled inside her.

“Ha…”

Enoch let out a low breath when it was all over. Alexa was still in his arms.

As though to confirm once more how precious she was, Enoch held her close against his chest.

* * *

The next day.

When Alexa opened her eyes, Enoch was not beside her. She should have been used to this by now, but each time it happened, she felt an inexplicable emptiness.

“Matilda.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty. Have you risen?”

“Yes.”

“Then I will draw back the bed curtains and open the window curtains.”

Matilda drew back the bed curtains and then the window curtains, and bright sunlight poured down onto the bed.

“When did he leave?”

“He left at seven in the morning. He said not to wake Your Imperial Majesty, so…”

Last night, Enoch held Alexa two more times. And yet he had walked out of here at seven in the morning without any trouble. His stamina was truly remarkable.

“Would you like to have your meal first?”

“No, I’d like a bath first.”

On the mornings after being held by Enoch, she would ache in places she had not even known she had muscles. Right now was exactly that kind of morning.

“Understood.”

Soon, Alexa sank into the foamy tub. Submerging herself in the hot water, she felt her body slowly ease.

“What time is it now?”

“Just past noon.”

This was far too negligent a showing for an Empress. But after the intensity of being with Enoch, she always fell asleep in a near collapse, and there was nothing she could do about it.