It was about two months after he began serving her.

Ahaha. Hearing the clear burst of laughter, Cain looked up. She was smiling brightly.

He had thought she was always indifferent and cold, but she could smile so radiantly, too.

Cain stared blankly at her face as she laughed with pure joy.

Then, when their eyes suddenly met, she asked with a crooked expression:

“Why are you staring like that?”

“…I apologize.”

Cain bowed his head deeply and apologized.

One of Jella’s eyebrows rose crookedly.

“I’m not scolding you. You should break that habit of immediately saying ‘I apologize’ for everything.”

“I’m sor… I’ll correct it.”

Cain, who was about to apologize out of habit, immediately changed his words.

Seeing this, Jella chuckled and asked:

“So, Cain Aleret. Why were you staring at me with such a foolish face?”

Under her persistent questioning, Cain hesitated for a while before opening his mouth.

“…I think it’s the first time I’ve seen Your Majesty smile like that.”

“Hmm?”

“I was just surprised by it.”

At this, Jella tilted her head curiously, then immediately burst into laughter.

“I can laugh, too. Why are you so surprised by that?”

“…”

“Don’t tell me you also thought I was the witch of Shunaibel who doesn’t know how to laugh?”

“N-no, that’s not it…”

Cain’s face reddened in embarrassment.

“I’m joking.”

Jella laughed heartily. Cain felt somewhat awkward and scratched his flushed cheek. He couldn’t understand what was so amusing that made her laugh so happily.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you laugh.”

After laughing for a while, she suddenly seemed to realize something and muttered while tilting her head.

Pause.

Cain froze and lowered his hand when he realized she was talking about him.

Jella stared at him intently and said:

“I want to see you laugh, Cain.”

“…”

Cain awkwardly lifted the corners of his mouth. She frowned in dissatisfaction.

“No, not like this.”

She poked the corner of his mouth with her soft index finger.

He flinched momentarily at the touch on his lips.

“Not forcing yourself to smile like this, but I want to see you laugh because you’re truly happy.”

“…?”

When he looked at her with a puzzled expression at her words, she said with a relaxed smile:

“Tell me what you like.”

“…”

It was a question he had never heard in his life. Cain thought it was a very strange question.

‘What I like?’

Since he had never thought about it before, Cain hesitated and couldn’t answer promptly.

She might have found his hesitation frustrating, but she didn’t get angry and waited patiently for him.

After a brief silence.

Cain managed to squeeze out a voice before her patience wore thin.

“…I’ve never thought about it, so I don’t really know.”

She smirked at his bland answer.

“Cautious fellow. Make sure to tell me later.”

That night. Cain struggled all night trying to figure out what he liked.

Then he suddenly realized.

‘What I like is…’

Stop.

His thoughts stopped there.

Somehow, it felt like he shouldn’t think any further.

So, disrespectfully breaking his promise to her, he gave up trying to find what he liked.

The next day when he faced her, his palms were sweaty with tension.

What if she asked again?

But fortunately, she didn’t ask.

Not just that day, but continuously after.

Cain felt relieved but also somewhat disappointed. It was truly a contradictory feeling.

‘Perhaps it was just a momentary whim when she asked.’

Thinking that way made his steps drag heavily.

Then suddenly, she who was walking ahead turned around and beckoned to him.

The veins on her forehead were prominent, seeming annoyed at his lagging behind.

At that sulky face, Cain unconsciously smiled slightly.

But Cain wasn’t aware that he was smiling. Even if he had been aware, he wouldn’t have admitted it.

The thing that made him smile. The thing he liked.

That one and only thing was… her.

A friend of Her Majesty came from the Holy Kingdom.

From what he overheard the servants saying, it was a noble priest from the Grand Temple. Perhaps because of that, unlike himself, the man had a pretty face with an angelic, kind impression.

It was the first time he had seen her converse so casually with someone. Even when she was with her fiancé, Duke Alpenhayer, she didn’t have such a relaxed expression…

Cain unconsciously touched his own face. Unlike that man who looked angelically kind, his face was extremely rigid.

However, while Jella was briefly away.

“You have a face Jella likes.”

Yupheon stared intently at Cain’s face and provoked him with an unpleasant voice.

“Your face, your body, from head to toe, you’re exactly Jella’s type, aren’t you? Where did she pick up something like you?”

“…”

Cain maintained silence, not knowing how to respond.

Then Yupheon tilted his head crookedly and called out to Cain.

“Hey, slave.”

“…”

“Pretty slave boy.”

“…”

“Hmm.”

When Cain ignored his calls, Yupheon narrowed his eyes and looked him up and down. Then he abruptly asked:

“You, you like Jella, don’t you?”

“…”

Cain raised his head and met Yupheon’s eyes.

At that moment, a sardonic smile spread across Yupheon’s lips.

“Wow, those eyes. They could pierce through me.”

Yupheon chuckled. Despite his appearance, he had a very unpleasant personality.

“Listen, slave. I’m telling you this for your own good.”

He lowered his voice subtly toward Cain and whispered:

“Wake up. No matter how much you’re Jella’s type, a slave like you can’t aspire to a woman like her.”

“…”

“Do you think you can become something to her because she gives you special treatment? At best, you’ll warm her bed a few times and that’s it. The moment Jella gets tired of you, you’ll be discarded without mercy.”

“…”

Despite the harsh words and provocation, Cain looked at him with a blank expression. There was no impact since he was already well aware of these facts himself.

Seeing Cain’s reaction, Yupheon suddenly burst into laughter.

“What’s this? Others usually crumble when I say this. Your courage seems better than Niel Alpenhayer’s, slave.”

Then in an instant, Yupheon stopped laughing and glared at Cain with cold eyes.

“That’s why I dislike you even more.”

He was muttering ominously when:

Click, the door opened and Jella, who had briefly stepped out, returned.

“Jella!”

Yupheon turned to her with a bright smile.

“Sorry, I made my guest wait. There was an urgent matter.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Yupheon stuck close to Jella’s side and spoke in a sweet voice.

It was such a rapid change that it was hard to believe he was the same person who had been provoking him just moments ago.

‘…Is he crazy?’

Cain seriously wondered as he watched Yupheon.

Then suddenly, Cain’s gaze fell on their joined hands. Yupheon was fondling her soft palm.

That precious body he had always wanted to touch, that man was touching so naturally and casually.

Cain’s fingertips twitched unconsciously as he silently witnessed this.

***

“Mm, hmm, mmph…”

With a deep kiss, Yuphe’s hands chaotically roamed over my body.

‘I didn’t know that “making an effort” meant this.’

I tightly embraced Yuphe’s pink head and breathed heavily.

‘But didn’t I… kiss Niel just an hour or two ago?’

This is truly befitting the infamous reputation of a dissolute tyrant.

The pleasure that stirred my soul instantly drove away the suspicious presence that had been clinging to my mind. Because of that, I regained control of my body, but it became troublesome as the suspicious thing had hidden somewhere.

‘That thing, it’s unpleasant, I want to drive it out quickly.’

Every time I tried to relax my mind again like before, Yuphe kept stimulating my body, resulting in failure.

Amidst this, I suddenly realized a consistent pattern.

This suspicious presence infiltrates the gap between my flesh and soul to take control of my body whenever my heart weakens, and it loses control and hides whenever intense external stimulation rushes in.

Just as I was about to push Yuphe away, thinking this shouldn’t continue:

“Yuphe, stop.”

“Are you already tired of me…?”

Easily pushed away by my weak gesture, Yuphe looked at me with a tearful face. He was acting like a fox, knowing I was weak to such expressions.

“That’s not the issue…”

“If that’s not it, just a little more, Jella.”

Before I could finish speaking, he was whimpering and burrowing in again, looking exactly like a fox cub.