The vibrations created by his deep voice spread hotly near Prelia’s ear.

Even though she was clearly covered by her dress, his intense gaze seemed to penetrate through the fabric, thoroughly examining her n*ked body.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, we haven’t even held the engagement ceremony yet. Please maintain proper etiquette.”

Prelia pushed him away with both palms, trying to escape from Keinen’s hot breath.

In her haste, her hands touched his chest beneath the shower robe.

‘What is this!’

At that moment, the pattern on Keinen’s chest emitted a black aura that wrapped around her hands.

The black energy quickly coiled around her arms like vines, then burrowed into her heart.

“Ugh!”

“Countess! Get a hold of yourself!”

As he shouted in panic, her heart dropped and began to beat.

“Countess, remove your hand.”

He gently took her hand and pulled it away from the pattern.

Free from the pain, she regained her composure and carefully examined the pattern.

‘That black pattern wasn’t a tattoo! It must be the core of his magical power!’

Though there was intense pain in her heart, it was incomparably more effective than just holding hands.

“Your Highness, did it hurt?”

She asked if Keinen had felt pain this time, as he hadn’t frowned or groaned.

“What?”

Her question caused gentle ripples in his red pupils.

*

‘Did it hurt?’

Keinen was momentarily stunned, as if he’d heard a foreign language.

‘To say such things to me, the Red-eyed Demon. She really is audacious.’

Thanks to his magical power, his body could recover completely from even the deepest wounds by the next day.

Even most deadly poisons had no effect on him.

But he still felt pain.

When poison circulated through his internal organs, he too had to endure terrible agony as if every cell in his body was burning.

“Your magical power has gone berserk. Tsk, manage it well so rumors don’t spread outside.”

These were his father’s words when he barely woke up after drinking the poison given by the Empress.

Not “Were you in pain?” or “You’ve suffered,” but this.

“Please execute the Empress and the First Prince.”

“When you can control your magical power, do it with your own hands then. According to Aslan tradition.”

This was what the Emperor said when he demanded the heads of the Empress who killed his mother and tried to kill him, and his half-brother.

Keinen steadied his momentarily wavering eyes and gave her a cold look.

“How dare you ask me such a thing.”

Pretending to care about him when she was nothing.

It seems she hasn’t abandoned her habit of worrying about others, then and now.

Though she seems to have discarded her memories.

“Your Highness?”

“I’ve never felt anything like pain.”

“Ah, yes.”

Her response sounded unconvinced, as if she thought his words were mere bravado.

As one of Keinen’s eyebrows began to twist in annoyance, she suddenly grabbed both his hands.

Her cool, refreshing energy flowed through his hands, straightening his crooked eyebrow.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, this black pattern is a very dangerous sign.”

Her cheeks, which had been pale, turned slightly red, seemingly uncomfortable with their close proximity.

“A dangerous sign?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Something inside you is about to go berserk.”

“Is that so? What could it be, Countess?”

When Keinen asked playfully, Prelia adopted a quite solemn expression.

Then she raised herself on tiptoe as much as possible and put her lips close to his ear.

“It’s magical power.”

“Magical power, you say?”

“Yes, Your Highness. This black pattern is a symptom of magical power about to go berserk.”

Prelia’s accuracy made Keinen want to laugh.

Suppressing his laughter, he quietly gazed into her deep blue eyes.

“I see. Then you must die. As the only person who knows my secret.”

“I am the only person who can prevent Your Highness’s magical power from going berserk.”

The outer corner of her left eye trembled slightly.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Didn’t you see? The black energy seeping into my body. I will absorb Your Highness’s rampaging magical power.”

Speaking boldly, she tried to place her right hand on the left side of his chest.

“Countess!”

Keinen hastily grabbed her hand.

She looked up at him with eyes that seemed to ask ‘Why?’

“Let’s draft a contract first.”

“A contract?”

“Yes. You’ll have to forfeit your head if you deceive me.”

After releasing Prelia from his arms, Keinen approached the desk.

‘I can’t tell if she’s aware or not. She moaned when she touched the pattern, yet she’s fearless.’

Keinen brought two sheets of paper and a pen, then sat at the head of the sofa.

By then, Prelia had also taken a seat on the right sofa.

*

“I’ll write it.”

Prelia began neatly writing the contract terms on the paper Keinen had brought.

‘Yes! Now I can freely absorb Keinen’s magical power!’

Though inwardly jumping for joy, outwardly she wrote with perfect composure.
Her handwriting was flawless, as if written on invisible lines.

“You can sign here.”

Prelia kindly pointed with her index finger to where Keinen should sign.

Keinen picked up the document, read it, then snorted and tore the paper in half.

“Why am I the party B and you the party A?”

“Because I’m the one saving Your Highness, and Your Highness is the one being saved?”

Prelia answered with a confident voice and a slight smile.

‘You made that “ugh” sound when we held hands. I heard it!’

If the mighty Keinen made such a sound, how painful must it have been?

She was certain that, like her, he was hiding something.

‘That’s why he fell for my vague explanation so easily.’

He needed her too.

Perhaps not absolutely, but certainly enough to be useful right now.

When she raised both eyebrows at Keinen, urging him to sign quickly, he smirked and tore the paper in half again.

“Countess, I don’t mind if my magical power goes berserk.”

“What? But according to historical records, when magical power goes berserk, one is overcome with bloodlust.”

Prelia mentioned this because records from 500 years ago, when magicians existed, remained as legends.

“Haven’t you heard my nickname?”

“The mad Red-eyed Demon?”

After answering, Prelia covered her mouth with her hand and said “Oh!”
She quickly looked him up and down.

‘That explains it.’

When she nodded slightly, Keinen’s eyebrows twitched fiercely.

“When exactly was the ‘mad’ prefix added? It wasn’t in what I heard.”

Keinen looked very displeased.

It was clearly visible in his expression.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, I’ll rewrite the contract. With Your Highness as party A and me as party B.”

As his expression grew stern, Prelia quickly rose and ran to the desk.

Feeling his gaze burning into the back of her head, she gathered plenty of paper.

Returning to the sofa, she rewrote the contract.

Having written it once before, she finished quickly.

“It’s done. Your Highness is party A, and I am party B.”

“Taking credit for stating the obvious.”

Examining the contract, Keinen tapped a specific part of the paper on the table.
He glared at Prelia accusingly.

“‘When party A desires it, party B must unconditionally consent to physical contact.'”

“Your Highness, my body will detect when your magical power is about to go berserk. So whenever I tell you, you must entrust your body to me.”

“I see.”

Keinen began adding a clause right below that contract item.

Seeing the content, Prelia narrowed her eyes and objected.

“Your Highness, ‘Party B must consent to physical contact whenever party A desires it’? What is this?”

“Isn’t that fair?”

“I wasn’t aware we were in a fair relationship.”

“I see. I overlooked that.”

Keinen added another item to the paper.

“‘This contract shall remain in effect until party A’s magical power berserk completely stops. The duration shall be determined by party A.'”

Seeing this clause, Prelia, unwilling to lose, wrote one more line.

“‘During the contract period, party A shall pay party B 3,000 kru annually.'”

“You’re quite greedy.”

“I’ve decided not to enter into contracts where I lose out.”

Keinen twirled the pen in his hand while looking at Prelia.

“Bold or impudent? Certainly audacious.”

Three thousand kru was equivalent to the annual net profit of the Transk County.

As his gaze lingered on her face for quite some time, she felt embarrassed and smiled brightly.

“Ahem.”

Just before the pen he was twirling fell from his hand, Keinen gripped it properly and signed.
Prelia watched his large hand writing, then signed next to it.

‘Great. Now I can hold Keinen’s hand whenever I want. I can absorb magical power anytime!’

After Prelia finished signing, Keinen placed a pair of thin rings he was wearing onto the paper.

“The Covenant Ring…”

While Keinen smiled with satisfaction at the contract, Prelia’s eyes showed dismay.

“So you know. If you fail to fulfill the contract’s terms, your soul will be eternally bound to me. Even as a ghost after death.”

When the contract was completely absorbed into the rings, Keinen put one ring on the fourth finger of his left hand.

Then he picked up the other and placed it on the fourth finger of Prelia’s left hand.

She bit her lower lip slightly at the sensation of the ring sliding over her finger and the touch of his fingertips.

‘D*mn, I think I’ve gotten myself into trouble.’

She never expected Keinen to possess the legendary Covenant Ring.

“I look forward to working with you, party B.”

The Covenant Ring turned once around her finger, then shrank to fit perfectly.

Prelia fidgeted with the Covenant Ring using her fingertips.

On the outside, it looked like a very ordinary thin gold ring.

‘This is the finger for engagement and wedding rings. Of all fingers, why did he have to put it on this one?’

As she expressed this small complaint by slightly puffing her cheeks, the clock in the room struck ten.

“Countess, get some sleep now. Tomorrow will be busy.”

As the tenth chime rang, Keinen rose from the sofa and approached the bed.

“Your Highness should sleep on the bed. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

She must have used a lot of energy in their battle of wills, as she suddenly felt extremely tired.
So she decided to start absorbing magical power tomorrow.

‘Ah, right. I need to look after the other women too.’

Prelia took a pillow from the bed, tossed it onto the sofa, then stood before Keinen with her hands respectfully clasped.

Keinen had been sitting on the edge of the bed with his legs crossed and arms folded.
He had one eye slightly open, as if displeased about something.

“Your Highness, those 10 women today too.”

“Do we look like such beasts to you? To forcibly take women who are preparing to say goodbye to their families?”

Keinen cut off Prelia’s words, rising from the bed with a growl.

Then he stared at her persistently, as if trying to suffocate her with his gaze.

“I was just worried about those women.”

Prelia wanted to step back but resisted, continuing to look at him.

She should have just kept quiet.

Did she really think Keinen had granted her request yesterday, that she had truly become his fiancée?

‘It’s because of the Grand Duke! Talking about marriage and pregnancy and all that!’

She had difficulty protecting herself, yet here she was, meddling again.

Keinen, still not having calmed his anger, lifted Prelia’s chin with his index finger.

“Today those women will spend time with their families, so don’t worry. However, you—”

Just as she thought his lips might brush against hers, her back fell onto the bed with a thud.

“Your Highness, I’ve absorbed today’s quota of magical power.”

Prelia spoke firmly to him as he leaned over her, his hands planted beside her shoulders, looking down threateningly.

‘Listen here! We are strictly in a business relationship with a signed contract!’

At this, Keinen nodded as if enlightened, then slowly lowered his lips to her ear.
His hair tickled her neck and cheek.

As his exhaled breath spread across her cheek, his low, calm voice seeped into her ear.

“When party A desires it, party B must unconditionally consent to physical contact. You should faithfully fulfill the contract, party B.”

His thick, hot upper body pressed down on hers.