Due to her abdominal muscles being unable to resist his single finger, Melissa fell back helplessly. It was a deflating defeat brought on by lack of exercise.

“I know you didn’t sleep because you were taking care of me all night. That’s why I’m telling you to rest more.”

Pretending to be considerate.

Melissa’s brows furrowed.

This time too, he pressed his finger between her brows, drawing circles. Her anger rose as he wouldn’t even let her frown as she pleased. Melissa grabbed that finger tightly with both hands and glared intensely.

“See, this time you’re not even telling me half!”

How could she not get angry when he kept scratching at her insides like this? Her face turned bright red. Her heart was racing, and the frustration rising from her chest heated her eyelids until tears welled up.

“I was worried about you.”

Thinking she shouldn’t cry here, she bit her lip. She tried to stack away her emotions. Even if she had to get angry, she wanted to say it later when Reizen was better.

But then…

“Are you secretly hoping I’ll die so the troublesome brand will disappear?”

How could anyone stay calm after hearing that?

“How could you say such…!”

As Melissa shouted and tried to get up, the man pinned her two hands to the bed and kissed her. At first, it was just a quick peck.

“I’m glad if that’s not the case. I thought you resented me.”

“I said I was worried, I never said I didn’t resent you. Don’t interpret things as you please.”

“So you do resent me?”

“Of course!”

How could she not resent a husband who left her alone in a hotel without explaining anything, then showed up drunk late at night calling another woman’s name? Of course she resented him.

“Go now. You’re busy, aren’t you?”

When Melissa turned her head away sharply, Reizen held both her cheeks with one hand and kissed her longer than before. His soft, hot breath scattered like medicine being applied to her hurting heart.

She had meant to keep yesterday’s hurt feelings buried until the right time.

Yet her body and heart helplessly wavered at such a patronizing kiss.

His tongue slipped between her softly moistened lips, gently scratching her palate as if soothing her. Like wind naturally flowing in when a window opens, a spring breeze flickered in her heart.

Her whole body heated up at the ticklish sensation that made her toes curl. Even as she pushed him away saying to go, she didn’t dislike this man who kept pressing his lips to hers.

No. Actually, she liked him but resented him. This man was annoyingly handsome, and his kisses were so enchanting they could erase even the anger that had risen to her head.

“Haa.”

She knew he was trying to maintain their relationship with this. She clearly noticed his impure intention to make up with body instead of words.

But the places where his hands touched bloomed with hot flowers, making it hard to refuse by saying she disliked it. Every touch of his hands on her skin transmitted electrifying ecstasy.

After gently tickling Melissa’s tongue, the man firmly grasped her br*ast.

“Ah, nnh!”

She wanted… wanted more deeply.

Melissa wished he would climb on top of her right now and embrace her hotly like every night.

Because when they joined bodies several times until their minds grew hazy, it felt like they became one during those moments.

More, more…

Melissa reached out. Her body trembled uncontrollably with burning desire. She twisted her waist, squirming her hips as she let out moans.

But Reizen sucked on her lower lip like a greeting before pulling his head back.

The last was a lukewarm kiss.

The shadow cast over Melissa’s face gradually lifted. When she opened her eyes, Melissa realized only her body had heated up, making her face flush red. The woman who had been writhing like a b*tch in heat was pulled back to reality the moment their eyes met.

While Melissa’s brand was still burning hot, Reizen’s chest was calm, perhaps because he was fully dressed.

“You know, Melissa.”

The man smiled painfully as he sat on the edge of the bed and stroked Melissa’s hair. The watch on his wrist made a clinking sound.

“I worry about you too.”

It seems what the man wanted wasn’t physical conversation but reconciliation. Melissa frowned, blaming herself for having become corrupted somehow.

Whether he knew her thoughts or not, his pleasant voice rang in her ear.

“That’s why I can’t tell you right now.”

Though she knew it was an excuse, her anger gradually subsided at his honeyed words. Looking at those sad blue eyes, she even felt faint sympathy.

“Melissa.”

The broken and shattered man whispered from so close their noses almost touched.

“I wish you wouldn’t go anywhere.”

That was sincere just now. It sounded like he needed her just as she needed him.

As a woman who had always wanted to be someone he needed, it felt like receiving a bucket of water for a parched garden. So Melissa hid her harsh words for a moment and spoke.

“…That’s why I’m here, not going anywhere. Where Your Highness told me to be.”

Melissa brought her hand to Reizen’s cheek. Her fingers carefully caressing the man’s face moved to his plump lips.

Melissa thought as she stroked the man’s lips with her thumb. Though these lips told nothing but lies, they were so sweet she wanted more.

Their breaths intertwined intimately.

She spoke with determined eyes.

“I’ll wait. But… not for long.”

“Mm.”

He smiled with curved eyes, seemingly very grateful. The man said he didn’t have much time now as he had to go interrogate Sion. But he spoke more gently than ever before.

“Can we talk when I return?”

“Will you tell me a bit more than half then?”

Reizen paused his breathing for a moment. After a brief silence as if time had stopped, he spoke.

“…I’ll try.”

That was enough of an answer for now.

Melissa let go of his face.

Since she had gotten a promise, she planned to thoroughly question him when he returned.

* * *

“The aide has been captured, Your Highness.”

Terion, Count Clark and Sion’s eldest brother, reported. Here, ‘aide’ meant Sion.

Selheim nodded as if he already knew.

“I know.”

He hadn’t expected the aide to succeed anyway.

“How many assassins have I sent after that child by now, not to know that? Alone is impossible.”

Selheim smiled gently as he adjusted his attire in front of the mirror.

When the servants showed him a box of laid out accessories, he picked up the cufflinks Melissa had given him and smiled with satisfaction.

“Like your brother, my brother is also quite tenacious when it comes to life. To kill him, you need to follow steps. Quite troublesome, isn’t it?”

As the final preparation for going out, he put on his cravat, cufflinks, and ceremonial epaulettes.

While three servants clustered around him, attaching multiple epaulettes at regular intervals as if performing a sacred ritual, Terion spoke.

“Since I haven’t received any report, it seems he wasn’t taken to the police headquarters, but is probably being tortured at the residence.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

At Selheim’s cold retort, Terion nodded.

Sion was merely a chess piece. Since there was a possibility he might change his mind and become a double agent, they had only exchanged an appropriate amount of information. So even under torture, no special information would leak from his mouth.

Rather, dying quickly would be helping him.

“Should we kill him today?”

Selheim’s eyes grew cold.

Reizen tended to be soft-hearted, always watching and waiting instead of immediately dealing with traitors. That point seemed like showing off and was unsightly and irritating.

‘Such a weakling.’

When the servants withdrew, the mirror reflected the image of a perfectly immaculate Crown Prince. Terion, who had come close beside him, spoke as if certain.

“He will definitely die. By the end of today.”

Selheim nodded once with a relaxed expression.

“I’ve also taken care of Roabel, so it will be resolved by today.”

Melissa’s second husband, Geoffrey Roabel. The cowardly scientist bastard who fled to prison as a false murderer, just like Melissa had.

Once he dies too, the only brand left on Melissa’s body will be Reizen’s.

‘It won’t be long now…’

He had sent Rael back full of threats, so that anxiety must have surely been transmitted to that child. The thought that Melissa was in danger would have kept making that child anxious…

Finally, after killing his beloved aide with his own hands, the psychological impact would reach its peak.