Simply touching hands with Libehi Winterd was enough to make the fever vanish as if it had never existed.

Her body felt astonishingly light, to the point that it was hard to believe she had been ill all morning.

‘…What just happened?’

The indescribable sensations that had shaken Larinne to her core disappeared completely, as though they had never existed.

Now fully clear-headed, Larinne looked at him with wary eyes.

“What did you do to me?”

Instead of answering, Libehi gently tugged at Larinne’s hand, which she had pulled away.

They moved closer together, as if dancing, and their hands met.

At that very moment, soft music began to fill the banquet hall.

“Why don’t we start with a dance?”

“Do you understand what it means to request the first dance from the empress of another nation?”

Her tone was sharper than she had intended.

In Lirmen, things might have been different, but in Eastern Empire society, the first dance was always shared with one’s husband or fiancé.

It was a matter of etiquette and a symbol of mutual respect.

“Of course it would be improper. However, I am merely committing the sort of rudeness customary in the Eastern Empire.”

‘The rudeness of the Eastern Empire?’

Puzzled, Larinne followed Libehi Winterd’s gaze.

She soon understood.

Seidon stood among the nobles scattered in pairs throughout the banquet hall, surrounded by women with whom he had once shared many nights.

Despite having a fiancée, he had chosen to dance the first piece with someone else.

The message was clear.

It was a direct insult to Larinne.

‘How childish you are.’

If the emperor refused to dance the first piece with Larinne, no other nobleman from the Eastern Empire would dare ask her.

Sometimes, nobles would express their dissatisfaction with their fiancées in this way.

While everyone else danced with their partners, she would be left standing alone.

This would make her appear foolish and laughable.

‘He must think I’ll eventually break under the humiliation and go begging to him.’

What a pitiful hope.

Larinne had no intention whatsoever of playing along with what her fiancé wanted.

“I’m fine.”

“I heard that twelve pieces have been prepared for the evening. Are you planning to endure being pointed at for that entire time?”

Libehi Winterd frowned.

As he said, the banquet featured twelve musical performances.

All of them were long pieces.

This would make Larinne the subject of ridicule for over an hour.

“Even so, there’s no reason for you to dance with me, Duke Winterd—”

“There’s no need for you to endure such rudeness.”

His voice cut her off, low and restrained, as though suppressing anger.

“…”

“Revenge isn’t difficult, you know. All you have to do is take my hand. It’s very simple.”

The sweet temptation lightly brushed against a corner of her heart.

“You’ve endured everything until now, haven’t you? And you know better than anyone how that always ends.”

A buried voice inside her stirred her impulse.

Her fiancé was openly humiliating her before everyone.

Why should she continue to endure it like a criminal?

‘…You’re right. I don’t have to just stand here and accept your humiliation.’

As if entranced, Larinne placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Just one dance.”

“Relax your body and lean on me.”

As if he had been waiting for those words, Libehi carefully wrapped his arm around her waist.

They moved closer together until they could feel each other’s breath.

For some reason, she could not bring herself to look him in the eye directly.

“What about the answer to my question?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Libehi Winterd replied calmly and started moving.

His dancing was remarkably skilled.

The way he led her in time with the music was almost perfect.

Larinne could not spare a glance for Seidon.

All she could focus on was Libehi Winterd, whose arm held her waist firmly.

‘He’s too close.’

Their lips felt as though they might touch at any moment.

Their upper bodies were pressed tightly together.

Her breath trembled.

She could no longer tell whether the racing heartbeat she could feel belonged to him or her.

At the thought that they might both be beating, her hand tightened unconsciously on his shoulder.

“Don’t pretend otherwise. When I’m beside you…”

“…your body feels lighter, doesn’t it?”

‘Lighter’ was hardly the right word.

Even breathing felt clearer.

All morning, the hot, humid air had felt as though it were pressing against her lungs, making her chest feel tight and suffocating.

Now, however, that heaviness had vanished completely.

“Is this the symptom of the companion dream you mentioned before?”

“This is still mild.”

Could things get any worse?

She couldn’t bring herself to ask the question aloud.

The sandstorm that had already swept through her body had been overwhelming enough; the thought of an even greater storm left her feeling shaken.

Her blue eyes trembled faintly.

“That depends on the choice you make.”

As if he could read her mind, Libehi Winterd struck directly at the heart of her thoughts with a calm expression.

She did not need to ask further to understand what he meant by choice.

‘He said the same thing when I first had the companion dream. That what happened in the dream must be carried out in reality.’

Even though she knew he wasn’t joking, she found it difficult to make up her mind.

The Blessing of Water was one thing, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the child.

How could she possibly…?

“Why did you endure it to the end?”

“I’m not as fragile as you seem to think.”

“You looked as though it was difficult even to stand. If I hadn’t been here, you might have collapsed.”

“There is no point worrying about things that have not happened.”

The faint smile on her lips was bitter. She remembered the time that child had departed for the eternal snowfields of the northern mountains.

Young Larinne had prayed every night.

‘Please let him return without being hurt.’

As she imagined the nameless monsters that might dwell there, fear would overwhelm her, and she would spend many nights in tears.

‘Please don’t let him fall under the curse of a monster.’

She had prayed desperately that the rumors about the northern snowfields were false. But fate mocked her, delivering despair instead.

On the day she received the news of his death.

No one had ever blamed Larinne.

Yet she was consumed with guilt, believing that her anxious prayers had somehow pushed him towards his fate.

Since that day, she had stopped worrying about a future that had not yet come.

Instead, she devoted herself to protecting the people standing before her. She would only allow herself to feel regret after loss once.

“I will do my best with what I can do right now.”

The music was nearing its climax.

The two of them moved together as though they were one body, swaying intensely.

“There will come a limit to enduring this with only fever medicine.”

He pulled her closer, as if he intended to swallow her whole within his arms, and whispered softly.

“You know it yourself. While you are touching me, your condition improves.”

The urging tone heated her heart.

It was a temptation so sweet that it was nearly impossible to refuse.

“As you said, you must do your best with what you can do right now.”

Even without further explanation, she had a vague understanding.

The intensity of the companion dream would only increase.

The first piece ended.

As the nobles held their partners’ hands and waited for the next piece of music to start, Larinne finally spoke up.

“I think it would be better if we move somewhere else.”

***

The next piece began.

Seizing the opportunity as the banquet hall filled up again, Larinne led the foreign envoy out onto the terrace.

In contrast to the lively atmosphere inside, the terrace was quiet. The dry scent of sand drifting through the air surprisingly calmed her restless mind.

“As you said, it seems best for both of us to resolve the matter of the companion dream.”

Despite having agonized seriously during the short walk to the terrace, her tone sounded calm.

Her decision had been entirely rational.

‘I need to resolve this as quickly as possible. If the symptoms appear while Pellet and I attempt our escape, it will cause serious trouble.’

She could not risk placing her companions in danger because of her own condition.

“Will you not regret it?”

“For now, there’s no other way.”

Libehi Winterd narrowed his brows, saying nothing.

It was unexpected.

She had thought this was the answer he wanted. Had she misjudged him?

For some reason, his eyes looked faintly irritated.

“There’s something you should know first.”

“There’s no need to worry about the Blessing of Water.”

“…You already knew?”

Larinne could not hide her surprise.

Who would suggest doing something that might put them in danger?

Even her reckless fiancé had never dared violate her because he feared the Blessing of Water.

Did he know how to avoid it?

Or perhaps the Blessing of Water truly did not activate against the partner of a Dream Companion?

Having thrown her thoughts into confusion, Libehi Winterd offered no explanation. Instead, he gently took hold of Larinne’s wrist.

“You only need to focus on me.”

Just as in her dream about her companion, he was about to kiss her. She could feel her body tensing in anticipation of his actions. The wrist he was holding felt hot.

She became aware of her racing pulse and wondered if he could feel it.

‘This makes it seem like I’m the one aware of him.’

Yet those crimson eyes were calm, like a still lake.

It made her feel awkward, as though she were the only one flustered.

“W-wait a moment, Duke Winterd.”

Like someone who was being chased, she quickly hid the wrist he was holding behind her back.

He slowly lifted his lowered eyelids.

Through his long lashes, his gaze appeared darker than usual.

Like a starving beast.

Larinne had to concentrate hard to stop her voice from trembling.

“Before that… there is something I would like to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

The red tongue that appeared briefly between his slowly parting lips drew her gaze.

It was a striking color.

“It’s just…”

“I didn’t expect there to be something more important than resolving the symptoms of the companion dream.”

It sounded almost like a warning: If you fail to interest me, I might devour you right now. Though he appeared patient on the surface, this restraint seemed to be merely a pretense.

For a moment, Larinne wondered if she might truly be devoured by the foreign beast standing before her.

After all, what truth was there in the rumors that had long circulated about the barbaric Kingdom of Lirmen?

“They say those barbarians indulge their l*st whenever they please—day or night, anywhere at all.”

She didn’t know why the words of the gossiping noblewomen had come to mind at that moment. But one thing was certain.

The man standing before her radiated a dangerously sensual presence.

As she took an instinctive step back, feeling tense, those crimson eyes, heavy with something dark and impure, closed the distance once more.

The hard railing pressed against her back.

“I’m very curious to know what you want to ask me.”

His moist lips were only inches from her face, as though ready to steal her breath at any moment.

There was nowhere left for her to escape to.