It seemed like happiness would come if she immersed herself……

What if she just sank in and let herself be swept away?

“……I accept with gratitude.”

Feeling she might collapse into his gaze if she looked any longer, Aristie slightly lowered her eyelids. Khalid took her hand and stayed that way for a moment.

Then, soon after, he spoke words he had kept in his heart, like someone who had made a decision.

“I told you long ago. That I had a confession prepared for after we got married.”

“You did……”

Aristie traced her memory. When Khalid was about thirteen or fourteen. It was when they were much younger.

“May I do it now?”

“What……”

Aristie’s voice, which had been asking casually, suddenly grew louder in surprise.

“You don’t mean that confession from back then?”

“It might be childish, but I want to keep my promise.”

“But it’s just a childhood story……”

Aristie hesitated, but Khalid didn’t waver. He approached Aristie and knelt on one knee with a thud.

“Your Majesty!”

Aristie stopped Khalid in embarrassment. The Empire had an unwritten rule that the Emperor never kneels before anyone.

“You mustn’t, Your Majesty. Please stand up!”

“It’s alright, Empress. If it’s just the two of us.”

“Your Majesty!”

Aristie cried out in surprise again. The Emperor of the Empire never used honorifics with any citizen as a monarch. This too was a long-preserved tradition and custom.

But Khalid didn’t mind at all. He spoke respectfully to Aristie without reservation and, like someone who had practiced many times, naturally took her left hand and kissed the back of it.

“Thank you for marrying me.”

Then he took her right hand and kissed the back of it too.

“I’m happy that you’ve become my partner.”

After his respectful confession, Khalid slowly raised his upper body, supporting himself on the sofa. When their faces drew close, his distinctive body scent rushed in.

Perhaps because of his dragon lineage. The musky scent reminiscent of a beast had a strange power that always made her body restless whenever she smelled it.

“Your Majesty……”

Aristie kept calling Khalid.

But unlike before, her voice trembled as if yearning for something.

When his lips came close enough to taste her voice, Khalid delivered his final prepared confession.

“I swear to cherish and love only you for the rest of my life.”

“……Your Majesty……”

The moment her eyes grew hot, her lips locked with his along with a sweet breath. The unidentified sweetness from his soft lips made her reason crumble.

It felt like inhaling an aphrodisiac rather than breath.

Aristie’s thoughts momentarily stopped when he softly crushed her lower lip and smoothly entwined his tongue with hers. Then, when his tongue began to move, her mind melted messily.

The flesh that wriggled around exploring her wet interior felt alive. After stroking the tender mucous membrane, his tongue retreated briefly, only to delve deep again, meticulously feeling from canine to molar.

It was an extremely slow and affectionate kiss.

Until the lips that separated after fully sucking in saliva suddenly turned rough.

“Your Ma…… mmph!”

Aristie’s dreamy, wavering voice was suddenly swallowed violently. Khalid had lost his self-control in the joy of conquering the lips he had longed for.

His tongue, having completed its exploration, greedily sucked and licked inside her mouth as if it owned the place. Sometimes he would roughly stroke her palate upward, and then somehow draw out Aristie’s tongue and instantly entangle it with his own.

Aristie’s breath rapidly grew hotter. She couldn’t gather her thoughts as even her breathing was swallowed up, let alone words.

When Khalid covered the flowing saliva with his lips, Aristie’s waist moved without understanding why. The moment the thrill that raced down her spine heated her p*ssy, her back finally arched like a bow and clung tightly to Khalid’s body.

Somehow Aristie’s arms were wrapped tightly around Khalid’s neck.

Like she would fall into an abyss if she let go.

“I can’t, breathe……”

The two lips separated when Aristie’s chest heaved from labored breathing.

Her heart beat impossibly fast. Partly due to breathlessness, but more because Khalid’s lips had heated her entire body to madness.

‘This is strange…… It’s just a kiss. If just lips can make me lose my mind, then what……’

It seemed she wasn’t the only one who had lost her mind. Seeing the golden eyes burning hotly, she felt that Khalid too was in a situation extremely difficult to endure.

“Aristie.”

Khalid called Aristie in a voice close to a moan. He pressed his thumb against her swollen, reddened lips and traced them.

When he confirmed her blue eyes gleaming strangely, this time his lower body approached along with his lips. Aristie’s body jumped at that formidable pressure.

But pressed down by strong hands, her lower abdomen only created more friction, stimulating each other’s parts.

“My Empress. My wife……”

The area between her legs felt hot and sizzling. It seemed to be getting wet too. In her blurred vision, Khalid’s deeply lowered voice seductively echoed in her ears.

The heat filling his eyes emanated throughout his entire body.

Not just heat, but Khalid’s emotions flowed too. Even though her heart ached from the tenderly conveyed feelings, he poured them out endlessly, overflowing.

Hot desire, yearning love. He seemed to want her to accept him, wrapped in all of those.

“Your Majesty……”

Aristie’s body was laid down as if pushed back, though she hadn’t pushed him away. The soft sofa felt no different from a bed.

She felt like she would give in. Far from stopping it, she wanted him just as much.

But at that moment, a terrible thought suddenly struck Aristie’s mind.

The Empire’s law that <An Emperor who has consummated with the Empress can freely embrace other women>!

‘……Could it be Estelle!’

The rising heat cooled sharply.

Of course, she knew the man before her was sincere to her. That he had never harbored such desires for Estelle.

But perhaps because of what Estelle had whispered before, despite knowing it couldn’t be true, the thought that had once attached itself simply wouldn’t leave. Feeling wretched and miserable for having such suspicions, she could no longer accept Khalid.

“I’m… sorry, Your Majesty.”

Aristie finally pushed Khalid away and sat up.

“With these feelings, I just can’t…… It seems difficult until my trust with Your Majesty is restored.”

At Aristie’s words, Khalid momentarily looked dumbfounded.

Then, painfully regaining his reason, he said:

“I understand your feelings in rejecting me. But now that you’ve officially become my partner, I wish you would turn your heart toward me, even a little.”

“……”

Aristie merely withheld her words. Because she couldn’t bring herself to say that she wanted to, but Estelle kept appearing in her mind, causing her pain.

Seeing Aristie finally give no answer, Khalid smiled bitterly.

“I want to have you, but I don’t want to take you by force.”

Muttering ‘That’s why I once gave up……’, he continued.

“I’ll work to restore trust. No matter how long it takes. Until the day you can fully accept me.”

* * *

The next morning, when Aristie woke up, she crawled under the blanket remembering the previous night.

She felt embarrassed for having shattered the heated atmosphere.

‘Should I have accepted Khalid?’

She felt some regret belatedly. Though unintentional, she had certainly embarrassed Khalid.

An Empress who refused her wedding night. He would have had every right to be angry, but Khalid had readily accepted Aristie’s wishes. Not only that, but he had stayed late into the night to save her face before leaving the room.

‘Perhaps I should apologize……’

While she was contemplating this, there was a knock. It was Marchioness Hildebrand.

“Did you sleep well, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Thanks to you. Lady Hildebrand, you’re working hard from early morning.”

“I must take the lead until the maids arrive. Shall I prepare water for you to wash?”

“Yes, please.”

Lady Hildebrand immediately called the maids to prepare washing water and clothes. Aristie, rising from her place, asked cautiously.

“Um, has His Majesty the Emperor risen?”

“Yes. He’s always at the training ground around this time.”

“The training ground?”

“That’s right. He trains every morning. Thanks to that, the knights cannot be lazy.”

Lady Hildebrand, who had been answering, suddenly chuckled.

“I’m honestly looking forward to it. The day when His Majesty the Emperor, who has never slept in even for a single day, wakes up late together with Your Majesty the Empress.”

“I wonder if such a day will come……”

Aristie mumbled while dipping her hands in the washing water. When she splashed the water on her hot cheeks, her embarrassment subsided a little.

‘Thankfully the water is cold.’

After wiping her wet face and changing clothes, Lady Hildebrand casually asked Aristie.

“Would you like to go see? Shall I prepare a carriage?”

“See what…… His Majesty?”

Hearing the lady’s words, Aristie suddenly recalled Khalid’s training scene she had seen before.

Khalid, who had sent knights flying in one sweep when they rushed at him in droves. He had exuded an intimidating presence like a war god while his upper body was undressed.

The sweat droplets that scattered light, and the countless glistening muscles they highlighted made Aristie’s heart pound just by remembering. She felt she might lose her mind if she were to witness that sight again.

“No. I’ll see him at breakfast anyway.”

Aristie shook her head with a flushed face. Lady Hildebrand then spoke with a hint of regret.