When the wind slipped in through the slightly opened window, she could smell Karad’s strong lily scent. Chohee couldn’t properly recognize her displeasure because of the pleasure invading her mind. She just shook her hips and sucked on his c*ck.

“I’m c*mming again.”

“Hnnngh, mmm!”

Low m*ans mixed with sounds like a beast growling.

Chohee and Karad were intoxicated with each other’s bodies.

Their respective thoughts running on completely different parallel tracks.

* * *

For weeks, Claes found it difficult to focus on government affairs. The moment he closed his eyes even slightly, Chohee’s prettily smiling face appeared before him.

But now that she had fallen to being a mere c*m receptacle, he couldn’t even properly bring her a single bouquet of flowers and could only repeat the act of silently joining bodies with her before leaving.

‘Elysia…’

He was ruining a beauty that bloomed vividly like cherry blossoms in spring.

With that thought, Claes looked down at his hands.

Once with these hands, he had touched Elysia’s beautiful body while confessing his love to her. He had promised her the position of Crown Princess Consort and future Empress, telling her she would be his only wife.

But now that had crumbled powerlessly. With just a few angry outbursts from his father.

‘Elysia. My Elly.’

Because of this, Claes’s chest felt heavy like an uncomfortable stone had been placed on it. Each time he faced her, he feared the expectation disappearing from her eyes. She seemed to have considered him most precious, but now he seemed to have been pushed to last place.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Elly.’

That was all he could say to her. When Lars or Karad had s*x with Elysia, there was no surveillance, but when he did it with Elysia, a maid was sent to monitor them, making it difficult to even speak properly.

Making her writhe in intense pleasure was the only thing permitted to him.

“Haah…”

If the intention was to disrupt Claes’s concentration, Duke Serow’s plan hit the mark perfectly. And not only that, he learned while investigating High Priest Altair’s murder that Karad was his accomplice.

‘Karad isn’t smart. That’s why he couldn’t even properly fabricate an alibi.’

When he deliberately didn’t reveal the investigation results, Karad thought his murder hadn’t been discovered and acted freely.

However, Lars and Claes already knew he had murdered High Priest Altair and commissioned someone else to fabricate his alibi. But to prove the oracle was false, they needed a witness to testify that High Priest Altair had been in no condition to receive an oracle.

‘Just a little more investigation and the witness will confess on their own. There must be something if I dig deeper. I just need to uncover evidence that he issued the false oracle after receiving word from Duke Serow.’

But there was a concern.

Even if the oracle was proven false, there was a possibility the Emperor wouldn’t announce it and would let the investigation fizzle out.

And that possibility was quite high. While the Emperor didn’t interfere comprehensively because he handled government affairs well, Claes had no confidence in persuading an Emperor who only listened to the Empress and Duke Serow regarding everything else.

‘…Only when he dies can Elysia be freed from being a mere breeding vessel.’

He hadn’t thought of him as a father for quite some time anyway. He just wouldn’t kill him with his own hands, but he didn’t rush around trying to cure his illness either. Moreover, the Emperor doted on the Empress and gave her reasons to torment him.

His childhood was filled with the Empress’s torment. He was a tough kid who didn’t cry in front of her, but when he turned around and entered his room, tears would fall first. He had even wept silently, mourning his beloved mother, the previous generation’s Elysia.

‘Now, I won’t lose the person I love so meaninglessly.’

Somehow, he would hasten the time so the Emperor would die quickly.

Even if it meant doing that, if his beloved Elly could live properly.

Fierce murderous intent leaked from his darkly sunken blue eyes. He briefly interlaced his fingers, then released them and focused on his paperwork.

The aides glancing at him became even more cautious in the tense office atmosphere. Since the rumor spread through social and political circles that Elysia was merely a breeding vessel, Claes had always been sharp.

“Brother.”

“Lars. Come in.”

Lars, who knew perfectly well whose desires had started this situation, was the only person Claes could trust right now. Claes greeted him with a tired expression.

“I feel like I’m speaking out of turn, but I think you should go to Elysia’s room and get some sleep.”

Lars spoke in a small voice so others wouldn’t hear. Claes stared at his younger brother’s face at close range, but soon answered haggardly.

“Any act that could be considered romantic is forbidden to me. So…”

“…Then I’ll call the surveillance maid away separately and give her work. During that time at least, you should sleep by her side. Your complexion looks too poor.”

When Elysia had been in the Crown Prince’s Palace, Claes always fell asleep holding her. When he buried his body in her soft, plump flesh and slept, he could always greet a refreshing morning without dreams.

But now it was different.

Even to his own eyes as a younger brother, even to the aides’ eyes, the loss of vitality and increasingly haggard complexion was clearly visible.

If he pushed Claes any further from here, he might not get back up. That was too frightening.

“The Empress and Duke Serow are still going strong. If you collapse here, they’re the only ones who’ll be happy.”

“…”

“I’ll somehow call the surveillance maid away and give her work. So please spend time with Elysia, even if it’s brief. If you collapse, brother… there will be no one to properly handle government affairs, so chaos will come. So while the surveillance maid is gone, do what you’ve wanted to do.”

At Lars’s words, Claes nodded with a tired expression.

Lars’s expression brightened immediately. He could see that by accepting his advice, Claes would recover at least some mental fatigue.

“Then please call for me after you finish government affairs. I’ll go ahead and call the surveillance maid away separately, so please enjoy your time with Elysia.”

He bowed silently and left the room. Claes watched his retreating figure, then focused on government affairs again. His heart lifted and pounded heavily.

Thinking about spending time with Elysia like lovers as before made it impossible to calm down.

‘Elly…’

A smile kept trying to attach itself to his lips, and while it was awkward to suppress it, Claes was very happy for the first time in a while. Though he couldn’t bring gifts like flowers that would leave evidence, thinking about comforting her with affectionate words and actions made a corner of his chest ache.

And so his heart kept beating fiercely, making him keep smiling inside.

“…The document organization is finished. I’ll deliver them to each department now.”

“Good. Well done.”

Claes immediately stood up and headed to Lars’s palace. He went in person because there was no one trustworthy in the Imperial Palace.

Though the subjugation had ended, the knights he could trust were spending time guarding the Crown Prince’s Palace, and most maids who could deliver letters were in the Empress’s grasp, making them completely untrustworthy.

‘…If only the Emperor hadn’t acknowledged that false oracle as truth, I wouldn’t have been driven to this situation.’

His father had never shown him affection from the time he was born until now. He was a figure questionable to even call father. He had shown signs of wisdom in the early to mid-term of his reign, but now he was a rattle itself, shaken this way and that in the grasp of the Empress and Duke Serow.

“Tell him I’m here.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Soon Lars came out. His expression was very bright.

‘Did I look that depressed?’

Claes had maintained an expressionless face since childhood to resist the Empress and Duke Serow. The fact that he was being shaken by not being able to sleep holding Elysia was both sad and painful.

He didn’t doubt she would become his only wife in the future. And he intended to do his best to make it so. However, showing his anguish to political enemies while losing her was the same as confessing she was his weakness.

‘To prevent Elly from being attacked more by others, I mustn’t show this anguish outwardly.’

Claes eased his tightening chest with the thought that he would soon be able to spend time freely with her. He had to endure until the Emperor died.

When they arrived at Elly’s annex palace, Lars entered the bedroom first. It was to divert the eyes of the maid stuck close to Elysia. Claes waited behind the corner for the two to come out.

“Then as I said earlier, count all the worn items and write a list here of the furniture to replace.”

“Understood. But if someone else comes during that time…”

“They won’t come. His Highness the Crown Prince is in the Crown Prince’s Palace right now.”

The maid stared at Lars disrespectfully, but when Lars’s brow furrowed, she quickly lowered her head with an “oh my.”

“Then don’t forget the work I assigned you.”

“Yes…”

The maid’s face held some dissatisfaction, but she soon headed to the annex palace’s storage as Lars said. Since there were no proper items in this palace, the order to count all the shabby things one by one and write a list of furniture to replace wouldn’t be finished in just an hour or two.

“It’s done, brother. Please come now.”

“Right.”

Claes stepped forward while suppressing his excited heart. Entering the room, he saw Elysia sleeping on her side on the bed.

“…”

Claes realized tears were pooling in his eyes. But he couldn’t bear to show his crying face to his younger brother. So he wiped his eyes with his palm. Watching him, Lars felt keenly how much Claes loved Elysia.

“Brother…”

Lars made a complicated expression, then quickly erased it. Rather than this, he should stand guard at the door. Though it would easily take four or five hours for his brother to sleep with Elysia, if it meant Claes would return to his usual self, it was worth the sacrifice.

“Thank you, Lars.”

“Not at all. Now, please lie down on the bed quickly. I’ll keep watch outside.”

In case the Empress, Karad, or Duke Serow visited, he should sleep lightly so he could wake up.

Claes resolved to wake up midway if needed and approached Elysia’s side. Seeing Elysia sleeping soundly with her long black hair disheveled made one side of his chest ache painfully.