After bathing, she only wore a robe. The attending servants seemed more excited than Karina herself. Bernice even added some fine perfume to the bath water, saying she had been saving it for today. Even the servant brushing Karina’s hair hummed happily.

With everyone around barely hiding their expectations, she felt increasingly nervous as she approached the bedroom. Standing in front of the bedroom door, she took a deep breath that made her chest heave. She couldn’t really imagine what would happen from now on. All she knew came from hearing others talk about what first nights were like.

Her fingertips trembled on the doorknob from tension and fear. Still, her desire to be with him, to be closer to him, was stronger. When she applied force and opened the door, Aidan turned at the clicking sound. Only after their eyes met did she realize she had forgotten to knock. That’s how nervous she was.

“Ah…”

She opened her mouth to apologize for forgetting to knock, but swallowed her words when she saw Aidan was also in a robe. Knocking wasn’t the issue now. She knew that from looking at Aidan’s face.

There was no playfulness, none of the smile that usually graced his lips. Though she had watched him for months and thought herself the person who knew him best in this palace, the man before her now was more unfamiliar than she had expected. His expression was so serious it was almost frightening.

“Karina.”

She never knew her name spoken in that low voice could squeeze her heart like this. She felt like she might suffocate from tension. With each step Aidan took toward her, she worried her pounding heart might burst through her ribcage. She wondered if he could hear this sound.

While she was lost in all sorts of needless worries, Aidan stopped right in front of her. They’re less than a step apart.

“Are you nervous?”

Her lips went dry at his quiet voice.

“Karina.”

Before she could respond to her name being called again, warmth enveloped her cheek. Only then did she raise her eyes to see Aidan cupping her cheek with one hand. When their eyes met, he smiled faintly.

“Me too.”

His smile was slightly different from usual. He seemed genuinely nervous too, his expression caught between a smile and a grimace.

“Ah, this is driving me crazy.”

Aidan took a deep breath and muttered to himself.

“Why am I trembling so much? This isn’t like me at all.”

Seeing him unable to comprehend himself made her laugh softly. All her worries about being the only one nervous, about being too inexperienced and disappointing him, became meaningless.

She carefully raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck. This brought them even closer together. Aidan, who had been quietly looking down at her, finally smiled more comfortably and put his arms around her waist.

“I like you.”

Looking up at his face, those words spilled out before she knew it. I like you. This person. She didn’t know since when, but he already occupied the biggest place in her heart.

“You really said it again.”

Referring to when she had confessed thinking he was asleep at the mansion, Aidan’s eyes curved gently. How could she stop this smile? It would be troublesome if he went around smiling like this everywhere. He was already a prince, now the crown prince, and would become emperor — there would be plenty of women throwing themselves at him, and if he went around flashing that smile everywhere, what would she do?

“This feels even better than I expected.”

“……?”

“Hearing you say you like me.”

“Ah…”

She felt embarrassed, not expecting Aidan could make such a happy expression. Seeing him like that made her wish she had said it sooner.

It hadn’t been easy to admit, as this face belonged to the husband who had neglected her for three years while playing around with other women. Regardless of his handsome features, she couldn’t help feeling repulsed at first.

Because his soul had changed, his manner of speaking and attitude were different, which helped her gradually adjust to him being a ‘different person.’ But he wasn’t someone she could like. He’s a strange foreigner whose identity she didn’t even know. To Karina, Aidan was just that much.

But she found herself wanting to watch this man with his groundless confidence. Though his responses that always exceeded expectations startled her, she came to anticipate what would come next. She… wavered before him who confronted her with honest emotions.

Though he didn’t hide his ambition to become emperor, he was different from other imperial family members. Many would use and discard people to obtain imperial power. The Empress had done so, and Lloyd had done so. She thought Aidan would be the same. She thought he only needed Karina to adjust to the palace, and that he was just trying to establish his position as prince by not refusing help from House Hewitt.

But Aidan didn’t discard people. Though he knew he might be misunderstood, he prioritized Karina’s safety, and rather than just trying to win the nobles’ favor, he tried to care for the common people’s lives too. Building homes for orphans was just the beginning. When she stayed at his secret mansion for a few days and looked into his other projects besides the matter regarding Viscountess Highmond, most concerned the lives of common people.

‘Because I’ve lived a harsher life than you can imagine.’

Aidan said he understood their lives because he had experienced it himself. Though that might be part of the reason, not everyone who had the same experience would act like him.

He was different in many ways from the people Karina had known. That’s why she came to like this Aidan.

“I forgot something.”

Karina unwound Aidan’s arms from her waist and turned around. Though she could clearly see Aidan’s disappointment, she pretended not to notice.

She took out a small box from the bedside table, and Aidan’s gaze naturally followed. She pulled out a piece of paper from an envelope inside.

“This is the divorce agreement.”

She showed Aidan the contents written on the paper. Their seals were clearly stamped at the bottom of the agreement. Aidan’s face slightly hardened, probably wondering why she was suddenly bringing up the divorce agreement in this situation.

Karina approached a candlestick lighting one side of the bedroom while holding the agreement. When the flickering flame touched the corner of the agreement, it instantly caught fire.

“Be careful.”

When the paper burned faster than expected, Aidan quickly grabbed Karina’s hand to make her drop the agreement. The agreement that fell onto the tray beside the candlestick burned completely to the end.

“We don’t need this anymore.”

Karina muttered while looking at the ashes that remained of the agreement.

She no longer wanted a divorce. Though the palace had been so terrible, she felt she could move forward if she was with Aidan. Not because Aidan had dealt with Kate Spencer, the Empress, and Lloyd, but simply because it was him. Because he was the current Aidan, she wanted to stay together.

Ha. She heard a small scoff and turned to see Aidan covering his forehead with one hand while laughing.

“Did I save a country in my past life?”

She tilted her head at his random words, wondering what he meant.

“I thought I was being punished for life, wondered if there even was a god, but there is. Dear God.”

As the title upgraded sharply from ‘bastard’ to ‘dear’, she frowned, but Aidan lifted her chin and softly kissed her.

“You’re so beautiful it’s killing me.”

She heard him murmur with barely a paper’s thickness between them. Before she could scold him about his way of speaking, their lips met again. This time it wasn’t just a brief touch of lips but a deep kiss that left her breathless. When she hit his chest because she couldn’t breathe, Aidan tilted his head slightly. That created a tiny gap allowing her trapped breath to escape. However, his kiss immediately overwhelmed her again, crushing her lips and leaving her breathless.

Thump. She felt herself being pushed back gradually, and when she came to her senses, she found herself lying on the bed. Aidan, hovering over Karina, smiled more handsomely than ever.

“Take responsibility.”

“For what…?”

“For making me fall this deeply for you.”

“What are you…!”

Her breath caught and her eyes widened as his hand slipped through the gap in her robe and stroked up her thigh.

“Karina.”

His deep voice resonated near her ear. His lips touched her earlobe with a soft brush before moving gradually lower until she felt his hot breath on her neck.

“I’ll apologize in advance.”

She could only hear his voice, unable to see his face.

“I won’t be able to control myself… today.”

She understood what he meant only after some time had passed. Just following his heat with their lips pressed together was overwhelming enough.

“Wait, just a moment…!”

She barely managed to push against Aidan’s chest with both arms. Only after catching her breath could she properly look up at him. Aidan was also breathing heavily. While watching him brush back his disheveled bangs as if trying to calm himself, her gaze unconsciously drifted downward.

His robe was as disheveled as hers. His firm chest and well-defined abs were clearly visible. Feeling embarrassed with nowhere to rest her eyes, she finally realized that her own robe had come undone, exposing her n*ked body to him.

She tried to close her robe with a bright red face, but he caught her hands.

“No need to hide. You’re beautiful. Much more than I imagined.”

His quiet whisper made her face so hot she thought she might explode.

“What… should I do?”

She deliberately hardened her gaze as she looked up at him and asked, trying to hide her embarrassment. Aidan chuckled and kissed her cheek.

“Nothing. This is enough as it is.”

She couldn’t think of anything else after hearing those words. Heat spread wherever Aidan’s fingertips touched. Only heavy breathing, heat, and dizzying sensations filled the bedroom.

*