Aidan cupped Karina’s cheek with one hand. With his warmth transmitted through her cheek, she now couldn’t even breathe deeply. Her mouth felt unnecessarily dry.

“Alright, so please remove your hand…”

After forcefully pulling down his hand, she saw Aidan smiling faintly. Since when had she become unable to take her eyes off that smiling face?

I’m enchanted.

She let out a helpless laugh at this fact she just realized. When Karina, who had been extremely tense, suddenly laughed, Aidan tilted his head slightly, seemingly wondering what was wrong.

It was quite strange. Though it was such a familiar face, one she had never thought handsome during their three years of marriage, it looked completely different now that the person inside had changed. Perhaps faces and expressions were ultimately determined by one’s character.

“Let’s do it, let’s date.”

At Karina’s answer, Aidan’s lips immediately curved up into an arc. Watching his face show joy so obviously, Karina thought she had no choice. She couldn’t ignore his straightforward feelings that kept pressing forward. Perhaps she had been quite brightening up too. Before, she just hadn’t noticed his handsomeness because his pathetic nature had buried it all.

She felt a flutter of emotions toward Aidan. Beyond denial, at some point her heart started racing uncontrollably when he came close. If you ask her if this was love, she wasn’t sure yet, but she was definitely attracted to him.

“You’ve thought well.”

Aidan tilted his head and lightly kissed Karina’s cheek. Though she quickly raised a hand to cover the cheek he had kissed, Aidan had already straightened up and was smiling contentedly.

“I want to kiss you more deeply, but if I did that, I’d get scolded again for not choosing the right place.”

Aidan took Karina’s hand in his.

“To celebrate becoming lovers, shall I grant you one wish? Is there anything you want?”

He seemed ready to grant anything. She smiled thinking how he could make such bold claims when he had only just started adjusting to the imperial palace, and Aidan’s eyes narrowed.

“You don’t believe me. Even though I’m a man who always keeps his word.”

That might be true. Though they hadn’t been together long, there was an inexplicable trust that whatever came from his mouth, he would definitely accomplish it.

Karina looked up at him and fell into thought for a moment. A wish. Actually, other than divorcing him and leaving this palace, she hadn’t thought about anything else. But she couldn’t say that right after agreeing to try dating. Besides, divorce was written in their agreement, so she could bring it up again when the time came.

She was surprised at herself for accepting his romantic advances while not changing her mind about divorce. Because we have to live together for half a year anyway. Though she made such excuses, she knew it wasn’t particularly rational.

Reason and emotion. The two were in perfect conflict. Choosing divorce was reason, but accepting his proposal to date was emotion. It was a choice she would never have made before. She would have said there was no greater foolishness than ignoring reason to follow emotion.

But looking at Aidan, all her standards seemed to shake. Seeing how he steadily achieved his goals while seeming to be true to his emotions, she thought perhaps being honest with one’s feelings wasn’t all bad. That’s why… She thought maybe it would be okay to go with the flow of her heart just once, becoming influenced by him.

“You must become Emperor.”

Her answer after much consideration seemed unexpected, as Aidan’s expression briefly hardened. But it was just for a moment, and soon he smiled brightly.

“Is that all? I told you to make a wish for yourself.”

Though anyone would say it was the most difficult thing, Aidan answered as if it was nothing.

“It’s not just anything… Anyway, that’s my wish.”

Aside from the fact that she wanted to divorce, she sincerely wanted Aidan to become Emperor. Because that was how he could survive in this palace. It felt too cowardly to prepare her escape from future death while leaving him behind. If Aidan had been the same as before, she wouldn’t have felt such guilt…

“You want me to become Emperor while saying you want to divorce?”

Aidan asked with a mischievous smile. Though the divorce issue had been weighing on Karina’s mind too, she had been deliberately not bringing it up, so she didn’t expect him to mention it first.

“You’re quite bold to propose dating to a woman who said she wants to divorce.”

When she retorted sharply having nothing else to say, Aidan laughed and wrapped both arms around Karina’s shoulders, pulling her into an embrace.

“That’s that. To me, right now is more important than six months from now. But your wish is talking about the future, not the present.”

Really… what a strange person. How could someone have such a mindset? It was amazing how he could clearly separate and think about six months from now and the present.

“Alright. I’ll become Emperor for you, so when I become Emperor, will you become Empress?”

She flinched in his embrace at the unexpected proposal.

“You promised we would divorce.”

“I did.”

This time too, Aidan answered easily and cheerfully.

“But how can you ask me to become Empress…”

“When I become Emperor, I’ll propose again. Then it will be the current me proposing to you. Not a political marriage between the imperial family and House Hewitt.”

“…You make everything sound so easy.”

When she answered resignedly, giving up on understanding his way of thinking, Aidan released her from his embrace and met her eyes.

“What’s difficult about it? I’m just being true to my feelings.”

He lightly poked Karina’s forehead with his finger.

“Your problem is that you think too much with your head.”

The finger that had touched her forehead slid down and stopped near her upper chest.

“Even if you ignore everything else and just follow your feelings, the world won’t collapse.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed her chin, lifted it, and softly kissed her. Thinking he was doing this in the hallway again, she quickly looked around, making Aidan burst into laughter.

“I checked that no one was around before doing it.”

As he said, there was no one passing by.

“Even if someone sees, it doesn’t matter.”

That wasn’t wrong either. Though it was embarrassing, no one would criticize Aidan for kissing her.

“Won’t you answer?”

While wondering what answer he wanted, she realized he was referring to his earlier request about becoming Empress when he becomes Emperor.

If Aidan becomes Emperor… If that happens, perhaps the future where she and House Hewitt are massacred might not come. But it was just a hypothesis. After regression, though the present seemed to flow differently from before, there were also things flowing similarly. So she couldn’t be certain of anything.

“Unlike Your Highness, I don’t believe in the future.”

No matter how much he told her to think with her heart instead of her head, becoming Emperor wasn’t as easy as he made it sound.

“So when Your Highness truly becomes Emperor, I’ll think about it then.”

At Karina’s firm answer, Aidan made a long “hmm” sound before nodding with a smile. She thought he would complain about why she couldn’t trust him, but he accepted it more easily than expected. Though he seemed to come on strong, he always maintained an appropriate boundary like this. Perhaps that’s why his straightforward emotions were perplexing but not burdensome.

“I’ve got one more reason to become Emperor.”

Aidan smiled brightly and held out his hand to Karina. As she alternately looked at his face and hand, he gestured with his eyes as if telling her to take it quickly. When she quietly placed her hand on his, Aidan interlaced his fingers between hers. Karina, who had expected a formal escort, was slightly taken aback as she hadn’t expected him to hold her hand this way.

“Holding hands with interlocked fingers like this, it’s something only lovers do where I’m from.”

“……”

Come to think of it, this was Karina’s first time holding hands with interlocked fingers with anyone. Usually, it was just placing one’s hand on top of the other’s. Perhaps because she was conscious of it, her eyes kept going to their joined hands.

What’s the big deal…

Even while thinking it was just holding hands, somehow the area around her heart felt ticklish. The unfamiliar emotion felt awkward, making her deliberately turn her eyes elsewhere.

“Your Highness, I think we should return to the banquet hall now.”

Thinking about it, everyone would obviously be waiting for Aidan, the winner of the knights’ tournament. Though she had been dragged away without thinking, they needed to go back.

“Ah.”

Aidan let out a short groan. He still didn’t seem to want to return.

“About that form of address.”

Form of address?

“Can’t you not call me ‘Your Highness’?”

“If I don’t call Your Highness ‘Your Highness,’ then what should I…”

She thought this was suddenly such a nonsensical request.

“Every time you say ‘Your Highness,’ it feels like you’re drawing a line.”

He added another mumbled comment. Was that so? She hadn’t particularly thought about it that way. It was just natural to call Aidan ‘Your Highness’ because he was a prince.

“We’re lovers now. Isn’t there a more familiar way to address me?”

Unable to understand what Aidan wanted, she just blinked while looking at him.

“Like ‘oppa’ or something.”

Oppa? She unconsciously frowned at the unfamiliar term of endearment. Seeing Karina’s lukewarm response, Aidan’s expression also became serious.