After careful calculation, he deliberately chose a windowless room as the bedroom and said they needed to share one bedroom. But seeing the single bed and Karina already lying under the covers on one side, his feelings became quite complicated.

This was why he had gone to meet Marquis Belmont earlier, partly to get some air. He had originally planned to wait until Karina fell asleep before leaving, but worried he might harbor strange feelings, he had left quietly without seeing her.

But it seemed that had been pointless. Having her before him again made him uneasy. Though that innocent lady probably didn’t understand her own feelings.

He sighed lightly and sat on the bed. Though he didn’t think he could sleep well, he needed to get at least some rest. Fortunately, Karina seemed to be already asleep, so he wouldn’t have to be a scoundrel who touched someone while they slept.

He thought perhaps he should have asked for another blanket to be prepared.

The thought came too late as he lay down and shared the same blanket with her. It was already too late at night, and it would seem ridiculous to ask for another blanket now, so he had to resign himself.

Lying straight on his back looking at the ceiling, his shoulder slightly touched Karina’s back as she lay turned to the side. At that moment, he felt her flinch.

So she wasn’t asleep after all.

He almost laughed seeing her pretending to sleep without moving. It would have been better if she were really asleep. She didn’t seem to realize that forcefully pretending to sleep meant she was that conscious of him.

As he shifted to turn towards her, he clearly saw her flinch again.

“Karina.”

He called her name in a low, quiet voice and waited a moment, but still received no answer. She seemed determined to pretend to sleep until the end.

Aidan naturally wrapped one arm around Karina’s waist. Though he felt her slightly startle again, he pretended not to notice. If she would continue pretending to sleep, Aidan was determined to pretend not to notice until the end.

Though he wondered how long she could hold out.

“Are you really asleep?”

With his other arm propping up his head slightly raising his upper body, he deliberately whispered near her ear. Looking down from above, thanks to the lamp beside the bed, he could see her eyelashes trembling. Every time the light in the lamp flickered, the shadows on her face flickered with it.

Keeping his light hold around her waist, he lowered his head closer. He planned to stop if she opened her eyes midway. However, though he could see her eyelids trembling, Karina refused to open her eyes until the end.

Softly, Aidan’s lips lightly touched Karina’s cheek. When he felt her body tense with nervousness in his arms, he kept trying not to let his laughter escape.

“If you don’t wake up, I might do something worse.”

He whispered quietly, and Karina’s brow slightly furrowed.

“Really.”

As his hand around her waist gently stroked her abdomen, Karina’s eyes suddenly flew open. As if he had been waiting for this, Aidan grabbed her chin with one hand and kissed her right away. Karina’s eyes grew wider before slowly closing.

After repeating light pecks several times, he took advantage of her lowered guard to capture her lips fully. As the kiss left no room for even the slightest breath to escape, Karina unconsciously reached out and tightly gripped Aidan’s collar.

Could such an adorable creature really exist?

He found her adorable, showing such reactions to just a kiss. When she tried to push against his chest, probably feeling short of breath, he caught her hands and wrapped them around his neck. When he tilted his head slightly to create space, rapid breaths poured out. Soon, changing only the angle, he continued the deep kiss.

Hot yet sweet breaths mingled between them before fading away. After a long while, when he separated their sealed lips and looked down at her from right in front, dark blue eyes appeared beneath her slowly rising eyelids. Like a deep lake, those rippling eyes reflected only his face.

“This is… quite overwhelming.”

Karina blinked, not understanding Aidan’s mumbled words.

“I thought you might slap me.”

He added with a slight smile, and in response, Karina’s eyebrows faintly creased.

“It’s not like this is our first kiss, so I wasn’t planning to make such a fuss.”

Karina answered while turning her head to avoid his gaze.

“Though it’s not our first kiss, this situation must be burdensome.”

Aidan was lying face down, almost straddling over Karina. Though he supported his upper body with both arms to avoid putting weight on her, her face was just a span below his.

“If you don’t reject me, I might want to do more than this…”

“That…!”

Karina turned to say something to Aidan but swallowed her words, seeing his face so close to hers.

“If you don’t like  it, you should properly reject me. I don’t think I can control myself today. I’m not a saint either.”

“I…”

Karina bit her lower lip hard, unable to continue. Her mind was in chaos. She didn’t know what answer she should give now.

Though they had written a divorce agreement, they were still married, and he was someone she had agreed to properly date. But was it okay to reject him? Did she dislike Aidan touching her, kissing her so intensely she couldn’t breathe? She didn’t know. Her mind just felt like it was turning completely white.

Was she being swept away by this man? That thought also occurred to her. Was she helplessly being drawn along by this man’s sweet words and natural touches  without being sure of her own feelings?

“Still thinking with your head.”

Aidan, who had been quietly looking down at Karina, muttered. Wondering what he meant, she looked up at him, and he smiled slightly before moving his body off of her.

“There’s no need to rush.”

Adding words she couldn’t understand, he lay down quietly beside Karina.

“Aidan.”

She turned to look at him, wondering if she had made some mistake. Even at her call, Aidan remained lying straight, not turning his head.

“I’m starting to reach my limit of patience too. So it’s better not to say anything more today. I don’t know what might trigger me to turn into a beast.”

“A beast…”

Karina, thinking about the meaning of his words, belatedly realized something, and closed her mouth. Only the flow of quiet air filled the space between them.

“Haa.”

While she was wondering what to do, Aidan let out a big sigh and turned to face Karina.

“Can I just hold you?”

“……”

“Just holding hands won’t be enough anymore.”

Adding it like a joke, he propped his arm under Karina’s head and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his embrace. With the distance suddenly closing, she ended up buried in his chest before she could resist.

“Aidan, this position is uncomfortable.”

Moving from the soft pillow to his hard arm, of course it couldn’t be comfortable.

“Stay like this anyway.”

When Karina tried to push away, Aidan tightened his arms instead, pulling her closer.

“If I can see your face at this distance, I might get more excited. So I’ll endure with this, and you endure too.”

Though it seemed like nonsensical stubbornness, seeing that struggling would be useless, she relaxed her body. She was so deeply buried that even when she lifted her head, she couldn’t see Aidan’s face.

How was she supposed to sleep like this?

Not only was the position uncomfortable, but his scent was so strong she couldn’t even breathe deeply. Though she tried to force herself to sleep by squeezing her eyes shut, when her vision went dark, her other senses became even more sensitive.

The weight of Aidan’s arm around her shoulders felt too real. Every time his fingertips brushed against her back, it felt like her hair stood on end. Even the movement of his chest rising and falling with each breath felt too vivid.

“Stop fidgeting and sleep. We need to move tomorrow too.”

Though she thought she had been still, he must have felt her slight movements. Karina took a deep breath and tried not to think about anything.

Since marrying him, this night felt the longest. Like every minute and second had stopped, time seemed to flow excruciatingly slowly.

How much time had passed like that? Though she thought she would never fall asleep, the fatigue accumulated in her body consumed her consciousness.

When he felt Karina’s breathing becoming even, Aidan released her from his embrace and checked her face. After acting like a bristling cat determined not to sleep, she was sleeping soundly like a child. Seeing her like that made him smile. He carefully stroked her cheek with his hand. He felt her spotless white skin under his fingertips.

“This is my first time…”

It was his first time feeling someone was this lovable, wanting to possess them, and wanting to protect them.

“You’ll never understand.”

Since she was a woman who had everything, she would never understand his desires that had always been marked by deficiency. Even so, he didn’t want to reveal his inner depths just to be understood by Karina.

“You just stay as you are. I’ll adjust myself to you.”

There was no need for Karina to look into his depths. He thought he just needed to climb up to where she was, and even higher, to hold her hand.

It had been quite a while since he felt this competitive spirit. There was a time when he lived fiercely to fill his shortcomings, but after realizing it was all pointless, he had lived with a whatever-will-be-will-be attitude. As a result, he got stabbed in the stomach by his subordinate.

If he could perfectly play the role of Prince ‘Aidan,’ could he become someone worthy of Karina? Then could he tell her that he wanted her not for this outer appearance but just as ‘himself’?

A laugh escaped at how soft he had become having such thoughts. But he didn’t dislike it. He liked this feeling, liked himself for having Karina in his heart.

*