“Why do you think I did that?”

“……That’s—”

“You know. You’re far too clever not to.”

He was right. It would be a lie to say she had no expectations about what that reason might be.

But it had only been expectation. Guesswork. The kind of thing it was better not to think too deeply about.

“If you’re saying that now—”

But Blair let the buried words come out anyway.

Whether it was the wine that had risen to her head, or the heat passing between their bodies, or the desire she had glimpsed in those low, dark gold eyes.

“Does that mean you have feelings for me?”

Whatever the reason, it finally spilled over.

“Blair.”

Kalintz’s low voice resonated quietly.

“After everything I’ve said, does that still confuse you?”

The hand around her waist moved slowly, trailing up her back. A strange sensation spread through her, tingling in its wake.

“Then find out for yourself.”

Blair was not the only one who had finally overflowed.

The large hand at her neck gradually tightened. And in the very next moment, a hot breath came pouring down.

“Hmm……!”

The sudden kiss made her lips part in surprise, and a feverish breath rushed in. Before she could react, something soft and warm swept through her mouth.

It was different from the kiss in the garden. He was gentle but relentless, and deeper, tracing her lips and the soft inner edges with careful thoroughness.

Through the tangled, breathless exchange, Kalintz’s rough exhale slipped out. At that thirsty sound, Blair felt an unfamiliar longing stir in her for the very first time.

Blair wrapped her arms, which had been hanging uselessly, around his waist. A low sound came from somewhere in Kalintz’s throat. His arm tensed at the same moment, and her body tilted.

“Kalin…… Your Highness, wait…!”

The soft give of the bed against her back made Blair pull her lips away slightly and open her eyes.

Half-lidded eyes looked down at her. The dark gold gaze was heavier and more intense than before.

“Blair.”

The rough voice echoed close to her ear. He had only said her name, but it sounded like the most dangerous whisper in the world.

“If you don’t want this, say so now. I won’t confuse you again.”

The taut line of his jaw looked like it was holding something back with great effort. Like crossing this line meant there was no going back.

Blair slowly raised her hand and brushed it across his cheek. The thin thread of reason still left at the bottom of her heart was no match for feelings that had already overflowed.

Instead of answering, Blair pulled his cheek toward her and pressed her lips to his lower lip in something close to a bite. Before that brief answer was even finished, hot breath came rushing down again.

Kalintz drew Blair’s lips deep, like someone who had been holding back a thirst for a long time.

The breathless rush of it made Blair clutch his hair. The dark strands that wound between her fingers were impossibly soft, but his lips and hands were anything but gentle.

Each time their lips met and parted, the breath between them grew damp. When Blair’s breathing grew shallow from the deepening kiss, hot lips found her neck.

“……!”

Before she could even feel startled by the unfamiliar sensation, he pulled the tie of her dress in one long tug. The loosened dress slipped down easily.

At the same moment, lips full of heat traveled down along the line of her slender neck. Past the pale jut of her collarbone, and further still.

“Ah…… wait, just a…… Kalintz!”

A sound she had never made before escaped her lips as he drew deep against the newly bared curve of her chest.

His movements stopped for a moment.

Blair opened her eyes slowly and looked at him.

Through the disheveled fall of dark hair, sunken gold eyes looked back.

“……My name.”

His voice was still rough with thirst.

“Say it again. Blair.”

His fingers touched her lips. He pressed lightly at her lower lip, parting it, then dragged slowly across it. Blair shivered at the provocative touch.

“Kalin……tz.”

“That sounds good.”

He smiled with something like satisfaction and kissed her deeply again.

Lips even hotter than before took every breath Blair had. And then he pressed his mouth to places she had never once imagined. Everywhere his warm breath passed, heat rose like a burn.

The haze of wine rising through her. Kalintz’s scent at her nose. A strange, wild pleasure spreading through her like fire.

All of it together was enough to make Blair feel her mind dissolving. The whole moment felt like a dream.

“Blair.”

A pleasant voice hummed through her head.

Kalintz. A drowsy answer slipped out. At that languid sound, the feverish hands and kisses stilled.

A moment later, his fingers wound gently through her hair. Kalintz pressed a long kiss to the strands gathered in his fist, as though holding something back. Then he let out a breath and murmured something.

“What…… I can’t hear you.”

Blair was still speaking in a slow, half-conscious murmur when she felt a large hand cover her eyes. Before she could adjust to the sudden darkness, his voice brushed past her ear.

“I’ll let this go. Just for tonight.”

❀❀❀

Blair woke to a splitting headache.

The unfamiliar canopy was the first thing she saw. Before her blurry vision could even focus, a familiar scent reached her from close by.

Kalintz’s steady breathing was right there beside her.

Ah. This has happened before.

Blair remembered waking up in the same bed as him the morning after their wedding night. She had woken then with a terrible hangover too, and Kalintz had been beside her.

The one difference was that last time, they had only slept. This time, they had not only slept.

“……I must have lost my mind.”

Blair murmured blankly. The events of the previous night flashed through her head in rapid succession.

The tangled, breathless heat. The desire-darkened eyes. The rough voice saying her name.

Remembering the night, which felt like something out of a dream, heat spread through her body all over again.

Blair glanced at Kalintz sleeping beside her, then quietly pulled back the covers and got up.

The dress lying on the floor beside the bed brought the night’s events back to her once more, but she pushed it from her mind and headed to the bathroom.

“Good heavens. What on earth……”

Blair could not hold back her shock at the reflection in the mirror.

Flushed marks were scattered across her pale skin. Her shoulders, her collarbone, and the curve of her chest below.

Lifting the hem of her negligee slightly only made it worse. From her chest down past her ribs to near her navel, the traces of the night bloomed like flower petals.

At this point, the fact that he had left her neck unmarked was practically an act of consideration.

“Haah. What do I do now……”

Blair pressed her throbbing forehead and let out a long sigh.

This had started as a contract between two people with their own goals.

He would fake his death and escape the palace. She would go to Lis and live out her days in freedom. Once those goals were met, they would never see each other again.

In other words, there was nothing to gain from developing feelings for each other.

She had known that perfectly well.

And yet the heart that had been teetering on the edge had finally, helplessly, overflowed.

Blair exhaled slowly and looked at the marks left on her body. The memories of the night rushed back in an instant, and her heart lurched again.

Her face was heating up without any sense of occasion, so Blair washed it with cold water. Letting the heat drain away with the dripping droplets, the tangle in her head settled just a little.

Once the feelings that had turned everything upside down quieted down, reality came crashing in. Blair began thinking through the situation with a clear head.

What had happened the night before was not a simple mistake on either of their parts.

‘Does that mean you have feelings for me?‘

‘After everything I’ve said, does that still confuse you?‘

Having said that, he had expressed his feelings in the most unmistakable way possible. And she had let her own feelings show as well. So last night could not be called a mistake, not by any measure.

But.

That did not mean anything between them could change. They had entered a contract marriage to serve each other’s purposes, and they were people who would one day have to part. That was the nature of their relationship.

She did not want to be greedy when she already knew how it would end. She was afraid of losing someone precious again and being left with that wound.

Right. It was always going to be parallel lines.

They had barely known each other existed to begin with. Their paths had simply crossed for a time. When everything was over, she and Kalintz would go their separate ways again, like parallel lines that never meet.

After less than two years, now.

The thought left a dull ache somewhere in her chest. But Blair pushed that feeling firmly away. That was the right thing to do.

After a long while spent sorting through her thoughts, Blair quietly opened the bathroom door and stepped out. But the bed was empty.

“Your head must hurt quite a bit.”

Blair startled at the languid voice behind her and turned around. Kalintz was leaning against the window frame in an open robe with no sash.