‘Well, even Kaiden himself doesn’t know, so…’

As Dana stared at Kaiden without saying anything, he spoke.

“It’s not my fault.”

Do people usually say that about themselves? Isn’t that something others are supposed to say?

Dana managed a smile.

“Yes. It’s not your fault.”

He had just been standing next to her when he accidentally contracted with the Divine Beast. That’s why it was even more incomprehensible.

Dana asked Kaiden.

“Why do you think the Divine Beast contracted with you?”

“I don’t know.”

Kaiden answered calmly, and Dana said.

“Then let’s ask.”

Ask where?

Kaiden furrowed his brows. Dana opened her eyes wide and spoke as if it were obvious.

“Let’s ask Bazesus.”

“…Are you telling me to ask the Divine Beast right now?”

“Yes. Let’s ask.”

Dana nodded as if she wasn’t joking. Kaiden stared at Dana for a moment, then raised his hand. With a whoosh of wind, the black Divine Beast appeared. The large reception room was filled with the black Divine Beast.

Dana was surprised to see Kaiden skillfully handling the Divine Beast he had just contracted with. Since she had never properly summoned a Divine Beast even after contracting with one, she couldn’t judge whether such proficiency was normal or not.

Kaiden, who had been holding his arm up in front of Dana as if blocking the wind, lowered it. When the wind completely disappeared, Dana asked the first thing she was curious about to Divine Beast Bazesus.

“Why did you contract with Kaiden?”

“…”

The Divine Beast narrowed its black eyes and looked at Dana as if to say ‘what’s with her?’ There was no answer. Dana’s face flushed. She realized she had made herself look like a child claiming their pet could talk.

Kaiden had turned his face away from Dana’s view. Dana saw his shoulders slightly trembling. She smiled lightly and asked Kaiden.

“Are you laughing at me right now?”

“No, I’m not.”

Kaiden denied it and immediately turned his head back with an expressionless face. Instead, he looked at the Divine Beast while saying to Dana:

“You’re cute, Dana.”

“…”

You’re cute. You’re cute. You’re cute.

Dana’s face grew even hotter. Her heart beat strongly. Did that man just say that to her? The man who always said women who adorned themselves with different jewels and pretty clothes every day looked the same?

However, even in her surprise, Dana wanted to say this:

“Maybe it’s not answering because it didn’t contract with me.”

When she was in the Heinz prison, Yentamien had definitely answered her. So perhaps if Kaiden asked…

Kaiden responded with an indifferent attitude.

“Yes, that might be it.”

However, he didn’t do anything childish like talking to Bazesus. In fact, Bazesus had already disappeared.

Looking at the fallen vase, flowers, and spilled water where the Divine Beast had been due to the wind, Dana said:

“Though our departure will be delayed, that itself won’t be a problem. Since you contracted with Bazesus, we can fly directly to the north using the Divine Beast.”

That way, they could arrive in the north much faster than traveling through the central region by horse and carriage. That was at least fortunate. The return journey could be much more comfortable and quick.

Kaiden nodded and answered.

“Yes.”

Dana tried to think positively as she spoke.

“And since you contracted with Bazesus. From now on, we’ll be able to protect Rowen with more Divine Beasts. Subjugating monsters will become much easier too. That’s good.”

Thinking about it, there were many good points.

‘Isn’t that right?’

Now Rowen had gained power comparable to the founding king’s era to command a powerful Divine Beast corps. And the person who held that power was a knight more loyal than anyone, dedicating his entire life to Rowen. It couldn’t be better than this. Through marriage to her, he already had the position to display his abilities, and everything felt positive.

“It’s not wrong. It’s a good thing.”

Dana said with a smiling face as she looked at Kaiden. Kaiden stared at Dana who was smiling at him with dimples showing.

“Yes. That’s good.”

Dana nodded.

“Let’s wait for now. Brother will probably call for us soon.”

Dana said this with a sigh. When Taras called for them, she planned to discuss the northern situation and return as quickly as possible. Before that, Dana decided to organize her thoughts on how to convey the advantages of this situation to Taras.

Then Kaiden hesitated before saying:

“Then, until then.”

Dana looked at Kaiden. She nodded.

“Yes. It seems we’ll have to stay here longer.”

“…”

Kaiden remained silent.

* * *

And so another night came.

After their first night sharing the bedroom in the royal palace, Kaiden had come to bed fully clothed. Though wearing both top and bottom didn’t look like proper sleepwear by any measure, Dana didn’t say anything, thinking his being fully dressed was his consideration.

Tonight too, Kaiden entered the bedroom fully clothed, and as they had done for the past few days, they awkwardly turned their backs to each other without a word and lay down to sleep. With an unsettled mind, Dana fell asleep.

Then sometime in the middle, she vaguely felt a shaking and woke up. In her drowsy state, Dana felt the bed she was lying on shaking, and heard unfamiliar sounds.

“Kuh, uh…”

Dana opened her eyes. The bed was shaking more subtly than she had first felt, but the sounds were becoming increasingly more explicit than when she first noticed them.

Dana was now wide awake. But she couldn’t move or turn around. Behind her turned back, the man was relieving his s*xual urges alone.

“Uh, huh, huh…”

The man’s suppressed sounds could be heard from behind her back. Though Dana couldn’t see his movements because her back was turned, she could feel his movements through the bed that repeatedly tilted toward his side. She swallowed hard. She bit her lips tightly. She clenched her fists and curled up her body even more. Her face flushed hot.

While preparing for marriage with Prince Ergart, she had learned about relations between men and women, and this time while preparing for marriage with Kaiden, she had heard about men and women from Countess Vicar. She had learned about men, who were different from women. So she knew what this situation was, and couldn’t do anything.

“Kuh, kuh…”

The intervals between the shaking gradually shortened. Because of that, it felt like she too was being shaken and the distance between her and the man whose back was turned might become closer. The incompletely suppressed moans also sounded more frequently. Now those sounds seemed to be whispering directly to her.

Dana squeezed her eyes shut. She should pretend not to know. She should pretend she hadn’t heard, hadn’t woken up, and just fall asleep like this.

But it seemed impossible to fall asleep. The shaking bed continuously transmitted his passionate movements to Dana. The man’s deep-throated moans clearly conveyed to her that his body was thoroughly aroused.

Dana couldn’t help but imagine Kaiden touching himself. His fingers that had been straight and uniform in thickness. Was he gripping his intimate part with those? She had seen his muscular arms directly. Were those muscle-covered arms moving while gripping his own thing?

His face while touching himself and feeling pleasure. Dana recalled Kaiden’s expression when he had kissed her and pulled away. His furrowed expression, his eyes that had looked darker, his tongue that had licked his wet lips…

“Ha, ah, ah…”

Kaiden was now letting out moans wet with lust that he couldn’t hold back anymore. His low moans filled with excitement were clearly audible to the point where they couldn’t hide that they were his. It was plainly evident that he was touching himself and immersed in pleasure.

The bed’s shaking became increasingly faster, to the point where it would be strange not to wake up.

Dana felt hot. She felt like she was breaking out in a cold sweat. Dana felt a strange tingling in her lower abdomen. It was a sensation she had never felt before.

‘No.’

Her lower parts that were too dry to sprout seeds couldn’t possibly be getting wet. That shouldn’t happen.

She had heard that when a man relieves his urges alone, it’s a private matter that should be ignored. Dana lay there desperately, tensing her body and keeping her eyes closed, as if she couldn’t hear or feel anything.

“Kuh…”

The shaking stopped. Was it over? Dana thought with her eyes still closed. Probably while the man was letting his body go limp after releasing his desire, Dana too let her tense body relax into the bed with relief.

‘Now I should sleep.’

She thought she should sleep as if she didn’t know anything, as if nothing had happened.

It was an unusually hot summer night. The window must be open but that alone felt insufficient. However, Dana lay completely still in the same unchanged position, burying her face deep in the pillow as she tried to fall asleep.

“Hah…”

Denying the heavily weighted breathing sound from behind her back, Dana tried her best to fall asleep.