On an autumn morning kissed by a gentle rain, Duke Khalid returned to Eluan Castle in Khalid.

The conflict with Heinz Kingdom had been smoothed over, with Heinz accepting responsibility. However, as it was a dispute between nations, such a statement alone couldn’t bring the situation to a close. How to receive an apology and what form it would take was a matter for King Taras to decide. Whatever compensation Taras demanded, it was bound to put Cladimien in a difficult position. 

Leaving behind the issue that was now out of his hands, the soldiers of the North returned to their respective territories. Thanks to the large-scale subjugation of monsters during the summer, they could look forward to a safer autumn and winter than before. 

Announcing the true arrival of autumn, the continuous drizzle drenched the northern lands. Even the Duke’s procession, which had returned to Khalid in one fell swoop using the power of the Divine Beast, was soaked by the autumn rain. 

As Dana descended to the first floor of Eluan Castle, she saw Kaiden striding in, his armor dripping with water. It had been over a month since she last saw her husband. As Kaiden walked towards her, removing his helmet, she too moved to meet him.

Kaiden saw Dana walking towards him. He couldn’t bear to wait for her steps, which often felt like a distance he couldn’t bridge, so he took a longer stride, closing the gap between them. 

As soon as they were close enough to touch, he lowered his head and kissed her. The wet armor, their posture, everything was uncomfortable, but none of it mattered at that moment. 

Perhaps because of the rain, his body temperature was lower than usual, making Dana’s lips feel warm against his. However, his tongue, which delved into her mouth, was as hot as ever.

“Ah…”

Dana felt his cold lips and the hot intrusion of his tongue. The autumn rain might have cooled the earth that had been heated throughout the summer, but it seemed unable to quench Kaiden’s passion. She felt him raise his hand and cup the back of her neck.

The movement of his tongue brought back all the sensations of his previous intrusions. Sensations that felt so unreal during his absence, almost like a vivid dream. His lips, cold at first, quickly warmed as they moved against hers.

Water droplets from his rain-soaked gauntlets dampened Dana’s hair. Pressed close together, the raindrops clinging to Kaiden’s armor transferred to the bodice of Dana’s dress. While the servants stood waiting behind them, the Duke continued to kiss his wife, transferring the dampness to her.

Kaiden finally pulled away, his cheeks flushed, and looked at Dana, who was breathless, her face equally flushed. Her hair and clothes were damp from the raindrops he had transferred. Kaiden, as if her lips weren’t already naturally soft and moist, brushed them with his finger and spoke.

“Wet.”

Dana felt the coldness of his gauntlet against her lips, a stark contrast to the heat that lingered from moments ago. The hard, cold metal gently grazed her lips.

Dana blushed, thinking that Kaiden was referring to her lower body. Even though she knew he couldn’t possibly see inside her dress right now. The coldness of his gauntlet made it seem as if Kaiden had cooled down while she was the only one still burning.

Besides, if anyone looked wet, it was clearly Kaiden. Dana, barely managing to control her ragged breathing, whispered back.

“You too.”

Kaiden whispered in her ear.

“Shall we wash up?”

His words, more of a statement than a question, flowed into her ear.

***

“Ahh… Uh…”

“Ah, ah…!”

In the bathroom, meant for the couple but always used by Dana alone, the two were entangled with each other.

In the water-filled bathtub, Dana sat facing Kaiden, her legs spread, impaled by him. Kaiden held her in an inescapable embrace, his movements relentless as he thrust into her core. The sound of their wet skin slapping together echoed in the bathroom. The muscles in his arms, holding her close, bulged, and his lower back, driving into her, moved rhythmically.

Each time Dana was pressed against him, each time Kaiden moved against her, the water in the bathtub sloshed and overflowed. Splash, splash. The overflowing water cascaded to the bathroom floor, sounding like crashing waves.

“Ah…!”

Her moans echoed in the bathroom. Dana felt a wave of shyness at the sound of her own voice crying out continuously. She couldn’t tell if her blurry vision was from the steam filling the bathroom, the white walls, or the man entering her.

The man, having shed his armor, had rushed to her the moment he entered the bathroom and saw her unclothed form. It felt like an attack, a hunt. 

The season outside had long transitioned from summer to autumn, but the moment he touched her, it felt like that summer night all over again. 

Just like the summer night they first slept together, the air was thick and heavy with a hazy heat. The water in the bathtub, the air in the bathroom, his body pressing down on her, everything was hot. It was as if no time had passed at all, as the heat of that night washed over Dana once more.

“Haa…”

His suppressed groans continued in a low rumble. The sound seemed to seep into her very being.

“Dana…”

She felt him as he called her name, pushing deeper inside. His hot, thick length filled her again and again. His chest, pressed against hers, was hot, his hands and arms, holding her body close, were hot.

Everything about him, touching her, entering her, was hot, yet the water they sat in had grown cold. The water that had been warm when they first entered now felt chilly. It was because they were in a bathtub meant for washing up, yet they continued to engage in this instead of actually cleaning themselves.

Dana couldn’t believe that they were doing this in a bathtub, that they were being intimate in such a position. This wasn’t bathing. Nor was it a dutiful act between a married couple.

The man, who always seemed so cold and rational, was embracing her with a fiery, unrestrained desire. It was so hot that it felt like she was being burned, so relentless and forceful that it felt inescapable.

The way Kaiden moved within her, the way he cried out her name, it seemed as if he truly desired her as a woman. The desire to be one with her, the passion to meld their bodies together, emanated from his very being.

The man who had been indifferent and ignorant of women was now completely immersed in his first experience with a woman, consumed by it. He was lost in the act of making love, moving with a fervor that threatened to burn them both.

Dana cried out, her mind spinning. She didn’t have the capacity to care who might hear, nor the composure to be ashamed of her unrestrained reactions. Kaiden’s forceful advances shattered her ability to think rationally. It was as if he had torn through her composure, leaving her feeling raw and vulnerable.

“Ah, ahhh! Ah!”

Unconsciously, Dana bucked her hips against him, forgetting her shame as she offered herself to him. His expression as he looked at her, feeling her, was too intense to meet directly, but she loved it. She loved the feeling of him moving inside her, his lips on her skin, his hands roaming her body, the friction of their bodies rubbing together. It all felt like a dream.

She couldn’t believe he desired her so fiercely. She felt like she would truly burn up in the heat of their passion. It was as if his fire was consuming her, engulfing her entirely.

She never knew intimacy could be like this. She never imagined sharing such a passionate connection with her husband.

‘But what’s hot eventually cools down…’

Yet, at this moment, it was intoxicatingly hot.

As royalty, Dana had been taught about marital duties above all else. Hot things eventually cool down. Love, passion, all of it would inevitably fade with time, becoming a shadow of its former intensity. That’s why a marriage couldn’t be built solely on such fleeting emotions, especially not for royalty.

The life of a royal wasn’t something to be thrown away on fleeting passions. Those born from the light had a duty, a responsibility to live up to that light and carry it forward.

Therefore, the bonds of marriage between royals were decided through cold calculations and solemn responsibilities. The duty to bear children, the responsibility to continue the lineage. It was never meant to be passionate, so it wouldn’t fade, and there wouldn’t be any regrets when it did.

But between Kaiden and Dana, there was none of that. Dana couldn’t bear children, and thus, she couldn’t fulfill that marital duty. Kaiden would never experience the joy of having children with her.

“Dana, haa, Dana…”

“Ah, ah…!”

Dana cried out, her body moving with Kaiden’s rhythm.

Right now, he held her with an all-consuming passion, but this too would fade someday. Because that’s the nature of heat, to eventually cool down.

When that time came, would he regret it? Would he regret devoting his life to a fleeting passion? Regret sowing his seed on barren land, unable to build a family overflowing with his bloodline?

Just as the summer’s heat, which seemed like it would never end, subsided with the arrival of autumn rain, when this fire died down… wouldn’t that fact make him regret it? Wouldn’t it make his heart turn cold, freezing over?

If it hadn’t been so hot from the start, she wouldn’t have minded the lack of warmth. She would have accepted it as natural, like a winter chill in the middle of summer.

But if this intense heat were to fade away… If it froze over in regret… then…

‘What will I do then…’

The woman who remembered the heat, like a summer night that never ended.

“Haa…”

Kaiden stiffened, releasing inside her. Dana, her mind hazy, leaned against him, catching her breath.

As Kaiden shifted his lower body, still submerged in the bathtub, he withdrew from her. It was as if the passion he had poured into her was now seeping out, dissipating into the cooled water they sat in. But it wasn’t enough to warm the cooled water…

“Ah…”

Dana shivered as Kaiden’s hand trailed down her back, sending goosebumps across her skin. His hand, caressing her skin, was still hot.

Kaiden lowered his head, placing a kiss on her shoulder. His lips were hot against her skin. He pulled her closer, his embrace almost crushing. The feeling of his body pressed against hers sent a wave of heat through her.

Dana felt his lips, as if he would devour her whole, sucking and nipping at her shoulder. She closed her heavy eyelids, overwhelmed by the sensation. The sound of his lips on her skin echoed in the bathroom.

Struggling to catch her breath, Dana finally closed her eyes.