It didn’t take long to realize that Rondimio’s purpose for coming here wasn’t to attend to her bath.

In an instant, their moisture-filled lips firmly pressed together.

Kissing for so long in the hot, humid air made her feel like she would suffocate. Only when Louise pounded Rondimio’s chest with her tightly clenched fist did he finally pull away.

With a splash, he fully entered the bathtub and gently embraced Louise’s delicate shoulders.

Perhaps because of this, she could vividly feel his rather heavy member pressing against her lower abdomen. While she was pretending not to notice his pants bulging as if about to burst, he spoke.

“I’m hard.”

“Wh-what am I supposed to do about that?”

“Won’t you touch it?”

Should she be grateful he didn’t say he wanted to put it where the child was growing?

Frowning as she stared at his member clearly visible through his wet beige pants, Louise finally raised her voice.

“I, I hate it!”

Louise wrapped her flat lower abdomen with one hand and pushed Rondimio away, and he obediently backed off.

She had considered listening to his request just a little, which was fortunate.

“Your Majesty, let’s refrain until we enter the stable period. And… why did you suddenly come in to attend to my bath?”

“Why? You like kissing. You also like when I attend to your bath.”

“I only like kissing. Your Majesty wasn’t just trying to kiss me!”

“Haven’t you repeatedly said that the child is still as small as a bean and can’t hear anything? You’ve also been saying every day that it will enter a stable period around next month.”

“That’s because Your Majesty tries to protect me too much….”

She had to keep mentioning it because she had promised that when the child in her womb reached a stable period, she would be allowed to meet her brothers in the underground prison.

She hoped Rondimio wouldn’t harm her brothers any further until then, but lately they had only been sleeping together in bed, making it impossible for her to plead for mercy for her brothers.

“Is it okay if I touch you?”

“What?”

“I’ll just touch… without harming you and the child.”

He finally undid his pants buckle and dissolved a little hair oil he had brought from outside the bathroom into the soft bubbles.

Then he gently massaged and washed Louise’s hair, which was thoroughly soaked in water. Whenever his large hands greedily grasped her full br*asts and brushed over their peaks, Louise let out shallow moans.

Not long after, with his face buried in Louise’s collarbone, he released a suppressed groan.

His attendance was always like this. Since it was her first time receiving Rondimio’s bath attendance after a child had been conceived, she felt needlessly embarrassed.

Louise quickly hid her n*ked body, without a thread of clothing, in the pure white bubbles. Now it was time to receive a proper bath attendance.

With his gentle hands pressing softly between her hair strands, she felt like she could fall asleep at any moment, so Louise closed her eyes. Rondimio’s touch remained attentive and affectionate.

“Sleep if you’re tired. I’ll attend to you until the end.”

“But Your Majesty must be more tired after doing state affairs all day….”

But Louise’s voice grew increasingly faint and eventually changed to steady, peaceful breathing.

Rondimio finished bathing Louise, who had fallen asleep with her eyes tightly closed, put a robe on her, and carried her to the bed.

Seeing her small lips mumbling, it seemed she hadn’t fallen into a deep sleep.

While carefully stroking her beautiful platinum blonde hair so as not to wake her, he simply felt good.

To the point where he no longer wanted to think about Louise’s unlovable actions.

“I love you, Louise.”

“….”

“I truly have no one but the Princess.”

After drying Louise’s body and hair, which smelled of a sweet fragrance, without a trace of moisture, Rondimio changed her into a thick negligee that reached up to her neck.

After meticulously covering her with a blanket, he rose from the bed.

Today, he was so angry at his lovely Louise that he needed to release some of that anger. Of course, with someone other than her.

“Mmm…. Don’t go. Rondimio….”

But it seemed Louise had noticed. How did she sense that he would be away from her side tonight?

Rondimio stared for a long time at her, who was tightly holding one of his arms. He had never seen such a lovely creature before and wanted to swallow her whole.

With an extremely regretful expression, Rondimio carefully removed Louise’s hand and placed it under the cozy blanket.

Then, without looking back, he left the empress’s palace bedroom and headed for the underground prison where Louise’s brothers were kept.

The whip handle he had carefully hidden at his waist had long been visible just outside his line of sight. As soon as Rondimio left Louise’s side, he turned into the tyrant everyone in the Araceli Empire spoke of.

“Keep a close eye on the movements of the noble group led by Duke Havent. If they’re plotting a rebellion, I’ll kill them brutally.”

“Yes, Your Majesty the Emperor.”

“And… find the connection between them and the empress. Report only to me. Even if the empress is plotting something.”

Rondimio gave strict instructions to Marquis Tenul, who had been his most loyal subordinate during the rebellion three years ago.

The emperor’s direct subordinates, known as the new nobles in the Araceli Empire, were mostly from fallen noble families who had honed their military skills while sharpening their knives of revenge against the current imperial family for a long time.

They might not have been good at politics for the high nobles and citizens of the Araceli Empire, but they had the ability to control through military force.

This meant that even if the nobles were plotting a rebellion, he was confident he could suppress it decisively.

“We have prepared our knights in the underground prison. Please enjoy yourself to your heart’s content.”

Marquis Tenul guessed the emperor’s intentions just by seeing him leave the empress’s palace late at night with a whip. He smiled and informed him that they had subdued the empress’s brothers to make it easy for him to abuse them.

Rondimio lightly patted Marquis Tenul’s shoulder and headed for the entrance to the underground prison.

He had to repay them somehow for the way they had abused him long ago.

He felt like he could only survive by releasing the occasional terrible memories of the past in this way.

When Louise showed signs of not wanting to love him like this, he felt like he was living without being able to die.

Don’t forget that you destroyed me by abusing me for a full nine years.

Rondimio, who had been relentlessly whipping Louise’s beloved brothers, only came to his senses when dawn was breaking.

Without lingering, he left that place stained with the remnants of a terrible past.

After stripping off his blood-stained whip and clothes onto the emperor’s palace bathroom floor, he bathed in warm water infused with the sweet-scented fragrance that Louise liked, then headed to the empress’s palace.

Rondimio, nestled in Louise’s arms as she slept unaware, closed his eyes with a bright smile.

“If you have any sin, it’s only the sin of giving your heart to someone like me.”

Not only are you excessively interested in things other than me, but you’ve also made plans to escape from me?

He tightly embraced her, feeling sorry for Louise who must have been agonizing alone, rolling her small head back and forth.

For the first time since formally marrying Louise three years ago, he craved alcohol.

Not wine for cleansing the palate, but strong liquor that would make him lose consciousness.

If he drank that, perhaps he could forget for a moment that his lovely Louise was deceiving him.

* * *

“Good morning, Your Majesty.”

Louise, who had woken up early for once, greeted Rondimio with her usual smiling face.

It seemed her body felt refreshed after receiving his bath attendance and sleeping last night.

Unlike Louise who had risen early, he still appeared tired, so she smoothed down his disheveled silver hair and let him sleep more.

His brilliant silver hair was beautiful whether seen in the dark night or in the morning sunlight.

In truth, more beautiful than his hair was his face, which resembled a painting.

“Did you bathe alone and go to bed late? I think I can still smell the sweet fragrance….”

Louise tightly embraced Rondimio, who was buried under the blankets like a large teddy bear. But at the same time, she felt guilty for having such thoughts.

Today’s plan would begin in earnest before lunch.

She planned to paint his portrait as usual in the morning, then visit his office just before lunch to subtly see what he had been doing lately.

After that, she would naturally have lunch with him, and in the evening… she would probably discuss the nobles and Rondimio with Margaret while receiving her bath attendance, like last night.

Louise, who had been tightly embracing Rondimio, removed her hands and sat on the bed, looking at the paper rabbits arranged on the table.

The paper packaging from the bubble ball had been reborn as cute rabbits in Rondimio’s hands.

Come to think of it, she had taken too long in the bath yesterday. That’s probably why Rondimio had grown tired of waiting and entered the bathroom.

“I did come out too late….”

“Thanks to that, I was happy to be able to attend to you after a long time.”