“I apologize for making you witness such an unpleasant sight.”

After walking for a while, rustling through the surroundings, Kallian finally spoke.

Elliope, still in his arms, looked up at him in silence.

“You could have been spared seeing something so shameful… I lost control for a moment.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Elliope realise he was referring to what had happened to the Commander. To reassure him that all was well, she buried her face in his neck. But he grumbled as if dissatisfied.

“A disgusting man, but he knows beauty.”

“…….”

“I should have just cut him down.”

His grumbling, spoken so casually, was strangely reassuring.

Elliope remained silent for a while, just resting in his arms.

Kallian continued to walk along the rough mountain path.

Being held like this reminded her of the first time they had been reunited in this life.

‘Back then…’

He had picked her up and carried her like this.

Unspoken words bubbled up in her chest, burning with unspoken questions.

She wanted to ask if she was still his wife.

She also wanted to ask if he wanted a divorce.

Meanwhile, Kallian continued to carry Elliope forward, stepping into the unknown.

After a moment, Elliope finally realised that it was a hidden tent – a base used for strategy meetings and operations. She jumped in surprise.

After securely closing the tent’s entrance, Kallian carefully placed her on a rough wooden table.

Then, kneeling on one knee, he gently removed her shoes and began to massage her bare feet.

“By the way, this is strange.”

“What is?”

As Elliope barely managed to open her mouth, Kallian looked up at her with languid eyes.

“I clearly told Rueben to make sure my wife stayed away.

Wife.

Hearing him call her his wife filled her with both joy and sorrow.

Elliope took a moment to choose her words, then took a deep breath before speaking.

“How could you tell me to leave you?”

“…….”

“Weren’t you the one who said you shouldn’t leave a dog behind?”

The memories of Kallian handing her a stuffed dog and telling her to take it with her, as if implying that she should keep it with her, flashed through her mind.

And yet here he was, repeatedly trying to leave her behind.

On top of that, he had gone into hiding without even letting her know if he was alive or dead. A wave of emotion swept over her.

“You spoke as if you were my loyal dog.”

“…….”

“And yet, a dog that abandons its master and leaves… Truly…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Kallian closed the distance once more and pressed his lips to hers.

Elliope tried to steady her increasingly ragged breathing as she responded to his kiss.

As he greedily explored the inside of her mouth, her cheeks inflated slightly before deflating.

As their lips parted briefly, she whispered softly,

“I was worried about you.”

“…….”

“I was really worried about you.”

“Elliope.”

“When I heard you were missing, do you know how much I…”

Elliope’s hands trembled slightly.

Kallian gently took them in his own, holding them securely, and kissed her a few more times.

“Wife.”

“…….”

“…My wife.”

As if trying to comfort her, Kallian’s voice and gestures gradually eased the fear in Elliope’s heart. She reached out and hugged him tightly.

*’You…’

She chose not to bring up the events of the day, but even after hearing from Leanne, Kallian showed no signs of wanting a divorce. The fear that had lingered within her for so long melted away completely.

“Kallian.”

“Yes, my wife.”

As if those words were engraved in his mind, Kallian made sure to add “my wife” at the end of each sentence as he explored her mouth once more.

Elliope gladly accepted his deep kisses as his thick tongue thoroughly ravaged the inside of her mouth, as if he had been longing for this moment.

“Mm…”

“Haah…”

After several breathless, giddy moments, their long and intense kiss finally came to an end. They both gasped for air, their lips barely parted as they exchanged shallow breaths.

“I could never run away alone. No matter what happened, I would have come to you.”

Hearing these words, Kallian pressed his lips gently to Elliope’s forehead. But then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, he pulled away slightly, rubbed his forehead against hers and whispered softly.

“So that’s why you asked to be taken to Ambassador Seor?”

“……”

“That’s why you pretended to be his wife?”

It was an unreasonable accusation, but Kallian’s eyes had darkened slightly. His sulky, accusatory tone made Elliope hesitate for a moment, biting her lower lip lightly.

“Yes. I asked him to bring me to you. It was the only option I had left.”

She had nothing to say about pretending to be a married couple. Technically, even Rueben had been involved, making it look like a polyandrous marriage, but she had no desire to bring that up.

“That my wife takes concubines without my knowledge…”

“…….”

“It seems I’ve left you alone for far too long… This poor dog is completely heartbroken.”

Kallian whispered again, his words laced with pouting resentment. Then he looked intently into Elliope’s eyes.

“What did he ask for in return?

“He didn’t ask for anything. He just…”

“No. A man like that must have wanted something.”

As Kallian spoke, he gently tucked Elliope’s hair behind her ear.

Elliope paused for a moment. Now that she thought about it, what if she had unwittingly left room for misunderstanding?

“Did I make a mistake?”

“Hm?”

“Did I… perhaps give the ambassador the wrong idea?”

“…….”

“Did I inadvertently offer him an opportunity for negotiation or some kind of political proposal that involved you?”

The thought that she might have created the slightest possibility of Kallian being used politically unsettled Elliope and made her heart race with worry.

“Killing the heir of a high-ranking noble will cause problems! I suppose you’ve gone into hiding to avoid an all-out war for now! But they’ll start tracking you!”

“Once they start a full-scale pursuit and discover your whereabouts, whatever your goal is, it’ll be in jeopardy! Killing is not an option!”

Thinking back to what Ambassador Seor had shouted earlier, it made sense.

Kallian must have had a reason to disappear without a trace.

Even though it worried and saddened her, she couldn’t deny that Kallian might have had a plan all along.

‘Kallian must have had his own reasons for acting the way he did.’

But what if things had gone wrong? The thought unsettled her.

Feeling guilty, Elliope pressed her forehead against his chest.

“If I end up giving him a political opportunity…”

“Ah.”

But at the sound of her words, Kallian let out a soft exclamation.

“Oh dear.”

Then he planted another kiss on her forehead, and for some reason it felt as if there was a faint smile at the corner of his lips.

“I didn’t mean he had political ambitions in that sense.”

“…….”

“You really don’t know, do you?”

“Nothing at all.”

“Then that’s all that matters.”

A cryptic exchange passed between them. For some reason, Kallian seemed to be in a good mood.

Elliope stared at him with a puzzled expression, completely unable to understand.

“Still, my wife takes concubines without my knowledge…”

“I told you, that’s not what happened…”

“I’m quite disappointed.”

After a brief moment of thought, Kallian suddenly spoke with unexpected firmness.

“Oh dear. Aren’t you a princess sent by the imperial family?”

Elliope’s eyes widened at the sudden, seemingly nonsensical remark.

Then Kallian curved his lips into a charming smile and whispered,

“What brings Her Highness the Princess to the company of the Seor Ambassador?”

“Kallian…?”

A hint of mischief flickered in Kallian’s eyes.

‘Mischief?

It was such an unfamiliar expression from him – someone who had always been cold and composed – that Elliope found herself momentarily dazed.

“Ah!”

Before she knew it, she had lost her balance.

Kallian looked down at her with relaxed eyes, his hand moving slowly from her neck to her br*ast, grazing her skin in a languid motion.

“So it turns out you were sent as a spy for Seor, Your Highness?”

“…….”

“That won’t do. As a loyal subordinate of His Grace the Grand Duke, I must conduct a security inspection.”

“Wait, Kallian-“

She had no idea what he was talking about, but one thing was for sure – he was sulking.

It was clear that he didn’t really believe she was a spy, nor did he really accuse her.

‘So pretending to be a married couple with the Ambassador… really bothered him.’

Just as Elliope was about to reassure Kallian and tell him to let it go –

“Excuse me, Your Highness.”

Kallian whispered in her ear.

His soft voice, which she hadn’t heard in so long, slid into her ear like something warm and sticky, seeping in like syrup that melted into her skin.

“I need to do a physical.”

With those words, he casually pulled down the front of her dress without hesitation.

Her soft, white br*ast spilled out in an instant.

It happened so quickly.

“Ah—w-wait…!”

Startled, Elliope immediately tried to stop Kallian’s hands.

In her haste to get here, she hadn’t eaten properly, hadn’t slept much and had only washed sporadically. In this state, she was embarrassed to be intimate with him.

But Kallian didn’t seem to care. As if it didn’t matter, he cupped her br*asts and gently kneaded them.

It was as if he was searching for something – lifting them up before squeezing and massaging them as if he were moulding them into shape.

As he pressed hard against her n*pples, Elliope’s body arched involuntarily.

“W-wait, stop!”

“You have a pretty clean body for a spy.”

As he said this, Kallian squeezed her n*pple even harder.

“Haa…!”

Without realising it, a high-pitched m*an escaped her lips.

As she tried to twist her body away, Kallian immediately brought his lips to her hardened n*pple and took it into his mouth.

With a strong, deep s*ck, her limbs trembled, momentarily losing their strength.

Despite his blatant indecency, Kallian whispered to me with a serious expression on his face.

“Hmm, strange. She doesn’t seem to be here.”

“Uh… uh…”

“Where did you hide what you were going to smuggle?”

“I-I don’t know…”

“You even feign ignorance, Your Highness?”

As Kallian said this, he gripped Elliope’s br*ast tightly, as if reprimanding her.

Amidst the sudden, intense pressure, a sharp yet electrifying pleasure coursed through her.

As she felt it, the area around Elliope’s ears burned red, darkening to the point where it seemed impossible for them to flush any further.

Noticing this, Kallian squeezed her n*pple even harder – almost crushing it between his teeth – as he teased it relentlessly with his fingers.

As the overwhelming sensation continued to build, a soft, trembling m*an escaped Elliope’s lips.

“Ah, ugh… ahh!”

“It really doesn’t seem to be here.”

Kallian’s hand slid down slowly.