Her skin burned red, and Killian personally applied cold compresses to her body. She wasn’t used to anyone waiting on her like that and tried to refuse, but Killian refused her refusal instead. He said something about not wanting any marks on her other than the ones he left. Recalling those words, Anais let out another laugh.

The dress Lily put her in today made it unlikely her skin would burn. Lily smiled, pleased with how Anais looked after dressing her, and Anais smiled back before stepping out of the Bellini villa.

It was time to go meet her summer lover.

Killian was in the carriage, but the moment he spotted her walking out, he stepped down immediately and came toward her. He kissed her flushed, lovely cheek and murmured,

“Ana.”

She grew used to the endearment even her mother no longer used. The affection that rippled in those violet eyes was the same.

She knew it wasn’t sincere affection, and yet it was sweet, and she was willingly drinking it in. For over a month now. Killian, gazing warmly at her bright smile, parted his lips. The line of his mouth curved loose and easy.

“Your smile could reach your ears.”

Even the teasing tone carried warmth. Every time she felt his tenderness, Anais knew well that the bitterness trailing behind her own heart was something she had to bear herself.

She loved his warmth and care. Even if the emptiness and hollowness that would follow ended up swallowing her whole, she wanted to enjoy it as fully hers for now. Killian, watching her laugh with that clear, open smile, smiled back softly.

“Shall we go?”

“Let’s go.”

A sound of wonder burst from Anais’s lips the moment she stepped onto the yacht. It was, quite literally, like a small palace floating on the sea.

She understood now why a yacht in Solean was said to be the pinnacle of luxury and display. His yacht was elaborately and magnificently worked in gold with the royal family’s crest and sea nymphs. Looking at it, Anais thought any other yacht in the world would look shabby by comparison.

Killian watched Anais turning her eyes this way and that, marveling without pause, and kissed her cheek with a fond look before asking,

“Do you like it, Ana?”

“Yes, it’s truly magnificent.”

Killian grinned, his eyes holding nothing but Anais. She didn’t look away.

They ate together in the cabin of the yacht, anchored in the middle of a calm sea where no waves broke. They had wine alongside, just enough to bring on a pleasant warmth. The music from a small ensemble was exquisitely sweet. To think he prepared something this lavish for a single date. It was astonishing to her.

Naturally so. All those years watching her friends fall in love, Anais never let anyone stand beside her. It felt like a betrayal of Louis.

When the meal ended, Killian suggested going out to where the waves were and came over to wrap an arm around her waist. She smiled looking at his beautiful face, where sunlight carved out shadows. Their eyes met, and his curved into a pleased expression as though he had been waiting for it.

“This way, Ana.”

Killian guided her toward the bow and helped her up onto the deck one step above. As the yacht cut through the sea, the wind began to blow hard. Her dress and hair whipped about, and every time the bow broke through a wave, spray flew up. A few drops hit her cheek and Anais startled, letting out a small cry and stepping back. His firm chest met her back.

Anais turned and rose on her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding tight. Killian tightened the arm around her waist and laughed low. A fresh summer breeze swept past Anais and tossed Killian’s hair.

He didn’t stop her. He let her touch him. Perhaps he even welcomed it. Anais lowered her heels and met his eyes. The temperature in those violet eyes rose. She knew by now what that look meant.

Anais rose on her toes and kissed him first. The breath between them tasted sweet. His scent swept in, rich and sudden.

She couldn’t even remember anymore what Louis’s lips felt like. The memory of a boy and girl in the back garden of the estate, pressing their lips together like stamping a seal and going as red as apples, was already faded and blurry.

Now she knew clearly only what Killian’s lips felt like, what sound he made when she teased his lips with her small tongue, what happened after Killian’s throat moved roughly, and how thrilling and intoxicating that was.

Killian cupped her cheek and stroked it gently with his thumb, and a faint heat began to creep into his quiet breath. Anais’s heart beat a little faster in response.

Killian bent his head and took her lips. He drew them in deeply enough to make a wet sound, then parted her teeth and pushed his tongue inside. He drew her small tongue to his and twined and pressed against it, and a soft m*an slipped out. Anais tightened her grip on his clothing.

He sucked and licked at the soft flesh, tasted even the firmer roof of her mouth thoroughly, and only then pulled his lips away. He wiped her saliva-wet lips with his own hand. He was bare-handed again today, as always.

The tenderness of the kiss made her heart settle into something heavy. Every time Killian was gentle with her, Anais felt her chest tighten. Even knowing his actions held no real sincerity, her heart went to him helplessly.

A relationship with a set time limit, bodies only, no hearts given. That was never going to be possible from the start.

She was someone who showed sincerity and gave her heart even over small things. Rather than easily opening herself up and letting others past her boundaries, she was someone who poured sincerity into the affection that came to her and gave it back in kind. She lived in a different world from Killian, for whom everything came easy.

He, on the other hand, could pour out affection endlessly without his heart in it. If he liked someone in bed, he could gift lavish jewels, take her out on a yacht, and give her a wonderful day. His expressions of affection were the same. The gestures that made Anais’s heart drop to her feet, Killian gave without a second thought.

At times he fussed over her changes more than Lily did. Where Lily did it in words, Killian showed it in actions. He knew without being told what she ate well, what foods she liked. He noticed her discomfort in new shoes and simply lifted her up and carried her. He paid no attention to the eyes around them. He didn’t care how anyone saw him.

He was truly a completely different person from Anais, who always worried about her reputation. By his side, Anais could be a little freer too.

Killian kept his promise to Anais and became, for this season, a lover truly devoted to her alone. Enough to make her think every grand word used to describe him might be a lie.

The sweetness of the affection he gave left her not knowing what to do with herself. She felt like she might melt entirely from it. Even knowing that affection was a light-hearted thing that could go to anyone, to any woman who happened to be at his side instead of her.

His tenderness melted her heart.

This…… was not a good thing.

Anais knew it, and still she breathed him in. She didn’t refuse. She was already far too deep into this to do that.

Her body lifted lightly. Killian scooped her up and strode forward, carrying her straight to the bed in the indoor space prepared inside the yacht.

Right. This was, in the end, what this relationship was for.

Anais kept that thought deliberately in her mind and wrapped her arms around his neck again.

The high waves rocked the boat and churned her stomach. Her body rocked with his on top of him. Held tight in his arms, filled to the brim, she cried and cried for a long time.

While hiding the contradictory wish for this summer to end quickly, and the wish for it to last forever.

* * *

Several invitations and letters arrived at the Bellini villa in Solean. Once word got out that she was continuing to see Killian, the other nobles in Solean grew curious about Anais.

She turned down all the invitations that kept coming in because of her time with Killian, but he was the one who suggested they attend a banquet together. She liked that. Being his partner and attending together. So Anais accepted his proposal.

Her hand, sorting through the pile, stopped at one point. Among the invitations and letters from friends in the capital asking after her, there was one from Louis. Anais slowly ran her fingers over the letter, then pulled it out and handed it to Lily.

“Send this one back, Lily.”