“……”

“I love you, Hana.”

Before she could even be surprised by the confession that flowed like water, Raiden deeply captured Rihana’s lips. Rihana wrapped her tongue around Raiden’s tongue entering her mouth and embraced his head with both hands, stroking it.

While gently caressing her back and neck with his hands, giving her his tongue, Raiden found himself at a loss when she wrapped around his tongue. 

Soon he moved his captured tongue to pull it out, then conversely entangled her tongue. Like teaching her how to do it, he sucked the wrapped tongue with wet sounds, then licked up her tongue wetly with the root of his tongue.

The persistently and stickily entangled tongues separated when Rihana, who suddenly wanted to speak too, pushed Raiden’s shoulders away with both hands. She felt a renewed sense of love at Raiden’s consideration in letting go when she pushed, and licked her lips that were thoroughly wet with saliva.

Whether a switch was flipped by her action, Raiden moved his face to kiss her again. Rihana blocked Raiden’s lips with her hand and said to him.

“I love you too.”

Suddenly, Raiden’s eyes widened.

“I really love you, Rai.”

“……”

“I think I’ll probably love only you for the rest of my life.”

“Me too. I’ll love only you for the rest of my life.”

Raiden’s lips touching Rihana’s hand twitched. At that tickling sensation, when Rihana instinctively removed her hand, Raiden immediately pressed his lips to hers. Continuous moans flowed from Rihana’s mouth at the rough and urgent kiss that seemed ready to devour her.

Rihana, who occasionally tried to pull away her lips to finish the confession she hadn’t completed yet, had no idea that her efforts were making Raiden’s kisses increasingly persistent.

“Can I?”

At the whispered question while still pressing their lips together, Rihana’s head nodded reflexively.

Raiden immediately lifted the dazed Rihana who was breathing roughly and headed to the bed. His fiercely rippling eyes flashed like they would devour her at any moment.

As soon as Rihana lay on the bed, seeing her clothes stripped off in an instant, she burst into laughter without realizing it. At her laughter, Raiden’s face became puzzled for a moment, then he too burst into laughter and pressed his lips to her stretched lips.

It was the beginning of s*x that would continue persistently until midday turned to night, night to dawn, and dawn to morning again.

* * *

Rumors quickly spread that after Raiden returned from the main palace and went to Rihana, the two didn’t come out of the bedroom until the next morning. Beriel felt unbearable anger hearing that Raiden, who had meals brought to the bedroom, didn’t come out of bed with Rihana all day. 

Whether sensing Beriel’s feelings, Fenor spoke to her in a calm tone, “His Highness is not your destined one, Beriel.”

His gaze remained on the documents. Beriel glared fiercely at the uselessly stubborn and blunt Fenor.

“If you’re thinking of causing some other trouble, stop it here.”

“……”

“You know that yesterday’s incident, and the tea party incident too, weren’t overlooked because I didn’t know about them.”

“You mind your own business. I’ll handle my own affairs.”

When Beriel spoke irritably while still glaring at Fenor, he finally raised his head to look at her.

“You never intended to cover for me anyway. That’s why you tattled to His Highness that it wasn’t what you did.”

At the word “tattled,” Fenor’s lips twisted slightly, but Beriel continued without stopping.

“And now you pretend to care about me. Disgusting and laughable.”

“Fine. Let’s call it disgusting.”

Fenor lowered his gaze back to the documents, seeming tired of further arguments. That was strangely irritating yet twisted her stomach. She began to think that even Fenor had been bewitched by that witch. 

The fact that he was protecting some foreign Count he’d just met over herself, who had been his friend and colleague all this time, was irritating from the start.

“What the h*ll is that woman?! I’ve sacrificed everything for His Highness by his side all this time.”

“……”

“But that d*mn witch suddenly appeared……”

“She will be the Crown Princess. Be careful with your words and actions, Beriel.”

“It was originally mine!”

“……”

“There was only me, the position beside His Highness……!”

Fenor stared with an emotionless face at Beriel, who was gritting her teeth like she was about to cry. Seeing Fenor’s complete lack of reaction to her words, Beriel’s brow furrowed.

“His Highness never chose you, Beriel.”

And soon, at the words that came from his mouth, her face contorted frighteningly.

She knew. That’s why she had worked so hard, and that’s why Rihana’s existence was so irritating.

Thinking she needed to meet Rihana quickly, Beriel opened Raiden’s schedule to check when he would be absent.

* * *

Rihana headed to the reception room with Beriel, who had come to see her. She didn’t know what Beriel wanted to talk about by seeking her out, but she had a feeling that the topic of conversation wouldn’t be good. 

It was because of the flood of invitations forcing her to continuously attend various tea parties and tea times, where she heard that Beriel had liked Raiden from long ago and had volunteered to be his aide for his sake.

Beriel was quite similar to herself, who had fallen for Casian at first sight as a child and wanted him so much that she asked the Emperor for an engagement with him as a reward for war achievements. Rather, she was wiser than herself and knew how to care more for the other person. She assisted Raiden while thinking about the kingdom’s safety and prosperity.

Because she was such a person, Rihana didn’t dislike her at all. Rather, she thought it would be nice to become friends. Until she heard the shocking story that came from her mouth.

“I was His Highness Raiden’s first, you see. It seems His Highness hasn’t mentioned it yet…… just so there won’t be any misunderstandings later.”

“…… I don’t quite understand what you mean. First…… and what misunderstanding……”

“First experience.”

Rihana’s expression, which had shown slight bewilderment, began to turn deathly pale. Beriel observed Rihana’s expression and deliberately continued with an apologetic look.

“It’s a political marriage anyway, and you probably don’t think seriously about such things, but since you’ll be marrying His Highness, I thought it would be better for you to know.”

“…… What would be better?”

Feeling her throat completely blocked, she forced out her voice a beat late, and Beriel looked at her very confidently with a matter-of-fact expression.

“In case you hear about our relationship from other young ladies at tea parties and misunderstand.”

Our relationship……

Rihana’s brow reflexively furrowed.

“We only shared our first time when we had just become adults.”

“……”

“I’m telling you in advance not to misunderstand……”

“Wait.”

Rihana raised her hand to stop Beriel’s words.

“I’ll discuss this separately with Rai, His Highness.”

“What? Is that really necessary……?!”

When Beriel looked flustered, Rihana stood up and said firmly.

“Rather, now seems like the perfect time to misunderstand. I’ll hear about this matter from His Highness Raiden. That’s naturally how it should be.”

Rihana left the reception room with quick steps. Beriel was flustered by Rihana’s reaction, which was so different from what she had expected, and bit her lips repeatedly before shaking her head a couple of times.

Right, she had never lied. She had only stated the facts as they were, and Raiden wouldn’t be able to say it wasn’t true either. Beriel came up with the excuse that she was worried Rihana might misunderstand after hearing about it at tea parties, though Raiden would surely be angry that she had told Rihana about it first.

* * *

Waiting for Raiden to return after finishing his work, Rihana stood by the bedroom window with a hardened expression, staring only at the garden. Unlike her rigidly hardened expression, her mind was spreading wings of all kinds of imagination.

She knew Beriel had liked Raiden for a long time, but she had no idea that he had slept with her as soon as he became an adult. 

Since Raiden was her first, she had no one to compare whether he was skilled or not, but she definitely felt he was good at it, so she hadn’t thought he would be a first-timer like herself. Rather, since there was a time when she misunderstood him as the Duchess’s bedroom slave, it wouldn’t be surprising that he had women.

But if the partner was Beriel, and moreover his first woman, this was a different story. Even though Casian had such a promiscuous lower half, he never touched her at all. Letia had once said angrily that this wasn’t courtesy toward a fiancée, but because he didn’t see her as a woman.

The difference between whether a man’s body responds or not is a very important matter, and to Casian, she was a woman who didn’t make him respond. So it was impossible not to be concerned about Raiden’s feelings when he slept with Beriel as soon as he became an adult.

Rihana waited for Raiden while pondering what kind of reaction she should have when he answered that all of this was true. And she pondered how she should view Raiden and Beriel after this. Such complicated and gloomy thoughts were interrupted when Raiden returned.

Raiden, following his usual habit, immediately embraced Rihana and stamped kisses all over her face, spouting words about how he was tormented by missing her. Rihana always found such behavior from Raiden pleasant and cute, but today she didn’t feel that way at all.

“Rai.”

“Mm?”

Only after showering Rihana’s face with satisfying kisses did Raiden separate from her and look down at her, calling him with a smile on his face. And soon, the smile on his lips disappeared instantly at Rihana’s serious-looking face.