“Your friends are coming?”

Constantine suddenly appeared while she was in the middle of trying on dresses.

“…Constantine?”

“Your Grace!”

The maids helping Saena with her grooming hurriedly bowed at his sudden appearance. Then, blushing, they glanced at each other before rushing out.

No, wait, where are you going?

They were just about to fasten the back of her dress when he appeared, leaving her back fully exposed.

“Hmm.”

He looked at her with an intriguing gaze before striding over.

Before Saena could react, his lips touched her exposed nape.

“Ah, Cons–”

When Saena tried to turn away in surprise, his arms quickly wrapped around her waist to hold her in place. Then his lips, starting from her nape, began to move downward with smacking sounds.

“Uh. Wait–!”

His lips burrowed toward her shoulder blade, delving into the fabric before the dress slipped down her shoulder. With one shoulder exposed, the bodice was about to slide down even more easily.

She needed to get ready quickly, but at this rate…

Saena pressed down on the front of her dress.

“I- I need to get ready–”

She quickly caught his probing fingers with her other hand as she tried to stop him.

“Mm, just a little more.”

“No, we can’t!”

At this rate, they would commit the faux pas of the host being late for their guests. Saena quickly pushed him away and escaped his embrace. She pulled up the dress fabric again to cover herself.

“Haah…”

Constantine let out a languid sigh and added in a grumbling tone.

“Lately I feel like you’ve been neglecting me too much.”

“…When have I?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know how many days you’ve just slept while ignoring me?”

“That’s…”

Something felt unfair. He had been busier than her lately.

“You’ve been coming home late because you’re busy too.”

“But I’m not busy right now.”

Constantine grinned as he took another step closer.

“Are you busy?”

He wrapped his arms around her waist again and buried his lips in her neck.

“Isn’t this neglect?”

No, that’s not the right way to use the word ‘neglect’.

But she didn’t bother arguing. The stimulation trailing along her neck kept distracting her, making her feel increasingly caught up in the moment.

“Mmn, later, later…”

“When is later?”

“Later, tonight…”

“Will you focus entirely on me tonight?”

“Hng. Yes.”

“Good, I’ll look forward to it.”

Even after saying that, he continued to tease her for quite a while.

Then after seeing Saena’s flushed face, he lowered his head to thoroughly taste her lips before pulling away.

“Come to think of it, yesterday…”

While regretfully gazing at her plump lips, he asked.

“Did it go well?”

“What?”

“The Princess’s palace.”

“Ah.”

Yesterday they had both been strangely busy and fallen asleep separately.

It wasn’t that they slept in different rooms, but Saena had fallen asleep first so she didn’t know when he had come to bed. Naturally, there hadn’t been time to talk.

“Yes. I dropped the hint and gave the explanation, so now we wait and see.”

“Are you certain the Princess has someone she loves?”

“Yes. Definitely.”

Since she had only mentioned that the Princess had a lover without specifying who, Constantine didn’t know that Sir Heviathan was the Princess’s lover.

“If your theory is correct, and Her Highness truly has a lover she shares her heart with, the results might come faster than expected.”

“Let’s pray for that.”

For both her and him, for the Princess, and for the empire.

“Madam.”

Just then, there was a knock followed by Darielle’s voice.

Oh, could the guests have arrived already? There should still be some time left…

“Come in.”

A startled Saena hurriedly let her in.

“Oh– Your Grace is here too.”

“What is it?”

“A letter has arrived from the Imperial Palace.”

“…What?”

Saena lowered her gaze at the unexpected news.

An invitation placed on a silver tray.

After a very long time, Saena once again witnessed a golden envelope.

It gave her a slight sense of déjà vu.

“Hmm.”

He raised an eyebrow and picked up the envelope.

“There’s no sender.”

No sender? Did they deliberately leave it off?

Then it wasn’t from the Princess. Madielle always signed her name when sending letters.

Could it be from the Prince? But there shouldn’t be any reason for the Prince to send a letter here lately…

“You open it.”

Saena took the envelope from him. As soon as she received it, she noticed the seal on the front.

“It’s the common seal?”

It wasn’t the Prince’s palace seal. It was the imperial family’s common seal.

Each member of the imperial family had their own individual seal.

Such common seals are used for official letters sent in bulk from the imperial palace, or when they want to convey the imperial will but don’t want to specify exactly whose will it is.

This was the same for ordinary houses, which had both a common family seal and separate seals for the head of house, heir, and so on.

In that sense, she couldn’t predict the contents even more.

Feeling puzzled, Saena opened the envelope. Her eyes widened as she looked at the contents.

“…Huh?!”

The contents were an invitation. Saena’s fingers holding the invitation trembled slightly.

[You are invited to a masquerade ball.]

As soon as she saw the invitation’s text, memories from the past suddenly flooded in. It wasn’t something she could willfully block. Like a dam forcibly opened, terrible memories burst forth and instantly consumed her consciousness.

“…Saya?”

Feeling suffocated and dizzy, she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Saya, what’s wrong!”

“Madam, what’s wrong? Should I call a physician?”

Constantine urgently called out while holding her.

“Call a physician right now!”

He snatched the invitation from her hand and checked the contents, but seeing it was just an invitation, he sharply questioned Darielle.

“Have you been making sure she eats properly? Does this happen often–”

“Really! I’m fine! Just…”

Seeing that he might blame someone, Saena hurriedly stopped him.

“Suddenly… some unpleasant memories came back, that’s all.”

Haah. A heavy sigh escaped between Saena’s lips.

She thought she had already forgotten, but it seems she had merely buried it.

When the trigger came, painful memories came flooding back as if someone had deliberately set them off.

‘This must be what trauma is.’

Though she had a relatively calm personality and had desperately buried it thinking it was her fault before, it seems it wasn’t actually okay after all.

“You look very unwell. I think we should call a physician.”

“No, really, I’m fine.”

It wasn’t a physical illness. Being a mental issue, there wasn’t anything a physician could do.

Saena simply wrapped her arms around Constantine’s waist and buried her face in his chest. While supporting her back, he ordered Darielle.

“…Go check if any guests have arrived.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Darielle tactfully left the room.

“Look at me.”

As soon as Darielle left, Constantine softly urged Saena.

“Look at me, hmm?”

Saena slowly raised her head to gaze at him.

Anxiety clouded her blue eyes.

“…Kiss me.”

“…What?”

“Quickly.”

When she wrapped her arms around his neck and urged him, he came down seemingly unable to resist. But once their lips met, he urgently parted her lips and delved in.

Like someone trying to steal her very breath, he persistently traced her lip line, gums, and teeth before finally entwining their tongues. While sucking and swallowing even the saliva that pooled from the wet movements, he pulled down the dress that she had barely been holding up.

Her fair chest was exposed. As Saena let out a heated breath at his kneading touch, he sucked her tongue more forcefully while moving his fingers.

While completely swallowing even the small m*ans that occasionally burst forth, he slowly observed Saena, who seemed somewhat urgent in a strange way.

“Why is my wife acting like this today?”

“Nng, just…”

“Just?”

“Just…”

Whether she was at a loss for words or choosing not to speak…

Constantine carefully studied her expression for a moment before slowly beginning to lift her dress. Pushing his thigh between her smooth exposed legs, he whispered.

“Do you want it, like this?”

“Y-yeah…”

His hand delved behind her knee and lifted one leg. He undid his waist. While rubbing the tip of his c*ck member against her thighs, he asked once more.

“Do you want it all the way?”

Feeling heat spread from below her navel at his low resonating voice, she affirmed with a sigh.

“Haah, yes…”

As soon as she gave permission, he rushed in. There wasn’t much f*replay, but her body, well-accustomed to him, was already sufficiently wet.

“Ah!”

The sensation of Constantine entering her with a wet sound was long and overwhelming. Feeling his presence filling her tightly, Saena strengthened her arms around his neck.

The unpleasant memories that had briefly consumed her were retreating as quickly as they had come.

* * *

In the end, the dress got completely wrinkled.

“Have a good time with your friends…”

“Yes.”

He gently stroked her forehead and lowered his lips.

“Are you really alright?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“If you don’t want to go to the masquerade ball, you don’t have to. Even if it’s an imperial invitation, it’s not mandatory.”

“No. I just… have a bad feeling about it.”

She didn’t want to talk about what had happened at the masquerade ball in the past, even to Constantine.

“Then you shouldn’t go even more.”

But that wasn’t feasible either.

They would need some wrongdoing to find fault with, wouldn’t they?

In the end, she would have to go.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“When is later? Tonight?”

Saena glanced at him and answered softly.

“…Yes.”

Constantine chuckled and left the room after planting many baby kisses around her cheeks, mouth, and near her eyes.