The deep sense of defeat at being unable to make the woman he liked feel good was something he had never felt even when surrounded by dozens of spears and swords, so he was angry at himself.

He even felt self-loathing, wondering if he had always been such an incompetent fool.

However, Casiel couldn’t voice any of those complex emotions.

“Pffft.”

Because Elia’s face, suddenly laughing aloud, silenced him.

Taking the pouring raindrops head-on, Elia laughed like a glass bead on a tray.

In the distance, street vendors were busily rushing around organizing their stalls to avoid the rain that seemed to be poured from buckets.

The clamorous sounds of people shouting to carry luggage this way, cover it with tarps, hurry inside, felt distantly far away.

Casiel reached out his hand like someone under a spell.

Her white cheek, wet with rain, had become cold.

“…… Your Majesty?”

Water droplets fell from her dark brown hair soaked in rain, formed on her thick eyelashes, then rolled down.

Casiel lowered his head over Elia’s face, which he carefully cupped with his large hands.

Casiel’s lips, slowly approaching and touching hers, were warm unlike his cold hands.

Elia had to accept the warmth pressing down on her lips without being able to avoid it.

As her body was pushed back, the lattice door blocking the tavern entrance touched her back.

“Mmm……”

Even though people were too distracted to pay attention to under the tavern awning at the street corner, even though the heavy rain narrowed visibility, this didn’t seem like something to do on the street in broad daylight.

Though she thought that, Elia lost her senses to Casiel’s breath as he gently took her lower lip.

His kisses had always been rough, as if he were stealing from her.

Her lips, bitten all night, would often be bruised by morning, and there were many times when the corners of her mouth tore and bled.

But could this person also give such gentle kisses?

The broad chest she was suddenly embraced against and the lips touching hers were excessively warm.

Elia found herself clinging to Casiel without realizing it, seeking warmth stolen by the cold rain. Until her chest, pressed against his stone-hard torso, felt stuffy and her breathing became labored.

The long-continued kiss ended after Elia, feeling she couldn’t bear it anymore due to breathlessness, tapped Casiel’s chest.

At her urgent tapping saying she felt stuffy, Casiel’s lips separated without pressing further, and hot breath leaked out between his lips and scattered into the cold air.

Casiel looked at Elia with darkened eyes while breathing heavily, stroking her wet lips with his thumb.

The slow finger’s trajectory carried deep s*xual implications.

The emotion contained in his eyes was also clear.

Elia couldn’t look directly at the burning eyes that seemed ready to throw her onto a bed immediately and lowered her gaze.

From Casiel’s lips, as he intently watched Elia’s face avoiding his gaze, flowed a deeply subdued voice.

“Today.”

“……”

“Today I won’t do that……”

“…… Pardon?”

“I didn’t come here together with that intention today. So don’t make such a frightened face.”

To not be frightened when told not to be frightened, she had already learned too much through physical experience. Elia could neither respond that she would nor relax her tension, only moving her lips slightly.

When Elia continued to remain stiffly tense with only awkward expressions despite his careful touch, Casiel finally removed his hands that had been cupping her cheeks with a displeased look.

“You wait here for a moment. I’ll go call a carriage.”

“Pardon? I should be the one to call a carriage…… Ah, Your Majesty!”

Casiel strode into the rain without listening to more of Elia’s words or giving her a chance to stop him.

The large shadow disappearing into the downpour had a majesty that would put mythical heroes to shame.

Elia stared blankly at his back, as wide as a plaza.

As sudden as the downpour they encountered, Casiel’s appearance showing emotional turmoil unlike himself was utterly unfamiliar to Elia.

The short laugh that burst out without her realizing at seeing Casiel’s bewildered appearance for the first time in five years, and accepting his kiss on the street, were perhaps results of that bewilderment.

While mulling over Casiel’s words that he hadn’t come out with that intention today as he left, Elia belatedly discovered the hood Casiel had left behind.

‘Ah…… if he goes with his face exposed, it’ll cause a commotion.’

Most carriage rental places were located next to government offices. That was where there was heavy foot traffic, and it was also an efficient location choice for quick licensing. Near government offices, there would naturally be many noble-born officials coming and going to handle official business.

More than one or two of them would know the emperor’s face.

It wouldn’t be good if people saw the emperor wandering around alone without escorts.

Should she chase after him even now to give him this?

Elia held the soaked hood dripping with water and pondered briefly.

The next moment, a large black shadow cut through the downpour that had blurred all visibility and stepped under the awning.

“Huh?”

The shadow, who seemed to have come under the awning to avoid rain like Elia, swept back his soaked hair while looking up at the sky.

Elia opened her mouth upon confirming his blade-sharp nose bridge and features as straight as if carved.

How many times in life would one encounter the coincidence of meeting a complete stranger they met for the first time yesterday in a completely different place today?

⁕⁕⁕

The places a foreigner unfamiliar with geography might go were obvious.

Famous landmarks of the city, downtown areas, or ports and trading cities that served as connection points with other countries.

For Pehiard, visiting Aprion was the result of his desire to personally tour a country he couldn’t visit often and had to be wary of for life.

The Central Library of the capital and the empire’s largest port were perfect locations for his purpose. But.

“Hello. We meet again in a place like this.”

“……”

Thinking that even if coincidences overlapped, would they overlap like this, Pehiard clicked his tongue imperceptibly.

The wet face brightly greeting him looked brighter than when he saw her at the library yesterday.

Even at the expression showing pure joy at meeting someone familiar on an unfamiliar street, Pehiard frowned.

It was because the bitter aftertaste of the intense displeasure he felt yesterday hadn’t yet faded.

He ended his response to Elia’s greeting with just a slight nod and turned his body away.

Though he had come in to avoid rain, it felt a bit awkward to be in the same space.

There would be more places to avoid rain if he looked a little, so there was no need to stay here.

“Ah, excuse me!”

But a call with an urgent tone caught his ankle.

“Did you find the geography books and maps at the library yesterday useful?”

When he reluctantly turned around, raindrops were falling on white cheeks that had slightly moved out from under the awning.

Hair wet with rain stuck to her white cheeks, making her white skin stand out more.

With an appearance that naturally made one think she might be cold, Elia continued speaking.

“Come to think of it, you’re a foreigner, but the books there had bindings that weren’t quite suitable for Rosellern people to read. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to tell you about bookstores and shops near Central Plaza close to the imperial palace that sell maps and geography books that would be easier for you to read.”

It was a strange statement. Words filled with incredibly kind and gentle consideration.

However, a chilling sensation like a sharp blade swept through Pehiard’s stomach once.

Pehiard turned his body completely and strode toward Elia.

“How did you know I’m a foreigner?”

“Aren’t you?”

Though his tone was no different from picking a fight, her round eyes were purely questioning.

“Hmm…… Did I guess wrong? My ears are usually quite accurate…… If not, I apologize.”

She bowed her head, and Pehiard simply stared at her.

The persistent gaze in the silence felt like nagging demanding an explanation, so Elia hurriedly explained.

“My hometown, my parents’ territory, is located at the northern end of Aprion. Distance-wise, it’s closer to Rosellern than to the capital. So many people from Rosellern have settled and live there.”

So?

When he asked with his eyes, Elia immediately elaborated.

“Aprion and Rosellern have almost no difference in accent, but the way vowels are used becomes subtly different the further north you go.”

“…… The way vowels are used?”

That’s different?

Since he hadn’t really noticed much difference in people’s voices or accents while coming here from Rosellern, Pehiard’s ears perked up at Elia’s explanation.

To Pehiard, whose expression had become focused without realizing it, Elia tapped her own nose to show him.

“People from the north tend to have a lot of nasal sounds mixed in their voices and pronounce vowels clearly. Garcian, a scholar, wrote in his book that their vocal organs probably developed that way due to the cold weather…… Ah, there’s no need to tell you this much. Anyway.”

Elia paused briefly and looked directly at Pehiard.

When he thought her transparent brown eyes holding moisture looked exactly like well-polished smoky quartz crystals—

“You also pronounce vowels particularly clearly when you speak. So I rashly guessed you might be from Rosellern. I’m particularly good at distinguishing because I really like the pronunciation of Rosellern people living in our territory.”

Her clear voice carried laughter as she spoke.