My eyes, still soft from just waking up, grew wide with surprise.

But Carlo’s feelings were different.

Isn’t this what married couples naturally do?

No, it wasn’t because they were married. From the moment Carlo recognized his feelings for her, he had wanted to hold this woman every moment.

Yet his wife looked so flustered, as if she were the only one thinking this way.

“No. That’s not enough.”

Seeing her trembling eyes, his mood twisted strangely, making his tone more direct than intended.

“I want to do more than that.”

“Ah…”

“Is that not allowed?”

When she slightly averted her gaze like someone backed into a corner, Carlo’s eyes deepened further.

“……”

Her attitude appeared as nothing but reluctance toward him. This made it difficult for him to tolerate Lea turning her head away.

He wanted to immediately grab the chin of his wife lying beneath him—like a deer exposing its slender neck, or perhaps a dazed squirrel—and make her meet his eyes.

Yet he keenly felt that this was an impulse, that he was becoming impatient with her every action, and that his level of desire was dangerously overflowing.

What a mindless fool.

Despite hurling all sorts of self-deprecating contempt at himself, the intensely boiling heat was clearly directed at his wife.

“We are married.”

This led him to coldly specify their relationship in sharp language he didn’t even realize he was using.

“There shouldn’t be anything to hold us back.”

“……”

“Do I need to announce and get permission for this too?”

Of course he knew the nonsense he was spouting.

“I have no intention of being constrained by time or place.”

Looking at Lea staring back at him with wide deer-like eyes as if shocked, his mood became chaotically unsettled. Base words spilled out without hesitation.

“Do I have to?”

Look at this. His senses were heightened and his eyes fixed solely on her.

“Who said that?”

After avoiding his gaze and looking elsewhere, she pressed her lips firmly together as if gathering her courage and suddenly looked at Carlo.

“Do you have to speak so hatefully?”

Her eyes, looking up at him as if she hated him, were full of resentment and injustice.

“While making a face that scares people… Have you never felt scared of anyone before?”

“What’s scary? That I want to hold you?”

“Who said that’s scary? You speak so coldly and harshly! Like someone you wouldn’t care if you never saw again!”

“……”

“When you do that, my mouth freezes and I can’t say a word.”

Finally facing her, Carlo felt as if his heart had been struck.

Her tearful voice made him want to embrace her completely from head to toe right away, but it seemed unlikely that physical contact was what she wanted now.

“I’ve always… spoken well, haven’t I? Always like this until now?”

“Wh-what? You didn’t know I’ve been squeezing out every bit of courage I have?”

She pouted and turned her gaze away from him again.

Colors gradually added to the bedroom scene as morning began to spread.

Her face, flushed from her eyes to her cheeks, and her lips tightly pressed in thought, came fully into his view.

“You say I’m scary.”

“It would be a lie to say you’re not.”

This time it felt like being struck on the back of his head.

He was no different from a puppy following her around, so where did she find him scary?

It seemed his wife had no idea how desperately attached to her he was every time.

He tilted his head slightly as if to examine Lea, following her diverted gaze.

“Have I been like that?”

“Less than before.”

He acknowledged it. He couldn’t deny that he had only spoken harshly to her in the past.

With a hint of a smile on his lips, he said to her:

“You couldn’t see how I’ve been going between heaven and hell with your every word?”

“That’s a lie. I won’t be fooled anymore. You act kindly but then suddenly become cold. You say things that wouldn’t draw a drop of blood if stabbed.”

“True. Why did I do that?”

“How would I know? Lately I don’t even understand myself.”

“I think I know. When you turn away from me like this… my blood boils in reverse and I become anxious, making it hard to endure.”

“……”

“Perhaps I have sins to atone for.”

At his self-deprecating words, his wife’s eyes glanced at him hesitantly before rolling down again.

“Back then… it was a situation where you had no choice… Carlo shouldn’t feel sorry…”

“Look at this. You’re avoiding my eyes again.”

That’s what he found hardest to bear.

The joints of his fingers bulged as he gripped the sheets instead of seizing her.

But Lea looked at Carlo much faster than he expected.

“There! Look! Look straight at me!”

With round eyes, she grabbed his face with both hands as if to show him.

“Why would I avoid you? I might be embarrassed or find it difficult to speak! Your heart must be the size of a fingernail. No one would have guessed this man could be so unsympathetic…!”

“Hug me.”

“……”

Her words cut off abruptly as she stared at him blankly.

Carlo looked down at her quietly and repeated:

“Hug me, Lea.”

“……”

“You need to hug me.”

At Carlo’s words, she silently looked at him, exhaled, blinked her eyes, and gradually pulled him into her embrace.

Yielding to her hands, he quietly embraced her waist and buried his face in her neck.

Then he took a deep breath, expanding his ribcage to inhale her scent.

“……”

From the exhausting Novahans training to the Empress watching his every move.

And the old Emperor trying to blackmail him without waiting.

The past few days must have been difficult.

Yet strangely enough.

Those difficult days were also a time when he had laughed unprecedentedly often.

The reason could only be Lea.

“I’m sorry for being hasty.”

His voice resonated low as his lips pressed against Lea’s soft skin.

“I was impatient. I… this might sound incomprehensible, but I feel like you might disappear like a mirage someday.”

His wife hesitated before hugging him tightly again.

The sound of her heartbeat crashed against his ear like waves rolling in from a distant sea.

He silently rubbed his face against her skin as if throwing a tantrum.

“Why did His Majesty the Emperor summon Carlo?”

When Lea asked cautiously, Carlo closed his eyes and buried his face in her chest.

His thoughtful eyes slowly closed and opened.

“It was nothing. As always.”

His pure wife…

It was content she didn’t need to know.

If she learned of the Emperor’s threat to regain power using her as leverage, it would only make her uncomfortable.

He was familiar enough with those shallow yet sharp checks and balances.

He raised his upper body and gazed at Lea.

“If you’re generous enough to hug me, would you kiss me too?”

“You ask for two things after I give you one?”

“That’s how it usually works.”

As he smiled brightly, Lea narrowed her eyes with a “hmm.”

Though he maintained a relaxed expression, he actually wanted to possess her completely without any gaps.

She always made his blood boil, but yes, he would hold back.

He had to endure. Only a madman would proceed when she was frightened, right?

“You have to stay still.”

As if granting a favor, Lea slightly lifted herself from the bed and kissed him.

After the light kiss, she settled back on the bed, and Carlo leaned his upper body down following her.

He opened her soft lips, taking her breath away and infusing heat. Though it didn’t satisfy even a quarter of his thirst, he had to fill his waiting with this for now.

When her hands embraced his back, Carlo flinched momentarily and his mouth unconsciously curved upward.

As her slender fingers, unable to fully embrace his broad back, gripped his shirt, Carlo held her tightly enough to crush her and burrowed into her small embrace.

He didn’t intend to wait long, but this moment was enough.

That she didn’t reject him.

That she would come to want him.

Then he would make it so she could never push him away.

“Odin. This is really delicious.”

I spoke to Odin, who was emanating a gloomy aura with his back cutely rounded.

“It’s jerky with cheese in it.”

“Don’t you hate me…?”

“Why would I hate you?”

“For hiding that Carlo wrote a will like that.”

Glancing at the garden of December through the glass window, I spoke again to Odin, who was lying weakly on the office desk looking just like a rice cake.

“You’re right. Why did you do that? Hmph.”

When I deliberately pouted, Odin hurriedly turned to look at me.

“I didn’t intend anything by it. Just… Carlo had survived, and he no longer seemed like he had given up on everything, so I didn’t mention it. It was obvious you would be shocked if you knew.”

“……”

“When I manifested as a baby lion, your relationship wasn’t good, so I thought there was no need to bring it up.”

“You must feel very sorry now?”

“I’m so sorry I want to dunk my nose into that plate.”

“Instead of dunking your nose, eat this first. I heard from Jeanne that you’ve been refusing meals and snacks since yesterday.”

When I offered Odin the plate of food, he looked at me tearfully before slowly approaching.

His round blue eyes checking my reaction were so cute that I couldn’t help but press both hands firmly against his cheeks.

“I’ve been thinking, Lea. Do you really have to leave St. Berte Castle?”

“After always saying that’s the only option, why are you saying this now?”

“Well, now… I think I wouldn’t mind if you stayed here…”

“Weren’t you the one who valued family lineage more than anyone?”

Odin looked up at me instead of filling his stomach, which had become thinner since yesterday.

“Well. Of course I used to be like that. Social status was important too. But now… it doesn’t matter at all who your father is or what your status is. So why not just close your eyes and live here?”

“……”

“If you help me, I can find documents I wrote when I was Grand Duke. We could forge everything about the marriage and somehow keep you at St. Berte…”

Just as Odin was adding this quite seriously, there was a knock at the door.

After I said to come in, the door opened, and Lily, standing next to Joseph and Medlin, entered the office with rather elegant movements.

“You asked me to bring evidence, sister?”