Now, she really had to admit it—what she’d tried for so long to ignore. It wasn’t enough to simply take comfort in each other’s bodies; she had to accept all of him.

“We met here before we were married, didn’t we?”

The words came out, nearly certain. The ache in her chest was so sharp, it felt like it reached her solar plexus. Even if she couldn’t remember it, this had to be the truth. There was only one place to look back on. She’d known ever since the royal physician said she’d lost part of her memory from the shock of moving to Saint-au.

“Our first meeting… it wasn’t when you took me by force, was it?”

Even as she asked, Isabel realized just how little she really knew this man.

All this time, she’d never once wondered about Kailhart—not even as she played the role of his wife at every official occasion, whenever it was required. Now, everything looked different.

Now, she was seeing a different face, hidden beneath that of the conqueror.

At that moment, Kailhart let out a long sigh. His lips twisted, as if from pain—or perhaps from the effort of suppressing some wild joy.

“That’s right.”

Ah. Isabel’s eyes widened.

“It was here, Isabel. This is where I first met you.”

Now, he was truly smiling. She wondered if this was the face he’d had before becoming emperor. Maybe, even when he first met her…

It was a sight she’d never once imagined, and the rush of bl＊＊d to her head was dizzying. With her eyes forced open, she watched his lips curve with a faint smile.

“This is where our memories are.”

Her vision blurred wildly. A sharp ache split her forehead. Memories—she didn’t recall a single one. And yet, she was certain this wasn’t a lie.

Her pounding heart sounded just like a bell. Everything that had made up her world was being shaken at once. Isabel pressed a hand to her aching chest.

“Gasp… ha…”

She could barely breathe. Somewhere in the distance, she thought she heard the ringing of a bell, mingled with someone’s laughter. All the while, hot breath brushed against the tip of her nose.

“Just breathe. Slowly.”

“Ugh… ha—”

“There’s no need to rush.”

A sharp ache throbbed not only in her forehead, but at her temples and crown as well, making Isabel stumble. Kailhart caught her and pulled her into his arms, slowly running a hand down her back.

“You gave the answer yourself yesterday, remember?”

His arms tightened around her waist and body, holding her up firmly.

“Don’t you remember saying your mind didn’t feel whole?”

His voice whispered against her, a steady presence to her trembling body.

“So from now on, think about it carefully.”

He had said it so many times before—why he was doing this to her. Even now, his whisper echoed in her broken body.

“Think about why we became husband and wife.”

He stared at Isabel—or rather, at the empty spaces within her—as if staking his claim. He seemed to whisper that even those empty places in her mind belonged to him.

“Think about why I chose to be bound to you as husband and wife. Think about it carefully.”

He was telling her to be ready for it.

‘I’ll dig into you, down to your very core.’

Kailhart had always been both meticulous and bold. If necessary, he could be cruel—he’d personally gone to the battlefield, captured prisoners with his own hands, and never hesitated to interrogate them himself.

That’s why so many titles followed him.

A ruthless tyrant, an unfathomable absolute ruler, one chosen by the gods, and more.

To deal with the people around him—old palace insiders like Meli, the lady-in-waiting assigned to Isabel; the countless loyalists and supporters who trusted and followed him; and the traitors who mingled among them pretending to be allies but ready to betray him at any moment—he had to possess many faces.

He was nothing if not thorough. He never acted without a reason. Every move he made had a valid, rational explanation.

So Isabel quickly reviewed the words Kailhart had spoken about her bl＊＊d running hot for the first time in ages, and why he’d gone out of his way to bring her here—to this homeland that barely held any traces of her past.

“Isabel, what do you think you lost here as a child?”

His words, bitten out harshly, echoed in her mind as she looked past him to the wasteland beyond. Her stomach churned, but she forced herself to breathe and search her memories. She checked the parts that didn’t quite fit, like gears failing to mesh.

So she retraced the time when she was moved to the royal palace in Saint-au.

She clearly remembered living here before being taken away, and that she was taken by force—but the details were fuzzy.

A royal physician who had examined her once said it was because the shock of suddenly being uprooted from her home had left her deeply traumatized.

Back then, more than the shock of her entire world turning upside down, there was something else that truly shook her life.

“I’ve been waiting for you, sister.”

The moment she met the one person in this world who was truly irreplaceable—her beloved younger sibling.

In a strange greenhouse, led there by the hands of the maids, Isabel met Isaya for the first time. It was right after she’d learned she had a sibling, before she’d even had a chance to adapt to her new life.

“I want you to retrace everything, one step at a time.”

Kailhart’s voice, low and steady, pressed in closer as his arm tightened around her waist. At the same time, his other hand opened to cradle the back of her neck—gently, never hurting her. The place where his large palm covered her skin pounded with a wild pulse, so strong she could almost feel it vibrating beneath her flesh, far faster than usual.

“Everything you’ve been through up to now.”

Every single thing she’d endured because of that cursed bloodline—his words, spoken in that low, unwavering tone, made every point where they touched throb violently. It was like something deep inside her was awakening, as if something submerged beneath the surface was being forced up into the light.

“The bl＊＊d flowing in your heart will tell you the answer.”

His touch was both bold and careful—a contradiction, but then, that was always how it felt to be close to him. He could be as cold as a block of ice frozen in the depths of winter, yet burn with all the heat in the world, just like a bed of coals.

Just like the way he was looking at her now.

“Maybe… maybe you want to forget it all and finally be at peace.”

No, how could I ever forget… Isabel bit down hard, trying not to let the words escape.

‘How could I possibly forget and move on?’
‘Isaya—my one and only bl＊＊d relative. The precious proof that, back then, I wasn’t alone in the world.’

“Well?”

“What…?”

“Do you want to forget?”

As she absentmindedly ran her tongue over her clenched teeth, Isabel felt Kailhart’s hand move, his touch gently tracing along her jaw. She closed her eyes. With trembling hands, she reached up and rested her own over his, where it cradled her cheek and neck—a dull ache spreading through her chest.

“I don’t want to forget.”

A hot breath escaped through Isabel’s half-parted lips. There was barely a hand’s width left between them—their breath mingled in that anxious, electric space that separated them by only a single step.

Her eyelids stung, but Isabel looked straight at Kailhart. Reflected in his deep, dark violet eyes, she saw the unfathomable mysteries that had always lingered inside her.

“Not once have I ever wanted to forget.”

Her head throbbed so fiercely it felt as if it might split open, and it had been so long since so many emotions struck her at once, so sharply, that she almost didn’t recognize it for what it was.

“Isabel.”

“So—”

She was holding on to him with such rare desperation that she didn’t even notice. She didn’t see how every muscle in Kailhart’s body tensed, how he froze beneath her touch.

“So I dare to want you.”

Everything else fell away. All she could see was him, meeting him as an equal—no longer just as part of some transaction.

“If there’s something I’ve missed, then teach me yourself.”

“……”

“Please.”

Kailhart, during all those nights our bodies were tangled together, I often wondered what it was you truly wanted from me.

You tormented me so cruelly, and yet, when I thought you took pleasure in my suffering, it never felt quite true. Even so, you always pushed me to my limits, didn’t you?

The question that lingered for so long finally found its answer. And now, a laugh slipped from between her lips, almost in disbelief.

“In exchange, I’ll give you anything.”

This was what he’d wanted.

To reclaim something she had lost—something she hadn’t even realized was missing until now.

But instead of answering, he gazed down at her with an expression she couldn’t read.

“Then don’t ever forget this.”

Kailhart’s breath drew closer, and then it touched her—invading even her mouth.

“This is a transaction.”

The word echoed inside her as his mouth pressed against hers.

“This is our contract—our transaction.”

His hot tongue pushed in, marking her like a brand.

It burned, but she accepted him. She had to let Kailhart in, down to the cracks and fractures within her, letting him sink all the way in.

“Isabel, you have to give it your all, too.”

Because in a world that was falling apart, he was the only thing she had to hold on to.
Everything else faded away—only he remained.