“Am I not too noble to kiss a woman I don’t truly desire?”

This was, indeed, a reason very much like him.

“When I look into your blue eyes, I want to know how this small head of yours perceives me as a man.”

Rockfort exhaled a short breath.

“I didn’t even kiss at my last wedding.”

That was the day Elia had made the excuse of being ill and didn’t attend.

“I merely pretended to touch my lips to her forehead over the veil. That was the extent of our contact. Partly because I was about to go to war, but……”

That was the same treatment Elia had received in her past life. But now, it didn’t feel bad, which was even more strange.

“Because I didn’t desire it that much.”

He calmly concluded.

“Now it’s different. I want you. I want to possess you, kiss you, and do things I can barely speak of.”

“What……?”

Elia’s cheeks flushed hot at his bold words. Rockfort didn’t miss the opportunity and moved even closer to her.

“Don’t you want to know what those things are?”

His baritone voice was very seductive. But Elia shook her head vigorously with all her might.

Rockfort tilted his eyebrows slightly, seeming a bit disappointed, but instead, he found another opening.

“……!”

With a rustle, Rockfort released their interlocked fingers and cupped Elia’s cheeks with his two large hands. Now she couldn’t turn her head anywhere.

He looked straight into her eyes before pressing his lips against hers.

“Mmph.”

Even as she hurriedly tried to close her lips, his soft and hot tongue persistently invaded inside.

Was Elia truly his first partner? With each experience, the scope of his intrusion grew deeper and wider.

His thumb traced her increasingly wet lips, and between them, their tongues became even more deeply entwined. In her too-narrow mouth, Elia’s tongue kept colliding and sliding against his.

All the sensations in her body were centered on the wet indulgence.

At some point, without realizing it, Elia had closed her eyes. Without doing so, it was impossible to handle this intense and overwhelming sensation.

As the kiss lengthened, not only her lips but even the corners of her eyes became moist.

Rockfort’s body temperature was so vivid that it was seeping into Elia’s empty heart like spreading paint.

“……Ha.”

Finally, he parted his wet lips and sighed.

When Elia looked up to check on him, for some reason, he turned his head away first, avoiding her gaze.

“Don’t look at me with those eyes.”

Like Elia, his breathing was also ragged. The sight of the man who had so confidently and boldly explored her lips now breathless like her stirred an inexplicable, sensuous feeling within her.  

“If you look at me so defenselessly, it makes me want to do unspeakable things.”

Ah, Elia unconsciously let out a sound. Imagining what he might be thinking made her cheeks burn as if they were on fire.

Still, that was somewhat bearable. Thump-thump, her heart was pounding on her chest, a tingling sensation rose from her fingertips and toes, and a ticklish feeling surged simultaneously, making it difficult to endure for even a moment.

“That would be inappropriate……”

“Have you forgotten that we are engaged?”

“Have Your Majesty forgotten that we are only engaged?”

At Elia’s retort, Rockfort exhaled a silent laugh. The desire that had been dominating him earlier subsided somewhat.

Fortunately, his patience was stronger than his momentary desires. Even if the gap was very narrow, for now.

“When we marry, you will have no more excuses.”

Rockfort, who had slowly caught his breath, looked at Elia again. Until just a moment ago, he thought his desire had subsided, but he was mistaken.

Looking at those plump pink lips he had moistened, another maddening impulse arose.

“Of course, you coming to want me would come first.”

If he kissed her again, he might really cross the line. Rockfort deliberately suppressed the heat rising in his lower body.

What he truly desired was not the satisfaction of momentary lust but Elia wanting him.

“Don’t be so sure.”

“Given time, being apart…… who knows.”

When the topic of separation came from his mouth again, Elia’s expression hardened.

“How unexpected. Your expression now looks just like someone who’s disappointed.”

If she showed a relieved expression, even Rockfort would have been heartbroken.

Perhaps he needed to reconsider his relationship with Elia.

But Elia’s expression held disappointment, as if she hadn’t expected such words.

“Actually, I wanted to tell you first before anyone else…… I forgot the main point.”

Seeing Rockfort return to his usual composed self, Elia felt pathetic about her still pounding heart and tense state.

This was why she hated him. This man who always stirred up her heart as he pleased, yet maintained his clean expression alone.

“I had to return earlier than planned from the last battlefield.”

Powerful nobles started abusing their power, and decisively, after hearing about Cecilia’s accident, he couldn’t leave the emperor’s throne vacant.

“The war…… wasn’t it a victory?”

“It was. However, victory isn’t the end of war. A proper conclusion is needed. I had to share that task with the Grand Duchy since I returned in haste…… but things have changed.”

Elia’s face subtly hardened.

“You’re going back to the battlefield?”

“Why? Do you feel disappointed?”

Such a mischievous question even in this situation.

Elia glared at him silently, but he merely maintained his composed smile.

“I have a sister. The beautiful and kind Leticia. She’s currently the Grand Duchess of Ern, but she’s begging to return to the Empire because she can’t bear living there anymore.”

Finally, she understood the true meaning of their conversation in the garden earlier that day.

When he inquired about a woman’s heart and said he wouldn’t question her, it was because of Leticia.

“My sister is a strong woman. She understands her position and the alliance between the Grand Duchy and Empire better than anyone.”

Elia nodded slowly.

“Five years ago, shortly after my ascension…… when my sister left to marry the Grand Duke of Ern, she cried until her beautiful face was swollen.”

Complexity tinged Rockfort’s voice. She thought this man would naturally be ruthless as emperor, but it seemed nothing in the world was absolute.

“However, if I bring back a Princess who already became the grand duchess, the alliance with the Grand Duchy weakens. They’ll obviously withdraw their troops that are jointly eliminating the remnants of the war.”

He agonized with heavy responsibility between his positions as emperor and brother.

“I must choose. Whether to save my unhappy sister and return to the battlefield myself, or strengthen the alliance with the Grand Duke according to reason and common sense.”

His side profile looked human as he set aside the emperor’s authority.

Elia didn’t hate this sight—the man who, like her, worried and agonized, who didn’t coldly abandon his pitiful sister for the sake of alliance and benefits.

“I didn’t want to leave. That remains true now.”

Rockfort spoke as if confessing. Naturally, he hated the harsh life on the battlefield, but that was a trivial reason.

Having consolidated imperial power during his reign, political issues couldn’t trouble him greatly either.

“Elia.”

But the woman before him was different. He hadn’t even won her heart yet.

“Because of you.”

Blink, Elia slowly closed and opened her eyes. She couldn’t believe she was the biggest reason the emperor hesitated in his decision.

“We’re finally spending time together, but if I leave…… will you feel relieved? Will that make you happy and comfortable? Will you completely forget me then?”

His increasingly lowering voice sounded unfamiliar yet human.

“So when I return someday…… will you hate me more?”

She was a woman who had already rejected him several times. She just said she hated him.

Rockfort had pushed through to achieve their engagement, and barely managed to have her stay close by bringing her to the palace, but they were growing more distant than before.

“No one knows the future.”

Elia answered precisely. The ache in one corner of his heart was unavoidable.

“But, I…… don’t lie.”

Her prim profile looked resolute.

“I already told you.”

As Rockfort said, she might be deceiving herself. Still, she had never lied to him.

“Not occasionally, but every day, I will think of Your Majesty’s well-being.”

Momentary relief flashed across his face. It was an unbelievable sight to witness.

It felt strange and novel that the supreme emperor would show such a relieved expression at just her single word.

“Is that a promise?”

Rockfort asked while covering Elia’s small hand.

The thing that made him, the perfect one, anxious was none other than Elia, his heart.

“If you wish.”

“I do wish it. Because if you promise, you’ll certainly keep it.”

It was such a hasty response it seemed urgent.

Elia turned to look at him and slowly nodded.

“Yes, I promise.”

After relief passed over Rockfort’s face, determined will arose.

Like Elia said, they couldn’t know the future, but for now, it was enough just knowing he wouldn’t be forgotten.

“I will always think.”

“……Yes?”

“Not occasionally, not every day, but I’ll always think of your well-being.”

His calm voice made a corner of her heart throb for no reason.

It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t scary…… yet her heart kept racing on its own.

“I will definitely return safely before our wedding.”

That was also a promise Rockfort made to himself.

When the heartless seasons pass, change several times, and this short brilliant spring returns…… he would come back here and become Elia’s husband.

“Even if you still hate me. Definitely.”

Elia didn’t answer in the end. Just… a very faint smile lingered on her lips where warmth had remained.