At least that seemed to be what the maids leisurely resting thought when the Emperor visited the Empress’s palace.

The maids’ eyes widened as they witnessed Raul striding into the room.

“Your, Your Majesty. Please wait just a moment. Her Majesty the Empress is not yet ready.”

“It’s not a face that will change with decoration, so it doesn’t matter.”

Though Raul spoke coldly, both the listener and the speaker knew this harsh assessment of her appearance was far from the truth.

Deep pink eyes said to bewitch people, a delicate nose bridge as if sculpted by a master artist, a perfect harmony created by a soft body molded in curves—Kareina’s reputation had spread even to Tirantus during her days as Niyev’s imperial princess.

Kareina, wearing an indifferent expression as if thinking a maid had entered, turned to look at Raul. Soft moonlight traced the delicate contours of her face, creating a breathtaking shadow.

“I said I didn’t need any—”

When he grabbed and pulled her toward him, clearly not having expected Raul’s visit judging by her surprised voice, her almond-shaped eyes widened.

When he wrapped his arm around her waist as she followed along in confusion and laid her on the bed, her silver hair infused with moonlight spilled across the white sheets.

Even in the somewhat rough chemise the maids seemed to have neglected, her soft silhouette stood out, making Raul’s Adam’s apple bob.

And that subtle perfume. When he buried his nose in her collarbone, the fresh citrus scent permeated more clearly to his nostrils.

“You pretend not to wait, but you were secretly looking forward to it.”

Raul crushed with his thumb the lips that seemed about to protest. The moistness, more than expected, was strangely thrilling.

“If you’re expecting even a bit of love in this act, you’d better not. Your body is only disgusting even when sprayed with fragrant perfume.”

At Kareina’s distorting expression, his mood strangely became equally ruined.

Watching her fluttering eyelashes, he thought this filthy feeling might improve a bit if tears welled up in those pretty eyes.

However, the eyes soon directed at him were not the clouded color he’d hoped for.

Kareina raised her gaze straight at Raul and spat out in a cold voice.

“Insult me or satisfy your l*st as you please.”

“…… What?”

“Either way, I will absolutely never break before you.”

Ha. At the response that completely missed his expectations, Raul was dumbfounded and stopped the finger that had been nibbling at her lips. Did this woman have even the slightest awareness of her position?

Traditionally, marriage between imperial family members was close to a large-scale contractual relationship. Between an imperial princess of a fallen nation without a single blood relative and the Empire’s Emperor, who held the upper hand was not even a question.

Especially since the current view of Niyev people in Tirantus was absolutely not favorable.

The last remaining Niyev warriors, though only a handful in number, hid throughout the Empire and waged a long, tedious guerrilla war.

Thanks to them, countless Tirantus people had to lose their lives, and even after complete conquest, the boiling hatred toward Niyev people did not disappear.

This was the same within the imperial palace. Didn’t the rough chemise the Empress was currently wearing speak to this?

If among those serving her was someone who lost family in the war, the Empress would have to worry whether poison had been put in her soup bowl.

Therefore, if Kareina wanted to survive intact in this harsh imperial palace, there was only one method.

Somehow make her husband Raul into an ally. At least if she were an Empress loved by the Emperor, no one would dare treat her carelessly.

In fact, Raul had thought by now she would come begging him to show her mercy.

Having been an imperial princess, she couldn’t possibly not know how merciless a space this imperial palace could be. Yet her reaction was the complete opposite. It was interesting beyond being absurd.

“I thought you weren’t a fool even if not particularly clever……”

Raul, wearing a scoff, looked down at the woman’s face still staring straight at him. The venom in her glaring eyes wasn’t as unpleasant as he’d thought.

“Fine.”

Raul pressed his lips close to Kareina’s ear and whispered.

“Being stiff without knowing your place isn’t bad either. It’ll be more satisfying to break you.”

The tender nape brushed by his breath flinched. Raul, burying his lips in that delicate skin, slowly traced down her neck.

As the lips hovering over her bare skin slid down onto the thin fabric, startled hands gripped Raul’s shoulders as if in resistance. Easily catching and confining the powerless touch, Raul raised his head.

“Still, why don’t you try being a bit more obedient. Who knows. I might pity you even a little and show some mercy.”

“Mercy?”

The questioning voice carried a faint trace of tears.

“The minimum mercy you could show me was death.”

Death. Strangely, the moment he heard that word, Raul’s heart twisted.

This must be because he considered death too easy a punishment.

It was a mistake to have sympathized with her as the imperial princess of a nation he had destroyed.

Recalling Kareina sitting on the cold floor covered in blood, anger filled with hatred surged up again.

“You’re not afraid of death, it seems. But I wonder if your country’s people feel the same.”

At those words, her calm deep pink eyes widened. Raul smiled crookedly and stroked her cheek and ear with quite an affectionate touch.

“There are still many prisoners not yet executed, Empress. Perhaps their fate will be in your hands, what do you think?”

“…… Lies. You’re going to kill them all anyway.”

“So you do know.”

Tears finally welled up in Kareina’s eyes. But Raul didn’t stop.

“Still, who knows. If tonight is satisfactory, the execution might be postponed even one more day.”

The dewdrop precariously hanging at the tip of her eyelashes rolled down. In that moment, Raul devoured Kareina’s tender lips.

Was it made of sugar? For some reason, at the sweet flesh, all thoughts soon disappeared. Fierce and persistent like a rough typhoon before a wooden house, Raul’s breath burrowed into her.

Kareina, breathless from the overwhelming kiss, tried to push him away, but Raul only pulled her slender waist closer and burrowed even deeper.

Thanks to the rough movements, the precarious shoulder line of the chemise gradually slid down. Raul, caressing the exposed skin with hot hands, finally pulled away his mouth and whispered.

“If you want to stop, say so now.”

Exhaling ragged breaths with her soaked face, Kareina opened her eyes and looked at Raul. A moment that felt like eternity divided the space between them.

And, biting her lip, Kareina turned her head away.

“…… You’re toying with me.”

Ha. Right. Raul’s gaze sank coldly.

His roughened touch pulled down the thin chemise in one motion. Facing her soft n*ked body, hot desire rapidly boiled up. There was no need to refuse that heavy urge.

Raul didn’t give himself time to think other thoughts. Without a moment to breathe, he drove his opponent to the limit with the solid body that had cut off enemies’ breath on battlefields.

Only after Kareina lost consciousness in his arms from the acts repeated several times did Raul’s reason return.

Officially, the Emperor shared a bed with the Empress only that one night.

Even two years after the marriage, their relationship worsened if it changed at all, never improving. Kareina, an Empress without any backing, absolutely refused to be obedient, and the Emperor seemed to burn with even more hatred at such an Empress.

Kareina had to witness the prisoner execution ceremonies held multiple times, and several times had to personally recite the charges and hand down death sentences.

Though this had the justification of settling the past and allowing the two nations to move toward true integration.

Acts closer to private revenge also continued countless times.

The Empress being insulted at official events was routine, and the Empress’s palace was closed dozens of times for various reasons. She was imprisoned underground several times after he found some major fault.

The Emperor’s relentless vindictiveness was far too famous throughout the Tirantus Empire—no, throughout the entire continent.

Therefore, to the current Kareina, Raul’s softened eyes were bewildering and unfamiliar.

Regardless of the fact that he had lost his memory.

The diagnosis conveyed by the gray-haired imperial physician was memory loss due to external shock.

“His Majesty has completely lost his memory. Not only the day of the accident, but he has no idea who he is, how old he is, or where this place is.”

“The only one remaining in his memory is Her Majesty the Empress, though……”

“He says he remembers me, but that memory doesn’t seem intact.”

“It seems so, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“If he remembered me accurately, he wouldn’t be this favorable now.”

“Ah, probably not.”

Memory loss. Kareina closed her mouth in disbelief. In the midst of this, the point that he only recognized her, whom he had hated most, was quite puzzling.

When she narrowed her eyes and examined Raul, who looked fine on the outside, he suddenly wore a brazen smile and reached out his hand.

“If you look at me like that, it’s hard to stay still, Empress.”

“What? What’s hard?”

“That…… how about dismissing those around us first.”

Moist lips touched the back of her hand. Raul, who had kissed her hand, closed his eyes and naturally tried to embrace her shoulders.

Startled, Kareina pulled back.

She was simply flabbergasted at what had just occurred.