Perhaps just touching hands wasn’t enough, Marina completely pressed her face against Felix’s nape and clung to him. While feeling troubled by Marina desperately digging in, Felix wrapped his other hand around her exposed shoulder.

Though he had definitely suspected that Marina was Kervic’s person, perhaps because he understood the terrible pain of rampage, Felix couldn’t firmly push Marina away.

No, he didn’t want to push her away.

‘That bastard Kervic……’

Marina’s body, trembling finely, was still gaunt. Though he had pressed bodies with her countless times since their first meeting at the banquet, today that small body seemed only pitiful.

Whether she was Kervic’s person or not, Felix was angry at Kervic’s scheme to toy with this fragile woman. However, his anger was brief, and at Marina’s groaning moans, Felix pulled her deeper into his embrace and trapped her in his arms.

“You’ll be fine soon. When my power mixes in, you’ll be able to breathe a little easier……”

“Ha……”

Felix calmly patted Marina’s back. The cold transmitted from their touching skin became a little lighter, but Marina still looked painful. Felix recalled their meeting at the last ballroom. Just as Marina had done to him at the ballroom, he eventually loosened his front, pressing Marina’s body against his bare chest.

“Haah……”

Perhaps because the area of their closely pressed skin had widened a little, Marina’s turbulent energy began to subside. She also seemed to feel comfort as she let out a sigh of relief.

Next to the stairs where she had been crouched, several icicles had formed on the handrail. And below that, a damply wet carpet caught the eye.

‘Is this the power of water……?’

Felix, who had confirmed her ability with his own eyes, was confused about how much Marina could use the power of water. At that moment, Marina raised her head. Marina was gradually regaining her energy, but cold air could still be felt from her.

“Are you coming to your senses?”

“……Haah, I’m sorry, Your Highness…… I’m fine now……”

“Is this your first time feeling something like this?”

Felix carefully asked the question.

“Perhaps…… Do you also find it difficult to handle power?”

“When I was young…… It only happened a few times. I’m fine now.”

Marina, who answered weakly, tried to get away from Felix and stand up. However, Marina ended up sitting down on Felix’s lap. It was because her body still had no strength. She looked up at Felix’s face with a flustered expression.

“Huh…… S, sorry! My legs have no strength. I was startled for a moment…… haha.”

Marina’s complexion, who laughed as if embarrassed, was pale and haggard.

Though she must have recovered her stamina with the power of the sun, she seemed to be hesitating as if there was something on her mind.

“Are you really alright?”

Even at Felix’s question, Marina kept her mouth tightly shut. Only his mind became complicated. Kervic’s cold gaze. Marina acting unnaturally anxious especially today…… Moreover, hadn’t Kervic directly hinted that he had met Marina a few days ago?

“Marina Enchester. Have you ever met my brother separately?”

In such a situation, it seemed like he could hear Marina’s honest feelings. However, Felix’s expectation was off the mark.

“……N, no! Of course it was the first time we met. His Highness the First Prince also greeted first saying it was the first time today.”

Marina, who noticed Felix’s suspicious expression, insisted with a pale face that today’s meeting was absolutely the first.

“Hmm……”

“Absolutely! Completely! It’s the first time! I’ve seen him from a distance before, but having a conversation up close like this……”

Felix made up his mind. There’s something there, between Marina and Kervic.

His anger surged at Kervic’s shamelessness. Felix clenched his fist tightly. Marina looked surprised at his bulging forearm, but she never told the truth in the end.

‘To openly warn a spy right in front of my eyes. There’s a limit to toying with me!’

Felix wanted to question Marina right away. Naturally, Marina would consistently plead ignorance. Felix looked down at Marina in his embrace. For some reason, that figure trying hard to steady her trembling body without knowing why didn’t look hateful.

‘Kervic is definitely detestable. But Marina Enchester…… No matter how much he instructed her, would he feed her rampage drugs as a warning?’

Felix, who possessed the power of the sun, knew better than anyone how much pain Marina must be in right now. A rampage is the same as a time bomb inside the body exploding.

‘Perhaps, couldn’t I draw Marina Enchester to my side?’

If she was Kervic’s subordinate, he should definitely cast her out. There shouldn’t be any connection with Kervic in any way. But…… Perhaps he felt human pity seeing Marina endure the same pain as himself with her small body.

‘If I could win her over to my side……’

Felix began to explore the possibilities.

Marina, who had no way of knowing why his mind was complicated, called Felix who was still tightly holding her arm.

“Felix……?”

“Can you stand up?”

“Yes, I think I’m fine now……”

“If it’s difficult, I’ll help you.”

“Yes? Uh, uh uh……!”

It was a somewhat impulsive action for Felix. Lifting Marina Enchester up.

“Is it alright not to go back? His Highness the First Prince must be waiting for us……”

“No, we’re going back.”

“Uh uh…… Yes.”

Though it wasn’t an answer befitting a noble family’s young lady, Felix was pleased with those tightly pressed lips. Marina Enchester needed to stay far away from Kervic.

‘I should place many people around her. No…… How about bringing her into the imperial palace while we’re at it?’

While carrying Marina and moving, Felix’s mind began to spin rapidly.

⁕⁕⁕

Felix conveyed news that I wasn’t feeling well and hurriedly wrapped up the dinner gathering. Fortunately, there seemed to be no particular story from Kervic’s side. But I, who had almost lost my life at that place, felt more and more outrageous the more I thought about it.

‘Ha…… I never expected it at all. That bastard Kervic……!!’

Kervic was more dangerous and worse than the content of the original work. This, perhaps he tried to eliminate me knowing I had sided with Felix?

‘If I had gone berserk at that place, he would have branded me as someone with strange powers. Whether he killed me or imprisoned me…… Something big almost happened, didn’t it?’

I had only taken one sip of the soup that came out as an appetizer. But because of the power of water trying to burst out from inside my body, I really felt like I had literally been to the threshold of death and back.

The feeling of falling into cold water and having my breath completely blocked…… Especially since I had become a water ghost when I died in my previous life, how scary must it have been!

I wanted to release the painfully turbulent power of water, but…… Marina’s body instinctively knew. If she fully opened the power of water with all her might, she would freeze everything around her.

‘I don’t even know what state of mind I was in when I rushed out of the dinner gathering……’

Thanks to Felix chasing after me later and sharing the power of the sun, I prevented the accident of almost freezing the entire staircase.

Thinking I was fine, I tried to get up and return home, but…… Marina’s body, really like a paper doll, couldn’t follow my mind.

“It seems your stamina hasn’t returned. You should rest well here today.”

Looking at my shaking legs, Felix muttered softly. Right now, I was embarrassingly being carried like a princess in Felix’s arms in broad daylight, traversing the wide corridors of the imperial palace!!

“Oh, my……”

“Ahem, hmm!!”

Felix was leisurely walking down the corridor with an expressionless face while carrying me. Even when the guards and attendants who followed behind cleared their throats with embarrassed faces…… his expression didn’t change at all. Even when they encountered several nobles who had visited the imperial palace!

“Um, do you really have to carry me like this?”

“I can’t heartlessly abandon someone who’s sick and leave.”

“Wouldn’t it be fine to have other attendants support me?”

“You acted like you were dying so desperately, but you want me to entrust my sick lover to someone else? It’s just an extension of the contract, so you don’t need to take it to heart.”

“Uh…… y, yes……”

Since I didn’t want to say with my own mouth that I was dying of embarrassment, I kept my mouth shut. Yes, to be honest, I was still receiving Felix’s help. Felix’s hand touching mine, through that contact, the power of the sun flowed into me and neutralized the power of water.

“The rampage definitely stopped…… Why do I feel like my strength is lacking?”

“I don’t know exactly what kind of drug that was, but…… it seems like it artificially reversed the power. So the aftereffects would be severe. Rest well for a while. I also need time to spend together with you because of the power of the sun, so let’s consider this time as helping each other.”

“Ah, right. Aftereffects…… Then, let’s do that.”

Well, the reason Felix kept looking for me was also the aftereffects caused by the drug.

Huh, but for a while? Adding strength?

With a feeling like I had missed something, I shook my head and came to my senses. Felix, who was carrying me, was moving his steps toward the separate palace where he was staying. Not toward the carriage I would ride to leave!

“Wait, don’t tell me we’re going to your separate palace?”

“Yeah. So what?”

“You just told me to rest, didn’t you?”

“That’s also correct.”

Wait, our words are crossing…… Felix, you bastard, don’t tell me……!?

“You don’t mean for me to rest in the imperial palace…… and in your separate palace, do you?”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

“What? Why, why? No, why!!?”

At words like a bolt from the blue, I stamped my feet and tried to fall out of Felix’s embrace. However, because he was holding me so firmly, only Felix’s expression slightly crumpled. What unshakeable comfort, it’s not even a Simmons bed!

“Don’t struggle. And move that hand too.”

“Yes? Hand? What…… huh.”

Before I knew it, one of my hands was placed on Felix’s chest! Ahaha, th, this is just because I was trying to keep my balance…… It’s a mistake, a mistake!

“Ah, it looked so firm that I unconsciously!!”

“……?”

“Oh, oops, I was only going to think it but said it out loud……”