The rough-edged stone that was Ulfgar left, and the plump, well-fed Leif appeared in his place. Neither man was ever going to measure up in her eyes.

‘Did I shoot myself in the foot?’

After returning from her visit with Aslan, running her mouth to the maidservants might have been what started all of this.

The embarrassment and shame over sleeping with him faded quickly enough, but then her heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t fall asleep.

She rolled around on her bed until dawn, kicking at the air.

The excitement and giddiness carried over into the next day.

Every time the maidservants poked at her, laughter kept slipping out of her like air leaking from a punctured lung.

In the end, like a pocket full of holes, every little poke sent her secrets spilling out.

He only told her not to force her feelings. He never said she had to keep the relationship a secret.

When word got out that she brought the high-and-mighty Prince Aslan to his knees, the maidservants shrieked and clapped their hands.

Praise poured over her as though she personally defended the pride of every woman in Vaigon.

“That’s our Freya, my lady. You conquered a prince who kept his purity so carefully guarded.”

“All that arrogance, and Prince Aslan is no different in the end! What man could ever refuse Lady Freya?”

It was the kind of flattery she would normally wave off as tiresome, but her shoulders rose with pride all the same.

Well, who do they think I am? No matter how haughty a prince might be, he can’t refuse me.

If the man she spent that night with had been anyone else, she wouldn’t have felt this smug about it.

But Aslan turned away every other woman and fell for her alone.

He was a different breed from men who tumbled into bed with any woman who came along. That was what made her feel all the more extraordinary.

With confidence overflowing, she couldn’t keep her loose lips under control.

And before long, word spread across all of Vaigon that Prince Aslan was something else entirely.

The hostage prince is delicious, they said! It was exactly the kind of news to make the women who admired Aslan’s looks light up with interest.

‘I dug my own grave. There’s no way that rumor wouldn’t reach Father’s ears.’

Word hadn’t spread yet that she was the one involved, but those who needed to know would know.

As the ripples grew wider, Freya shrank into herself. Regret over her reckless behavior weighed heavily on her.

‘If I go to see the prince now…’

Would he welcome her? She worried he might be angry with her.

Aslan wasn’t like the Vaigon men who bragged about their conquests to anyone who would listen.

What if he resented her, saying she made his already uncomfortable life as a hostage even more exhausting?

It felt like everything between her and Aslan was a complete mess. And on top of that, a political marriage candidate she never gave a single thought to had now appeared.

‘It’s all ruined.’

The rumors spreading through the world must have influenced Father’s decision.

She was sinking into gloom, telling herself her free life was over.

Freya gazed out the window and clicked her tongue.

‘He said it was only the first chapter…’

Was it even sane to be thinking about a piece of smut that could double as a weapon in a situation like this? Was something wrong with her head?

‘But if not now, I’ll never get to read the next chapter.’

Once a political marriage partner was decided, she wouldn’t be able to move as freely as before.

Her husband’s reputation would become her reputation, and her reputation would become her husband’s.

‘Should I just go once more and pretend I’ve lost my mind?’

She might have to spend the rest of her life with a pudgy man. If she gave up now, she would regret it.

The moment she thought of visiting the perverted prince, the gloom that clouded her face vanished in an instant.

Life came back to her, like a wilting flower revived by spring rain.

***

It was a night ringed with a halo around the moon.

Whether her father gave the order or not, the servants refused to follow her instructions. They even tried to stop her, telling her not to go to Haakon’s fortress for the time being.

‘And here they were egging me on to bring Aslan down.’

A surge of betrayal rose in her. But Freya was not one to be discouraged.

She slipped past the servants’ eyes and led out her beloved horse. To keep from being followed, she rode through a field of swaying reeds. The reed bed parted like a current of water.

‘Did they think I couldn’t go on my own?’

Bjorn would have been devastated to see it. If raising his daughter to be too free-spirited and bold was a mistake, then it was his mistake to own.

In the far distance, Haakon’s fortress came into view.

The sight of the stronghold behind its walls made her heart beat faster than the hooves of her galloping horse.

The hostage’s manor, visited for the first time in half a month, was as quiet and desolate as ever.

As expected, not a guard in sight. They were too busy slacking off during the day to bother with a night shift.

There was hardly anyone who would come calling, yet the second-floor window stood wide open, as though waiting for a visitor.

Seeing the open window, the corner of Freya’s mouth curved upward.

‘Is he waiting for me?’

Her footsteps toward the bedroom quickened. Freya stopped in front of the bedroom door.

She took a slow, deep breath. She ran up the stairs so fast that beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

‘No need to worry yet. He might not have heard the rumor. Barely anyone comes here.’

She eased her nerves with that hopeful thought. She knocked twice, then pulled the door handle.

She at least announced herself before stepping inside this time.

“Your Highness, it’s me.”

“……”

“May I come in?”

She hesitated and stepped inside, and there was Aslan, arms crossed, staring at his visitor. His expression was not pleasant.

Freya, with a guilty conscience, fidgeted and let her eyes dart around.

‘He must have heard the rumor. Don’t tell me women already came rushing to him?’

There might have been women who heard that the prince was something else and came running.

The thought that he might have taken up with another woman sparked a sudden flash of irritation.

Aslan no longer had any reason to guard his purity.

He might have transformed into the kind of shameless man who turned no woman away.

“What have you been up to? You haven’t been seeing another woman, have you?”

She completely forgot she owed him an apology and let her petty jealousy show instead.

Aslan raised an eyebrow and stepped toward her. His large shadow fell over her like a blanket.

The gaze looking down at her was anything but warm.

“Is that what matters right now?”

“…Well, yes?”

“After showing up after half a month.”

Was he angry that she came so late?

“I had things to take care of. Were you waiting for me?”

Aslan slowly nodded.

‘Wait, maybe he didn’t hear the rumor.’

The heart that clenched tight with anxiety eased considerably. All the worries that nagged at her the entire way here fell away.

‘But honestly, getting worked up over not seeing me for a mere half a month. He’s not completely smitten with me, is he?’

Getting this attached already, what’s he going to do later? She was happily preparing to soothe his sulking when Aslan twisted his lips.

“You spread that kind of rumor and then go completely silent. What choice did I have but to wait?”

“……”

“What exactly was so delicious?”

Thud. The shock hit her like a stone dropping on her head.

‘He heard.’

Her mouth went bone dry. Aslan tilted his head and brought his eyes level with hers.

Her shoulders were seized before she could flee, and a chill crept up the back of her neck.

“Explain yourself.”

“I, I’m sorry.”

“Explanation before apology.”

Freya swallowed hard. What was there even to say? The truth was that sleeping with him left her so giddy and excited that her reckless mouth ran away with her.

In open-minded Vaigon, it might not be such a shameful thing, but Aslan was a man of conservative Ingrone.

“The maidservants kept asking me if something happened between me and Your Highness…”

“They asked, so?”

“That night was so good and I wanted to brag about it, so I meant to say just a little, but then…”

Freya fidgeted with her fingers and dropped her head.

Aslan stared quietly down at the round crown of her head, then squeezed his eyes shut. He clenched his back teeth, and his jaw pulsed.

Typical Vaigon woman. No sense of shame, no manners.

Blabbing about what happened in bed to other people? Did she not know that was far more damaging to a woman’s reputation?

He thought he had a decent grasp of Vaigon culture, but this wild filly of a woman still made no sense to him.

How could anyone be this utterly unruly?

“It was exciting and good? Good enough to brag about to your maidservants?”

“Yes.”

“So that’s why you came? To do something exciting and good again today?”

“Mm, yes. And I missed you too…”

Aslan’s eyes narrowed. It was meant as sarcasm, but Freya missed the intent entirely and squirmed.

‘She doesn’t catch sarcasm.’

No manners, no foresight, slave to her desires, impulsive, and as simple as a goldfish.

In Ingrone, where etiquette and appearances mattered above all, he never encountered a woman like her.

“And after that? Were you planning to go around telling everyone again that the prince was delicious?”

“I won’t do that anymore. Nobody knows I came here either.”

Freya shook her head, eyes wide. The girl who usually acted rude and brazen was now as meek as a child waiting for candy.

She stood with her hands neatly folded together, looking up at him… Why was she cute?

The sight of her behaving herself, as though she knew she was in the wrong, stirred something low in his stomach.

It made no sense. He was clearly angry.

‘I want to flick her on the forehead.’

Every time she did something wrong, he wanted to sit her on his knee and set her straight. He wanted to keep her where he could see her so she couldn’t go around causing trouble.

So that this wild filly, who ran her mouth carelessly and crept into a man’s bedroom at night without a shred of fear, would finally come to her senses.

If he were a free man, he could have reined in this unruly girl…

He should have simply thrown out the woman who made him angry, yet Aslan found himself thinking about how to keep her in line instead.

He buried his dark intentions and pulled his lips into a gentle curve.

“Then I suppose I should give you something good.”

“You’re not angry?”