“Every time you avoid me like this, it makes me want to take you by force.”

Clodine felt the strength in Ahazan’s grip and understood with chilling clarity that, if he truly wished it, he could.

He lowered his face until their lips were a breath apart.

“So at least show me the bare minimum of sincerity. Unless you want to turn me into that kind of monster.”

With that, he straightened. The lips that had nearly touched hers withdrew with cruel swiftness.

Clodine pushed herself up on trembling arms. Her disheveled hair and rumpled gown mirrored the chaos in her heart.

“You’re truly a terrible man.”

Tears and hatred mingled in her eyes as she glared at him.

Ahazan answered in a flat voice, faint madness flickering beneath the calm.

“Even if that’s true, you’d do well not to say it so carelessly, Clodine.”

The low growl in his voice sent a genuine tremor through her.

He braced both hands on the table, trapping her between his arms. His cold, bitter scent enveloped her.

“It makes me want to actually do something about it.”

Clodine forced herself to hold his gaze, refusing to lose composure, but she could not stop her body from leaning back.

Through the press of their bodies, she felt the hard strength of him. It unsettled her. Frightened her.

When she instinctively recoiled, a crooked smile curved his lips. Desire blazed openly in his golden eyes.

“You’ve always pretended to be stronger than you are.”

He lifted her pale, slender hand. Without breaking eye contact, he pressed his lips to the back of it.

“And I’ve always gone mad for you.”

Heat bloomed where his mouth touched her skin, spreading through her body.

Her reason flickered out for a moment.

It was only a kiss to the back of her hand. A gesture no different from any polite greeting.

And yet—

His lips lingered, brushing again and again. Her legs drew inward; her lower abdomen tightened. She bit her teeth together in secret.

“Don’t drift away.”

His mouth finally left her skin. The heat vanished just as quickly, leaving only cold in its wake.

“Next time, it won’t end with a warning.”

***

Early Morning.

At dawn, Ahazan rode toward the training grounds. His body felt stiff after days without exercise.

“You know, Your Majesty… women don’t like it when you act so violently.”

Cal, riding behind him, finally voiced what had been on his mind.

After hearing that plates had shattered during last night’s dinner, he could not remain silent.

Ahazan gave no reply.

Taking that as permission to continue, Cal pressed on.

“You can’t treat a lady the way you treat us men.”

Whenever Ahazan’s mood soured because of Clodine, Cal suffered, physically or otherwise. Thus, a harmonious relationship between emperor and bride was in Cal’s best interest.

Ahazan half-turned in the saddle.

“And you, who knows women so well—have you ever properly held a woman’s hand?”

“Who says I haven’t? I have!”

“Impressive.”

Cal spurred his horse closer, indignant.

“I have! Not just hands, either—”

“Yes, yes.”

Ahazan cut him off with bored indifference and focused on riding.

But he had been listening.

He had regretted last night’s actions from the moment he lay down to sleep.

Clodine had every right to reject him.

He knew it. Intellectually.

But knowing with the mind and accepting with the heart were entirely different matters.

When she rejected him with her whole being, grief and anger surged from deep within him. He wanted to seize her shoulders and command her to love him as she once had.

And last night, he had come dangerously close to doing exactly that.

Like a child whining after losing his candy.

And yet another part of him despised himself for forcing her to utter words like:

“What’s so glorious about this marriage?”

When had their union become something shameful?

Was this truly the best path?

The questions looped endlessly in his mind.

“In any case, you should go and appease her. I heard she refused breakfast again this morning.”

Ahazan shot Cal a lethal glare.

As if he didn’t want to.

But Cal continued, oblivious.

“The weather is beautiful today. Imagine her locked in her chambers, resenting you under this bright sky.”

Ahazan lifted his gaze.

The sky was indeed clear and brilliant. Trees shimmered under sunlight, leaves swaying in the breeze.

A magnificent sight.

And he knew an even finer one.

A place Clodine would surely love.

After a moment’s thought, he sighed.

“Send word this afternoon. Tell Clodine I’m taking her somewhere.”

“You’re accepting my advice?”

“Would you like that to be your last will?”

“I was just about to stop talking, Your Majesty.”

***

Clodine lay on her bed with her darkened eyes covered by her arm. She had not slept all night, and it showed. She had skipped her meal and had been lying there for nearly half the day. Strangely, she did not feel hungry, her empty stomach only churned with nausea.

‘You still have that habit of pretending to be strong, Clodine.’

‘And I still go mad because of you.’

What on earth had he meant by that?

No. Don’t think about it.

All night, thoughts she did not want chased one another in endless succession. Surely his words had meant nothing. And even if they had, she ought to dismiss them as meaningless…

“You’ve lost your mind, Clodine.”

She muttered the words to herself and abruptly sat up, burying her face in both hands.

‘Don’t drift away.’

Ahazan’s voice would not leave her mind. It was dreadful, she hated it, and yet, at the same time, a strange shiver ran through her. Not because she liked it. It was something else entirely. No matter how she thought about it, it was strange.

She shifted as if to lie back down again, just as she had done countless times through the night. But before her head could touch the pillow, someone knocked on the door.

“Lady Ramier, may I come in?”

It was the maid, Merian Bennett.

Clodine hesitated, wondering if she should pretend to be asleep. In the end, she answered.

“Come in.”

The door opened at once, and Merian stepped inside, followed by another figure.

“His Majesty has sent someone.”

Ahazan?

At that single sentence, Clodine felt as though cold water had been poured over her. She stared tensely at the man who entered behind Merian. He had a stern, impassive face.

“Good afternoon, Lady Ramier.”

“What business brings you here?”

The question slipped out before she could return his greeting. Unaware of her own urgency, Clodine fixed her gaze on the man’s lips.

“His Majesty bids me inform you that he has somewhere to take you this afternoon. Please prepare yourself.”

His tone was courteous, but there was no suggestion that refusal was an option. Her pride smarted; irritation twisted within her once more.

“Tell him I am unwell and cannot go.”

With that, Clodine turned her back as if to end the conversation and lie down again. But the servant’s voice stopped her.

“If you refuse, His Majesty instructed me to deliver another message.”

A faint scoff slipped from her lips.

So he had anticipated her refusal and prepared a follow-up. Thorough, as always.

She leaned back against the bed, folding her arms as though to say, Go on, then.

Without hesitation, the servant conveyed Ahazan’s words.

“He says he will show you the land he promised. He asked that I tell you it may improve your spirits.”

The land he had promised her, the Grand Territory of Regel.

Clodine straightened unconsciously.

The land where her people would live… She would be lying if she claimed she did not wish to see it with her own eyes.

Her small hand tightened in the white bedding.

She did not want to answer Ahazan’s summons. And yet the temptation was immense.

After a brief but fierce internal struggle, she turned to Merian.

“Prepare me to go out.”

For the first time, relief flickered across the servant’s otherwise expressionless face.

***

The Grand Territory of Regel was not far from the imperial palace. At full speed on horseback, one could reach it within a day without stopping for the night.

“Come down.”

Clodine remained seated, staring at the suddenly opened carriage door and the man holding it.

Ahazan, clad in armor for the journey, looked different from usual. The change unsettled her enough that she did not immediately move.

“Are we to spend the night here?”

Behind him stood a large inn. Because of her fear of horses, they had traveled by carriage, and though they were only halfway there, night had already fallen. The thought of spending the night in an unfamiliar place, with Ahazan, made her uneasy.

Ahazan stepped aside to give her space to descend.

“We must consider the coachman and the soldiers.”

True enough. The escort had ridden for hours without rest or even water. She could hardly insist on pressing on further.

At last, Clodine accepted his offered path and stepped down from the carriage, heading toward the inn. Merian and another maid followed behind, gathering her belongings alongside the soldiers.

“It’s the largest inn in this area, yet even so, the rooms are limited.”

Ahazan said quietly as he walked behind her.

She halted and turned to him.

“Then we should travel a little farther. There is a large estate in the Sietra territory owned by a friend.”

“It’s too late at night for that.”

“Then what do you propose?”

“We’ll share the rooms in pairs.”

Clodine repeated the words silently.

In their party, the only women were herself, Merian, and one other maid.

Her gaze shifted toward the carriages in the distance. Then slowly, very slowly, she lifted her eyes to meet Ahazan’s.