Considering that he had come at all, it was later than usual.

Her stomach was empty, and she had been on the verge of falling asleep countless times, yet unable to do so. In the end, her sleepless night had met a storm.

“Hngh…”

A helpless m*an escaped Clodine as she wrapped her arms tightly around Ahazan’s neck.

His towering frame pressed down upon her small, delicate body.

As painful and overwhelming as it was, an equally unimaginable sense of pleasure and satisfaction churned through her.

The sensation that scrambled her thoughts constantly crossed the fine boundary between pain and pleasure.

“…Ahazan, stop… please…”

Clodine clung to him as tears spilled from her eyes, pleading for what had to be the countless time that night.

Upon the bed, where even the moonlight barely reached, Ahazan watched her relentlessly with eyes that burned like the sun.

He never seemed to tire.

Never seemed to relent.

By the time Clodine had lost consciousness and regained it more times than she could count, Ahazan’s large hand suddenly covered her eyes, blocking her vision.

The darkness was little different from before, as she could barely see him anyway.

But now, with her sight completely taken away, the man occupying her entire world felt strangely unfamiliar.

Fear surged through her.

“Ahazan… don’t. Don’t cover my eyes…!”

Still clutching his neck, she desperately tried to pull his hand away.

But her strength was scattered among too many overwhelming sensations.

Even though he wasn’t forcing her down with much strength, she couldn’t remove his hand.

Unable to see, she couldn’t tell whether his actions had actually become rougher or if it only felt that way because of the darkness.

Fear and pleasure melted together like clay dissolving into mud, filling every gap between them.

Eventually, Ahazan seemed to reach some unseen peak.

He lowered his head heavily onto her shoulder and released a long, restrained breath.

By then, Clodine had finally calmed her frantic heart.

The scent brushing against her nose allowed her to feel Ahazan more clearly than the pale moonlight ever could.

Perhaps it had been the last time.

When everything finally subsided, a brief silence descended upon them.

For the first time in hours, they had room to think.

With her eyes closed, Clodine tried to comfort herself with the familiar touch of his hand against her face and the scent that lingered around her.

But in the end, she could not stop the tears.

Perhaps he felt the warmth of them against his skin.

A moment later, he lifted himself away.

At last, her vision returned.

Freed from the darkness, the room seemed unexpectedly bright.

Through eyes blurred by tears, Clodine looked up at Ahazan.

His face, usually hidden by shadows, appeared unusually clear in that moment.

And strangely enough, he looked hurt.

He seemed thinner.

Exhausted.

As haggard as she was.

The moment she thought their eyes had met, he rose from the bed as though preparing to leave.

Instinctively, Clodine reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Ahazan, wait. What’s wrong with your face…?”

By all rights, she should have been the one left broken by these punishing nights.

Yet concern immediately filled her expression.

Ahazan, however, rejected her touch almost as though shaking it off.

He straightened his disheveled clothes.

Only then did Clodine realize that he had never completely undressed.

A wave of shame struck her.

Suddenly aware of her own bare body, she felt exposed.

The hand he had brushed away ached.

Embarrassment and sadness flooded her chest.

As always, Ahazan had come without a word.

And as always, he left without one.

But tonight, more than ever before, Clodine felt humiliated.

Left alone on the bed, she finally broke down into sorrowful sobs.

***

“Just how much longer am I supposed to wait here?”

The moment the door opened, a woman’s shrill voice came flying toward him.

As soon as he stepped inside, Cal Regerson immediately poked his head back out into the hallway.

He hurriedly checked both directions, worried someone might have heard her shouting.

Fortunately, the corridor was empty.

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief, Cal firmly shut the door.

Then, fearing even the slightest sound might escape, he pressed against it several times to make sure it was properly closed.

The woman watched the entire display with growing frustration.

“Hey! Are you even listening to me?”

“Would you just—!”

Cal spun around and glared at her.

“At this rate, not just me the entire estate is going to hear you!”

“Good! Then maybe Her Majesty the Queen will hear me too!”

“Why are you still calling her that? How many times do I have to tell you? She’s not your queen anymore. She’s our Empress now!”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, whether she’s Her Majesty the Empress or Her Majesty the Queen, stop lecturing me and let me see her already!”

“Now isn’t the time for that! An audience with His Majesty comes first, but right now His Majesty’s situation is… Ahhh, this is driving me insane…”

The woman knew nothing about what had been happening lately between the Emperor and Empress.

Cal tried to explain the seriousness of the situation but gave up halfway through.

With a heavy sigh, he dropped into a chair and raked both hands through his hair.

Watching him, the woman’s expression shifted slightly.

“What is it? Did something really happen?”

After a moment’s hesitation, her eyes sharpened.

“Don’t tell me something happened to Her Majesty the Queen.”

Her voice turned urgent.

“Is that it?”

At the woman’s fierce tone, which suggested she would not spare anyone if such a thing had truly happened, Cal shook his head.

What he meant was I’m sick of this.

The woman, however, took it as a denial and let out a relieved sigh.

Cal decided not to correct her misunderstanding.

“Anyway, neither of Their Majesties can see you right now. No, more accurately, they absolutely must not see you.”

He shuddered visibly, his face turning pale.

“If that happens, this nightmare will never end. We’ll all be trapped forever in this frozen Crystal Palace, unable to escape.”

All this chaos had started because of one person suffering from the same condition as O’Neil Penelope.

If a maid the Empress had cherished during her days as Queen started wandering around in front of the Emperor as well, it could only spell disaster.

The woman planted her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes dramatically.

Clearly, she disliked being confined to a room without being allowed to meet the person she had come to see.

Had it not been Valoran Lord who personally ensured her safety and escorted her here, she would have been far more suspicious of this situation, which felt alarmingly close to imprisonment.

“By the way, did you actually deliver the letter I brought to His Majesty?”

Suddenly remembering something, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“Don’t tell me you never gave it to him. Or is there no one here capable of deciphering it?”

The moment he heard that, Cal shot her a deeply resentful look.

“Now that you mention it, all of this is because of that letter you brought! That’s exactly why everything became even more complicated than it already was!”

The woman stared at him in disbelief.

“What kind of nonsense is that? I risked my life copying that letter and bringing it all the way here because it looked like crucial evidence that could expose the mastermind behind the murders! Do you have any idea what I went through just to replicate a language I couldn’t even understand?”

Cal clicked his tongue.

“You really have no idea.”

“The culprit had already been identified. Plans were already being made to deal with them. But because of that letter, we ended up poking at a perfectly healed wound and opening it all over again.”

“W-What? Don’t tell me some ancient and noble imperial history got overturned because of a single letter.”

Her response was clearly meant to mock him for overreacting.

But Cal suddenly fell silent.

The two had been arguing fiercely only moments ago, yet now he merely slumped his shoulders and wore a gloomy expression.

The woman hesitated.

Even while laughing awkwardly and insisting there was no way that could be true, Cal’s expression never changed.

At last, realization dawned on her.

Something enormous had happened because of the letter she brought.

Her brows slowly furrowed.

“Wait…Don’t tell me… history actually changed?”

Well, would you look at that. She does know how to be scared.

For the first time since meeting her, Cal truly looked at the woman standing before him.

Then he finally gave her a serious warning.

“Now that you understand, stay put here for a while.”

It seemed he was preparing to leave.

Rising from his seat, he dusted himself off.

“If you’ve got too much free time, go stare at the moon and make a wish.”

His expression was unusually solemn.

“Pray this disaster passes without destroying us all.”

With both hands neatly clasped before his chest, he sounded far too serious for it to be a joke.

Just as Cal turned away, the woman suddenly grabbed his collar.

“W-Wait…! You’re leaving already…?”

“Huh?”

Cal blinked in surprise.

The woman flushed beneath her eyes, looking both embarrassed and annoyed at herself.

“I mean…”

She fidgeted awkwardly.

“Sir Lord keeps saying he can’t leave Her Majesty’s side for even a moment because of whatever’s happening… and I’ve been stuck alone in this room the entire time…”

She grumbled as though it were nothing more than irritation.

But there was unmistakable desperation in her face.

Cal had not known her long, but he knew she wasn’t the sort of woman who would seek comfort from a near stranger over something so trivial.

He had heard the story.

Though she had countless opportunities to flee as the daughter of a high-ranking noble family, she had chosen to follow the queen she served and come to the Empire of her own accord.

She had barely escaped the massacre that nearly claimed the lives of her closest companions—people she considered sisters.

Afterward, she had hidden herself away, trembling in fear, with nothing to her name.

A noble lady who had likely never imagined what it meant to wander through a foreign land alone and penniless.

Yet she had endured every despairing circumstance.

She had survived.

And at long last, she had reached the side of the mistress she had yearned so desperately to see.

Not only that, but she had arrived carrying a weapon powerful enough to shake the foundations of the Empire itself.

That was the kind of woman Pellier Sanderson was.

Cal studied her quietly.

The hand clutching his collar was so rough and damaged that no one would ever have guessed it belonged to a noble lady.

She must have been terrified.

Though she had done everything possible not to show it.

Swallowing a sigh, Cal gently took hold of Pellier’s wrist and eased her hand away.

Then, for the first time, he bent slightly at the waist so they stood eye to eye.

Just as he had once done for his only younger sister.

“I’ll look for an opportunity and come back before sunset.”

Then he added,

“And if something truly urgent happens, send a servant to summon Cal Regerson.”

“…And who exactly is that?”

Suspicion immediately appeared in Pellier’s eyes.

Seeing it, Cal smiled gently, reassuringly.

“My apologies. It seems I’ve introduced myself far too late.”