Chapter 1

“Ha…….”

Alexei Ramantus, heir to the Duchy of Ramantus, curled the hand he had raised to knock on the door and let out a sigh.

D＊mn it. He wanted to quit again today.

He wanted to hand in his resignation every day, but today even more so.

To think his first task after arriving at work was to go to his lord’s chambers and wake her after a night of passionate affairs…. He felt like burying his head in the Olanta River that leisurely wound around the outskirts of the Imperial City.

If he considered how the river’s flow had greatly diminished throughout the Empire due to recent droughts, that was more of a complaint than a real wish….

“Ha, seriously….”

He sighed once more, clenching his curled fist tightly. His knuckles, so nicely pronounced, trembled.

Right, just grit his teeth and endure for a moment. It wasn’t just a one- or two-day thing.

This was his job.

Knock, knock, knock.

Suppressing all his frustration, Alexei resolutely knocked on the door.

As always, there was no answer on the first try.

Knock, knock, knock.

He never expected her to get up on the second try.

Knock, knock, knock.

By now, even the person next to her should be waking up….

Alexei took a deep breath, afraid of how his boiling irritation might burst out otherwise.

He was the proper heir and Young Duke of his house, wasn’t he? Yet this was what he had to do?

Just before his shoulders, puffed up with his inhalation, slumped, he heard a mumbling sound from inside.

Right, someone had heard. He was relieved that today hadn’t ended with banging on the door in frustration, and once more knocked with concise gestures.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Your Highness.”

Knock, knock, knock.

“It’s Alexei.”

Knock, knock, knock.

“May I come in?”

And then, suddenly.

To think this was his first task… truly…. His face was crumpled with humiliation as Alexei strode into the room.

Although the sun was high outside, heavy blackout curtains made it seem as if he had entered a completely different time zone. On nights like this, the scented candles his lord burned left a hazy smoke, making the atmosphere somewhat dreamy.

And the clothes scattered carelessly on the floor….

The oppressive room reeked with a pungent scent, as if to prove that a passionate affair had taken place last night.

Though Alexei was a virgin, he could not help but know what that smell meant. He tried not to breathe deeply and stopped a bit away from the bed.

And on the bed, two intertwined shades of skin.

Alexei’s tired face twisted in discomfort.

“Your Highness, please wake up. It’s nearly noon.”

“Mm, Lexie. Are you here?”

“You have a luncheon meeting with the Mage Tower Master today.”

“Ah, right, right….”

With that mumble, a slender arm popped out from under the cloud-like duvet on the wide bed.

Yawn, stretching languidly, Alexei’s lord sat up with drowsy eyes blinking.

Her rosy eyes flickered slowly.

Along the edges of her eyelids, silver lashes fluttered like her hair, and Alexei stared for a while.

That movement, like the gentle fluttering of a butterfly’s wings…. He was mesmerized, unable to look away.

Once his gaze dropped, it slid down her face.

A sharp nose, dainty and plump lips.

A delicate jawline leading to a smooth neck, slender shoulders, straight collarbones, milky skin beneath, streaked with rose-colored marks, and….

Only then did Alexei manage to pull his gaze away.

“Please put something on.”

With a stiff face, Alexei picked up the silk robe crumpled on the floor and held it out to her. He spread it at a height convenient for her to slip her arms through.

Unable to bear seeing his lord’s bare body, he turned his head toward the door.

“So thoughtful.”

With that brief reply, his lord stepped out of bed and slipped her feet into slippers, calmly threading her arms through the robe Alexei held. The feel of the robe’s hem brushing his fingers and the soft sound as she moved filled his ears; even without looking, Alexei could picture the scene, and his face crumpled even more.

“Did you wait long?”

“The Mage Tower Master will be waiting a long time. I told you yesterday to be moderate, since today is important.”

“Sorry. Marquis Wolf’s wine at last night’s banquet was too delicious, and before I knew it…”

Saying so, Alexei’s lord wrapped her arms around his. Reflexively, he turned his head, and saw her bright smile, trying to calm him.

The plump skin under her eyes made her gaze sweetly round, and her cheeks glowed rosy above her short dimples.

Gulp, Alexei swallowed dryly without realizing.

The Empire’s Second Princess, Avgenia Ronchilati e Gronov. Since Alexei started visiting the palace as her companion at age five, she had been the beautiful tyrant who held his life in her hands.

“Are you angry?”

Avgenia furrowed her brows, deepening her dimples.

Alexei’s throat bobbed.

Her smile was clearly meant to soften his anger….

His gaze inevitably drifted down her smooth neck and the marks left by lips. Had she done it on purpose, she had tied her silk robe loosely, so below her collarbones….

He struggled to lift his gaze, which kept wanting to go lower, and saw her chest pressed against his arm, swelling beneath the open front.

No, he didn’t even need to look. He couldn’t help but notice the feel of her chest pressed against his arm….

‘Really, every time… Why is she so defenseless?’

Was he really that harmless to her?

Childhood friends, so he wasn’t even seen as a man.

Yet with others….

Alexei hardened his face, trying to forget all those improper sensations, and turned his head again.

“That’s enough. Please just get ready.”

Speaking curtly, Alexei pulled the bell cord. The waiting maids and handmaids carrying bathwater hurried in and headed to the side room.

Cute, Avgenia retorted, then walked lightly into the side room and disappeared.

“……Ha.”

A deep sigh escaped Alexei’s lips.

Now, only the worst part of this awful routine remained.

He slumped his shoulders and approached Avgenia’s bed.

“Wake up.”

“…….”

“I know you’re awake.”

The man who had warmed Avgenia’s bed last night lay face down as if deeply asleep, not moving at all.

Since Alexei had heard mumbling from outside, it was clear the man was awake, just pretending to be asleep at the arrival of a stranger.

Well, he had seen more than a hundred men act this way. Alexei suppressed his familiar urge to resign and bent over, speaking quietly.

“Her Highness Avgenia never spends a second night with any man, so if you don’t disappear before she returns from her bath, you’ll have no chance at compensation.”

“…Ah, I’m awake, I’m awake.”

“…….”

Alexei resisted the urge to use his privilege as a direct heir of the Duchy of Ramantus to deal with the man on the spot, even within the Imperial Palace.

As the Empire’s most noble unmarried woman, Second Princess Avgenia attracted men of all ranks who sought her company at night. Though the princess never refused them, all such encounters were strictly one-time affairs.

Ensuring these meetings remained one-time was one of Alexei’s main duties as Avgenia’s chief aide.

While the man dressed, Alexei turned his back and recited lines he’d spoken more than a hundred times over the past few years, like a wind-up doll.

“Basically, you’ll receive one million Lamts for signing a confidentiality oath not to speak of your night with Her Highness Avgenia, but if you need other terms, state them now.”

“If, by any chance, Her Highness becomes pregnant….”

“Did you dare spill your seed? Then unfortunately, you’ll have to settle for five hundred thousand Lamts.”

“I-I didn’t know there was such a clause…!”

“Be sure.”

“That didn’t actually happen….”

Alexei gave a small, derisive laugh.

It was obvious. Men like him were everywhere.

Because Avgenia’s affairs were so frequent, men sometimes tried to claim paternity if the princess ever had a child.

‘Her Highness is not one to leave succession issues unresolved. She even spent her own fortune to have the Mage Tower develop magical contraceptive devices under the pretense of population policy interest….’

Alexei felt a strange surge of loyalty to his lord, his eyes growing hot.

Yes. That’s why the Second Princess of Gronlant, so earnest in her wild lifestyle, was his lord….

His misery spilled over onto the man, and Alexei questioned him sharply.

“Then what other compensation are you hoping for?”

“I-I didn’t come for that….”

Though he clearly had, he now pretended to be virtuous. Alexei sneered at the man’s obvious act and glanced at him.

The man had a decent face, but from his attitude and bearing, he was likely just bourgeois. He must have known that Avgenia offered hush money or other benefits to men she spent the night with.

“Did you perhaps discuss business with her at the bedside?”

“I swear, never for that reason…!”

“If you did, say so now. If not, take your check and leave through that door. Remember, if you don’t inform me, nothing is agreed.”

Alexei gestured toward the small drawing room connected to Avgenia’s chambers.

There, a palace sorcerer waited to administer a mild spell, ensuring men would not indiscreetly speak of their night with the princess.

The bourgeois man hesitated at Alexei’s cold words, then finally confessed.

“My, my jewelry shop’s new line… Her Highness agreed to wear it during the Harvest Festival….”

Ah, so he was another parasite who approached the most noble and beautiful woman in Gronlant to use her as a half-day model.

Alexei’s blue eyes flashed as he looked the man over.

Anyone and everyone, so shameless….

As the silence stretched, the man glanced nervously at Alexei and sucked in a sharp breath.