Epilogue.3

“Why?”

“So, right now…”

“Wouldn’t it be best to make those wild rumors come true?”

“Avi.”

“Is there any more definite proof than this?”

She was suggesting they have s*x without the contraceptive magic device, risking an accident. Even if Duke Ramantus was strict, if he got a princess pregnant, there’d be no way out.

“Didn’t you promise the Mage Tower Master?”

“We’ve done it like this for a month and nothing happened.”

“But the promise was for six months. If you finish that, you can mass-produce the device next year as planned. And you’ve built good relations with the Mage Tower, so you should maintain that. Connections are assets.”

Avgenia was annoyed by her lover’s sudden shift to aide mode.

Alexei, who’d watched Avgenia closely for nearly twenty years, couldn’t miss this. Her eyes turned a bit sulky, lips stuck out, and her cheeks puffed pink.

Finding it all adorable, Alexei smiled and took the device from Avgenia’s hand, fastening it again.

What to do with this tyrant who never says “I love you,” but is desperate to marry quickly.

“And, Avi.”

Click, the hinge closed with a finality.

“I dare to ask for your whole life. I don’t want to use tricks.”

‘You are someone who deserves to be wrapped in the rarest jewels mined from the deepest Gron Mountains and the finest southern silk. No one would dare speak lightly about the marriage between the Imperial Family and Ramantus, but even in private, no one should utter nonsense. For the sake of peace with your only family, your sister, you’re someone who would throw your own reputation in the gutter without care. Maybe my birth, the wealth and power of Ramantus, was meant for you.’

Alexei softly cupped Avgenia’s cheek.

“The body I gave to win you is also a body that works itself to the bone. So please, leave my father to me.”

Then, wrapping his hand around her neck, he pulled her in for a deep kiss.

It wasn’t a tongue-twisting, breathless kiss, but Avgenia’s face was deeply flushed as she pulled away.

Alexei knew this was the affection his beloved tyrant was showing.

“…My mood’s ruined.”

“Mood can always be restored.”

Alexei smiled gently. Despite his calm face, his hands slipped under Avgenia’s skirt again, stroking her deepest thighs. His shaft, wrapped in her skirt, had never truly gone soft.

“And.”

“Mm, hmm…”

“You’re not ready enough.”

Sliding along her groin, finally reaching her s*x. Squish, his hand entered, and a wet sound echoed.

“Just being wet isn’t enough, Avi.”

“Ah, mm.”

“No matter how much you beg me to put it in, because I seduced you so well…”

He stroked her inside with three fingers, feeling the plump walls, while his other hand teased her cl*toris.

Avgenia’s hand gripped his shoulder tightly.

“Mm, but, mm, you said you’d only do what I like…”

“Of course.”

“Your body’s so tight, I feel like I could finish just by putting it in… Ah!”

Even as he teased her inside and out, Avgenia continued with a flushed face. Just as she finished, Alexei traced from her entrance up to her cl*toris in one long stroke.

When his hand paused, Avgenia, regaining composure, flashed him a mischievous, cat-like gaze.

“Today, I want to do it with a lover who’s so excited he can’t even wait to tease me.”

“…Ah.”

“If you don’t like it, just take the device off.”

As if he could refuse.

A brief smile flickered on Alexei’s nose, then he stood up, holding Avgenia.

“L-Lexie?”

As her view suddenly rose, Avgenia looked around in surprise, and soon felt the hard wood behind her.

It was Alexei’s desk. Always neatly organized, it had enough space for Avgenia to lie down.

On the dark wood, Avgenia lay with her silver hair spread out. Her pale, flushed lover was commanding him to enter her right now… In that scene, Alexei had to struggle to hold back his climax.

Alexei leaned over the desk on his arms, bending his waist. His broad shoulders, backlit by the ceiling lights, seemed even wider.

“If it’s about getting excited just seeing you, no one’s better than me.”

Flattened against her, he growled low in Avgenia’s ear.

“I’ve imagined laying you on my desk and having my way with you every morning before work.”

He’d spent four years trying to forget that, and for about a fifth of that time, Avgenia hadn’t shown up until midday because she’d been with another man. Whether he saw her or not, he imagined her in his bed, always keeping the fire alive.

And now, the enchantress who ruled his life was in his arms.

“Oh, so that day too.”

“Yes. Do you know how hard it was to resist, seeing you on my desk? And then you even talked about oral…”

“That’s why I told you to try it.”

Avgenia giggled. That giggle quickly turned into breathy moans as kisses rained down her neck.

Chok, chok, cho-ok, his lips reached the deepest part of her neckline. He started to untie the ribbon at her collar, then paused to ask,

“What about your clothes?”

“It’s the office, so isn’t it more exciting to do it dressed?”

“As you wish.”

Alexei aimed himself at her s*x. Her juices, already flowing, mixed with his prec*m in an instant.

“…Mm!”

And as he thrust in, Avgenia was overwhelmed by the fullness, and Alexei by her tight walls, so neither could form proper words.

With Alexei’s thrusts, the sound of the desk rattling filled Avgenia’s office. Soon, moans and wet sounds joined in.

* * *

The marriage proposal signed by Duke Ivanov of Ramantus arrived at the Gronov Imperial Family as the autumn social season ended. The Senate said Ramantus had held out well, but whether that referred to the father or the son depended on who you asked.

People wanted to see the great couple at official events, but that didn’t happen right away. Since it was a marriage between Ramantus and the Imperial Family, the ceremony couldn’t be rushed, and with the excuse of preparing for the next year’s social season, the newlyweds slipped away to Ramantus territory as soon as the Emperor approved.

Even then, the wedding wasn’t held that spring. The honeymoon of the Young Master and his bride was so sweet that, after postponing their return to the Imperial City again and again, news arrived first that the Young Master’s bride was expecting an heir.

People couldn’t confirm any of it, so no one believed anything. Since the Young Master had been his bride’s closest aide before marriage, many gossiped that it was suspicious to marry after seeing all her debauchery.

The belated wedding of the Young Master and his bride was held grandly in the Imperial City only after he poured all his power and wealth into making sure no one dared gossip.

Meanwhile, the palace shaman who had served long in the Western Palace transferred to Ramantus, but no one knew what that meant.

Thus, the only ones who could speak of the Young Master’s bride’s unmarried days were the more than a hundred men who later confessed nothing had happened, despite pretending to serve her at night.

For example, the bourgeois man who, during the Harvest Festival, begged her to try his jewelry store’s new products as pillow talk, only to pay another million lamt to break the deal.

With no one left to sing about it, the smoke from the chimney became smoke without fire, as it always does.

And so, the pure love of Ramantus’s heir spread far and wide throughout Gronlant.

All of it, just as his beloved tyrant wished.

〈What You Like, Your Highness〉 Fin