Caleb moistened his dry lips and, after hesitating several times, painfully recounted the conversation he had with Greg.

Rudbeckia responded in a flat voice, as if she had known all along.

“I told you that would be the case.”

“I guess so……”

His voice sounded as if everything had crashed down. She thought his black eyes under that arm must be submerged in the depths of the sea. His voice was just as drenched.

“Compensate…… me……”

Caleb spoke as he dropped his unsteady right hand close to her.

Though she couldn’t hear clearly, Rudbeckia immediately understood what Caleb wanted as compensation.

Rudbeckia slowly took Caleb’s right hand that had been thrown near her.

And quietly placed her lips on the back of his hand.

Until the end of the banquet, Caleb had used this hand to escort Elfleda, to hold the hands of noble young ladies who wanted greetings, and to kiss the backs of their hands.

Under the words “victorious general” and “newly ennobled,” he couldn’t even leave in the middle but had to use this hand to wrap around Elfleda’s waist while dancing, and to hold the hands and waists of women whose names he wouldn’t even remember.

As she continued to kiss only the back of his hand, Caleb moved his fingers to touch Rudbeckia’s lips.

Rudbeckia didn’t reject this movement and kissed each of his five fingers one by one, including the one that touched her.

‘Greg and my so-called father…… By the way, what did he change his name to? He must still be a duke.’

Since entering the Pergos Empire, she had diligently searched for her birth father, Diego. She had heard he opened the gates after being promised a ducal position. So he should be a duke… but among the four dukes, no, five including Greg, there was no one named Diego.

If he had changed his name, it meant she would have to look at the faces of all the dukes one by one.

“Ungh—.”

While thinking about Diego, whom she found disgusting to even call father, she unconsciously ground her teeth and bit Caleb’s finger.

As she tried to open her mouth to apologize, his finger entered again and pressed down on her tongue.

Ah. This was an unexpected action.

The finger pressing firmly on her tongue began to move slightly.

Rudbeckia didn’t know what to do and remained still with her lips slightly parted, allowing the movement.

— Slurp…

When she tried to swallow saliva, her lips naturally closed, causing her to suck deeply on Caleb’s finger.

At that moment, the flow of air subtly changed.

Rudbeckia wondered if the single glass of wine she had drunk was extremely strong. Suddenly her mind felt empty, and her breathing became slightly rough.

Caleb used the left arm that had been covering his eyes to push Rudbeckia down as she sat beside him playing with his fingers.

Then he inserted another finger into her mouth.

“Do you know how many hands I kissed today?”

His black eyes shone frighteningly as if they would devour Rudbeckia.

Rough breathing accompanied by the smell of strong alcohol.

Rudbeckia thought he hadn’t drunk because he wanted to, but so that he could rinse his mouth, like he’s trying to erase the residual sensation on his lips.

‘It must have been terrible enough to touch their skin, but using your lips to touch them… how much more terrible must it have been.’

As if having made some decision, she put her arms around Caleb’s neck.

Then she strongly pulled his neck, forcing his rigid arm to bend.

She pushed away his finger with the tip of her tongue and replaced it with his lips that had touched the backs of many women’s hands.

Surprised when their lips actually met, Caleb tensed his neck to pull away. Was it right to take the lips of the woman he loved in this way?

But Rudbeckia strongly grabbed his hair and pulled him toward her as if to say this was fine. With both the back of his head and nape held, Caleb couldn’t escape no matter how much strength he used.

Meanwhile, the tip of Rudbeckia’s tongue licked every part of his lips.

Seemingly determined to leave no trace except her own saliva, she left her mark in every corner.

Then she parted his teeth and wrapped around his tongue.

At that moment, Caleb, who had been determined not to move at all, roughly devoured her lips, and the two exchanged breaths.

They repeatedly inhaled and exhaled air filled with the strong scent of whiskey.

The tip of their tongues moved powerfully, and with excited panting, the inside of their mouths became moist.

Hot steam and rough breathing erupted between their interlocked tongues and lips.

— Drip, drip…

Caleb suddenly came to his senses at Rudbeckia’s faint moan.

Tears fell from her eyes.

He truly didn’t want to take her lips like this.

“Why…… are you crying?”

Rudbeckia didn’t understand the meaning of the tears that fell on her cheek, and Caleb felt like a beast.

These were lips he should have taken after properly conveying his feelings and receiving her consent.

He didn’t want to take them so unfeelingly, like completing a task. He wanted to take them with more love, with heart, to convey those feelings to each other—tenderly, lovingly, preciously.

Not like this, like he was trying to vent his irritation and anger.

Caleb rose without answering.

“Ah, I’m sorry. This…… was a mistake.”

He wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

“A mistake? Cal… don’t put it that way…. This is…… let’s just think of it as a ritual. A ritual to purify each other. That day when I first came using a honey trap, if you hadn’t placed your lips on me, I probably would have continued to think of myself as dirty.”

Rudbeckia spoke hesitantly in a somewhat flustered voice.

“What! That’s a strategy found even in military tactics! It’s an operation!”

When Caleb spoke in a firm and clear voice, Rudbeckia immediately smiled brightly as if she had expected that answer.

“Yes. I know. Your lips completed that strategy and operation. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have thought of what I did as a honey trap, but would have considered my actions and myself dirty. Your lips completed me.”

Rudbeckia also rose from the bed and sat up straight.

“So. Cal, you also used a honey trap at the banquet, right? Saying things you didn’t mean, smiling all the time. I just completed your honey trap with a purification ritual. How does it feel? Your impressions right after completing the operation?”

She asked, tilting her head. Her voice and expression seemed quite cute.

And his heart ached. Couldn’t they just express this as affectionate skinship between loving partners without calling it a ritual or whatever?

But in childhood, Rudbeckia had considered emotions like romance or love as either a luxury or something to be despised until the day she achieved revenge for her mother.

Ah, it had been… many years since he had asked that question… Had her heart changed?

Caleb momentarily felt the urge to ask questions about marriage and life after marriage again, but he swallowed down. Fearing he might create trouble where there was none.

“My impression is that it was terrible, but now it’s not. I think the legacy my mother left is amazing.”

Caleb adjusted his posture and lightly pinched Rudbeckia’s cheek.

He had learned about honey traps from Grand Duchess Yuli Sanders long ago. Perfect acting. Victory that minimizes bloodshed. Reading people’s expressions, understanding psychology, and capturing hearts.

However, he hadn’t thought that his smiling at the banquet until his cheeks cramped was a honey trap. He had only thought of it as a clown’s smile.

That terrible memory was cleanly transformed by Rudbeckia’s words.

How could he not love her?

“Heh. Master Yuli must be pleased too. Oh! Cal, shall I tell you some good news?”

They were close enough to see the sparkle in each other’s pupils. Her unwavering eyes were filled with a fierce determination, like a tiger’s eyes just before hunting its prey.

“Mother’s dying wish. To find the Ring of Light, the treasure of the Glimm royal family.”

“I know. You’ve told me often since we were children.”

Rudbeckia recounted her mother’s dying wish again in an excited voice. The clear image of her mother, pierced by several arrows and finally a spear, momentarily choked her.

“The castle in Finis territory is the old castle of the Glimm royal family.”