Tatiana sensed something ominous in that smile.

Her intuition wasn’t wrong. He devoured the chocolate in her hand in one bite, fingers and all.

“Ugh, what are you doing!”

The sensation of his tongue tip was extremely ticklish. She felt embarrassed by the “chup” sound that echoed through the room.

Tatiana belatedly tried to pull her fingers away, but he wouldn’t let go. And the more embarrassed she became, the more explicit sounds he made.

Only after thoroughly licking every bit of the chocolate, which had begun to melt from his hot body temperature, did he release her hand. Then, wiping his mouth, he whispered,

“Titi, this is what happens when you play tricks carelessly.”

“Ugh, how dirty.”

“What is? My mouth? My saliva?”

Gideon chuckled, asking how she managed to kiss him then, and if she had been enduring it all this time.

Tatiana exclaimed with an “Ugh!”

“No! My hand!”

“Ah. Then I should properly clean it again.”

Tatiana recoiled in horror and hid her hand behind her back. She roughly understood what he meant by cleaning it.

Meanwhile, words like “stop that” and “no violence” flowed from her mouth.

Gideon kept chuckling at her words but still managed to catch her hand. And instead of bringing it to his mouth, he wiped it with the edge of his clothes. Thoroughly, each joint and between every fingerprint.

“Sorry. I don’t have a handkerchief right now.”

Feeling awkward, Tatiana said,

“……I can wash it later. No, if you were going to wipe it, you should have said so.”

“I did. I said I would clean it.”

“That wasn’t the nuance earlier.”

It wasn’t this straightforward, she thought. You were looking at me in such a suggestive way!

Tatiana rolled her eyes but eventually laughed.

She hadn’t anticipated that the prank she casually started to tease her husband would flow in such an embarrassing and childish direction.

Gideon, who had been shrugging his shoulders, reached for the basket. Then, just as Tatiana had done earlier, he unwrapped a chocolate and popped it into her mouth.

After confirming that she was chewing, he rummaged through the basket again and looked at Tatiana. He wanted to ask which one she liked among them, encouraging her to choose directly this time.

However, Tatiana made a somewhat ambiguous expression and then turned her gaze to the snowy window outside.

From that ambiguous smile, he noticed something.

“You don’t really want to eat this now, do you?”

“……How did you know?”

“Your face shows you’re not very keen.”

Tatiana nodded and belatedly confessed,

“Yes. Actually, I don’t usually snack at night.”

“Then you should have said so from the beginning.”

“It’s fun. The significance is in having tried this with Your Highness.”

Gideon set the basket aside and laughed. It was a smile of understanding.

In truth, Gideon didn’t enjoy snacking either. He too had only found meaning in having tried this with Tatiana. It felt much better than he had expected.

He moved closer to Tatiana and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Together they admired the northern landscape covered with snow.

The snowfield, glittering white in the moonlight, was surreally beautiful. Perhaps even more surreal was the day they had spent together.

During the day, they confronted terrifying monsters, and at night, they whispered to each other while embracing. Outside they shivered with cold, but melted in each other’s body heat.

It was a sweet yet savage daily life. A time like chocolate.

* * *

The snow that had stopped during the night began to fall again when morning came.

Tatiana thought anew that the northern region was truly a difficult place for people to live. If more snow accumulated, they would likely be isolated from the outside.

Fortunately, the assassins Gideon had planted in the center of Valter brought news from the capital before that happened.

They were people who would break through regardless of any natural disaster. However, the news they brought instantly made the meeting atmosphere heavy.

“It seems His Majesty the King has passed away.”

Gideon frowned and sharply questioned,

“Are you certain?”

“A few days ago, the atmosphere in the palace was strangely chaotic, and two doctors were summoned to His Majesty’s chambers. And the next day…… they were found murdered in their homes.”

“Both of them?”

“Yes. There has been no official announcement yet.”

The doctors being found as corpses meant that something had happened that required silencing. It was clearly related to the king’s well-being.

The speculation that the king had passed away was entirely plausible given the circumstances.

People watched Gideon and his sister’s reactions without even daring to breathe. Everyone knew they weren’t particularly close, but they were still blood relatives of the king.

Scarlet, ignoring everyone’s gaze, lowered her eyes and offered a brief moment of silence. She seemed to have already accepted the assassin’s words as fact.

However, when she opened her eyes again, her expression was relatively composed. Though there was a hint of bitterness, it was difficult to find any trace of sorrow or grief.

Gideon was even more cold-blooded than his sister. He continued questioning as if there were still mountains of issues that needed to be confirmed.

“Is there any talk about forcing ahead with the coronation?”

“We haven’t detected any signs of that.”

If the king had died while Gideon was still in the royal palace, it would have been extremely advantageous for him. In fact, the battle would have ended at that very moment.

But for this to happen right after he left the castle…

If by any chance the Queen forced through a coronation, and if his younger brother wore the crown even temporarily, the situation would become complicated.

Although they could later prove the coronation itself invalid, it would undoubtedly be troublesome in many ways.

However, Tatiana believed that a coronation without Gideon would never succeed. She had a feeling that Vaikal would ultimately refuse the crown.

On the night they left the royal palace, she had sensed a certain determination in Vaikal. Something was clearly different from his usual gentle demeanor.

But hasty speculation was dangerous, and the capital’s situation seemed like wandering through thick fog. Since there had been no official announcement, it was still the current king’s reign.

The moderate nobles were observing the situation, unable to determine what the royal family’s true intentions were. In contrast, the nobles supporting Gideon were moving more actively. Some had already brought their private armies to join the northern forces—a wise decision.

If Gideon didn’t win this fight, they wouldn’t be able to save their lives anyway. In that case, quickly aligning themselves with him and establishing merit would be a choice beneficial for their future.

The principality’s army, the northern army, the private forces of influential noble houses, and the allied forces that would be sent from Fullman.

Gideon had already secured a considerable number of troops. Yet he wasn’t satisfied with this.

“What happened with the request for cooperation from the Central Army Commander?”

Gideon intended to exclude the Western and Southern armies from this matter as long as the situation didn’t worsen. Their help would be to diligently guard the borders.

But the Central Army was different. For soldiers to enter the capital, they would have to pass through checkpoints guarded by them.

Gideon had forced the Central Army Commander to make a choice, Would he be the Queen’s shield or Gideon’s sword? The moment he became the Queen’s shield, he would surely be trampled under Gideon’s army.

“Your Highness’s intentions were conveyed, but he seemed somewhat confused.”

“Why now?”

“It appears the Queen’s side also sent an official document with similar content. And it also had the royal seal stamped on it.”

That one statement explained what confused the Central Army Commander.

Both sides were saying “stand with me” with different claims, but both letters had the same royal seal stamped on them. It was understandable to be confused.

“They’ve already forged it.”

Since they have the genuine article, what the other side possessed was obviously a counterfeit.

But how could they prove it in the current situation? Should they go and show it directly to the Central Army Commander’s face?

Gideon snickered, and at that moment, Princess Scarlet, an expert in protocol, suddenly stepped forward.

“Make a bigger issue out of it. Let’s verify the royal seal with nobles and military commanders as witnesses. The Magic Tower should oversee something like this.”

Tatiana, who had been listening quietly, nodded in agreement.

The Magic Tower also needed justification to break precedent. This was not just for the Magic Tower but for the royal family as well.

If they started intervening in politics without any justification, it would eventually become a great burden for Gideon too. It might even become a fatal threat to the stability of the royal family in the future.

The Queen, who possessed the forgery, would obviously refuse the verification process. And that would provide justification for the Magic Tower and moderate nobles to support the First Prince.

Tatiana pondered if there were any additional requests they should make to the Magic Tower. It might be good to ask them to dispatch a few mages to the north to help resolve the monster situation. After all, they could pass through gates without any restrictions.