Aris looked up. The face of the man she had been imagining in her mind was right there above her, very clearly.

Starting from his sharp jawline that looked as if it had been delicately carved, her gaze moved up a bit to see his flawless skin and closed pink lips, past his high nose bridge to his pure eyes framed by thick eyelashes.

Aris blinked slowly with a hazy mind.

‘Why is this person in front of me?’

Could this be another dream? When did I fall asleep…..

She thought this, not even realizing that he had caught her as she was about to fall.

Kalaian’s brow furrowed slightly as he observed Aris, who was just looking up at him silently while leaning against him. He spoke with a small sigh.

“Miss Eldeiz. You’ve had too much to drink.”

“……Me?”

“I’ll call Miss Roche. You should go back and rest now.”

At his gentle low voice, Aris opened her curious eyes wide.

“You know…… Belle? She’s my friend.”

“……”

Kalaian didn’t answer, looking at her unfocused eyes before scanning the surroundings. Although it was a secluded corner of the banquet hall, if he kept holding her like this, it might cause unintended rumors.

He wanted to avoid being entangled with her like this. Because that’s what Aristena wanted, and if she wanted it, he had no choice but to comply.

Kalaian looked around for a while trying to find Belle Roche. But Aris’s close friend was nowhere to be seen. It was truly perplexing, as he couldn’t even take his eyes off her for a moment.

There was a time when he was reluctant to even touch her, and if this was back then, he would have called a servant to take care of her.

Because back then, if he touched Aristena, she would surely…..

“Belle isn’t here. She left me behind and went off…… having fun with her lover……”

Kalaian looked down at her mumbling words.

Aris was fidgeting with her fingers, her head lowered dejectedly. He could see her golden eyelashes lowered and her lips sticking out in a pout.

Kalaian unknowingly let out a short laugh. She had been drinking alone continuously from afar, and now she seemed terribly drunk. Not even realizing who she was acting like this in front of.

“Miss Eldeiz. Can you make it back to where you’re staying?”

At his words, Aris raised her head and stared at him blankly. Then suddenly, she frowned sharply and made a face like an angry squirrel.

“……Do you think I can’t even go home by myself? Why do you keep looking down on me?”

“That’s not what I……”

“I’m not stupid!”

Aris sharply pushed away Kalaian’s arm. Surprised, he let go, but soon had to catch Aris again as she staggered.

Aris kept huffing. Kalaian looked around with a bewildered feeling and left the banquet hall through a nearby door. All the while, Aris continued to be irritable.

He even tried really letting go when she kept insisting to leave her alone, but she would immediately stagger as if about to collapse.

“I’ll just take you to a nearby room, so please just for a moment……”

“Don’t, meddle with me……! Isn’t that what you’re good at?!”

She just wouldn’t listen to reason. In the end, he wrapped his arm around Aris’s shoulders as she thrashed about in his arms and put his arm under her knees to lift her up.

“Let go……! I hate you……!”

Aris flailed her arms and legs, struggling. Afraid he might drop her like this, he held her tightly and quickly crossed the corridor. He had heard there were several empty rooms somewhere around here where guests could stay.

As Kalaian silently kept walking without any reaction, Aris bit her lip hard. She lowered her head deeply.

“I hate you. I hate you so much……. Why do you keep appearing in my dreams. And then why do you keep ignoring me. I have feelings too….. It hurts when I’m ignored……”

Listening silently to her voice mixed with sobs, Kalaian found an empty room and opened the door. He sat Aris down on a low table that was right nearby.

In the dark room with the lights off. In a place where the only light was moonlight coming through the open window, Kalaian looked down at Aris intently.

Aris stopped struggling as soon as she was out of his arms. She looked at him, sniffling. An innocent, delicate face with a tearful expression.

Kalaian spoke with a complicated feeling that was hard to describe.

“I understand that you hate me.”

“……”

“You should rest now.”

It was when Kalaian turned to leave.

Thud. Aris kicked his shin hard. Even though it was barely enough to tickle, Kalaian stopped and looked at her.

As if she really wasn’t in her right mind, Aris not only kicked the Crown Prince but was even glaring at him with displeasure.

“……You’re bad.”

He was about to speak but recognizing that Aris’s eyes, sunken in darkness, were glistening, he hesitated.

“You’re always like this. Why, even in dreams…… do you not look at me at all?”

Dreams. Aris’s hazy eyes and parted lips were saying that this moment was a dream.

Aris’s exposed shoulders trembled faintly. Kalaian looked at her figure while holding his breath. Aris spoke pitifully with a trembling voice.

“Why do you always think as you please? You said you don’t know anything about me, so why do you always judge me as you want?”

Kalaian remained silent.

Aris thought this was truly a strange dream and lowered her gaze. Despite it being a dream, it summoned someone she didn’t want, and on top of that, it wasn’t going as she wished.

When it came to Kalaian, even in dreams, Aris lost her free will.

Please, whether in dreams or reality, just disappear from my sight. I really hate you.

“……I’m sorry.”

Hearing the sudden apology, her eyes slightly widened and she raised her head.

A careful warmth touched her cheek. His touch wiped away the moisture gathered in her eyes.

“I was wrong.”

Aris met Kalaian’s eyes. His eyes, hidden behind thick eyelashes, were mixed with intense emotions.

“This really is…… a dream, isn’t it.”

Unless it was a dream, there’s no way he would apologize to her. Maybe in her past life, but the current Kalaian had no reason to apologize to her.

And he wasn’t the kind of person to apologize to her anyway.

Feeling as if her body was floating, Aris fumbled for his hand that was cupping her cheek. It was warm, but somehow it felt unreal.

If this was really a dream. If it had nothing to do with reality.

Could she, even for a moment, not suppress these feelings? These terribly awful and foolish emotions of hers……

Even if just for a very short while.

“Your Majesty…… please kiss me.”

His hand hesitated at Aris’s desperate and timid words. She leaned her cheek into his hand, pleading even more to not lose his faint warmth.

“Please like me, even if just a little. Please, love me……”

His thumb gently rubbed her cheek. Aris slowly closed her eyes. Her light eyelashes fell like a curtain, swallowing her green eyes.

Aris quietly raised her head, hoping for his kiss. If her eyelashes hadn’t been trembling finely, one might have thought she had fallen asleep like this.

Kalaian, who had been silent all along, wrapped his other hand around Aris’s shoulder. Her eyebrows twitched slightly.

“……It’s already enough.”

His hot breath suddenly came closer. But unlike Aris’s dreamlike expectation, the soft sensation touched very carefully.

Aris, lost in intoxication, slightly parted her lips and actively wrapped her arms around his neck. Then, his kiss, which seemed to be lightly touching at first, began to gradually deepen.

It felt like her mind was turning completely white. The heat in their interlocking lips gently stirred inside her mouth, then rushed in like a torrent.

She didn’t want to let this go. Even though she knew this was a dream. Even though she remembered her countless vows to no longer love him……

With just one kiss from him in the dream, everything crumbled helplessly.

Smack. With a wet sound of friction, their lips parted. Aris looked up at the man, catching her breath. His eyes, which always looked elsewhere, were now solely focused on her.

Aris smiled as if she was about to cry in that ecstasy. This dream was too lovely for an illusion.

“Your Majesty…… please hold me. Just this once, please hold me……”

Once again, Kalaian’s lips descended upon Aris. In the heat that felt like melting, Aris slowly lost strength throughout her body.

* * *

That person appeared in Aris’s dream. Moreover, in a considerably youthful appearance.

Although it was a figure much younger than now, Aris could still see his sturdy and broad back in her view.

Aris, who had been following closely while holding the boy’s hand tightly, stopped sniffling and timidly opened her mouth.

“Um…… can’t you tell me your name?”

“……Why do you need to know.”

“Because you saved me…… I want to repay you. For that, I need to know your name……”

Her words were hesitant. The boy stopped and turned around. Amidst the horribly collapsed ruins, he looked down at Aris intently.

His eyes resembled the violets that bloomed in clusters in front of her house. But they lacked the vitality of flowers. They were only full of inexplicably heavy emotions.

“……Kalaian.”

The name that came on his elegant pronunciation felt cold and stern, like his hair.

Kalaian.

The nine-year-old Aris remembered that name. The name of the savior who was like a beam of light she encountered at the end of her life. The name of that wonderful hero who saved her.

The dream that closely resembled Aris’s distant memory ended like that.

Aris, intoxicated by the lingering dream, slowly opened her eyes. The resounding bell of the grand cathedral could be heard from afar.

‘……This building, they definitely placed it in the wrong location.’

Frowning as her head throbbed and her body ached, she blinked to focus her eyes. And what came into view was…..

“Gasp……”

Unbelievably, it was Kalaian.

……Oh my goodness.