Wasn’t it a day to have fun, doing things that wouldn’t be embarrassing even if it was the next day?

‘This is incredibly embarrassing!’

Although she had shared a bedroom with Hades until now, and his face was the first thing she saw every morning, today, the atmosphere was clearly different.

‘Ah, I should have just kept my eyes closed!’

While continuing to keep her eyes tightly closed, she considered whether she should just keep them closed.

While still thinking about it, movements were felt from the other side.

His touch grabbed Latifa’s shoulder and turned her around, and she ended up in a position where she was leaning against him.

Although the sensation on her back was duller than in other places, the rough muscles of his chest and abdomen against her back…

‘Oh gods. Please only send trials that I can bear.’

“By doing this, you should be able to open your eyes. Isn’t it as agonizing as keeping your eyes closed when you’re awake?”

In Hades’ voice that sounded like he had rested all night, Latifa could only tightly pull the edge of the silk blanket around her.

Whether it was awkward or whether he was exceptionally skillful, his attitude was completely indistinguishable.

“Is your throat dry, by any chance?”

Feeling his robust arms tightening around her lower belly, Latifa answered in a whisper.

“…a little.”

Latifa’s voice was almost as hoarse as Hades’, seemingly stuck in a half-asleep state.

“Can you endure a little longer? You probably don’t want to move right now.”

‘Then why did you ask?’

Still puzzled by Hades’ strange behavior, Latifa said a little bluntly.

“I didn’t feel like moving either.”

Along with her response, his lips tickled her earlobe.

While it didn’t go as far as making kissing sounds, it felt like the gentle fluttering of small canaries, greeting each other every morning by pecking their beaks.

“Listening to you made me suddenly want to move.”
With that whisper, as Hades subtly exerted more force while hugging her lower abdomen, Latifa grabbed his wrist and let out a crying sound as warmth returned to her back.

“Ugh, I don’t want to move at all. Actually, it’s even difficult to open my eyes.”

In response to her words, Hades’s hand, which had been tickling her abdomen, regrettably moved up and lightly touched her eyelids.

“Alright. Let’s touch them. Your eyes have swelled up like a lizard’s eyes. Ah, I know why they swelled up.”

While jokingly touching her eyelids from behind, he chuckled, and Latifa, feeling her face flush, brushed away his hand.

“I don’t feel like playing around. It’s really exhausting.”

“Hmm, is it because of what you drank yesterday?”

He muttered something softly, but Latifa couldn’t hear it properly.

“What?”

“It’s nothing. Anyway, it seems like morning has passed.”

Hades’s large palm completely covered Latifa’s eyes. Subsequently, no light entered, and her vision became pitch black.

“Your hands are really big. With just one hand, both eyes are covered.”

“Really, not even a single bit of light?”

From the large palm, a faint, unique jasmine scent emanated only from him.

“I can’t see anything. I only smell jasmine.”

If Latifa understood the intention behind that question, would she have answered differently?

“Jasmine is the most fragrant moonlight on a dark night. If Kalendein says so, it must still be night.”

“What?”

While vision was blocked, the sensation of his lips settling on her neck suddenly became familiar.

“Hush.”

“Hade, huh!”

In the moment she was about to call Hades’s name, she stopped, overwhelmed by the sweet touch that surged. The night’s role-playing seemed far from over.

“It’s really unpredictable. I can’t anticipate it at all.”

However, Latifa was also starting to act unpredictably.

With the darkness he created with his hands covering her intellect, all emotions and sensations woke up sensitively.

Thump, thump.

Starting with a sudden kiss, unlike the quickly scattered night of the previous night, Latifa’s mind began to dizzy again with the slow deepening jasmine scent.

He had said it was night, so it was night now.

In the scent carried by the jasmine, Latifa’s shyness and awkwardness that had lingered in her heart until a moment ago disappeared completely.

Tick, tock.

Although his hot lips on her shoulders and neck left traces of what had passed, it felt more like a playful nibbling of fingers when a dog playfully bites its owner.

“When does the night end?”

As Latifa asked with a languid sigh, he playfully responded.

“My lady, the night has just begun, but you’re already yawning.”

“You really act on your own, you know?”

With a chuckling sound, he softly whispered with a relaxed voice.

“I hear that a lot.”

In the end, Latifa also revealed a slight smile.

“And I have something to ask you.”

“Hmm?”

“As of today, do you know that the night hours will gradually increase?”

“Oh…!”

It was natural that the days would get shorter after the longest day had passed.

His words meant…

“In the end, Grand Bazaar nights are short, but… you don’t have to worry about anything.”

The sound of the silk blanket rustling seemed louder than usual.

Latifa, biting her lower lip slightly, waited for his next words.

“…”

He continued to make Latifa anticipate something more.

Did he feel the same way? Did he have something more to expect from himself?

“I hate wasting time on useless things, Latifa.”

With a playful tone and a slight shoulder shrug, he said, “Daytime or nighttime, it’s all the same for me.”

‘Even during the day…’

To Latifa, the desert was still full of mysterious charm.

She wanted to know more.
More. Everything.

She exhaled a sweet breath, burying herself in his embrace.