Frost slightly raised his body and shaded his wife’s face with his hand, seeing the sunlight pouring through the curtains onto the face of his soundly sleeping wife.

Yuriella unfurrowed her slightly frowning brows and took even breaths.

A soft smile formed on Frost’s lips.

He wanted to brush the strands of hair that had fallen onto her round forehead, but not daring to touch her with even a fingertip for fear of waking her from deep slumber, he merely curled and uncurled his longing fingers.

What kind of dream might his wife be having now?

He hoped that at least in her dreams, she would only see good things and happy events.

But somehow, thinking about what his wife had been through so far, it seemed unlikely that she would be happy even in her dreams.

Just yesterday, his wife had once again spoken of things that a woman who had lived as a charlatan or dancer could never know.

[If that bastard Sereno knew he had fallen into Your Grace’s trap, his plaster mask-like face would turn red and blue. It would really be a sight to see.]

It was no longer surprising, but it wasn’t something he could just brush off either.

[Smearing shit on my face would feel less dirty than looking at that bastard’s face. His face has no color, like plaster. His hair and eyebrows are white as snow. Ugh. After killing his target, that bastard always smears their blood in a long line under his eyes. Like tears.]

How could she know the name and face of the Emperor’s most trusted shadow assassin in such detail? The Emperor’s foremost hawk at that…

Among the assassins Justin Della Ponti tirelessly sent to the North, the Emperor’s hawks were the most difficult to deal with.

They were originally an assassin group known as the ‘Sagoma (Shadows).’

There were rumors that they were descendants of an ethnic minority absorbed into the Empire half a century ago, and that they had once resisted in the form of rebels before gradually degenerating into a group of assassins who killed for high pay.

But like their name ‘Shadows,’ there was almost nothing outwardly revealed about them, so even the truth of those rumors was uncertain.

It was said that Empress Dowager Sophia had brought them into the palace.

After the sudden passing of the previous Emperor, Empress Dowager Sophia, who had seized the position of regent with the backing of House Figueira, created Justin’s shadow guard for the young fifteen-year-old Emperor out of concern for his safety, separate from the official royal knights.

The identities and faces of the Shadows were kept strictly secret, and now, with the passage of time, it was said that even the Empress Dowager herself did not know much about the Shadows under her son’s command.

Yet his wife had spoken as if she had personally met Sereno, one of those Shadows.

It was too specific to be dismissed as drunken ramblings.

But there was something else that bothered him even more.

[I wanted to… do many good deeds and then go somewhere no one knows, quietly farm, eat rabbits and fish, and live in peace… To live like that, unknown to anyone, and be granted my quiet death, unknown to anyone…]

Her tearful, weary voice had echoed in his ears all night, making it hard for Frost to even sigh.

What was making his wife suffer so much?

What was the pain that drove her to the point of wanting to hide away somewhere unknown and end her life without leaving a trace?

Frost let out a long sigh without realizing it.

As if the sigh he exhaled had reached Yuriella, her long and lush eyelashes slowly lifted. The clear eyes revealed beneath met his gaze.

Blink. Blink.

Yuriella’s white face, slowly blinking and emerging from last night’s dreams, gradually flushed red.

Her red eyes, shining more transparently in the sunlight, became clear and then trembled violently.

Now fully awake, Yuriella abruptly sat up and scooted back.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Ah, yes. Did Your Grace also sleep well?”

As Yuriella bowed her head in greeting, her eyes widened like lanterns.

“Oh…!”

Realizing that her dress was nowhere to be seen and she was only wearing a thin chemise, Yuriella pulled the sheet up to her chin. The bones in her hands gripping the sheet tightly stood out white.

“Your clothes are over there.”

Frost’s leisurely fingertip pointed to her dress sprawled on the bedroom floor.

“Uh… I… that…”

Yuriella, her face flushed red up to her forehead, stammered, at a loss for words.

“Last night… did I…”

Her stumbling red lips trembled.

Frost asked with a bright smile.

“You don’t remember?”

“Pardon?”

“Last night. On the rooftop.”

“The rooftop? Ah. On the rooftop, I-”

“You drank. By the way, the liquor you downed without leaving me a single drop was a gift from Duke Yovel. He said it was a very rare liquor made with a secret method passed down through generations of his family.”

“I only meant to drink a little… I’m sorry.”

Yuriella’s head drooped.

“That liquor is called ‘Ecstatic Night.’ They say when you get drunk on it, even the most stone-hearted person will melt away and a dizzying time of love will come. I thought it was just a saying. But after what you did to me last night, I see Yovel’s words were no empty boast.”

“Pardon?”

“Have you really forgotten? What you did to me while drunk on ‘Ecstatic Night’?”

The color drained from Yuriella’s face.

“Did I make some kind of mistake…?”

“My. You really don’t remember anything, do you.”

Yuriella opened and closed her mouth, then gave a small shake of her head.

Frost lowered his propped arm and sat up, drawing very close to her. Their noses were almost touching.

Yuriella unconsciously held her breath.

As if by reflex, she was entranced by Frost’s deep blue eyes. Vacantly staring at his long silver eyelashes sparkling in the shattered sunlight, Yuriella shook her head.

As Frost caressed and smoothed her fallen hair, Yuriella’s shoulders quivered.

“I remember though. From the beginning to the end of our ecstatic night, I remember every single moment.”

“Uh…?”

Yuriella stiffened, her mouth agape.

And she seemed to be racking her brain, rapidly moving her large eyes, trying to remember what on earth she had done last night.

But to no avail, she began to deeply furrow her brows and chew her lips. Her knees under the sheet were also anxiously trembling.

Quietly watching Yuriella, Frost placed his large hand over hers.

“Shall I help jog your memory a bit? You called me pretty. While touching me like this.”

Frost brought Yuriella’s hand to his face and slowly traced his silver eyelashes with the tips of her fingers.

Her slender fingers held in his hand shook slightly. Her coral-colored red cheeks changed to the color of burning flames.

Even though he felt he should back off at this point, Frost placed her hand on his head and let her gently stroke it.

There was some mischievous playfulness, but… His desire to help his wife escape the sad thoughts that had made her cry last night was greater.

“You also complimented me, saying I was smarter than the Emperor. You were surprised that just from hearing the news of the Emperor sending hawks to the North, I immediately discerned his scheme and even devised a plan to use the Emperor’s trap against him.”

Her red eyes, shining more mysteriously in the transparent morning light, slowly shifted downward, avoiding his gaze.

Judging by her deeply furrowed brow, she seemed to have no memory of what happened last night.

She had said she would forget everything by morning.

[I like you so much.]

Frost swallowed his sigh and regret, and brought Yuriella’s hand to his left chest.

“But you said the most magnificent part was here.”

The sound of Yuriella gulping her dry saliva could be heard.

“I knew from afar. But seeing it up close every day, I know even more. How many bold dreams and futures pulsate here. How hard you strive to protect my people and land with your big heart. How deeply that moves you.”

“Uh… I… that…”

As Frost brought his index finger to the lips of his wife, who looked like she wanted to sink into the ground that instant, and slowly shook his head.

“You don’t have to say anything.”

He didn’t want to make his wife apologize or lie.

“It’s okay if you don’t remember anything.”

“Your Highness…”

“Because I remember. I won’t forget.”

Frost gently wove his fingers through his wife’s hair, neatly combing it as he smiled more richly and sweetly than ‘Ecstatic Night.’

“But it is a bit disappointing. Have you also forgotten that you said this?”

Frost brought his lips close to Yuriella’s ear and whispered.

“There are no stars or moon. No one will know.”

A fleeting scene from last night flashed through Yuriella’s mind as the fluff of her ear tickled and she hunched her shoulders.

Her hand yanking Your Grace’s cravat and Your Grace’s surprised face suddenly drawing very close…!

Yuriella’s eyes grew as wide as they could, then she immediately began to hiccup.

Hic. Hic.

Her flustered gaze fell upon the dress tossed on the floor.

After the assassin’s ambush at the Northern Duke’s residence, she had been sharing a room with His Grace due to security concerns, but there had never been an occasion where she was so vulnerably in just a chemise on the same bed with him.

There were many times when Frost, returning late from work, had moved Yuriella, who had fallen asleep on the sofa first, to the bed. But His Grace always left the bedroom before she woke up, using early morning training as an excuse. However…

“Did I… possibly?”

“You took off that dress yourself. I didn’t lay a finger on it.”

Frost tilted his head slightly. His expression was very polite and gentlemanly.

“Did I perhaps… jump Your Grace-”

“You pounced. Multiple times at that.”

Frost tilted his head again.

Yuriella gulped, then pulled the sheet over her head, curled up into a little ball, and huddled her body.

“I’m s-sorry… I’m truly sorry…”

Frost held back his laughter, pressing his lips together as he watched the back of his wife who had become a small sheet-covered lump, then embraced her tightly from behind as if enveloping her.

As Yuriella flinched, Frost lowered the sheet and buried his face in the nape of her neck.

“If you’re sorry, will you take responsibility for me?”

“Uh… that’s… but I…”

Yuriella wriggled, trying to escape his arms, but Frost pulled her in more strongly.

“Don’t worry. Nothing happened.”

Yuriella turned her head and looked up at Frost.

“Really?”

“It’s true there were several attempts to pounce on me, but I fended them all off. Commendably so.”

He had considered teasing her a bit more, but her complexion, which had flushed red then paled, was so ashen that Frost obediently told her the truth.

“I did well, so praise me.”

He didn’t forget to diligently earn points either.

“You did really well. And I’m truly sorry…”

Yuriella, sighing in relief, bowed her head several times in apology.

Frost cupped Yuriella’s cheeks and gently lifted her face to meet her eyes.

“Thank you.”

Yuriella tilted her head slightly, puzzled by the sudden words of gratitude when she was apologizing.

“Last night, as I watched you sleeping beside me, I thought I didn’t know how I had lived in a world without you.”

Frost lightly lifted Yuriella into his lap and embraced her warmly.

“When you call me pretty, it makes me think I might really have some pretty aspects. When you tell me I’m smart, it made me happy to think my brain is quite useful. To you, who are moved by what I strive to do, I too find myself choked up.”

His Grace brought Yuriella’s hand and slowly kissed the wedding band on her fourth finger.

“Just be here like this. Live, exist for me. That alone is doing something immense. I’ll take care of making you see me, think of me, and stay by my side.”

“Your Grace…”

“Do everything as you wish. Forget, or don’t forget. It doesn’t matter. If you want to run away, then yes, do that.”

Frost tilted his handsome face, which had been certified as pretty by his wife, and flashed a seductive smile. Not forgetting to slightly tousle his silver hair that his wife liked, making it sparkle.

As expected. His wife’s eyes trembled and then glazed over as if entranced.

“No matter how far you run, I’ll be the one to catch you. Despite how I may look, I’m the Empire’s top hunter.”

As Frost looked at her intently, slightly moistening his dry lips, Yuriella’s red eyes shook slightly.

Frost gazed steadily at his wife with deepened eyes.

Like an agile predator leisurely waiting for its prey to enter its territory of its own accord.

Like a seasoned hunter lying in wait, steadying his breath, silently anticipating the optimal moment.